Monday, August 08, 2011
Suggestion Box
Oh please, Bossman, don't fire me. All I asked for was a clean bathroom, a safe ladder, & a week's paid vacation. Alright, I'll take a $3 an hour cut, donate my own ladder, clean the bathroom on my own time, & take an unpaid week off whenever you say.
What's that oh Bossman? ICE is making you fire the illegals? My kids are 12 & 14, they get outta school at three, they can work the swing shift minimum wage. That's almost like giving me a raise, Bossman. I'd sure be grateful if you'd consider it.
I was wrong Mister Bossman. I was sure the law stated I had two 15 minute breaks & 30 for lunch, but if you say no breaks & 15 for lunch, you must know the rules Mister Bossman, cause nobody smarter than you, Bossman.
Oh Uncle Freddy. thank you for letting me call you Uncle & not Bossman, cause I know we're family here & I do appreciate the $10 & box of candy you give me at Christmas.
I'm glad we're now on personal terms, Uncle Freddy, after I worked here ten years. I believe you that the stuff hanging off the ceiling isn't asbestos & that propane tank doesn't have to be outside the building, & it's O.K. to run this chemical wastewater hose into the creek out back.
I gotta tell you, Uncle Freddy, some of the folks are annoyed that you sent away the food truck & brought in those vending machines selling cokes & little bags of Cheetos for $3. Not me, mind you. I'll make you a list of the people complaining about it.
(A series of posts at NJ.com. "Uncle Freddy" posted that unions had gone too far. In the 1940's 34% of private sector workers were unionized. Now it's about 7% . Could anti-union forces be any more successful short of destroying private sector unionism altogether? Now that private sector unions lack serious political power in most states, public service unions are the focus of attack. They must also be eliminated. Non-unionized private sector workers, their employee benefits dribbling away, their middle class wages stagnating for three decades, are turned against teachers, cops, firefighters, even toll collectors, hospital nurses & orderlies, city hall clerks & janitors, anyone who tried to protect themselves with unions. When workers are not unionized, they cannot say, in solidarity, "It might be fair to take a little away from them, if you share some of what they have with us, Spread it around." But you know the "savings" won't flow toward non-union workers as lower middle class property taxes & more efficient government. That money will be be sucked up into air like a tornado grabbed it. It's natural that non-union workers would feel angry at & envious of union workers whose wages & benefits have not stagnated so much, especially public sector workers with wages paid by taxes. Over the long run, punishing those union workers will backfire as workers lose all leverage with the bosses, including political bosses, who at least listened to unions - who advocate worker rights, education, & health issues generally, in addition to the usual corporate suspects who've taken over both parties, Congress, the White House, & the Supreme Court. & since the corporations are global, they can suck the United States dry like a spider feeding on an insect. & move on to the future: China & India.)
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
What's that oh Bossman? ICE is making you fire the illegals? My kids are 12 & 14, they get outta school at three, they can work the swing shift minimum wage. That's almost like giving me a raise, Bossman. I'd sure be grateful if you'd consider it.
I was wrong Mister Bossman. I was sure the law stated I had two 15 minute breaks & 30 for lunch, but if you say no breaks & 15 for lunch, you must know the rules Mister Bossman, cause nobody smarter than you, Bossman.
Oh Uncle Freddy. thank you for letting me call you Uncle & not Bossman, cause I know we're family here & I do appreciate the $10 & box of candy you give me at Christmas.
I'm glad we're now on personal terms, Uncle Freddy, after I worked here ten years. I believe you that the stuff hanging off the ceiling isn't asbestos & that propane tank doesn't have to be outside the building, & it's O.K. to run this chemical wastewater hose into the creek out back.
I gotta tell you, Uncle Freddy, some of the folks are annoyed that you sent away the food truck & brought in those vending machines selling cokes & little bags of Cheetos for $3. Not me, mind you. I'll make you a list of the people complaining about it.
(A series of posts at NJ.com. "Uncle Freddy" posted that unions had gone too far. In the 1940's 34% of private sector workers were unionized. Now it's about 7% . Could anti-union forces be any more successful short of destroying private sector unionism altogether? Now that private sector unions lack serious political power in most states, public service unions are the focus of attack. They must also be eliminated. Non-unionized private sector workers, their employee benefits dribbling away, their middle class wages stagnating for three decades, are turned against teachers, cops, firefighters, even toll collectors, hospital nurses & orderlies, city hall clerks & janitors, anyone who tried to protect themselves with unions. When workers are not unionized, they cannot say, in solidarity, "It might be fair to take a little away from them, if you share some of what they have with us, Spread it around." But you know the "savings" won't flow toward non-union workers as lower middle class property taxes & more efficient government. That money will be be sucked up into air like a tornado grabbed it. It's natural that non-union workers would feel angry at & envious of union workers whose wages & benefits have not stagnated so much, especially public sector workers with wages paid by taxes. Over the long run, punishing those union workers will backfire as workers lose all leverage with the bosses, including political bosses, who at least listened to unions - who advocate worker rights, education, & health issues generally, in addition to the usual corporate suspects who've taken over both parties, Congress, the White House, & the Supreme Court. & since the corporations are global, they can suck the United States dry like a spider feeding on an insect. & move on to the future: China & India.)
