Propaganda from US oligarchs that attaches anti-union with pro-America and anti-communism during the cold war.
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“Stingrays”
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In a word: outsourcing.
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It’s just crazy.
I am an executive and senior manager, but I am pro-union historically. (I’m in the EU, not in the US, in case anyone is unaware. Unions work a little differently here, and most professional employees are covered by an actual employment contract, and many of our technical staff are also members of one of the general trade unions.)
You cannot beat the company as an individual when it comes to negotiation for salary and benefits. This is always true. The company holds all the cards. The best you can do is beat your fellow employees, and that’s a fool’s game. If you’re anti-union, you’ve been suckered by the media or your bosses.
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Interesting. I guess it didn’t help that Democrats in the US turned from supporting unions to supporting business. But I’ve heard that was because blue collar people turned to the republicans after the Civil Rights laws.
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It’s a much different environment.
Here, I am considered a centrist or slightly-right fiscally-conservative social democrat. The same ideas in the US have no place and little support. Most USians would have me on the far left-wing fringe, and I would be called a socialist or communist. Politics does not translate well between our environments.
Even if I were anti-union, there’s nothing that could be done about it. It’s an employee’s right, and unlike the US, it’s actually supported by the Belgian and EU governments. The down side, if there is one, is that a general strike really messes things up. But because of that, typically they don’t last very long.
Here’s a basic guide to employment and trade unions in Belgium. Most of this applies throughout the EU. (Note there is a drop-down in the upper right corner for the English translation.)
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In general I am pro-union. My dad was in one when I was a kid, and they were very supportive.
I have also been in a union, and that was… not so supportive. Put it this way: they did stuff which people I knew in my dad’s old union assured me they would not do, because it was a poor move and ultimately undermined a large segment of their own members.
Briefly: we were forced to go out on a not-strike of dubious legality, which could have cost us our jobs if it lasted more than 10 days. It lasted exactly 10.
In fact, a senior member of my union crossed the picket line to protest how people in my situation were being treated.
Part of the good of unions comes from its own members knowing how to be in a union and its officers taking all members into account. If that doesn’t happen, you have a weak union that can cause harm beyond its own mandate.
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The last time I re-read Fahrenheit 451 was some undetermined number of years ago, my memory is fuzzy on that. This is exactly how I pictured the “dogs” except with a needle at the end of the articulating arm.
Cyberpunk Dystopia, ideed.
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I’m sure police departments are looking into that.
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Are they trying to create something even more nightmarish than the usual dogs…?
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Indeed.
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They wanted something like that for the “rovers” in The Prisoner but they couldn’t build a convincing practical robot so somebody was inspired to come up with the surreal giant balloon instead
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The balloon ended up being more terrifying than any robot. Talk about a stroke of genius! My only nitpick was the obvious lava lamp at the beginning of every Rover scene.
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Don’t know where you got that idea.
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Action Movie Dad edits the promo into what everyone was already thinking:
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I like the payload of skulls.
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Do you think they are for decorative purposes?
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I fall to see how creating a high-tech Stasi will improve productivity.
Plus there’s no way to tell the difference between someone spacing out and someone having a good think to solve a problem.
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