Erm, I don't know where the author's from but workplaces in North America outside of the software industry have always been authoritarian like that. Especially given that levels of unionization peaked at 1/3 of the workforce ever and are now way down in the US and Canadian private sector. The software industry experienced an exception to the tendency due to chronic labour shortage for nearly 2 decades that created expectations uncommon in other workplaces. Now it's regressing to the mean. What we're now experiencing has been the reality of most our comrades.
this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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The author is Italian teaching in Canada. While it's true that in the USA democratic structures in the workplace are less common than elsewhere, I think the author is presenting the phenomenon in a rethorical fashion to motivate workers to fight the new forms of Authorian control in the workplace.
They shared a perspective i hadn't considered: all the AI involvement in the workplace, the constant surveillance, the rigid hierarchies--it all serves as ways to acquaint people with authoritarianism.
I mean, it isn't illegal to treat workers with suspicion and malice -- and frankly, they can always leave! (Same could be said for citizens, on second thought...)
If all the businesses decide they want to run that way (or if all the businesses get absorbed by 2-3 mega-corporations and they decide to treat workers that way), it's within their rights to. Hell, we've been discovering for quite some time that businesses may even operate illegally until found out, and even then it's often not enough to stop them -- it simply becomes an operating expense.
Isn't it interesting that the richest people in the world are allied with each other politically? At least here in this shithole we call the USA, we now get to witness enthusiastic levels of corruption, and every major corp with their shitty, billionaire leader is there getting their slice of pie.
The authoritarianism begins in the workplace (and schools!) where people become conditioned to the hierarchy, then ultimately get dominated by the authoritarian government that they themselves somehow voted for.
I think it’s important to keep remembering and sharing that it wasn’t always like this. We don’t need the younger generations seeing this as normal or acceptable.
Did we actually manage a "Lemmy hug of death" here? This may be a first, congratulations all!
are you behind a VPN? Because disconnecting from my VPN it started working again.
No but it did finally come back and work for me.