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 Athugið. Vísir hvetur lesendur til að skiptast á skoðunum. Allar athugasemdir eru á ábyrgð þeirra er þær rita. Lesendur skulu halda sig við málefnalega og hófstillta umræðu og áskilur Vísir sér rétt til að fjarlægja ummæli og/eða umræðu sem fer út fyrir þau mörk. Vísir mun loka á aðgang þeirra sem tjá sig ekki undir eigin nafni eða gerast ítrekað brotlegir við ofangreindar umgengnisreglur. Mest lesið Kveikur brennur út Þorsteinn Sæmundsson Skoðun Gætir þú lifað af örorkubótum? Guðmunda G. Guðmundsdóttir Skoðun Bóndi hvað! Sigríður Ævarsdóttir Skoðun Má spyrja homma að öllu? Sólborg Guðbrandsdóttir Skoðun Spurt og svarað um útlendingamál Indriði Stefánsson Skoðun Jafnaðarmannastefnan – stefna velferðar Sigfús Ómar Höskuldsson Skoðun Enga saltdreifara á Bessastaði takk Skírnir Garðarsson Skoðun Góð manneskja í djobbið Halldór Guðmundsson Skoðun Dagsbirtan lyftir andanum Hólmfríður Ósmann Jónsdóttir,Hrefna Björg Þorsteinsdóttir Skoðun Aumingja Evrópa: Líkleg átakasvæði að Úkraínustríðinu loknu? Hilmar Þór Hilmarsson Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Bóndi hvað! Sigríður Ævarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Dagsbirtan lyftir andanum Hólmfríður Ósmann Jónsdóttir,Hrefna Björg Þorsteinsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Kveikur brennur út Þorsteinn Sæmundsson skrifar Skoðun Gætir þú lifað af örorkubótum? Guðmunda G. Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Spurt og svarað um útlendingamál Indriði Stefánsson skrifar Skoðun Jafnaðarmannastefnan – stefna velferðar Sigfús Ómar Höskuldsson skrifar Skoðun Bóndi hvað! Sigríður Ævarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Guðrún - Réttlátur og víðsýnn biskup sem fylgir samtímanum Rannveig Iðunn Ásgeirsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Má spyrja homma að öllu? Sólborg Guðbrandsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Enn og aftur sumarlokun hjá SÁÁ Sigmar Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Fjárveitingar til vegamála standast engan samanburð Björn Bjarki Þorsteinsson skrifar Skoðun Aumingja Evrópa: Líkleg átakasvæði að Úkraínustríðinu loknu? Hilmar Þór Hilmarsson skrifar Skoðun Biskupsval Sigfinnur Þorleifsson,Vigfús Bjarni Albertsson skrifar Skoðun Afmennska að bjarga ekki dýrum í neyð! Anna Berg Samúelsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Þessu skal troðið ofan í kokið á okkur sama hvað Guðrún Sigurjónsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Hvað er ofurhagnaður? Gústaf Steingrímsson skrifar Skoðun Góð manneskja í djobbið Halldór Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Afkomuviðvörun Jón Ingi Hákonarson skrifar Skoðun Hver er þinn innri áttaviti? Signý Gyða Pétursdóttir skrifar Skoðun Eins og sandur úr greip Jón Steindór Valdimarsson skrifar Skoðun Enga saltdreifara á Bessastaði takk Skírnir Garðarsson skrifar Skoðun Hvernig forseta vilt þú? Valdís Arnarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Spurðu fólkið Halla Tómasdóttir skrifar Skoðun Vopn, sprengjur og annað eins Árný Björg Blandon skrifar Skoðun Hvar er eldhúsglugginn? Elsa Ævarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Bakslag í streymi Silja Snædal Drífudóttir skrifar Skoðun Tímaskekkja á 21. öldinni Valerio Gargiulo skrifar Skoðun Hver er pælingin? Ásgeir Brynjar Torfason skrifar Skoðun Í átt að velsæld á nokkrum mínútum Olga Björt Þórðardóttir skrifar Skoðun Er fyrirmyndarríkið Ísland í ruslflokki í sorpmálum? Sigurður Páll Jónsson 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 Guðrún - Réttlátur og víðsýnn biskup sem fylgir samtímanum Rannveig Iðunn Ásgeirsdóttir skrifar