Parenting is hard

It is the start of the Spring 2024 semester on campus. Nice to see a bustling campus once more, though the only downside is the bathrooms will certainly be dirtier. The flu and cold virus is also going around, so we've got to protect ourselves the best we can. Wash or sanitize your hands often, and try not to touch your face. Even post COVID pandemic, people can’t seem to stay home when they are sick. Supposedly, the area around the eyes are potently vulnerable entry points for viruses.

Was there a chance the Spring semester was going to be delayed? The CFA - the union representing faculty and librarians - were on strike just last week. But on that Tuesday, the two sides came to a tentative agreement. CFA basically got the same deal as we, the employees union - got: five percent raises last fiscal and this fiscal year. Equality is great, isn't it? (The CFA was asking for more.)

Also included in the new contract is an increase of paid parental leave from the current six weeks to 10 weeks. As a housemate to two new parents with five months-old twin boys, I must say parents deserve all the time off they can get from their employers. Parenting is truly another job onto itself. It's not like folks on parental leave are at home playing videos games. In fact, some are happy to return to work, partly to escape the baby responsibilities for just a few precious hours. (Who knew that eating an entire lunch undisturbed can be so precious?)

Anything to encourage and incentivize people to have babies should be pursued. The education industry - the one I am employed by - is predicated on having an endless supply of replacement pupils, year after year. If the population is having fewer babies, then that supply will naturally dwindle. And with it the future stability of this job. So in a totally self-servicing way: good for the CFA in getting an increase in parental leave!

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The marshmallow test.

It is too damn high

I was due in for my annual physical tomorrow, but in lieu of Kaiser Permanente workers commencing a three-day strike today, I had to reschedule. Because I too am a member of a union, and the unofficial rule (or perhaps official?) for union members is to never ever cross a picket line. Not the one of your union, or any other union. In respect and support for the Kaiser workers, it’s no big deal for me to delay my routine visit. It’s not like I’ve got an open arterial wound (would have been long dead by now).

A huge fist of solidarity to those healthcare workers. These inflationary times are indeed super tough. Have you guys noticed the gas prices lately? The cost per gallon of gas has jumped solidly into the six dollars. Well, except at Costco. But then you’d be queuing up with everybody and their mothers just to save a few bucks. I get it though: it certainly feels like a unit of money doesn’t get you very much these days. Workers are simply fighting for wages that keep up with the inflation. Those PG&E utility rates aren’t shrinking, that’s for sure.

Inflation is even more jarring when you know what the prices were from way before. A breakfast burrito at the taqueria on campus used to cost less than five dollars. I curiously checked last week and it has ballooned to over $11! Granted, that’s about par for the course these days for a meal, but because I know what that burrito used to cost - more than half of what it is today - I cannot bring myself to pay the new price. I rather walk to nearby Chipotle and get a bowl for $12. At least that item was never under five dollars.

Kaiser Permanente workers on strike: I hope you get the maximum possible. I shall see some of you in two weeks when I go in for my rescheduled annual checkup.

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I’m on the next level.

In solidarity!

The Writers Guild have gone on strike. I can remember the last time the writers picketed, back in 2007. The beloved show The Office was nearly cancelled because of it. Many other shows did get cancelled, and those that survive had their storylines hugely affected. Depending on how this strike goes, the effect on your favorite show may be devastating.

Don’t get me wrong, I am squarely on the side of the striking writers. As a member of a union myself, I have nothing but solidarity with members of other unions. Inflation continues to be an issue, so workers have to fight for every bit of increase just to keep up with expenses. Last year my union negotiated a 7% increase for the members, for which I am extremely grateful. The increase definitely eases the pain of the current inflationary environment. From an already frugal base, I didn’t have to alter my spending that much, if at all.

The writers also have to contend with the existential crisis of being replaced by AI. I directly know people who are already using ChatGPT (and the like) to help them write long form. The same technology can no doubt be leveraged by TV and movie studios to write stories and dialogue. You can employ less writers if all you need is for them to tidy up the output from an AI bot. The time is right now for human writers to negotiate a future in which their role is protected for years to come.

Our favorite shows might be on pause for a long time because of the strike, but these are real people with real families to take care of. These aren’t the Hollywood elites living in the hills. Most writers earn a middle-income wage like you and I. They deserve every bit they can get from the studios. In solidarity!

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Ominous.

Uber and Lyft drivers go on strike

In major U.S. cities today, Uber and Lyft drivers went on strike in protest of their low pay and terrible working conditions. Frequent users of those ride-sharing services are advised to find alternate methods, such as (ironically) the standard taxi, or public transportation. Well, jokes on them because I always take the bus to work so, you’re welcome, Uber and Lyft drivers: I’ve joined in honoring your protest through no change in my commuting habit.

Jokes aside, I am completely behind those drivers fighting for a decent wage and other ancillary benefits for their job. However, from a macro perspective I’m not sure how Uber and Lyft can provide what they are asking for – profitably, anyways. Indeed, Lyft has recently gone public, and Uber will be doing so this coming Friday; according to each respective company’s S1s, both of them have yet to make a single dime of profit since inception, with the possibility they might never make a profit.

How is Uber and Lyft going to pay their drivers better when they are already deeply in the red, to the tune of over a billion dollars a year in Uber’s case. Surely both companies are seeking to achieve profitability as soon as possible (if you’re not cynical), so an increase in labor costs is not exactly friendly to those ambitions.

Paying drivers more money would mean the prices of rides will have to go up as well, because Uber and Lyft aren’t simply going to eat that cost – again, neither company is currently profitable. Higher ride costs will deter people from hailing a car; the main attraction for ride-sharing on the customer side is it’s less expensive than a cab and only slightly more expensive than public transportation so that the comfort of a private car is worth the extra cost. That equilibrium falls apart if price of a ride creeps to par or beyond a taxi.

So what we have here is a stalemate of sorts, and sadly I think ultimately the loser will the drivers. I am a big fan of ride-sharing; I think it has done a positive service to bring mobility to people that were underserved by traditional taxi companies. Uber and Lyft have forced them to step up their game, and despite the cab driver suicides and low wages for ride-share drivers, both companies have been a net positive to society.

It’s just too bad they can’t make money, other than the initial IPO bonanza for their investors and founding members.

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It’s a shame I can’t eat this entire ensemble in one sitting anymore. Not comfortably, anyways.