The exploitative work environment, like a lot of our systems, depends on the exploited being disorganized. Any sort of organization scares someone who is in the business of exploiting.
Unions are the answer! Not always. Too often they become part of the exploitative system themselves, leeching resources that, once again, are not getting to the worker.
We need to unite under a simple banner that can be easily followed by anyone trying to fight exploitation, which is at the heart of the antiwork sentiment for me — being forced to use my time to benefit someone else in order to survive.
Coworker is late all the time and your workload is too high? Push up. Why isn't your manager trying to get you a raise? Why aren't more people being hired for redundancy. If your company is turning a profit, it can afford to spend money to run well. Why isn't it? Do not let some yes-man bootlicker turn you back toward the wrong end of the chain. “So and so should work harder.” Never push down.
Blame the boss, not the employee. Blame the company, not the worker.
Blame the politician, not the citizen.
Push up, not down. As long as there is an up, things aren't equal. We need to be pressuring those with all the resources and power to do their job correctly and share what we have helped them make.
If every person at Amazon got a fair share of the resources generated by that massive machine, there would be no complaints from any of the cogs and wheels that make it run. Jeff Bezos – like every powerful, oligarchal, disconnected world leader – is surrounded by yes-men. They create chains of yes-men by giving each link the idea that they get their own share of the power as long as they push down.
The links get weaker toward the bottom, and less plentiful toward the top. We just have to come together and Push Up.
Stop letting these singular men make record profits while the world burns.
Don't blame anyone for being lazy while billionaires roam the earth.
Push Up, Not Down.