Episode Notes

What happens when union participation is at a near historic low? Precarit-ization and neofeudal constructs are asserting themselves more forcefully in the First World economy. While these relations have always existed at the periphery of capitalist empire and in the exploited Global South, the contradictions of contract work and elimination of hard-won gains by labor are exposed ever more blatantly.

Kyle "works" in the PMC-Information Economy-Hashtag Market of media content creation. Phil works in the service industry as a grocery store worker and is a member in his local union.

These two forms of work, often incorrectly pitted against each other as "skilled" or "unskilled," are not so different as they may seem on the surface. The cultures of the white collar and blue collar are often very disparate and there are definitely different expectations when it comes to participating in the economy - Kyle gets to mostly work from home during a pandemic while Phil is exposed to asshats wearing masks around their ankles looking for a frozen pizza brand that was discontinued decades ago. However, underlying each is the same down-to-up exploitation and extraction of "surplus value."

This is a topic we have discussed previously from the angle of "alienation" and we wish to take another look at what workers can do and do do in an effort to overthrow their class relations.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/