People fought and died in the streets to get OT pay and 5 day workweeks in the US. The CIA has assassinated union leaders in the Global South for decades. You tell me.
Totally. We've had Q4 labor screw-overs since Jack Welch. Now this added humiliation.
"AI" might enable mass automation. But it will also enable this CEO tactic: "Look shareholders/VCs, I namedropped the hot new thing, please gimme extra layoff brownie points this Christmas!"
Shostakovich did this a lot in his later work. His violin sonata starts with a long slow atonal dirge, then suddenly slinks into this little tonal waltz. It gives a “haunted music box” vibe that I absolutely love.
MBTA administration is day camp for the adult children of Boston Brahmins. The operations department, OTOH, is full of the hardest working and most passionate people you’ll ever meet.
Naturally, those operations jobs tend to attract more transit riders and lovers, who are disproportionately POCs, low income, or disabled. But the working conditions are abusive and exploitative - especially for anyone who cares enough to speak up about the dysfunction. Check out the FTC’s report on dispatcher shift lengths, for example. Or TransitCenter’s report on obstacles to operations hiring.
The T can’t hire bus drivers, even with a $7k signing bonus, a massive ad campaign, and a recession. It’s worth asking why.
If the T ever improves, it will be because the people who rely on it are in charge. But your assessment is bang on. Given how much power those in charge have amassed, I don’t see it happening.
For the lazy, here’s a fun video summarizing them: https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?feature=shared