Sharks are cool and comfortable!
Elden Thing | Back & Body Hurts Platinugggggh Rewards Member
Profile pic and banner credits: sharkaeopteryx art by @superkiak! eggbug by eggbug! Mash-up by me!
[Alt-text for pfp: a cute sharkaeopteryx sat on the ground with legs out, wings down, jaw ajar, and hed empty, looking at eggbug and eggbug's enigmatic smile.]
[Alt-text for banner: a Spirit Halloween banner with eggbug and the sharkaeopteryx that Superkiak drew for me looking at it with inscrutable expressions]
I'm a Vietnamese cis woman born and currently living in the U.S. You may know me from Sandwich, from Twitter or Mastodon (same username), or on Twitch as Sharkaeopteryx. I do not have a Discord or Bluesky account.
Ask me about language learning/teaching, cooking/eating food, late diagnosis ADHD, and volunteer small business mentoring. Or don't, I'm not the boss of you.
I think people deserve to be young, make mistakes, and grow without being held to standards they don't know about yet and are still learning. So, if you are under 22, please don't try to strike up a friendship or get involved in discussions on my posts.
Please don't automatically assume I follow/know/co-sign someone just because I reposted something from them—sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Also, if you think being removed as a follower when we're not mutuals is a cardinal sin, please do not follow me.
from twitter user beisan:
"I'm proud to launch this project today. [...] An accessible resource for diaspora Palestinians and their allies, committed to developing shared language and understanding about Anti-Palestinian Racism and its manifestations."
"The individualism of the capitalist must be seen against the hard and unrewarded work of the masses."—Walter Rodney
from twitter user speakforsudan22:
"Overall, the absence of communication networks in Sudan would have far-reaching implications, affecting various aspects of daily life, governance, and socio-economic development."
Yesterday, the 100 workers of Nitehawk Cinema, which as I understand is a recent local staple of New York City's Prospect Park, went public with their union! They'll be unionizing with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and—because Nitehawk Cinema is refusing to voluntarily recognize them—they'll be going forward with a union election in short order. They've also been aided in their unionization by the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (and from my personal observations, NYC-DSA).
According to Jacobin, pay and benefits at the cinema are... inadequate to say the least. They report that starting pay for servers is the state minimum ($10.65 before tips), and further that "only full-time workers are eligible for health insurance." They add through interviews with workers at the cinema that multiple employees have been forced to choose between rent and tending to their own health. The union itself says:
We have faced countless issues concerning unsafe working conditions, unfair treatment and inequitable wages, exacerbated by the whirlwind phenomena of Barbenheimer.
We are dangerously overworked and the amount of effort each employee contributes to this job is not reflected in our compensation, nor the way we are treated.
These problems are not new, though it has become clear that coming together as a workforce is the only way our concerns will be heard and taken seriously.
Some examples of these "unsafe working conditions" are quite serious. Workers say that the building has exhibited safety issues such as falling debris particles from the roof; a lack of reliable air condition which leads to building temperatures in the eighties Fahrenheit; and “floor sweat,” which occurs because of the building's construction. In certain conditions, they say to Jacobin, the building "retains moisture and in certain weather [the floor] becomes extraordinarily slippery, posing a danger to workers and customers alike."
Jacobin notes in their piece that a proto-union of sorts was attempted here during the first height of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021); that effort, consisting of a letter demanding better working conditions and addressing some of these conditions, ended in two workers being fired. This unionization effort is occurring in the shadow of that and organizers say it's definitely had an influence on some of the current workplace and their willingness to unionize.
Still, the union believes it has about 70% support at minimum and is optimistic about any union election. A date for one is forthcoming.
