Hard Work Deserves More Respect
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, Unions, Workplace
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB—- from the song ”Respect” by Otis Redding
If you drive down I-55 or I-80 out of Chicago toward Joliet, they are hard to miss. Sprawling boxy-looking buildings, often windowless, but with constant activity as semi’s pull up to disgorge their contents. These are the warehouses of Will County, where goods meant mostly for North America’s big box stores are routed to their ultimate destinations. They employ thousands of people, mostly people of color, many of them immigrants. It is one of the largest and fasting growing USA centers for product distribution by truck and rail.
It was among those warehouses that Uylonda Dickerson, a single mom, found a job. What she did not find was respect. Not only was the pay rock-bottom, but when she reported for work, she was often sent home instead, because there was not enough to do. This is in direct violation of Illinois law, making it a case of wage theft. If workers are scheduled to work, but are sent home, the company must pay them at least 4 hours of wages.
Uylonda Dickerson sometimes did not receive hourly pay, but was paid by piecework, the hated system used by the sweatshops of the early 20th century. Piecework meant being paid according to the many trailers that she unloaded, a race against time to empty them, resulting in higher stress levels and a greater possibility of injury. Despite the mental and physical hazards of piecework, she received no health benefits, sick days or vacation time.
A Will County warehouse
Nurses on the Frontlines of Compassion
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, U.S. Healthcare
Unless you are wealthy, sick economies are bad for your health. Jobs become scarce. Living conditions deteriorate. Medical care becomes more expensive and more restricted. Conflicts increase among family members, unrelated individuals and even nations. These conflicts can lead to wars—global wars, regional wars, civil wars, class wars, neighborhood wars….you name it. Sick economies breed bad consequences and nurses must deal with those on a daily basis.
“No Poor Man Ever Gave Me A Job”
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, U.S. Politics, Unions
“No poor man ever gave me a job.” How many times have you heard that one? Sadly, these words are often spoken by a working class person who should know better. It’s always said with a self-satisfied sneer, sometimes accompanied by some racial or gender slurs. Maybe you’ve heard people repeating the cruel sound bites from TV about how lazy and irresponsible poor people supposedly are.
I’m not much good at snappy comebacks, so here is what I would like to say in response to these individuals.
If you go around saying stuff like this, aren’t you just trying to conceal your own insecurities? You think you need people “below” you to prop up your self confidence, don’t you? You know in your heart that you are just one lay-off, just one health problem or just one family tragedy away from poverty yourself. So overcome by fear, you adopt a worshipful attitude toward the wealthy 1% and their allies, hoping that you’ll be exempted from financial disaster.
But secretly, don’t you feel you feel a bit ashamed? I hope so, because that means you haven’t surrendered your humanity yet. So let’s talk about poor people. Maybe no poor person ever offered you a job, but it takes a lot of poor people to maintain an employer. In fact, let me introduce you to some of the poor people who help keep employers in business.
Occupy Woolworth’s: A Labor Story from the Great Depression
Filed under: CEO's, Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, Unions, Workplace
“Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!”—-Bob Marley
The legendary reggae artist Bob Marley gave us some good advice. There are times when people do have to stand up for their rights. But there are also other times when it pays to sit down for your rights. In 1937, during one of the worst years of the Great Depression, sitting down for one’s rights was on the agenda for people across the nation.
One of those places was a Detroit Woolworth’s on a typical 1937 Saturday morning shopping day. Woolworth’s went out of business in the USA in 1996. But in 1937, it had an empire of over 2000 stores in the USA and Canada plus more in Cuba, the UK and Germany. At precisely 11 am that February 27th, a union organizer named Fred Loew blew a loud whistle and began yelling “STRIKE! STRIKE!” Shouts and cheers could be heard as department by department the 150 “sales girls” stopped working and stood proudly with their arms folded. The sit-down strike against the USA’s most unpopular chain store had begun.
Occupy Wall Street and the Civilizing of the USA: A Talk Given to the Third Unitarian Church Sunday Forum Nov 13, 2011
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, U.S. Politics, Unions, Workplace
Portions of this were derived from a blog posting on the Daily Kos
“What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures.”–Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor- 1915
Samuel Gompers wrote those words 1915, because he knew the labor movement was a civilizing force in the USA. The Occupy Movement is also at its heart a labor movement, different than the one Samuel Gompers knew, but with a similar civilizing function. It’s working class people demanding to be treated with dignity and respect.
Occupy Chicago 10-7
The greed and brutality of our present economic system has become intolerable to many Americans as it undermines living standards and our democracy itself. The lives of our young people have become filled with uncertainty and dread. Young people feel left out of our political system and yearn for a voice. Read more