#they're too short staffed to fund it

[bakedbeanz]

Postin my kid oc from FNV, Tumbleweed :) Basically that kid thats only comeback is how he did your mom. Also im a Benny Gecko likes dad jokes truther

#my art #my ocs #benny gecko #fnv benny #fallout new vegas #fnv #tumbleweed #deep down hes a good kid and kind of a wiwi #tumbleweed wishes he had an xbox live account but he doesnt :( #The punchline of the joke is none btw #they're too short staffed to fund it

[mostlysignssomeportents]

"Efficiency" left the Big Three vulnerable to smart UAW tactics

Tomorrow (September 22), I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. Tomorrow night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

It's been 143 days since the WGA went on strike against the Hollywood studios. While early tactical leaks from the studios had studio execs chortling and twirling their mustaches about writers caving once they started losing their homes, the strikers aren't wavering – they're still out there, pounding the picket lines, every weekday:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/how-hollywood-writers-make-ends-meet-100-days-into-the-writers-guild-strike.html

The studios obviously need writers. That gleeful, anonymous studio exec who got such an obvious erotic charge at the thought of workers being rendered homeless as punishment for challenging his corporate power completely misread the room, and his comments didn't demoralize the writers. Instead, they inspired the actors to go on strike, too.

But how have the writers stayed out since May Day? How have the actors stayed out for 69 days since their strike started on Bastille Day? We can thank the studios for that! As it turns out, the studios have devoted so much energy to rendering creative workers as precarious as possible, hiring as little as they can getting away with and using punishing overtime as a substitute for adequate staffing that they've eliminated all the workers who can't survive on side-hustles and savings for six or seven months at a time.

But even for those layoff-hardened workers, long strikes are brutal, and of course, all the affiliated trades, from costumers to grips, are feeling the pain. The strike fund only goes so far, and non-striking, affected workers don't even get that. That's why I've been donating regularly to the Entertainment Community Fund, which helps all affected workers out with cash transfers (I just gave them another $500):

https://secure2.convio.net/afa/site/Donation2?df_id=8117&8117.donation=form1&mfc_pref=T

As hot labor summer is revealed as a turning point – not just a season – long strikes will become the norm. Bosses still don't believe in worker power, and until they get their minds right, they're going to keep on trying to starve their workforces back inside. To get a sense of how long workers will have to hold out, just consider the Warrior Met strike, where Alabama coal-miners stayed out for 23 months:

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/warrior-met-strike-union/

As Kim Kelly explained to Adam Conover in the latest Factually podcast, the Alabama coal strikers didn't get anywhere near the attention that the Hollywood strikers have enjoyed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvyMHf7Yg0Q

(To learn more about the untold story of worker organizing, from prison unions to the key role that people of color and women played in labor history, check out Kelly's book, "Fight Like Hell," now in paperback:)

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fight-Like-Hell/Kim-Kelly/9781982171063

Which brings me to the UAW strike. This is an historic strike, the first time that the UAW has struck all of the Big Three automakers at once. Past autoworkers' strikes have marked turning points for all American workers. The 1945/46 GM strike established employers' duty to cover worker pensions, health care, and cost of living allowances. The GM strike created the American middle-class:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-18-uaw-strikes-built-american-middle-class/

The Big Three are fighting for all the marbles here. They are refusing to allow unions to organize EV factories. Given that no more internal combustion cars will be in production in just a few short years, that's tantamount to eliminating auto unions altogether. The automakers are flush with cash, including billions in public subsidies from multiple bailouts, along with billions more from greedflation price-gouging. A long siege is inevitable, as the decimillionaires running these companies earn their pay by starving out their workers:

https://www.businessinsider.com/general-motors-ceo-mary-barra-salary-auto-workers-strike-uaw-2023-9

The UAW knows this, of course, and their new leadership – helmed by the union's radical president Shawn Fain – has a plan. UAW workers are engaged in tactical striking, shutting down key parts of the supply chain on a rolling basis, making the 90-day strike fund stretch much farther:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-09-18-labors-militant-creativity/

In this project, they are greatly aided by Big Car's own relentless pursuit of profit. The automakers – like every monopolized, financialized sector – have stripped all the buffers and slack out of their operations. Inventory on hand is kept to a bare minimum. Inputs are sourced from the cheapest bidder, and they're brought to the factory by the lowest-cost option. Resiliency – spare parts, backup machinery – is forever at war with profits, and profits have won and won and won, leaving auto production in a brittle, and easily shattered state.

This is especially true for staffing. Automakers are violently allergic to hiring workers, because new workers get benefits and workplace protection. Instead, the car companies routinely offer "voluntary" overtime to their existing workforce. By refusing this overtime, workers can kneecap production, without striking.

Enter "Eight and Skate," a campaign among UAW workers to clock out after their eight hour shift. As Keith Brower Brown writes for Labor Notes, the UAW organizers are telling workers that "It’s crossing an unofficial picket line to work overtime. It’s helping out the company":

https://labornotes.org/2023/09/work-extra-during-strike-auto-workers-say-eight-and-skate

Eight and Skate has already started to work; the Buffalo Ford plant can no longer run its normal weekend shifts because workers are refusing to put in voluntary overtime. Of course, bosses will strike back: the next step will be forced overtime, which will lead to the unsafe conditions that unionized workers are contractually obliged to call paid work-stoppages over, shutting down operations without touching the strike fund.

What's more, car bosses can't just halt safety stoppages or change the rules on overtime; per the UAW's last contract, bosses are required to bargain on changes to overtime rules:

https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Working-Without-Contract-FAQ-FINAL-2.pdf

Car bosses have become lazily dependent on overtime. At GM's "highly profitable" SUV factory in Arlington, TX, normal production runs a six-days, 24 hours per day. Workers typically work five eight-hour days and nine hours on Saturdays. That's been the status quo for 11 years, but when bosses circulated the usual overtime signup sheet last week, every worker wrote "a big fat NO" next to their names.

Writing for The American Prospect, David Dayen points out that this overtime addiction puts a new complexion on the much-hyped workerpocalypse that EVs will supposedly bring about. EVs are much simpler to build than conventional cars, the argument goes, so a US transition to EVs will throw many autoworkers out of work:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-20-big-threes-labor-shortages-uaw/

But the reality is that most autoworkers are doing one and a half jobs already. Reducing the "workforce" by a third could leave all these workers with their existing jobs, and the 40-hour workweek that their forebears fought for at GM inn 1945/46. Add to that the additional workers needed to make batteries, build and maintain charging infrastructure, and so on, and there's no reason to think that EVs will weaken autoworker power.

And as Dayen points out, this overtime addiction isn't limited to cars. It's also endemic to the entertainment industry, where writers' "mini rooms" and other forms of chronic understaffing are used to keep workforces at a skeleton crew, even when the overtime costs more than hiring new workers.

Bosses call themselves job creators, but they have a relentless drive to destroy jobs. If there's one thing bosses hate, it's paying workers – hence all the hype about AI and automation. The stories about looming AI-driven mass unemployment are fairy tales, but they're tailor made for financiers who get alarming, life-threatening priapism at the though of firing us all and replacing us with shell-scripts:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

This is why Republican "workerism" rings so hollow. Trump's GOP talks a big game about protecting "workers" (by which they mean anglo men) from immigrants and "woke captialism," but they have nothing to say about protecting workers from bosses and bankers who see every dime a worker gets as misappropriated from their dividend.

Unsurprisingly, conservative message-discipline sucks. As Luke Savage writes in Jacobin, for every mealymouthed Josh Hawley mouthing talking points that "support workers" by blaming China and Joe Biden for the Big Three's greed, there's a Tim Scott, saying the quiet part aloud:

https://jacobin.com/2023/09/republicans-uaw-strike-hawley-trump-scott/

Quoth Senator Scott: "I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike. He said, you strike, you’re fired. Simple concept to me. To the extent that we can use that once again, absolutely":

https://twitter.com/American_Bridge/status/1704136706574741988

The GOP's workerism is a tissue-thin fake. They can never and will never support real worker power. That creates an opportunity for Biden and Democrats to seize:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

Reversing two generations of anti-worker politics is a marathon, not a sprint. The strikes are going to run for months, even years. Every worker will be called upon to support their striking siblings, every day. We can do it. Solidarity now. Solidarity forever.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/21/eight-and-skate/#strike-to-rule

#pluralistic #strikes #uaw #labor #automakers #big three #big car #eight and skate #work to rule #tactics

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I had previously been under the impression that AZA accredited zoos and aquariums in the USA are more likely to take good care of animals than those that lack this accreditation. Is this incorrect?

It's... really complicated. The short answer is: maybe? Which doesn't help at all, I'm sure. I'm working on a huge project to try to quantify a bunch of accreditation stuff, so I don't want to say anything concrete from preliminary data, y'know?

Accreditation at a facility tells you, basically, what standards they are supposed to meet and what political group / industry club they're part of. But there's a lot of issues with all of the five zoological accrediting / certifying bodies where oversight during the accreditation cycles doesn't really exist in a functional way? Either reporting systems are in place that highly disincentivize reporting (because they aren't anonymous and could be tracked back to a staffer) or just don't have formal protocols for it all.

So being AZA accredited tells you the type of expectations they're trying to live up to, and what standards they met at the time they were inspected. I have some concerns about whether the standards for certain aspects of accreditation (like aesthetic stuff, not animal care) are really sustainable for duration given how you're constantly hearing about how zoos scramble to get all the little deferred things fixed prior to the next inspection. But, that's not necessarily an issue with the zoos, and more the program - and that's something that AFAIK happens with every accrediting group, not just AZA.

There's also an aspect of how the requirements of each accrediting program kind of... self select for the type of zoos they want? AZA's application and annual fees are incredibly high, which isn't necessarily a good use of money for many smaller facilities; they also require compliance with a lot of things not related to animal care and welfare, like internal staffing structure and facility aesthetics. Again, something that either smaller facilities just can't afford - do you spend money on the animals or on paving all your pathways? - or aren't interested in getting involved with because of how intrusive it is. So most of the AZA zoos you see are the bigger, well-funded ones with city-type aesthetics, because that's what who the program is set up to encourage to apply. (There are definitely exceptions to this, but find me a big city zoo that isn't AZA or in the process of becoming AZA).

To try to answer your questions, AZA zoos are more likely to be high quality because in order to be accredited, they have to have a certain amount of cash flow. Having more funding / income tends to make regular operating issues easier to solve. AZA zoos are certainly more heavily scrutinized every five years by their accrediting body than a group like ZAA, which is mostly focused on animal care / education / conservation and isn't going to meddle in a zoo's business operations. But AZA zoos aren't perfect. Most of them don't even meet all of the AZA standards completely at the time of inspection: there was an article a couple years back about how rare it was that Cheyenne Mountain Zoo met all of the AZA standards at the time of inspection - only the 4th zoo to do so in AZA's 50-something year history. (How that works is that zoos that don't meet all the standards but are close get provisionally accredited, and then have to fix or improve some stuff within the first year to keep it). And believe me, AZA zoos can and do have problems too - look at the embezzlement conducted by the previous leadership at Columbus, or the sexual assault and conduct issues with the Director at Henry Vilas. They're just less often covered in ways that are visible to the public.

Accreditation is a good indicator what a zoo intends to be, and what animal care / conservation ethos it participates in. It isn't, however, always a guarantee that the facility is good or that the animal care (or staff welfare!) is better than at an unaccredited or alternately-accredited place.

#zoo politics #accreditation politics #zoo accreditation #ongoing work

[winterswhite]

Personal rant, CW for talks of blood and medical stuff

The past 5 days have really been so much for me and it... seriously doesn't feel like only 5 days at all with how much has gone on

On Wednesday evening I got home from work feeling extremely weak after telling my QPP repeatedly that I don't feel good, and after I was no longer able to hold my head up or open my eyes without extreme effort my roommate took me to the emergency room where we waited 9ish hours for me to even be taken to a bed and then one or two more to be seen

When they did get there, they said they needed to take blood, give me an IV, do chest x-rays, and a few other tests (I think they tested me for a stroke too) because clearly a lot was wrong

The nurse tried to put the IV in my left arm and then my hand, failing both times because she couldn't find a vein. She then called over a second nurse, who said since I had already been poked twice, she wasn't going to poke me unless she was sure she had one

She left without poking me.

She called over a doctor to come with a whole ass ultrasound setup to use that to find a vein, and they only found a suitable one in my upper right arm, meaning I had to hold it up at an uncomfortable angle the entire time and because of where it was, it also hurt the entire time (only a little, but still)

They also interrupted it in the middle to take more blood ("well that can't be good")

Also, while they were putting the IV in, I remember them struggling to reach the vein, and the pain from them wiggling it around trying to reach my difficult ass vein, and then hearing "how attached are you to this sweatshirt?"

I had... bled all over it (fortunately they stopped the bleeding pretty fast, very different from my last experience with an IV where I nearly bled out on the hospital floor)

Anyway, after wanting to cry from how uncomfortable the whole experience was but eventually managing to sleep through the last half hour of it, they told me about my bloodwork, and a lot is wrong! Some of the things that have always been wrong with me, and some new things, like low thyroid and low potassium, low sodium etc

They scheduled me for a follow-up appointment in a week and I leave, it is now Thursday morning

I picked up the meds they prescribed me and got home around noon, exhausted from not having slept all night, and napped

Only to wake up to a terrible toothache out nowhere, that at its worst was so bad I couldn't lift a finger

I ran to the dentist but they were closing by the time I got there and told me to come back the next morning

I did, and they said I need an emergency root canal, but that it would be hard to find any endodontists who take my insurance, which... yeah, it proved to be impossible

So now, today, I'm scheduled for the root canal, and I have to pay for the whole $1500 out of pocket

Which I haven't reached, but... I'll have to see what I can manage now

Also, through all of this, my workplace is telling me it's "unacceptable" not to show up to work because they're short-staffed. As if I wasn't stuck in the fucking hospital. I worried about getting fired, because I need that money to pay for the fucking root canal and I hadn't even received my first paycheck, so I went in to work yesterday, but wasn't able to finish a full day of work because I felt like Shit

They still told me they need a doctor's note specifically stating that I can't work for x number of days (even though I gave them my emergency room discharge papers to prove I was unwell) before they could believe that I was actually not feeling well enough to work

So I guess I'm going to ask the fucking endodontist for one

And this cuts into my funds for my trip to take the JLPT and some other things in June, which I also really need so I can get a better job. It is absolutely necessary that I take this trip, but I'll no longer have the money for it yet, and travel costs only go up as you get closer to the date of, so lol.

Anyway. It has not even been 5 full days since I first went to the ER. I need a fucking break.

#anposting #/rant

[batfoonery]

Rescue & Rehab Damian! AU

Probably part of the same universe as Flower Crown Steph tbh

It starts when there's a big, bad storm that downs some of the ancient trees on the manor grounds.

Damian had been walking Titus (and, on occassion, Alfred the Cat when Damian can get his harness on before the cat gets annoyed with his existence) just a few days before, and happened to know that there was a squirrel's nest in one of those ancient trees.

Not only is the tree one of those that has been downed, the entrance to the nest has been completely blocked, and once Damian has cleared it, it's clearly taken huge damage.

The little squirrel pups haven't opened their eyes yet, so he knows they're less than four weeks old (why yes, yes he had gone home and immediately researched squirrel babehs the same day he'd seen the nest)

There is no sign that the mother has even attempted to get into the nest. Damian doesn't know where she is, but the little ones are crying out, clearly cold, wet, and hungry. He pulls out out a handkerchief and gently lifts the two pups into it and wraps them up before sticking them down his shirt and cradling them next to his chest, where it's warmest.

He's already pulled out his phone and is calling the local wildlife rehab center before they're back inside. They don't tell him anything he doesn't already know, but he explains the situation and although they're already full (it was a big storm) they offer to help set him up with formula and proper sized droppers for feeding.

While Dick was out grabbing those for him (he tells people he bullied his bro/dad into doing it but the truth is Dick saw him in the kitchen and started squealing and offered his help) he sets up a box with a heating pad, a "nest" of warm flannel scraps, and a small stuffie for them to snuggle up to.

He dries them off and tucks them in, and then finds them a normally closed-off (due to disuse, Alfie isn't tryna have to dust empty ghost rooms) room on the ground floor. It's got nice big windows, and won't have the smells of the other animals in the house.

It takes time, but he does successfully raise, rehab, and release the squirrels. And that's that. Except.

Late summer another storm hits. The wildlife center calls him (he'd kept them updated on his squirrels) and asks if he minds taking on some wild mice.

They end up renovating the room into his "rehab room." His pets aren't allowed in, nor are his brothers or dad (except Dick). Alfred is allowed in, because Damian knows better than to tell him no. He can't figure out how to keep Cass out, and Steph is allowed because she's genuinely good at feeding babies and doesn't mind helping him make them relieve themselves. The goal is to limit the people smells and interactions, so they can stay as wild as possible and won't get used to human interactions.

The manor grounds are great for rehab & release, because they're so big and have lots of trees for birds and squirrels. If it isn't good for them to be on the manor grounds, he's allowed to use the Kent's farm, and other assorted wild areas that the capes community has access to.

The Amazons send him baby birds on occassion (they mostly rehab their own, but they have a hard time with birds because they're fragile and they're all equipped with Big Strong Lady Hands) and Diana holds him up off the ground so he isn't technically on their lands when he releases them.

#flower crown steph au #batfam headcanons #damian wayne #robin #batfam #dc comics #Dick is a terrible helper #but he puts the babies at ease like a magical fairy #Most wildlife centers are very nice and helpful #But beware if they know you've raised one litter they will call you until the end of time #They're all very very short staffed and short on supplies #The only reason this one had extra supplies is because Dami makes sure they're very well funded #Highkey don't try to raise baby squirrels #Don't touch them let Mom find them #In this AU the squirrel mom got partially squished but was found by a kind stranger who took her to the wildlife center #It was Jason #So she couldn't have come back so it was the right call #She's eventually released too and neither Wayne boyo knows that they've essentially co-healed the same squirrel family

[wvspkick]

Dear Diary,

Last week I started my new job. This came a month after my former employer sadly passed away. Before that, I had been working at the record store where he hired me. It served as a small book store too that served coffee in the lobby. It was a pretty popular place, everyone was friendly, especially newcomers. I got to listen to music all day, drink fresh brewed coffee, and chat with the most wonderful people I ever met. My boss, former and late, who I'll Mr. Awesome was no doubt the sweetest, down to earth man I ever met. He always had a grin on his face, pretty laid back, and gave one the benefit of the doubt. Before he hired me, I was aware that he was short staffed. I often took trips to the record book store for mostly for old vintage records and some books. I definitely went for the coffee, chugging it like no one's business. I don't do decaf. I didn't bother taking interest as the idea of working in that stuffy place was enough to make my head hurt. The idea of even working a normal job never appealed to me either. Yet at that time I suddenly got the nagging notion to do something worthwhile that didn't require just filling the hours with mundane chores. Most of all I desperately craved independence and financial freedom. I don't know why the urge, like, something was missing. For years I did pretty well and rarely worried about funds and the necessities of living. Often I didn't care too much for those things. Looking back I see I took a lot for granted.

The next time I saw Mr. Awesome I overheard him talk about him having to close the store due to low staff and things slowing down. I didn't mean to pry so I pretended to navigate through records and poetry books. I randomly chose one, Nirvana. How long ago had I even listened to these guys? And of course I plucked up good ol' The Beetles.

Sitting down with Mr. Awesome he gave me some tidbits of his life. He had been a veteran, married and had a few kids. He grew up in a large family. Both parents had long passed away.

I liked him on the spot. And he seemed to take a fancy to me, too. I immediately got on board with wanting to work for him. It had good hours, good pay. I remember talking his ear off so much I worried I scared him off with my Chatty Mouth. He told me I got the job and I nearly jumped! This was the greatest day of my life. ( Second to when I ate a jar of large CheesePuffs.)

I told the news to Hiyori, who didn't look as eager as I did. She figured I was going to leave everyone, opt for a much more normal life away from our friends. Leave them to be on my own and carve a new life for myself. We had all been together for centuries that even one of us leaving would make our home empty. Never once have I entertained the idea. I could never leave my Rowdy Bunch. They're all I have. Even if I were to move let's say to live a few blocks or the other side of town, I would get too lonely.

I reassured Hiyori nothing would change. She just didn't like the idea of me working with humans.

Before Mr. Awesome hired me, I hadn't been aware of what exactly would change. I didn't know Mr. Awesome was sick. He didn't tell anyone until it was too late. Nor had I known how long he'd been fighting this illness. He just was the perfect picture of health. Probably never had a cold in his life. In the time we knew each other, Mr. Awesome was more than just the boss man I saw everyday, from the minute I clocked in to the minute I clocked out where we shared more than just brief conversations before getting down in the place of business. He made everyday worthwhile. Even when he couldn't get me to shut up. ( We used to chat over danishes and hazel nut coffee and sweet pickles what a combination. He even gave me a batch of those delicious cinnamon danishes!)

Mr. Awesome became my friend whom I felt I'd met in ten different lifetimes. Who can say that about their manager? It broke me when he died, though I am aware humans aren't immortal, there comes one, a few or more that seem they belong here. And when they're gone it's difficult to process. Mr. Awesome reminded me of my father and I hardly remember mine, his face that is or what he sounded like.

I try to conjure the image that is my father, but only end up with blurred images. His face is blurred at least and his voice muffled. Yet I could almost feel him. Weird how I dream about the father who is long gone and I don't even have a picture of the man who sired me. I've been thinking about him too much, more recently. Especially my younger sister. How I tried not to think of either of them. I used to like to keep things in a box, memory wise at least. I just figured those things weren't good to dig back up.

Mr. Awesome taught me that memories make for the greatest story telling. I can still hear him laugh. Nothing like the rise of bitter nostalgia. Yet there's nothing bitter about Mr. Awesome. The record store he owned was passed down to his children. Mr. Awesome's family didn't want his business torn down for a parking space or a bank.

I think Mr. Awesome would be proud his business is still thriving. I owe a lot to him. My new job is a Youth Center. It's probably even more fulfilling than when I was working under Mr. Awesome as a cashier. It's like a camp for youths aged 6-11. There's a daycare across the street! I guess someone up there knew I adored children so isn't this just my luck! The first week was amazing. I pretty much can keep up with kids since I'm practically one myself. The irony!

It's fun. Livable. Happy!

#!mashiro #[ dragonflyfukutaicho ] #the mischief diaries of dragonflyfukutaicho #( dragonflyfukutaicho) #( the green bee ) #the mischief diaries