Why Work Is Killing Us (and the Planet)
It’s Friday!!! To start the weekend here’s my new video on work alongside three quotes and three links I found compelling during my research. Enjoy!
Three Quotes:
“Wage work remains today the centerpiece of late capitalist economic systems; it is, of course, the way most people acquire access to the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. It is not only the primary mechanism by which income is distributed, it is also the basic means by which status is allocated, and by which most people gain access to health care and retirement.”
— Kathi Weeks
“In our society, then, work is defined as the act by which an employee contracts out her or his labour power as property in the person to an employer for fair monetary compensation. This way of describing work, of understanding it as a fair exchange between two equals, hides the real relationship between employer and employee: that of domination and subordination.”
— L. Susan Brown
“Our analysis shows that shifting to a four-day working week without loss of pay could shrink the UK’s carbon footprint by 127 million tonnes per year by 2025. This represents a reduction of 21.3%, and is more than the entire carbon footprint of Switzerland. It is also equivalent to taking 27 million cars off the road - effectively the entire UK private car fleet.”
— 4 Day Work Week
Three Links:
Stop the Clock: The Environmental Benefits of a Shorter Work Week (4 Day Work Week)
Does Work Really Work? (L. Susan Brown)
The Mythology of Work : Eight Myths that Keep Your Eyes on the Clock and Your Nose to the Grindstone (CrimethInc)
Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week,
Charlie