Room With A View II*

Room With A View

I went to Labor Notes in Dearborn, MI this year. I was last there to promote labor/working class television to the labor movement 12 years ago. I was still trying to sell them on the wonderful technology of The Television over the weekend. I'll be back in 12 years to deliver the same message, I'm afraid. I understand the "How to Make a Flyer" workshop was well attended.

There is a stressful undercurrent among these folks. From the system tweakers to the bread and butter unionists to the Anarchist party on the Penthouse 14th floor because, after all, "they have the biggest vision.". A beautiful suite overlooking west Detroit, it was.

I went to the Building Trades bitch-a-thon. I'm glad I did because when it came time for me to speak, I vented 25 years of disgust of the way tradesmen treat each other. I informed them that their worst advertisement was themselves and asked, "Did you ever see you yahoos out in public with your union jackets and phony, tough guy, rude attitude?" This meme I held all weekend was to promote the idea the American working class is mentally ill, in the grips of some Child Abuse Syndrome, siblings quieting any dissent, dysfunction should be behind closed doors, systemic internal abuse in the hazing of apprenticeship, or the stated fact of Lisa, (I believe an IBEW electrician from Boston), that "after thirty years on a career track they hated, 55 year old white men are miserable." It was nice for a Sister to have my back after I had just told the lot (and they still think they are in a union) that they are mentally ill.

The discussion did spur some interesting stories as there were several women of the trades, apprentices and even a contractor from NYC. (... does not compute...) A brave ironworker apprentice from Nevada (?) told an awful story of an abusive teacher at the apprenticeship school and how she, and only she of a class of 28, stuck up for the one sorry target that this Bully choose to isolate. I called her classmates "cowards" (I knew I should have shut up then and there, but oh no) and stressed that this category is the most emotionally beat down group of workers at this conference. I mentioned the work of Kevin Lynch and Dr Donohue at the 134 IBEW and the 6hrs of seminars on "Emotional Intelligence" taught to the 3rd year apprentices.

Far and away, trying to change construction culture is the most neglected work being done. The labor movement doesn't need more members, it needs better quality of people and the Building Trades has a long way to go to be an asset if there ever is a "movement" in labor.

It felt good to vent, and I let out a blast of hot air at the Pension worry-a-thon. There is still a deep faith, especially among the State workers that pensions just need to be reformed. These gentle folks don't see a Ponzi Scheme when it slaps a wet mackeral across their chops. It's flipped, people with pensions are to be resented in this New World Economic Order. The ship has sailed on this issue, it's all swirling down the toilet in my opinion, and I agreed with the UE rep that wanted to form financial institutions of our own, sans Wall Street, and go back to pre-Taft Hartley Proudhonian thinking. It was interesting learning how through long process in the beginning of the century having health care and, possibly, a pension if tied you to your paycheck. It doesn't have to be that way. These patronizing dependence wage packages make a slave. You earn it, The Trust steal a clip on every hour worked. Put it all on the check, me and my friends in Mutual Aid will take care of ourselves, thank you.

After two hours of this jabber, it occurred to me that no one brought up the idea that stopping war funding might be a stimulus package and save their Golden Years assess. It worries me still how little the wars were even mentioned throughout the conference. Antiwar buttons and a workshop, for sure, but no out and out End The Wars appeal. It could be that I just wasn't there, too. US Labor Against the War (USLAW) did represent but the madness continues as the International Longshoreman and Wharehouse Union (ILWA) is forcing locals on the West Coast to handle Hot (Scab) Cargo. It seems further away from the idea of labor having any impact on the War Machine. If they are forced to handle hot cargo, they will be handing munitions and supplies for the duration, it seems to me. Antiwar group should be aware of the details in this case.

Always in the lib/lab/lefty event world, a swirl of absurdity held center stage. The organizers of the event held a protest against the Hyatt Hotel chain on behalf of the scabbed-out 100 Hyatt Hotel workers from Boston, in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel of Dearborn, MI where the conference was being held.

The bi-annual Labor Notes conference should be credited in its promoting face-to-face interaction of like minded people that have some deep seated need to fight the alienation of the modern workplace. Small personal stories of bravery were quite inspirational. It takes a bit of diplomacy and presence to be with so many people all with different spots on the political time line. It was good for me to define myself amongst them, talking verbally with inflection and nuance, enjoying the facial expression of whom I'm speaking, and wonder how and when the next generation will slip down the digital matrix. When their personalities will merge through the USB port in the back of their heads. The final Tweet rapture.

When will the idea of computer software programs saving the working class wear out its shine?Another e-mail on the way to the Revolution ain't making it happen. The military created the Internet, they can make it all go away, too. Big Brother is here and the IBEW installed it. Cyberspace is so nebulous, making the photo erasures eliminating the foes of Uncle Joe historical narrative, seem like crayons in literature. Digital imagery is pure illusion, filter what you see and hear, doubt your senses. Data can go away to NoWhereLand, JeeBus, I'm still digging 10 year old Labor Note rags out of the back of my desk drawer. The difference of a good handshake/hug and a FaceBook friend is an issue and a reflection on what is needed in future struggles. So much of technology has alienated us from each other ever more, seemingly while emancipating us. The illusion is complete.

Only one place for discussion for what the world is going to look like in the future and I had to take the freight elevator to the 14th floor to find it. One obvious anarchist lifestyle attendee from Madison, WI stated he was in the Socialist Party branch. Asked politely, "How does that work?" He said he and his two friends joined and immediately had a majority and took over the group. This is an example of the great Red Threat existing in America today.

(Re-published from 2010, EWS)