John Deere Reports $6B Profit After Fighting Workers over Meager Wages

https://gizmodo.com/john-deere-reports-6-billion-profit-after-fighting-wor-1848118572

by kungfudoi • 5 years ago

65 21 5 years ago

1cvmask• 5 years ago

The mindset of exploiting your customers by denying them the right to repair is the same for denying your workers any improvements in their earnings. Luckily workers are in short supply and can easily get other jobs in this super hot job market.

toomuchtodo• 5 years ago

The union workers went on strike and won. John Deere also raised non union wages after agreeing to the new union contract.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/business/john-deere-uaw-strik...

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2021/...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_John_Deere_strike

KennyBlanken2• 5 years ago

John Deere also raised non union wages after agreeing to the new union contract.

Which goes against one of the common anti-union arguments....that it somehow hurts non-unionized labor.

Back in the 70's ~25% of the US workforce were unionized. Now it's well under 10%.

JoeyBananas3• 5 years ago

Repair is nowhere near fundamental enough to be considered a right. There is a reason it's not in the Constitution. The other rights give people the ability to repair things.

GauntletWizard• 5 years ago

Repair isn't a natural right, but it is a natural consequence of natural rights. IF you don't own your devices enough to swap components, flash their firmware, and root around their insides, your natural rights of ownership over your possessions are being trampled. Your freedom to tinker is your freedom to learn and think. Your freedom to break and reprogram is your freedom to protest. Your freedom to change and repurpose is freedom to be secure against search and seizure. These freedoms are being trampled by corporations that are certain that their right to profit overrides them - Don't let them.

No, "Repair" isn't a right in and of itself, but by the time you've lost the ability to, you've lost all of your other rights.

klyrs• 5 years ago

There is a reason it's not in the Constitution.

Indeed, DRM hadn't been invented yet. The simplicity of manufacturing technology available was what gave people the ability to repair things. And, don't forget the Ninth. The enumerated rights are not exhaustive.

salawat2• 5 years ago

2nd Amendment.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The keep there bundles the acts of manufacture, upkeep, and maintenance. Arms? What is a man's tool if not his weapon beared in the everyday struggle that is keeping civilization peacefully chugging along day by day.

You may disagree with the broad reading; but hell, if everyone else gets to split hairs to try to turn these damn things into an excuse to shackle people's liberties, might as well have an interpretation or two grant a few back.

ipspam2• 5 years ago

I don't get the tone of the article. The author comes off as a whiny, smarmy, entitled asshole. What's wrong with a 20% raise? Article seems to be written by a hard, hard, hardcore socialist. My math tells me that lowest payed employees make around $35,000 USD, with a raise getting them closer to $40,000 USD. Nothing to snarf at.

"The final union-approved contract, close to Deere’s preceding “best and final offer,” grants 10% pay raises in 2021 and 20% raises overall in four years. That sounds great, until you learn that a 10% increase could mean pay bumps of less than $4,000 for some longtime workers. "

pineconewarrior2• 5 years ago

You should not reach to defend these guys. I worked there as a contractor and witnessed rampant H1-B exploitation and dozens of other things that mortified me. After 6 months I took another job offer with 50% pay-cut and left with no regrets.

ipspam2• 5 years ago

Ok. I am sorry they treated you that way. It must take a lot to take a 50% paycut.

SonOfKyuss• 5 years ago

A “a hard, hard, hardcore socialist” would be advocating that John Deere reorganize as a workers’ co-op. This article is certainly pro-living wage, even anti-corporate, but I wouldn’t call that hardcore by any means.

John Deere Reports $6B Profit After Fighting Workers over Meager Wages

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