You’re not wrong but what’s a realistic path to accomplishing such a thing? Capitalists want to extract as much money as possible so raising wages or improving working conditions without being forced is out of the question. The only party with even a pretend interest in forcing that discussion just got beat down all over the country. And no one cares enough about the issue to fix it by paying more for food, which would probably still be true if we doubled wages for all jobs.
Realistically it is difficult, I agree, as capitalism doesnt look to be going anywhere and the current environment doesnt seem like one where increased regulation is likely to get passed. Honestly I think the most realistic path to some improvement at the moment is research into automation tech for the kinds of farm roles that currently rely on cheap labor. Not that capitalists wont just take the cost savings and still pay people less, but its at least possible to pay people more without increasing the cost of staples if the available revenue can be spread across fewer more productive workers, and because operating complex machinery and maintaining it take more time to learn, such workers at least might have a better shot at organizing and thereby forcing that wage increase, because their skills could be harder to replace. And because the technology theoretically allows for increased profits, funding developing it might stand a chance at still getting through even current political conditions.
Honestly, that might be required even in a more equitable economic system anyway though, at some level that kind of work seems like it would have pretty slim margins, so even if the profits were distributed fairly, it still might not be enough to make those jobs not terrible.
You’re not wrong but what’s a realistic path to accomplishing such a thing? Capitalists want to extract as much money as possible so raising wages or improving working conditions without being forced is out of the question. The only party with even a pretend interest in forcing that discussion just got beat down all over the country. And no one cares enough about the issue to fix it by paying more for food, which would probably still be true if we doubled wages for all jobs.
Automation of some of the jobs might be possible, but likely still wildly more expensive than paying some immigrant peanuts
Realistically it is difficult, I agree, as capitalism doesnt look to be going anywhere and the current environment doesnt seem like one where increased regulation is likely to get passed. Honestly I think the most realistic path to some improvement at the moment is research into automation tech for the kinds of farm roles that currently rely on cheap labor. Not that capitalists wont just take the cost savings and still pay people less, but its at least possible to pay people more without increasing the cost of staples if the available revenue can be spread across fewer more productive workers, and because operating complex machinery and maintaining it take more time to learn, such workers at least might have a better shot at organizing and thereby forcing that wage increase, because their skills could be harder to replace. And because the technology theoretically allows for increased profits, funding developing it might stand a chance at still getting through even current political conditions.
Honestly, that might be required even in a more equitable economic system anyway though, at some level that kind of work seems like it would have pretty slim margins, so even if the profits were distributed fairly, it still might not be enough to make those jobs not terrible.