Question for all of you: I'm in favor of better benefits, better pay, more employees to distribute work, ect, but find myself lost about how to approach these beliefs in a way that feels ethical.
I work at an immigration law firm. If I slack off, or don't show up, or if all the paralegals and assistants went on strike, our clients, who are part of an extremely vulnerable population, would be completely screwed. Like a lot of these people are fleeing extreme violence, and get killed when they're deported.
Obviously it's complicated because though I spend my day helping people, in an ideal world my job wouldn't exist. We would just give people visas who needed them. The attorneys are making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of this corrupt system. I'm making a much more meager wage, in spite of doing a huge bulk of very difficult work. They go to court, but I prepare all of the files, do research, and talk to the clients. However, I feel bad sometimes for making a living based on suffering.
How do you guys deal with work pressures and anti-capitalism when you feel you have an ethical duty to always push yourself above and beyond? I am such a hard-ass about work, but I feel like I have to be. Those of you who work in roles where “acting your wage” has serious consequences, how do you balance Marxist ideals with the very real needs of our communities?