Thread by @bombsfall

In our worker co-op if I suddenly do some fucked up shit the other folks can get together and figure out what to do about it, and we have procedures in place for that, including booting me out. They still own the project, they still have access to the bank account, etc

One of the big reasons we wanted to do this is because we'd all experienced how standard workplace structures or even looser teams lend themselves to abuse and exploitation and cultures of silence and excuses etc. Like straight up that was and is a huge motivator.

When we talk a lot about increasing the amount of power workers have in the workplace, I cannot underline this enough, it is directly related to past experiences in the workplace including the things that regularly are exposed in the game industry. We didn't just have some whim.

We've said that often, in interviews, on here, etc. Honestly my entire politics about this comes from firsthand experience by myself, friends, or family. Before I knew much about what the word capitalism even meant beyond "uh...has a job? uses money? owns shoes? sells something?"

The knee-jerk progressive reaction when we talk about unions, cooperatives, worker power in general in regards to workplace abuse is often to say something to the effect "you're changing the subject" and like... I'm sorry what is it you think we're talking about?

Bethany was threatened w/ rape through letters and in person by someone at a group home she worked at. She told her supervisors, all women, that she didn't want to work alone w/ this person and she was ignored, and eventually had to lock herself in a room at work to stay safe.

If she had walked off the job she'd have been fired, and she needed the job. Nobody was listening, nobody cared, she didn't have a job that media cared about, it didn't pay well, and her employers knew it. She developed a feeling that she should have had more say in her workplace

She has more experiences, some better, some worse, all with the common denominator that they had the job, she needed it, and thus she had to put up w/ it, like most people do. I have my own experienced in my varied workplaces. We don't come to these topics theoretically!

We started a co-op because we finally had the opportunity to build a workplace and this seemed like something that, while not putting an end to all problems and dangers forever, would offer us more power to deal with them and a much larger toolset.

When people say "unions won't solve everything!" I don't know what they expect. You're right. Nothing will. I'd much rather you all own and operate every place you work and deal with all this bullshit immediately. In the meantime I'll settle for advocating strong unionization.

You can hang out and debate which exact workplace problem is 1st or 10th most important or you can say hey wait a second there are tools we don't have that might help us put a dent in these, and for some reason there is a LOT of pushback to giving us those specific tools.

Ok sorry, this was a thread to counteract my own jokerfication. Bethany said it was fine to share that workplace story. There are more, we both have them, we all have them. She is across the table and would actually say all of this in much harsher words. I'm the diplomatic one.

note: i'm not planning on doing any fucked up shit at the co-op, unless "fucked up shit" means "getting rad and staying cool"

also to be real: the actual reason co-ops and unions and anything that fucks with the amount of power workers have are controversial is because they are a threat to capital. the rest of it is there to work out and we'll come to different answers but let's be honest here.

Bosses will ask you to speak out, will set up some sort of accountability thing, might instigate some company culture shit, but if you had the leverage to *demand* that? "Ok listen, I support such things in other industries that really need it but our workplace is different, see

ok i'm done i'm just linking to this thread next time goodbye