The child labor story hidden by the Great Resignation

Bosses want to turn kids into scabs.

Over and over in the history of labor rights, we see the same story: if workers exclude a group from labor protections, bosses will recruit that group to scab against them and smash their power. Xenophobes argue that this means we should block immigration to head off competition with low-waged workers, but history teaches us that this is a losing move.

The winning move is to open your solidarity to every worker, regardless of immigration status, national origin, gender, or age. That’s why last year’s strikes against two-tier contracts (where younger workers are excluded from union benefits) were so significant:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/18/labor-shortage-discourse-time/#deere-dash

The Great Resignation has seen an increase in worker power, with gains in wages and working conditions. A recurring motif in Great Resignation talk is dunking on the boss’s lament that there is a “labor shortage,” pointing out that there’s really a *wage* shortage.

https://www.google.com/search?q=labor+shortage+meme

In other words, if you’re a capitalism stan with a Laffer Curve tattooed on your bicep, you should be able to recognize that if workers won’t sell their labor at the price…