Be ready, #Utah. You'll need to spread the word and find a signature gatherer in your location or even start gathering signatures yourself.

#utpol has limited the time and expanded the number of locations that need signatures to make it very difficult to put a referendum on the ballot.

This is for public labor unions' ability to collectively bargin in our state.
#labor #laborunion #UEA #Education #PublicEmployees

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2025/03/14/public-unions-begin-fight-overturn/

In 2019, Iceland became one of the first countries to approve a four-day workweek. Here's how things have been going for them.

2021: "Trials of a four-day week in Iceland were an "overwhelming success""

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57724779

2024: "Iceland’s economy is outperforming most European peers after the nationwide introduction of a shorter working week with no loss in pay."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/business/iceland-shorter-working-week-economy/index.html

2025: "The effects of the shorter workweek in Iceland have extended far beyond the office."

https://www.wecb.fm/in-2019-iceland-approved-the-4-day-workweek-nearly-6-years-later-all-predictions-by-generation-z-have-come-true/

#TNI #TransnationalInstitute is a group that mostly releases great reports, analysis, etc, on #techgiants, #capitalism #resourcecolonialism #labor etc

But when it comes to #China, they'll somehow willingly publish pro-CCP propaganda-lite, factually dubious BS like this, romanticizing the #Mao era, regurgitating South-South solidarity talk points & of course, ignoring the #CCP's glaring similarities to Israel in its treatment of #Uyghurs #Tibetans & #HongKongers

https://www.tni.org/en/article/from-global-anti-imperialism-to-the-dandelion-fighters

To all REI members, please use your opportunity to vote for REI's board of directors.

The union for REI workers is asking that we vote "Withhold" against all of the corporate-picked nominees.

https://www.ourrei.com/2025-rei-board-elections

Washington Blues: A Government Town Faces a Gloomy Future
—

For years, Washington, D.C., was insulated from many of the economic forces that decimated many older U.S. cities. Now, as Elon Musk’s mass layoffs shake everything from employment to real estate, the region faces the prospect of decline.
https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-dc-trump-musk-federal-government-cutbacks-gloomy-future?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

I used to enjoy my job, even grading, even midterms. Tonight I forced myself to turn in midterm grades (with 2 minutes to spare) and did not enjoy it. There are many aspects of my job I no longer enjoy.

It's not a mystery why (at least to me). Perhaps it's embodied in this thing: our university senate asked a state-level body to observe issues at our university and create a report. The report is weeks late in coming. We received a message today asking us to wait a little longer because of "...the critical issues at [my university] involving transparency, trust, the relationships among stakeholders, and the status of shared governance..."

Yeah, it's a fucking mess around here, and never in a way that allows faculty to feel better about our jobs.

As former firebrand and once-actual-socialist political parties drift rightward toward neoliberal ineffectualness, chasing so-called (non-existent) 'silent majority voters' they simply lose relevance and their support slowly evaporates.

British #Labour, Australian #Labor, and US #Democrats - same bland nobodies.
________________

"Why Are AOC and Bernie So Much Better at This? ~ By Zak Cheney-Rice, NY Mag:

Last month, as Elon Musk’s malevolent influence on Donald Trump’s second term was coming into focus, a friend DM’ed me a clip of Chuck Schumer leading a protest against Musk’s efforts to access sensitive Treasury Department data.

“We will win! We will win!” croaked the Senate minority leader, the crowd clearly reluctant to join this confused approximation of what impassioned resistance might look like.

My friend wrote, “We’re all gonna die.”

#AusPol #UKPolitics #USPol

[unpaywalled link]
https://archive.md/ycipI

This will only become more and more common with unchecked capitalism!

Two Zenless Zone Zero actors lose jobs over AI dispute without notice, finding out alongside players

https://www.eurogamer.net/two-zenless-zone-zero-actors-lose-jobs-over-ai-dispute-without-notice-finding-out-alongside-players

Starbucks workers at the S. Dale Mabry & Neptune location in Tampa, Florida just won their election to become the 550th union Starbucks store in the United States! #labor #union #unions #unionstrong #WorkersRights #work #workers https://bsky.app/profile/sbworkersunited.org/post/3ljbjab7czc2s

.. And while we're at it, we should re-negotiate the rent well and truly, for this place . . . if the 'Tangerine Palpatine' doesn't like that, give 'em two weeks notice, maybe the French or British might like a slightly used Global Signals Listening Post.

IF the sort of friendship that the "Tangerine Palpatine" expect us to just accept, I.E. being we take a %25 hit on Steel and Aluminum, then all those free loading Corporations that pay next to no tax here in Australia should now have a slick new 'Orange Wealth Mobility' exit fee of about oh, I dunno' maybe $25 in the 100 for all profit that demonstrably goes off shore for all companies here that have US headquarters . . starting with Tesla ..

47 has been called “transactionary,” i.e., “everything/everyone is for sale.” This is no way to run a gov't or reshape #democracy OR do #capitalism. This renders capitalism grotesque again, as before there were #labor laws, #SocialSecurity or #Medicaid to protect the most #vulnerable. https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2025/03/10/senator-blows-whistle-on-putin-like-corruption-in-first-weeks-of-new-administration/

Back in 2018-2019 I began a little vanity project*: Trump's pompous, hateful, spiteful, anti-democratic, #authoritarian, etc. pronouncements interspersed with fictional emails based closely on real emails etc. from university administrators (i.e., presidents et al.). The idea was to show that some of the language and many of the actions of the university administrators were nearly identical to Trump's, though in slightly different domains and using differently-coded language.

Maybe I should make time for continuing that. I am of the opinion that Americans' habit of turning everything possible into an authoritarian hierarchy is one of the underlying reasons for the "success" of the current national authoritarian coup.

This would perhaps not have any positive effect for anyone except me*.

*all of my art