Fear of a Wal-Mart Planet

Striking.

2005-04-06T16:26:10Z

We're a nation of workaholics. Quite possibly becoming a world economy of workaholics. But I'll never understand our fascination with working sick.

I have strep throat. Probably from running around Chitown with no hat, but mostly from a secondary infection from the flu. Most of my coworkers understand completely.

But underneath the "Take your time" and "Get well soon" I can surely hear the "Enjoy your day off, freeloader" that is echoing through their minds. And I'm probably projecting fifty percent of the time because I feel just as guilty.

What motivates us to take the risk of infecting others with illnesses that, while sometimes unfelt until late in the game, are clear indicators that something is wrong that can't be cured by "working through it" or a full night's sleep? Why are we so wrapped up in the myth of toughness that when it comes time to recover from surgery we have people ASKING for waivers to sign?

I'm not going to posit a guess like I normally do. I just can't figure this shit out.

Or maybe I'm just a big weenie.

Okay...

2005-04-05T13:45:17Z

So I haven't been on in a while.

The Chicago blitz was nothing short of incredible. We started the week off with 75 organizers packed into a Holiday Inn conference center (wood panelling and maroon carpets... I felt like I was at a Shriner's convention.) The mission was to get information out to the homecare workers about AFSCME and let them know that there would be a vote between the unions (if you need more information, check out my previous post). By the end, all total there were 200 people on the doors of Southside Chicago.

Chicago ghettos are crazy fucked up. I got the flu from running around the projects without a hat on. I saw the sights at night and worked all day. CRAZY amounts of gorgeous women work for AFSCME. They now know me as "Reeceman" or "The Mississippi Miracle Man." I think I'll be okay in this job.

I'm now on yet another run through Ohio. First Toledo and now Columbus. I'll be back home on the 14th.

Arthur and Mike: We'll still get an apartment. Just allow me some time on these idiotic blitz runs and soon enough we'll be deciding where to put the jacuzzi.

Sorry to be incognegro for so long.

I'm back.

2005-03-27T15:47:41Z

Union war over child care
Sitters seek someone to stand up for them

By Stephen Franklin
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 18, 2005

With 3-month-old "Miss Muffin" on one knee and 5-month-old Kayla climbing onto the other, Angenita Tanner was busy with all five of the youngsters under her care.

But way before her workday began Thursday, she was even busier, making telephone calls on behalf of a cause that has taken up much of her time lately--getting child-care workers like herself to vote for a union.

"You need someone to speak up for you," said Tanner, 40, adding that she often barely gets by at the child-care operation that she has run out of her South Side apartment for the last nine years.

With foot soldiers like Tanner, dozens of organizers and heaps of money, two of the nation's largest unions are waging a furious battle over who will represent up to 50,000 child-care workers in Illinois.

It's the state's largest organizing drive in decades, and the contest between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has stirred some of the unkindest words heard within organized labor.

"It is a kind of madness, but I don't think either union can back away," said Robert Bruno, a labor expert with the Chicago Labor Education Program of the University of Illinois.

The ballots went out on Wednesday, and the vote counting will begin April 7. The workers, mostly w0omen, care for about 200,000 children from low- and moderate-income families whose child care is paid for by grants from the state and federal government.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich last month signed an order opening the door for them to bargain with the state through a union even though they are not state employees. That was the first time a governor in the U.S. has taken such a step on behalf of child-care workers, union officials said.

How much a vote in favor of a union would cost the state is not clear, said Gerardo Cardenas, a spokesman for the governor. "They may end up choosing neither union. We need to see how the process works out."

The workers' pay ranges from $9.48 to $22 per child per day, depending on the youngsters' age and the facility's location. But most workers earn the minimum and are limited to caring for only three children.

The union feud erupted earlier this month at a meeting of the nation's labor leaders in Las Vegas held by the AFL-CIO, where the two unions' presidents traded accusations.

SEIU President Andy Stern, who raised the issue, accused AFSCME of trying to steal away 10 years of politicking and organizing in Illinois by his union.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee replied that his union represents most of the state's workers and also that SEIU couldn't be relied upon to do the best for state employees.

Tempers haven't cooled since.

AFSCME officials "should be ashamed of themselves. This not the way to build our union movement," said Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU's 107,000-member Illinois State Council.

Mike Zucker, AFSCME's director of strategic research, said his union has cooperated with SEIU in other states but is standing its ground in Illinois because "we want to take a principled stance."

He pointed to the contract reached between SEIU and the state two years ago after Blagojevich similarly opened the way for home health-care workers to have a union represent them.

That brought 20,000 new members to SEIU Local 880 and a 34 percent pay increase over four years for the workers. Zucker's gripe is that the agreement signed by the local does not provide for worker's compensation, retirement benefits or health insurance for the workers.

"We thought it was a step backward for state workers," he said.

Balanoff replied that without a union, the workers would not have a chance to seek health care, and SEIU officials pointed out that there are bills in the legislature to provide medical coverage for home-care and child-care workers.

To be sure, health care is top priority for Tanner, who doesn't have any now.

It is also one of the first things she mentions as she urges fellow child-care workers to vote for her union, the SEIU.

She is a shop steward in Local 880, a member almost since she opened her own child-care service. The union began organizing child-care workers nine years ago, collecting dues from whoever was willing to pay, even though it could not negotiate with the state at that time. Union officials were laying the groundwork in hopes of organizing in the future.

To keep children and money coming, her small center, which takes up nearly all of her apartment, is open weekends, holidays and nights.

And though she doesn't like to do it, she is licensed to take care of children until 3 a.m., a situation that sometimes comes up, she said, when a parent can't leave a late-night shift on time.

Her children come from homes where the care is provided by single parents or grandparents. Not everyone always pays, either, which is the case lately for one young mother between jobs who needs a place to leave her youngster when she goes on job interviews.

Some months, Tanner said, she has only $100 left after paying her bills and an assistant, who earns as much as $50 a day.

"But it's a blessing to be able to hold and to shape these kids," she said, before heading off into the other room, plopping down on the floor with all five kids closely gathered around and launching into a rousing song.

Cinderella gamepieces back on the shelf...

2005-03-01T01:32:36Z

Shit man...

I got the job.

All I gotta do is get on the payroll.

What a crazy fucking week this is turning into.

Guess I can stop selling my uri-- I mean, lemonade on the corner.

Pull the mic out the speakers...

2005-02-27T22:07:07Z

It's really cold out there today.

I went to the gas station today and someone hit me in the parking lot. I get out of the car, waiting to hear someone scream at me for wrinkling their new BMW when I realize it's none other than this kid that used to tutor me in Math. I guess he works for one of those industries that still pays their employees six figures. To try and ease my guilt, I gave him a beer from my bag.

"Nice car."

"Yeah, it was nice."

[awkward silence]

I tried to get him out of his funk since generally accidents like this end up with someone getting punched in the face.

"So, what are you doing now?"

"Law."

"Really? Firm or private practice?"

"Private. Are we allowed to drink out here?"

"Probably not."

[take a swig]

"But you were so good at math, man?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to crunch numbers. I wanted to do something that I really liked."

"Must pay a grip if you can afford that whip."

"Yeah..."

"Good clients?"

"They pay on time."

"Corporate stuff?"

"Yeah..."

"Fun?"

"... No. But driving the car is."

[both laugh]

"What are you doing? Archaeology?"

"I work with labor unions?"

He then looked at me, handed me back the bottle, said his goodbyes, and left.

I have no desire...

2005-02-27T00:53:16Z

to communicate with anyone today.

So I won't.

It's like this anna... It's like that anna...

2005-02-15T17:55:53Z

Direct TV ownz me.

The new extended version of Malcolm X rox my boxers.

And I've been given the green light to take the Foreign Service exam. I'll let those who need the info know about whether or not this will affect our plans (you know who you are.)

Definitely on the road, baby.

Oh yeah, and Jesus has six minute abs.

Happy Valentine's Day, Baby!

2005-02-15T16:30:32Z

"All I wanted to do was trade this sandwich for a blowjob... Jet Li kissed my dragon, and not in a good way!"

- Mike, in a bad French accent, sounding just like the French guy from Kiss of the Dragon.

Freedom's heavy sound is this...

2005-02-13T00:20:58Z

"You want a bell..? Okay Rock..."
[makes ringing of a bell motion with gloved hand]
"Ding Ding."
- Apollo Creed

I was buying a Valentine's Day card for my mother and my grandparents today when I met some old ladies buying cards for their respective spouses and children. They asked me if I was buying them for my girlfriend(s) and when I told them I was buying them for my grandma and my mom, they both shrieked and asked me if I was then single. I hadn't said more than "Ye--" then when they both grabbed me by the arm, on my pressure points, and edged me towards their granddaughters. We were introduced and the grandmothers, anxious to let their granddaughters know that I was available, then proceeded to interject: you know, you guys should get together. The granddaughters blushed and laughed, asking for my phone number. I gave them my old business card with my cell and email. They handed me a note after scribbling a few things on it. They departed, whispering to one another. I looked at the note and it read:

"Sorry, but we'd rather not give out our number."

I didn't think anything of it, tossed it in the trash, and went on my way.

This afternoon, they called me, using two separate phones, and asked questions rapid fire.

"Where do you work?"

"How much money do you make?"

I responded by saying that I was curious as to why two people who were uninterested would call me.

"We don't have dates for Valentine's Day."

They asked more questions, most of them unintelligible because they were talking over each other.

I hung up while they were still talking.

They called five or six more times, and I just silenced my phone.

That was about 4 hours ago.

=====

So I'm continuing on my way today, and my mother calls to ask me if I bought cards. I told her yes and she replied "Oh... Why hasn't your friend from the site in TN come in yet?"

I explained that her car broke down on the highway and that she was unable to make it.

She replied: "Ah. Woman's prerogative."

"Certainly"

"Sorry."

"You're really not."

"I am! Not for other guys though.. just for you."

"Why?"

"Because you're a nice guy."

====

As I sign these cards and order my mother's flowers, I'm reminded of Ossie Davis's line in "Do The Right Thing":

Ossie Davis: "Doctor! Doctor! Come here!"

Spike Lee: "Okay, man, but hurry up."

Ossie Davis: "Doctor..."

SL: "What man?"

Ossie Davis: "..."

SL: "WHAT?"

OD: "Mookie... always do the right thing."

SL: "That's it?"

OD: "That's it."

SL: "Okay. Got it. I'm gone."

It's bigger than hip hop...

2005-02-10T23:54:45Z

We're currently residents of what is commonly referred to as the DC Metro Area, and as such we have three main areas of general concern:

Maryland
Virginia
and my personal favorite, Washington DC.

Now let's just say that through philosophical meandering and some extensive bribery and blackmail, I got a general consensus from OPEC, USAID, and the UN to agree to consider the land that I live on that is owned by my family a sovereign nation.

To take this further, I now arm myself and those who live in the area controlled by my ancestors with M4s and assorted bits of small arms.

I then declare civil war on Washington D.C. and Virginia, specifically targetting what I believe to be a "rebel insurgency" on Capitol Hill and assorted ritzy neighborhoods in Alexandria, Falls Church, Potomac, and Great Falls/Sterling. Through this military campaign, I manage to make a list of targets, all of them congressman and lobbyists.

Taking all of these factors in, how long would I live?

Probably longer than the plants that I had in my college dormroom if I pretend to focus, but no longer than that I imagine.

So, I ask the general viewing audience of LJ, how many years would I get in prison if they managed to capture me without having to kill me (and chances are that although it could happen, I'd bet that they'd have to shoot me...), if I got prison at all?

I'd probably get death, since that is what is required under major felony acts of violence that are committed under the law.

I just watched a film where we not only watched this happen to people in another country, but we also sold some people some shit so that some other people could sell some shit that those people in another country could use to kill their friends, their congressmen, their priests, and everyone's kids.

How long would I live?

How much prison would I get?

If I, say, shot Bush. Tomorrow. And then went on to rape and murder his kids... how long would it take for them to string me up and then probably burn me alive?

Or maybe just killed Dick Cheney. He's old, so the offense would garner a class 1 felony, and he's a high-ranking government employee, so the crime COULD be deemed politically motivated. So I'd get the chamber. Or, they might even bring back the chair just for a sick fuck like me.

Would you wait?

Would you continue to eat your dinner while I did so?

My friends work for the DoD. So maybe, because they work for the "enemy," I smoke them like a pack of Kools. That's, according to record, 50 years if convicted... especially if I show no remorse for doing so and can't prove some kind of insanity.

But we're all busy.... lots of things to do. And I guess some things just can't be helped. I mean, Beltway traffic is murder (haha) this time of day. Lots of bills need to be paid. What's five more minutes going to matter? What's five hours going to matter for me to get to that? In five days, I'll be right where you need me to be.. it's obvious that I'm not going anywhere.

You're right. I'm engineering one of the largest capital genocides in history in your backyard. That takes a lot of work, and planning, and charcoal. I have to dispose of the bodies somehow. Bury them? That'll take all day. You're right though... it would disturb you. Hair smells bad when it burns... especially that processed hair with all that gel and mousse.

You'd call me a freak and a murderer. I'd be under constant supervision if sentenced to life, and I'd ride the "express train" to Gascan Alley if sentenced to death.

My mother would try to talk sense into me. But I'd insist that because I'm a sovereign leader who was merely defending his people and their freedom, I was just. I was fair and righteous in my actions.

But hey... I'll be around, right? You'll live, right?

Will you?

if the ref gets political, dribble like Bob DOOOOOLLLLEEE....

2005-02-10T19:34:44Z

another post from the same dude...
********
Balance
By I.M Wamocha

School is definitely for suckers. You give moneys upon moneys upon moneys, and your returns are all up to chance. You could have four years of dizzying highs or an entire college career full of mishaps and bad choices sprinkled on stacked chances. You never really know what you’re going to get.

Some days it seems like I can’t find that balance I’m looking for. In fact, for the most of the time I knew that the surrounding territory that I know of as Virginia State University has made me a bitter, angry person. Cafeteria food that feels like you’ve eaten napalm to classes where (I’m not making this up) most of the class plagiarizes and not only does the professor not care but he actually manages to “think of it as a chance to lighten his grading load” (since he now only has to fail all of them.)

I want to give up. I’d rather join the army and shoot at Iraqi children in front of a burning oil derrick than do this most of the time. But I don’t because for some stupid reason, I keep thinking things are going to get better. I have it in the back of my mind that the world will turn itself around and we’ll all live just like people in the movies if we all work together. I got that from (surprise surprise) from a healthy relatlionship.

I met this wonderful, terrific, sweet woman. She’s a consistent source of sunshine. Some days I think about her the whole day, letting the campus pass away in a haze. If I’m down, immediately she springs to mind as the first person I should contact because I know that her energy will remind me of mine if I just relax, open my mind, and close my eyes, I’ll be fine. Sometimes it takes a while because I’m just so focused on what is around me, but I get there. That place where everything connects together. Sometimes if I let go fast enough, even this campus looks beautiful.
There’s a lot to be thankful for. I’d list it, but why? I’d just be telling you things that you probably don’t want to know about, so I’ll let you think of your own happy moments and times. But this isn’t that love column from the Statesman, so I won’t dwell on warm fuzzies and just get to the point.

I’d like to take this time, first, to make the argument that co-ed visitation is a stupid idea. In fact, it’s the stupidest idea on campus. In no way does it raise the level of respect for females (people already have their own images about what campus relationships should be like anyway), it hasn’t made STDs diminish (in fact they’ve increased), and on the whole, it does absolutely nothing for campus consciousness. And it also means that being involved with a woman can be impossible on a meaningful level because you’re never spending time alone with that person. Sure, you can hang out in the lobby, but I shouldn’t have to share my feelings with twelve other guys and the girls doing their cornrows. It should be about taking the time to say to someone, IN PRIVATE, that you care for them and that every day is just another day where the scales balance out to that happy, psychedelic medium that you need in order to truly appreciate life. A vision of bad, and an experience of good… these things lead to something more genuine, more important, and more real than anything I have had the pleasure of seeing. A real relationship takes reality, bottles it, and fogs the glass like the windows on an old Chevette behind the Student Village: love is visibly in the air. The relationships gained from visitation are not that kind of relationship at all. They’re plastic, disposable good times that you save and dust off for your boys to drink from (“Remember when I hit Shavonda? That chick had an ass like WHOA…”), not a chalice that all can partake of (“Remember that time we went out to dinner in Richmond with Shavonda and her cousin? That was crazy… got lost half way home and ended up in Baltimore Sunday morning.) That’s exactly what Virginia State University’s policy on male and female relations does: produce more plastic.

So, until they change the policy, the cult of anti-intellectualism will continue to rise on this campus. Feelings, after all, spring from the brain just like any other firing of the synapse that will occur. They help you grow intellectually, following the same principle. As long as we continue to see students as receptacles of knowledge and not people with feelings and needs, they’ll never be able to at least improve their chances for that smoked glass lifesight, that balance. And if they don’t deserve it, I surely don’t.

“I'll tell you what real love is
It's blind devotion,
Utter submission,
Belief against yourself
And the whole world.

It's giving up your whole heart
And soul to the smiter.”

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

sittin on the corner with my face on my bows...

2005-02-10T19:30:27Z

just posting some shit by this kid I used to know

*********

Walking Calluses
By I. M. Wamocha

Reading the newspaper has become quite a chore for me lately. To get the Washington Post, I gotta go all the way to the gas station most of the time, so really I don’t get to see it in newsprint that often. But going through the WP website, I came across this article in which a man was shot and killed in front of a gas station on Florida Street.

Apparently, the crime was committed in front of a video camera, which recorded witnesses not only not coming to the man’s aid, but actually stepping over the body of the individual shot so that they could “pay for their [kerosene] and leave.” Now, although some people have responded by saying “Damn those people for leaving that man there to die. I hope someone catches the sonofabitch responsible and hangs him by his ,” I have found that response to be, in a word, stupid.

I’ve witnessed numerous acts of kindness and valor at Virginia State University. The students here can be amazingly good people, capable of feats of almost alien righteousness. For example, I watched a man on his way to class slide across the ice on the sidewalk, throwing down his bag at the same time, to catch a woman who was about to fall. I’ve seen kids take a collection for their friends if they can’t get validated. I’ve even heard stories of professors risking everything just so a student can get financial aid.

With that said, I’ve seen the other side too. All the horrible things you can think of that are not only done but actually supported by others. The usual cadre of thieves and liars roam the campus in search of pilfered fame and fortune, sometimes winning sometimes losing. We’ve got our own dopers and hustlers, all striving to make the campus their own personal black market or drug bazaar. I guess in that sense the campus is truly the real world in every sense. But the most glaring offense, the one that makes the hackles stand and the teeth grit, is the shameless apathy that we show in everyday existence.

Virginia State University has long since served as one of the greatest purveyors of the apathy vest in that regard. Plenty have attended the school and made a beautiful life for themselves. But that’s just it: for themselves. We treasure the idea that working for oneself is the greatest gift you can give to society. After all, betterment is truly a goal worth striving for. Being a good father and/or husband is far from the wrong path, but it certainly doesn’t do much for society if that’s the extent of your contribution. Teaching that to kids is what we do though. We buy and sell the traits that make them who they are, marginalizing what is important about them. We tell them that if they work hard enough, avoiding the obstacles, making all goals lateral, they can achieve. What we don’t tell them is that along the way life is validated by appreciation of it by others (as well as appreciating those same others) and that you can’t do this one important thing if you put your soul up as collateral in order for you to buy your dreams. We force kids to not care because we believe that’s what will lead to success. We turn them into murderers when we ask them to live as sub-humans because we then make another group of children sub-humans under them, forcing the idea that ‘life is pain’ into their heads from an early age. Ask any Greek about how the cycle of abuse (they’re all non-hazing of course) continues not because of tradition but because it is seen as a necessity. After all, our friend on Florida Street may not have been able to make it home on time if he hadn’t ignored the body and kept moving. But he could have at least called the police or told the manager… but I guess the need to watch Survivor and eat Bagel Bites outweighs a murder report.

Apathy and its blood brother (from the same father but different mother,) greed, all stem from that human desire to not have to worry about subsistence. We can talk about housing and medical coverage and home schooling all we want, but it all comes down to that in the end. The need to survive personally overcomes the need to survive as a collective because, well, it’s closer to your personal locus. I’d much rather someone near to me die than me merely deposit fifty cents into a payphone, because well, fuck man… if I’m late how will I find out how Joe Millionaire ends? Just goes to show that we’ll find ANY excuse to keep that little bubble of ours intact, regardless of the Nero-like Greco-Roman destruction around us.

To tie everything together, let me ask the listless masses something: How long are you going to sit and watch? Until they get your neighbor by the crook of his jowls? Or until they get you, perhaps? Well, my friends, I can tell you that if you wait too long, you might find yourself out of support. You might see that crying for help after everyone else has been taken away into the night is futile because no one can hear your screaming. You’re alone, buddy. And it isn’t because 106 & Park is on. It’s because rather than risk a tiny bit of your comfortable, shrink-wrapped security blanket you instead went FOR the personal gain, you greedy jerk. And now, with your Rome burning, you, Nero, are left holding your hard-earned plastic fiddle. Nice job.

Oh I’m sorry… You want help? Sorry man, I gotta get to class.

It's been a long time...

2005-02-06T03:52:30Z

Shouldn't have left you... without a dope post to step to.

Last night was fantastic. Had a great time seeing the boys, especially my man, 100 grand, Jason. I don't think I made it out of their house until 2 AM. Great company and good friends... feels good to be home for a while.

It's been a smooth day too.

Got a lot done on the home front (the house smells like one gigantic clean bedsheet and looks great. I even washed the walls, baby)

Got a lot done on the personal front (I'm gonna be a busy fuckin guy for the next week and a half... but if you want to hang, homies, I'll cancel my plans)

Stern firm and young with a laid-back tongue...

2005-01-28T00:52:24Z

So Philly is a no go, homies.

Looks like The Kid didn't get this one.

Sooo...

I think I'm gonna work for Video Warehouse for a while. For those who don't know, it's a bootleg version of Blockbuster near the house (bombyamom and the rest of the Regime know the story.)

Play PS2 and act like a prick when dudes dressed like the Wu-Tang Clan come in. Good times.

I knew this girl when I was ten years old...

2005-01-25T18:38:37Z

The Fight for Our Future

By Christopher Hayes, In These Times. Posted January 25, 2005.

Here's something to consider: It's a concrete possibility we will wake up one morning and there won't be a single American labor union left. For 30 straight years, American organized labor has been hemorrhaging members, power and influence. [Fifty years ago, 35 percent of workers belonged to unions, today just 12 percent do (and only 9 percent in the public sector).] There are already 22 states in which "right-to-work" rules effectively outlaw collective bargaining; the National Labor Relations Board, entrusted with the sacred duty of protecting the human right to organize, has been turned into just another way station for GOP corporatist hacks; and the American manufacturing sector, once the backbone of the movement, has been eviscerated by globalization.

Faced with the possibility of permanent irrelevance, different factions of the AFL-CIO have recently been engaged in a knock-down, drag-out fight over what is to be done. Despite occasional coverage in the mainstream media, this has drawn just a smattering of attention in liberal publications and the blogosphere. But progressives everywhere need to realize that they have a powerful stake in its outcome: Without the American labor movement there is no American left, and the debate taking place right now could very well determine if the movement survives.

So for those of you who've spent the last year following electoral politics (and subsequently sitting shiva for the republic), what follows is a guide to the key points of contention, the major players and what to expect in the months to come.

So what's all this hubbub about the AFL-CIO possibly breaking up?

Last summer Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest and fastest-growing union in the AFL-CIO, threatened to leave the AFL-CIO unless the federation undertook drastic structural reforms – by merging smaller unions to form larger ones and strictly enforcing jurisdictional lines. The announcement caused a stir, not the least because it happened during the heat of the presidential election, when labor was supposed to be presenting a united front. After SEIU made its announcement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) announced that it would leave the federation if Stern got his way, so the AFL-CIO stands to lose either SEIU or the Machinists, or – if things go badly enough – both.

Stern's announcement seems like it came out of nowhere; had SEIU hinted before that it was dissatisfied with the AFL-CIO?

Yes. The current dissension actually began back in 2003 when, as reported in these pages by David Moberg, the heads of five unions (including Stern) formed the New Unity Partnership (NUP) (see "Organize, Strategize, Revitalize," Feb. 16, 2004). The NUP argued that the union movement was dangerously close to extinction, and needed to make drastic changes. In a strategy memo leaked to the press, the NUP envisioned a labor movement radically altered in structure. As in the trade-union system in Europe, they proposed that each union "be assigned a unique occupation and/or and industry sector(s) to concentrate its growth efforts." The NUP called for the AFL-CIO to sharply focus its efforts on "strategic growth," and called on unions to devote 77 percent of their resources to recruiting new members.

How did the labor movement react to the NUP proposal?

While some hailed the NUP for its bold leadership, the proposal also triggered a backlash. Labor leaders didn't take too kindly to five union presidents appointing themselves as labor's saviors. Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, who derided them as "five guys sitting around and talking," said, "They don't represent the labor movement."

In general, people had a hard time figuring out what exactly the five union heads – Stern, Doug McCarron of the Carpenters, Bruce Raynor of the textile workers (UNITE), John Wilhelm of the hotel workers (HERE) and Terrence O'Sullivan of the Laborers – had in common. They weren't all the biggest unions, they weren't in the same industry and they didn't share the same politics: While Stern ended up endorsing Howard Dean, McCarron gave his support to Bush. Stern said they were all "radicals about growth," but many saw it as an alliance of convenience designed to unseat AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and seize the reins of the federation.

But whatever unions thought about the merits of NUP's proposal, it lit a fire under a labor movement that desperately needed it, and set the terms for much of the current debate about structural reform of the AFL-CIO.

What's happening now?

In November, Sweeney sent a letter to all of the federation's affiliates, requesting they submit a list of issues they felt must be addressed, as well as proposals for reform. So far, about a dozen unions have sent responses, with many more on the way. Both SEIU and the AFL-CIO have posted these proposals on their web sites along with commentary from union members.

What was once just a debate about the pros and cons of the NUP platform has now morphed into a tangled landscape of proposals, alliances and rivalries. The NUP has officially been disbanded because, Stern says, "We all don't agree on our proposals." This all comes in the lead-up to the AFL-CIO's quadrennial convention, which will take place in Chicago in July. There have been whispers for some time that someone from the NUP coalition would challenge Sweeney for the presidency, but as of yet, no one has declared his candidacy. (For a while, Wilhem, co-president of the recently merged UNITE HERE, was rumored to be the guy, but he recently denied he'd run.)

So what does SEIU want to see happen?

The agenda is spelled out most precisely in SEIU's 10-point plan "Unite to Win." It features a number of suggestions that are fairly non-controversial: The labor movement should launch a campaign to unionize Wal-Mart, it should focus political energy on resuscitating enforcement of statutes that protect the right to organize, and it must build strength in regions of the country historically hostile to organized labor.

The signature proposal – inherited from the NUP, and also the most controversial – is to drastically reduce the total number of unions (from the current 58 to about 15) and to organize each of these new mega-unions around a single industry or sector. It's not a new idea. Once upon a time, Teamsters drove trucks, United Auto Workers built cars and Steelworkers worked with steel. Today Teamsters are truck drivers, but they're also bakers and industrial printers. Social workers in Chicago belong to the UAW and the majority of the Steelworkers don't work with steel. This creeping "general unionism" is largely a result of the fact that as the unionized workforce has shrunk and the legal protections have been eviscerated, unions have sought to bolster their sagging numbers through mergers with other unions outside their core sectors and organizing campaigns in far-flung fields.

"Frankly, there is no rational process here," says University of Illinois at Chicago's Bob Bruno, associate professor at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. "Everybody's going after everyone. If you breathe and you have a job, then we'll organize you and that hasn't proven to be a very efficient way of doing things. It hasn't built power and it certainly hasn't raised class consciousness."

Stern and others think this diffusion of worker power across various institutions, particularly within a given trade, makes it impossible to leverage industry-wide power to properly fight today's massive global corporations. Stern points to the current labor crisis in the airline industry where unions representing pilots, flight attendants and machinists are often pitted against each other to "vote in contradiction to interests of the other workers to cut pensions." Stern notes that "under the current system there's no way for workers to fight back together unless the institutions they belong to are willing to band together."

In addition to competition during contract negotiations, unions are also competing to organize the same pools of workers, particularly in the fast-growing healthcare sector, where more than 30 unions are active. SEIU notes, "In 13 of the 15 major sectors of the economy there are at least four significant unions, and in nine of those sectors there are at least six unions."

SEIU itself has reorganized, replacing metropolitan locals with members from disparate trades with regional locals composed of members from a single industry. The union has had success leveraging this collective power within an industry to reach a kind of density "tipping point," after which they're able to secure representation for a large number of workers. And, as they never fail to point out, with 800,000 new members in the past eight years, SEIU is the nation's fastest-growing union, so they must be doing something right.

That sounds like it makes sense. Why is it so controversial?

Well for one thing, fewer unions mean fewer union presidents, and leaders aren't about to merge themselves out of a job. More substantively, it's unclear just who gets to decide which unions merge. The idea of arranged marriages isn't very popular. American Federation of Teachers President Edward J. McElroy put it this way in an interview with Business Week: "Making decisions about mergers is a democratic process that deals with members of unions. For any organization, the AFL-CIO or individual unions, to point a finger and say, 'This union or that should merge,' strikes me as totally antidemocratic. Those are the kinds of decisions individual workers should make. To say to those people, 'This union is not functioning the way we think it should be,' that isn't right."

You'll notice that McElroy used the phrase "antidemocratic," which, if you start reading the literature of SEIU critics, is one of the most common complaints. Those who have taken up the mantle of "union democracy" argue that SEIU's approach, both in its own practices and in what it's proposing, is top-down, technocratic and fundamentally inimical to the values of bottom-up representation that the labor movement should embody. They ridicule Stern for wanting to mirror the structures of the very corporations the movement is fighting (which Stern himself says is one of his aims), where directives are issued by executives and passed down the hierarchy to those at the bottom.

At a conference at Queens College last year, Gregory Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a small, specialized union that would cease to exist under SEIU's proposal, offered this thinly veiled critique of SEIU and its agenda: "My members are not chess pieces to be maneuvered, nor marionettes waiting to be mobilized. These are real people, and it's their union."

Stern says the rank and file has voted for every strategic move SEIU has pursued, but critics point out that members at locals in San Francisco and Rhode Island started decertification drives after controversial mergers backed by the International were pushed through.

In response to a reference to "union democracy," Stern posted the following to SEIU's blog: "Workers want their lives to be changed. They want strength and a voice, not some purist, intellectual, historical, mythical democracy. Workers can win when they are united, and leaders who stand in the way of change screaming "democracy" are failing to understand how workers exercise the limited power they have in a country where only 8.2 percent of the private sector are in unions."

It's rhetoric like this that pisses a lot of people off. Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), who has a legendary beef with Stern, says "Andy put his foot in his mouth [when he spoke about AFL-CIO reform during the Democratic National Convention last summer], and I thought it was a disgrace." Stern generally tends to inspire strong feelings among both supporters and critics. A typical anti-Stern tract on the web is titled "Why the SEIU's Andy Stern is Full of Shit."

So what do the unions who disagree with Stern say should be done?

It varies. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) recommends setting up voluntary coalition bodies that can serve the purpose of industry-wide organizing while avoiding forced mergers. The Machinists say the AFL-CIO should start its own TV network to get labor's message out, and create a centralized database of health claims to drive down costs. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) focuses its platform on making unions more responsive to their current members, increasing training for shop stewards and increasing strike capacity by providing more funds to pay striking workers (something the Steelworkers also endorse).

CWA organizer and writer Steve Early, who has probably been one of Stern's most vocal critics, maintains that only by reinvigorating participation and militancy at the local level can the movement grow. In other words, where Stern argues that rapid growth is a necessary precondition for meaningful union democracy, Early argues that meaningful union democracy is a necessary precondition for rapid growth.

AFSCME, on the other hand, takes the position that becoming more politically effective is the key to reviving the movement. "Whether you do mergers or not, whether you reassert jurisdictional lines or not, whether you have 15 or 50 members of the Executive Committee, those things are important," says Paul Booth, an assistant to the union's president, Gerald McEntee. "But they don't make as much of a difference as winning or losing in politics makes." AFSCME wants the AFL-CIO to focus its efforts on the one thing it's been undeniably successful at: political mobilization of its members. Under Sweeney, labor has increased turnout of union household voters in each of the last three presidential elections.

What's clear is that while NUP and SEIU have successfully initiated and framed the debate, one that even critics such as Booth call "healthy, stimulating, appropriate and welcome," they no longer own it.

What happens next?

In mid-February and early March, the AFL-CIO Executive Council will discuss the various proposals. In the spring, they are expected to issue recommendations, which will likely be voted on at the convention in July.

What's going to happen at the convention is anybody's guess. Sweeney says he's "looking at the issues that are common in a number of these reports as potential areas where we could start early to build a consensus." (In a 15-minute interview, Sweeney, who has the unenviable job of refereeing the impending fracas, used the word "consensus" almost a dozen times.) There are some basic agreements. The parts of the AFL-CIO constitution that are designed to enforce jurisdiction and stop unions from poaching each other's workers are totally dysfunctional, and it is generally agreed that the AFL-CIO needs to focus its mission and play fewer roles better.

The threat of an SEIU exodus still hangs over the convention, but while many fret about the impact of a split in the house of labor, or a high-visibility, rancorous battle at the convention, the real danger is too much consensus and complacency at the cost of change. For all the enmity that the NUP and Stern have inspired, were it not for them, there would likely be no concentrated discussion about the future of the movement. Sweeney, to his credit, has lowered the temperature and quieted talk of an insurgency by moving the debate inside the AFL-CIO's tent. But while everyone pats themselves on the back for "having the debate" and builds alliances for floor votes, the original sense of urgency is slowly being lost, replaced by quibbles about the fine points of AFL-CIO bureaucracy. "It's converted from a debate about substance to a debate about something like the per capita tax," says Cornell labor professor Rick Hurd.

The worst possible outcome is one that seems increasingly likely: watered-down reform, palatable to all the parties involved. That might be the only way to keep the AFL-CIO together, but keeping the AFL-CIO together is not the point. Revitalizing the labor movement is.

We blow the weed smoke, straight out of our lips...

2005-01-25T01:05:38Z

In a stunning suckerpunch to the testicles, we're getting rid of some people on the job.

I blame The Man.

The person that I'm seeing will probably be the next to go, which means that we'll probably not see each other again.

I blame myself.

I imagine having an LJ allows me to be free with my thoughts.

I'm concerned that my own feelings are putting too much value on the bits of electronic space dust I distribute from my own distant, sometimes very cold and lonely, planet. And maybe that's okay if it makes me write the truth. Or maybe I could go all Charles Mingus and just write whatever the fuck I feel like.

Or I could say nothing at all today.

That's my verse dispersing the worst curses since the first virgins privacy purse was burstin...

2005-01-24T04:58:17Z

Ride with me for a second...

If I stay true to her, am I a fool for thinking that she should?

If I don't give her the time of day is it wrong for me to believe that I'm right for doing so?

I wanted to burn all my phone numbers when I met her. I didn't because I know its too soon for all that.

I can't make it out here alone forever. They tell you to chill to keep the gossip from spreading around. So I keep my cool and keep my distance. But I knew she was there the whole time, keeping track of this thing for reasons unbeknownst to me. She dug me like I dug her. But then things got all weird because of this goddamn campaign.

So maybe the question that I should be asking myself is this: Is justice worth giving up your own happiness for? I think sometimes the foolish youth in me wants everything to be cool and to answer yes every time. Yet deep down I feel like I know that it's all just me trying to hide from what makes my mitochondria burn my cell walls. Should I deny it just for a relationship that may not work out at all? Maybe I should quit and go work for Video Warehouse. Smoke weed all day. Play PS2 behind the counter and skim from the till.

Or maybe, as usual, I'm thinking too hard.

As my old man says, "People find you interesting because you're busy. The minute you have the time to hang out with them, you'll find yourself quite boring. Stay busy and mysterious."

Yeah.... the Phantom died in the end, Pop. So does Quasimodo. Che got shot and buried in a ditch. Batman's all crazy and beat up.

...

...

But Green Lantern has that bitchin' ring.

...

...

And Daredevil can piss with the lights off and STILL not hit the seat.

...

...

Maybe crimefighting isn't that bad.

I know it's funky funky funky...

2005-01-22T16:24:03Z

Watching clips on iFilm this morning.... saw this broadcaster give a lady from Vanity Fair a really hard time about her comments about the elaborate inaugural bullshit being thrown in Washington.

The anchor, obviously really pissed that she would say anything about George Bush, cut her off.

On the campaign, we've got this problem with the newsmedia. Americans are notoriously anti-union for reasons that, as of right now, are completely unclear. America was founded upon principles that strive for equality of representation. But the problem is that, like with Republicans, no one wants to pay for what they buy. It's a classic case of wheel and steal political commentary. There's a lot of support for unions, but only from the people that they directly help. But in reality, everyone with a Social Security card is indebted to unions as an institution. Unions helped create what we know as the weekend (they weren't solely responsible, but credit must be given to some extent.)

But back to Fox News...

I guess in some way I'm depressed that the level of anti-intellectualism has reached the point that people don't even want to fight it anymore. Some people do, yes... but what kind of fighting is it? It's shit like turning your back on the president as he drives by in his bigass limo, warm and toasty. What the fuck? Dude, you should be urinating on his security detail vehicles... shit-throwing should have been the activist highlight on every news station. If I wasn't stuck out here, bet your ass that I'd be tossing dung like a motherfucker out on Constitution Ave. for the whole day. I think it's BULLSHIT that the activists thought that turning their backs was such an excellent tribute. Yeah, we got it. But did the president notice? Maybe as an afterthought or some kind of insulting tribute in addition to some act of severe, stinky harassment it would serve as a great tool of disrespect. But dude, he's ALREADY disrespecting you. ALL FUCKING DAY. When he wakes up in the morning, he's thinking about lots of ways to make your parents broke and unhappy... he's monkeyfucking you from the moment he grabs his presidential drawers and pulls them on over his diapers. And your response is to turn your back?

Let me be in charge of International ANSWER. I'd keep the pigmask politician shit going... but we'd be cruising the main thoroughfares with Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. playing as we threw fake money from the back of a van with factoids about our favorite Repubs on the back. Costs too much money? Break in somewhere and make them. I did it all the time. Still do it, in fact, when I can't find a unionized print shop (FBI watching again? FUCK YOU. Arrest me.) and it's too late to have it sent out.

I'd be at every fundraiser in the country, wearing my suit and pigmask. We'd keep doing that shit, but I'd add an important ingredient: pork. Lots and lots of pigmeat. All over everyone, all the time. It'd be like a barbecue, but no one would want to eat what we throw.

I'd weld bathroom doors closed, just like they did at Fred's Discount Store when management felt employees were "taking too much personal time" during anti-union campaigns (yeah, no bullshit,) but I'd do it at Halliburton. I'd go to the Coca-Cola building down in ATL. I'd get union welders to make sure that the next time Dick Cheney's homies go to relieve their 10-year old scotch whiskey addled bladders, they'd have to be wearing crosstrainers to make it.

But you don't know the half of my warpath. Discuss.

I've got these cheeseburgers, baby...

2005-01-21T20:30:19Z

Quebecor World, the corporation that I am currently organizing, is undergoing "corporate restructuring" due to some managerial decisions made while we were running this campaign.

Hehe

Translation: We did so many protests and filed so many charges that the company was forced to blame SOMEONE for their problems with our program.

Pierre Karl Peladeux, the CEO of QW, decided to fire his main negotiator, a man by the name of Hugh Gaylord. Hugh Gaylord was often known as simply "Gaylord" or "The Man Who Shows No Concern." Workers hated him because he consistently denied them such things as bathroom breaks, turkeys at Thanksgiving that management included in contractual negotiations, lunch breaks, pay raises that even are EQUAL to the cost of living, and my personal favorite, leave for pregnant mothers. He'd allow it if you wanted to grieve it but as far as he was concerned, unless you were making so much money off the Q1 gate you aren't getting shit at contract nego time. The bottom line wasn't just his focus, but his line in the sand.

Here enters our hero.

Gaylord was in Halifax, NS and we ended up running into each other. Literally. Gaylord dropped his pen, looked up and saw me, of all people, standing in front of him with my luggage in hand.

He stammered for a second, and I said "Aren't you Hugh Gaylord?" His reply was a blustering, "Yeah." I extended my hand and he excused himself, refusing to even make eye contact.

He really should have shaken my hand, because if he had shown me that he was not as much of a dick as I had previously expected, I would certainly not have used his name in every anti-QW management chant at every action. I told Kohl's to call his personal office line if they ever had any questions about QW policies regarding employee overtime (think 130 hour work-weeks with scheduled mandatory overtime included as 60 percent of those hours...) and attendance policies. And as a personal fuck-you, I made sure that his archnemesis from a local union shop in TN was always at his bargaining sessions on time and well-fed. When Dave showed up, his skin was always rosy and he'd be ready to say, just for me, "Reece says hey and watch where you walk."

So from me to you, Gaylord, I hope your retirement is full of denied pension withdrawls, 401k buyouts and depletions, high-cost prescription drugs accompanied (or even caused) by crippling nerve disorders, urinary tract infections from drinking too much iodine-depleted water, and diabetes from too much fast food. I hope every single day that you spend retired is equivalent to a month's worth of suffering that you heap on the people that work in these communities. And I certainly hope that your personal life impoverishes you and allows the members of your family that actually wants to help the downtrodden and depressed to prosper, so you can watch and see what your life's work should REALLY be.

Happy retirement, fucko. May you cease to get an erection for your remaining years.

solidarious @ 2005-01-21T12:05:00

2005-01-21T17:20:10Z

I went into Wal-Mart yesterday because I had a question for the shift manager (who was of course named Dale):

"How many hours do you have to work here to be considered full-time?"

[Dale scurries back into the stockroom to grab another manager]

Manager: "Are you considering working for us."

[laughter] "No, no. I just want to know how many hours your people work for full-time status."

Manager: "We've got a great benefits program. You shouldn't laugh."

[more laughter] "Do I need to ask you again?"

[uncomfortable silence]

[icy stare from me] "Okay, I take your silence to mean that you're just not going to tell me."

"Well, currently we consider fulltime to be 28 hours. But there's always a need for overtime."

ME: "..."

Manager: "Why are you asking this question in the first place if you don't need a job?"

ME: "That's only twelve thousand dollars a year on average employee salary."

Manager: "Yeah, well, only if you don't work overtime. Everybody works overtime"

ME: "But that's criminal, man! You can't support a family on that."

Manager: "You could always pull two shifts. Lots of people do that.

ME: "..."

After five minutes of staring into space in the parking lot, I left.

If this is the future of business, I hope they make it legal for those living under the poverty line to kill and eat anyone who makes a salary above 150,000 a year.

I now have a deep fear of a Wal-Mart planet.

Hey... :)

2005-01-21T06:47:36Z

So I was walking across the room and I saw you standing there.

Yeah, I can wait...

Nah, for real, I was looking and I saw you noticing my LJ.

It's dope, just got it.

... yeah, I'll probably update it twice a day.

But nah, you can expect AT LEAST once a day.

If some shit goes down I could do it up three times, but after that you're pushing it.

Yeah, gimme your name and I'll add you to my friends list. We might have met before... add me if you know me.

Oh you gotta go? Yeah, I'll be around. Holla at me.

... hahah for real. First day, trying it because it seems like this is what the cool kids are writing on these days.