We had a corporate technology operations webinar with executive management today. It was a flagrant farce. Bullshit sandwiched between toxic positivity about “finding our purpose” and making our purpose align with the company's purpose. Followed directly after by discussion of how profitable they are .. knowing full well they turned down promotions for the third year in a row and didn't give annual raises that kept up with inflation and aren't backfilling severely understaffed teams.
They have to know we're in the middle of a labor revolution right? People are quitting because of this. They aren't drinking the koolaid anymore. They're tired of the bullshit.
I am generally pretty comfortable at my job. I am not at my limit yet. I do have some anxiety about buying a house but it hasn't reached a breaking point yet. I'm more angry for my coworkers who are getting paid less than me. Who haven't received promotions they deserve. And then my other coworker also says I'm doing work well above my paygrade and is angry for me (and the others of course).
My whole team was talking in our “private” Slack channel (I'm sure it's monitored/logged) about how ridiculous it was. Just talking mad shit about how full of shit upper management is. I would not be surprised to see any of us suddenly put on a rift list and let go because of that. I don't think my manager would do that to us, he generally talks shit about upper management with us, but who knows.
But then I said the thing. “We should unionize.” Chat is quiet. My coworker DM'd me and said “careful with that word.” I know. I know full well what I just did. Despite it being illegal to retaliate for union discussion, I could very well be let go/fired without reason, or with a made up reason after this.
I did the best I could – I backed up the chat logs and sent to my personal email – to have some sort of proof that retaliation came after this was brought up, if retaliation happens of course. I'm thinking of maybe contacting a labor lawyer just in case. Idk exactly. I don't have a lot of money saved, I'm not in the best financial situation (truly, it was my own fault from silly spending when I should've saved, and then being out on disability for 7 months last year). But I can hardly give a damn. We're living in a country where my right to my body is about to be stripped away from me. Why should I give a fuck about the social norms of living a middle class life? Whatever happens, it will work out. I have no control. I can do the best I can, and act on my conscious according to my values. But that's it.
Fuck faking this bullshit. Fuck being passive. Fuck letting myself get fucked in the ass. Some might say I should have appreciated what I had and kept my head down. Maybe, maybe it would've been smarter to wait a little bit longer, to have a backup plan in place first so that I don't potentially turn my life upside down and risk financial insecurity that could prohibit me from participating in activism to my fullest.
Guess we'll find out.