[39896880]

> Striking during election week is kind of a crappy move to pull.

Can we get a definitive list of weeks where workers’ rights are officially less important than $world_event? That way we can schedule our requests appropriately. We don’t want to inconvenience anyone.

[dang]

Please make your substantive points without snark. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

[madars]

That's not snark, that's just taking their argument to its logical conclusion. Big difference.

[dang]

Of course people understand a term like 'snark' in different ways, so in that sense your point is fine.

But the comment was clearly using sarcasm as an internet hammer, which is what that guideline is asking people not to do. It's bad for curious conversation, which is what we want here.

[legitster]

I know you are trying to be flip, but there topics that are more important than worker's rights. I'm not going to argue that the NYTimes crossword is up there, but I think a good case can be made that independent journalism is up there, especially during open elections.

There is a long list of organizations and governments that made worker's rights more important than inclusive democratic institutions, and it didn't work out for anyone, especially the workers.

Maybe any of the 207 weeks between presidential elections? Or any of the thousands of weeks when one of the running candidates has threatened the legitimacy of their institution directly?

[marricks]

Day of election there is a big tally when votes come in and pictures of American Democracy In Action with a bunch of puff stories about people in lines. Huge time for viewership, not a huge time for important journalism.

There is no perfect time to strike, but I think other outlets can cover the typical:

- "huge lines in Pennsylvania!"

- "Polls close in [KEY SWING STATE] in 2 hours!"

- "Wow the whole west coast went blue, who would have thought!"

- "Shocker that one battleground is going into recount which will somehow last 4 weeks."

[petesergeant]

There will be absolutely no shortage of other places where Americans get their election news, and arguably at a higher quality than NYT. I will miss their election ticker dashboard widget thing though, that thing is cool.

[Justsignedup]

All people who don't care say "can you please go over there, in the corner, where I can't see you, so you can protest and I can appropriately ignore you."

The point of a protest is to annoy you. Annoy you enough into action.

[science4sail]

Annoyance so that bystanders support the protesters' demands or annoyance so that bystanders act against the protesters out of spite? After all, the Westboro Baptist Church's protests don't seem to have been very effective at promoting the cause of homophobia.

I think that protests are a risky move unless the general population is already sympathetic to the protesters' goals.

[Justsignedup]

> After all, the Westboro Baptist Church's protests don't seem to have been very effective at promoting the cause of homophobia

Those protests are to provoke people into physical violence. They are organized by a personal injury lawyer.

> Annoyance so that bystanders support the protesters' demands or annoyance so that bystanders act against the protesters out of spite?

People say a lot of shit, but actually doing an effort out of spite is work, if they do that, they probably think. This is how all protests work. The 1960s black rights protests would like to have a word with you regarding efficacy. :)

[hollerith]

What action am I supposed to take on behalf of these cognitively-privileged workers already earning six-figure salaries?

[Justsignedup]

Support them by boycotting. I don't understand your statement here. Are you saying that because you have it fairly well, that you should let your labor be as exploited as possible?

If I earn 200k a year, and my employer earns 1MM a year from my labor, why should I not protest for better work conditions, or more % of my labor? If my labor is valuable I should be able to capitalize on it as well.

A worker earning 20k who is making the employer 40k a year is earning a higher % of their labor value than someone making 200k earning 1M a year for the employer.

[hollerith]

>If I earn 200k a year, and my employer earns 1MM a year from my labor,

How would you or I know whether NYT earns 1MM a year from a striking worker or 100k?

You're just assuming that the labor's value is above the pay. Have you ever met a strike or labor action that you did not like?

[Justsignedup]

I think NYPD labor actions is something I feel strongly against.

- underpaid

- they fight tooth and nail for lack of accountability

- they get lots of fun benefits for overtime, so they make sure to arrest people so they can get overtime

I can't say one positive thing about the NYPD union, it is the "anti-accountability" union.

[hollerith]

OK fair enough.