Odin Halvorson
1 min readMar 10, 2023

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This is a key point, however, because (logically) employers should be grateful for their employees first and foremost. Why? Because, without the labor of the employee, there is no functional business at all. This is one of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of the worker/owner relationship in the United States: the owners need the workers.

The pandemic offered a chance for people to learn this lesson. While huge portions of the working population were suddenly unwilling to put themselves into harms way for low pay and undesirable conditions, owners decried the lack of "loyalty." At the end of the day, people work because the systems we allow ourselves to live within mean that no work = no food. In that respect, it makes sense that people feel relief at having a job, even if the conditions are terrible. Because terrible conditions are worth suffering through in order to avoid literal destitution.

But I take umbrage with the idea that we who work should be in any way grateful for this situation, especially when any profit that exists is entirely the result of our direct labor (and the risks we expose ourselves to during that labor). If anything, employers should be groveling to pay $25/hour minimum wages with full benefits in the hope of attracting our attentions.

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Odin Halvorson
Odin Halvorson

Written by Odin Halvorson

A futurist/socialist/fantasist writer, editor, and scholar. MFA/MLIS. Free access to my articles at OdinHalvorson.substack.com | More over at OdinHalvorson.com.

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