Today's threads (a thread)
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: What's a "gig work minimum wage"; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/17/no-piecework/
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As I mentioned in my own blog on the subject of work: I recall a conversation here on Mastodon where one person said that everyone needs employment. Another responded that no, everyone needs food, clothing, shelter, and health care. We just happen to have a society where in order to get these things, you (normally) need to be employed in a job.
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What's a "gig work minimum wage": The important rate is what you're paid when you're waiting for a job.
Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)
Attached: 1 image "Minimum wage" is one of those odd concepts that *seems* to have an intuitive definition, but the harder you think about it, the more complicated it gets. For example, if you want to work, but can't find a job, then the minimum wage you'll get is zero: https://web.archive.org/web/20200625043843/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-06-24/forget-ubi-says-an-economist-its-time-for-universal-basic-jobs -- If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/17/no-piecework/#no-justice 1/
Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net (mamot.fr)
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Fun fact: This kind of stuff has a long history. For instance, in the Harz Mountains of Germany, miners were only paid for the time they were working within the tunnels, but not for the time they needed to get down to their designated tunnel.
This was a problem, since for the deepest mine - such as the Samson Pit in Sankt Andreasberg, which had a depth of 800 meters - it could take one hour to get down and two hours to get back to the surface.
Eventually, a technical solution was developed - the "Fahrkunst" or "Man Engine", which cut down the time to 20 minutes in each direction. You owe it to yourself to read up on it - it's one of the more unhinged modes of transportation out there.
