Workers have the right to decide their own fate in negotiations Ian McDonald skrifar 2. desember 2022 08:01 My name is Ian and I work in a manufacturing job in Iceland. I am a member of Efling Union, and I also sit on the union’s negotiations committee. My job is many levels of management below the executives and the CEOs. I am one of the people who make a product which is then sold for a massive profit by the company where I work. My labor is essential to this continued profitability. As is the labor of everyone I work with, and everyone else in my position at other companies. That labor is the subject of a calculation by employers, which can be boiled down to a single sentence: “What is the absolute bare minimum we can pay this employee to stop him from not taking the job in the first place or from walking out of the door?” I have spent a long time in that position, where my only choices were to try and justify a pay raise to those same people making that calculation, or to wait and hope that other people win some kind of distant fight behind closed doors for any shred of leniency and support. That has now changed. Attending negotiations meetings with employers is the first time that I have been able to sit down and look a person in the eye while they tell us that we don’t deserve to be paid a living wage. For the longest time, we have been lied to that wage increases and other concessions are unaffordable and unrealistic. Until now, we have had no recourse to fight this narrative. No way to tell a truth to that lie. Yet, the idea that a wage increase is unaffordable by corporations is absolutely, fundamentally untrue. Perhaps that is why SA have not brought up that argument in the negotiations with Efling up to this point. Maybe SA knows that the moment they do, they would be confronted by the immense profits of the companies they represent and the entire edifice would crumble. We live in a time where every year gets harder and harder for us to merely exist. Where every paycheck goes less and less far. For far too long we have been deliberately removed and excluded from the very process which determines our quality of life. We have not been considered important enough to even be in the room. Just a number in a calculation. That is changing now. I look forward to continuing my work in the Efling negotiations committee with my brave fellow Efling workers. The author is an immigrant worker in manufacturing in Iceland and member of the Efling negotiations committee. Viltu birta grein á Vísi? Sendu okkur póst. Senda grein Kjaramál Kjaraviðræður 2022 Mest lesið Samtökin 78 verðlauna sögufölsun Böðvar Björnsson Skoðun Varað við embætti sérstaks saksóknara Gestur Jónsson Skoðun Ætlar Ísland að fara sömu leið og Evrópa í útlendingamálum? Kári Allansson Skoðun Menntun sem mannréttindi – ekki forréttindi París Anna Bergmann,Sigurður Kári Harðarson Skoðun Hættuleg ofnotkun svefnlyfja á Íslandi Drífa Sigfúsdóttir Skoðun Út af sporinu en ekki týnd að eilífu María Helena Mazul Skoðun Börnin sem deyja á Gaza Elín Pjetursdóttir Skoðun Meira að segja formaður Viðreisnar Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson Skoðun Hvað er lýðskóli eiginlega? Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir Skoðun Afstaða – á vaktinni í 20 ár Arndís Vilhjálmsdóttir,Guðbjörg Sveinsdóttir Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Framtíðin fær húsnæði Ingunn Gunnarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Börnin sem deyja á Gaza Elín Pjetursdóttir skrifar Skoðun Brýr, sýkingar og börn Jón Pétur Zimsen skrifar Skoðun Konum í afplánun fjölgar: Með flókin áföll á bakinu Tinna Eyberg Örlygsdóttir,Sigríður Ella Jónsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Hvað er lýðskóli eiginlega? Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Búum til pláss fyrir framtíðina Birna Þórarinsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Hættuleg ofnotkun svefnlyfja á Íslandi Drífa Sigfúsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Kveikjum neistann um allt land Kolbrún Áslaugar Baldursdóttir skrifar Skoðun Ætlar Ísland að fara sömu leið og Evrópa í útlendingamálum? Kári Allansson skrifar Skoðun Samtökin 78 verðlauna sögufölsun Böðvar Björnsson skrifar Skoðun Afstaða – á vaktinni í 20 ár Arndís Vilhjálmsdóttir,Guðbjörg Sveinsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Menntun sem mannréttindi – ekki forréttindi París Anna Bergmann,Sigurður Kári Harðarson skrifar Skoðun Varað við embætti sérstaks saksóknara Gestur Jónsson skrifar Skoðun Út af sporinu en ekki týnd að eilífu María Helena Mazul skrifar Skoðun Meira að segja formaður Viðreisnar Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Gaza sveltur til dauða - Tími bréfaskrifta er löngu liðinn Magnús Magnússon,Hjálmtýr Heiðdal skrifar Skoðun Steypuklumpablætið í borginni Ragnhildur Alda María Vilhjálmsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Kærum og beitum Ísrael viðskiptabanni! Pétur Heimisson skrifar Skoðun Blæðandi vegir Sigþór Sigurðsson skrifar Skoðun Fái einstaklingar sem eru hættulegir sjálfum sér ekki viðeigandi búsetuúrræði blasir við mikill harmleikur Elínborg Björnsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Hroki og hleypidómar - syngur Jónas Sen? Bjarnheiður Hallsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Sveitarfélög gegna lykilhlutverki í vistvænni mannvirkjagerð Guðrún Lilja Kristinsdóttir,Bergþóra Góa Kvaran skrifar Skoðun „Nýtt veiðigjald: sátt byggð á hagkvæmni“ Svanur Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Opinber áskorun til prófessorsins Brynjar Karl Sigurðsson skrifar Skoðun Nærvera Héðinn Unnsteinsson skrifar Skoðun Þegar Dagur lét mig hrasa á gangstéttarhellu Björn Teitsson skrifar Skoðun Þessi jafnlaunavottun... Sunna Arnardottir skrifar Skoðun Heilsuspillandi minnisleysi í boði Sjálfstæðisflokksins Sigríður Svanborgardóttir skrifar Skoðun #BLESSMETA – fyrsta grein Guðrún Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Dáleiðsla er ímyndun ein Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Sjá meira
My name is Ian and I work in a manufacturing job in Iceland. I am a member of Efling Union, and I also sit on the union’s negotiations committee. My job is many levels of management below the executives and the CEOs. I am one of the people who make a product which is then sold for a massive profit by the company where I work. My labor is essential to this continued profitability. As is the labor of everyone I work with, and everyone else in my position at other companies. That labor is the subject of a calculation by employers, which can be boiled down to a single sentence: “What is the absolute bare minimum we can pay this employee to stop him from not taking the job in the first place or from walking out of the door?” I have spent a long time in that position, where my only choices were to try and justify a pay raise to those same people making that calculation, or to wait and hope that other people win some kind of distant fight behind closed doors for any shred of leniency and support. That has now changed. Attending negotiations meetings with employers is the first time that I have been able to sit down and look a person in the eye while they tell us that we don’t deserve to be paid a living wage. For the longest time, we have been lied to that wage increases and other concessions are unaffordable and unrealistic. Until now, we have had no recourse to fight this narrative. No way to tell a truth to that lie. Yet, the idea that a wage increase is unaffordable by corporations is absolutely, fundamentally untrue. Perhaps that is why SA have not brought up that argument in the negotiations with Efling up to this point. Maybe SA knows that the moment they do, they would be confronted by the immense profits of the companies they represent and the entire edifice would crumble. We live in a time where every year gets harder and harder for us to merely exist. Where every paycheck goes less and less far. For far too long we have been deliberately removed and excluded from the very process which determines our quality of life. We have not been considered important enough to even be in the room. Just a number in a calculation. That is changing now. I look forward to continuing my work in the Efling negotiations committee with my brave fellow Efling workers. The author is an immigrant worker in manufacturing in Iceland and member of the Efling negotiations committee.
Skoðun Konum í afplánun fjölgar: Með flókin áföll á bakinu Tinna Eyberg Örlygsdóttir,Sigríður Ella Jónsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Menntun sem mannréttindi – ekki forréttindi París Anna Bergmann,Sigurður Kári Harðarson skrifar
Skoðun Gaza sveltur til dauða - Tími bréfaskrifta er löngu liðinn Magnús Magnússon,Hjálmtýr Heiðdal skrifar
Skoðun Fái einstaklingar sem eru hættulegir sjálfum sér ekki viðeigandi búsetuúrræði blasir við mikill harmleikur Elínborg Björnsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Sveitarfélög gegna lykilhlutverki í vistvænni mannvirkjagerð Guðrún Lilja Kristinsdóttir,Bergþóra Góa Kvaran skrifar