I read 'Working' in high school. This was after I had actually seen Studs speak to a small gathering... 20 or 30 people, probably a quarter of which were us high school students. I don't remember where that was... may have been somebody's living room, though probably more likely a branch of the Chicago Public Library or someplace like that. He recounted some of the stories from the book and took questions. I had seen Studs on TV before, but this was a whole 'nother level.
I was also involved with United Farmworker protesting at the time and had seen Roberto Acuna, the farmworker interviewed for the book, speak a few times at rallies and may have met him once or twice.
Thanks for reminding me of this, Doc. It's long past time I re-read 'Working'.
Donald Trump ""lazy" and "incompetent"? Fie, fie, why such moralising condemnation? he is the smartest and most successful being on this Earth throughout its entire existence! The pinnacle of human evolution! A veritable God Man!
Consider my reasoning for this argument: For millennia prehumans wandered as scavengers on this planet, seeking whatever sustenance they could find, struggling to survive, and physical fitness determined who dominated and procreated, passing on their superior genes. Even after humans began to settle and work the land, labor was hard physical work, as poetically described by and early writer "and God cursed the ground and said 'by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat'".
Now all living beings naturally seek to converse energy, to obtain the maximum reward while putting forth the least effort. In short, it is natural to not want to work and that should be negatively labelled as laziness. So, as the human brain continued to evolve, the smartest conceived of a new idea that would help them achieve a greater chance of survival, while conforming to this universal Law of Nature: why not make other humans do the work, but keep the food for themselves?
And so was born the next great leap forward in the evolution of human intelligence: slavery! The physically fit were made to do the hard work for the least reward, and the smartest labored, in the old meaning of the word, the least, and kept the bulk of the slaves' output.
Therefore Trump is the most brilliant human ever to have lived, because he is stuffing his pockets with bagsful of loot, while at the same time......er, wait. What?
Throwing all the slaves working in the fields and the slaughterhouses out of the country? And lots of people are going to starve? Gulp.
Lightbulb moment. Psst, Donnie, remember the Cultural Revolution? Quick, drive all those educated elites out onto the farms and get them working. Like, really working, producing useful food instead of wasting time studying intellectual nonsense like Wonkette.
The ones who survive, will maybe one day write a new Working.
"By 1929, twenty-eight-year-old Ella was a single mother who had lost four of her nine children to poverty related illnesses. She earned nine dollars for a seventy-two hour workweek on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City. That spring, Ella learned about the National Textile Workers’ Union strike at the Loray Mill seven miles to the east, and her life, as well as the life of many North Carolinians, changed forever. "
Just raising the minimum wage would be an incredible first step. Clinton did that, and so did Obama. Biden worked towards it. Fuck Republicans and those @BothSides fuckers.
I’m currently vacationing in Quebec City 🇨🇦 and was curious about their minimum wage which is $16.10 an hour. It must be so nice to live in a country that actually gives a fk about its citizens. Waaah, I go back to our 💩hole country tomorrow. In my next life I’m going to be 🇨🇦.
A man would be able to say "see, that's me on the forty-fifth floor, I put in that steel beam." This reminds me of a scene in Breaking Away, where the stonecutter father walks with his son among the buildings of Indiana University, pointing out his work (many of those jobs no longer exist). "I built these but I can't go in them."
It's late, and we have to drive to the pied-à-terre. To all who labor, I hope your day was groovy. I'll check in before bed. If you aren't up, I bid you good night, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Be kind, especially to yourself, and please stay safe.
a nurse job at the FBI was recommended to me on LinkedIn
At the FBI, we don’t just recognize talent—we strengthen and elevate it. We employ individuals who not only have experience in nursing, occupational health, and medicine but are also ready to apply their health care skills in a dynamic federal environment and contribute effectively to their teams.
this is so alien to me: down here you are brought up with the expectation that your boss will value your work. we have rights, we have expectations of behaviours that mean our customers will behave in a certain mannerly way (there are always assholes, I know, but for the most part we're at bare minimum polite if not friendly). its such a different cultural expectation
You might enjoy reading "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. She took on jobs as a maid, working at Walmart and other menial labor, and wrote about what that was like. Lots of insight and empathy with the working class.
"In 1981, the genial old bastard fired striking air traffic controllers, which labor historian Erik Loomis called “probably the greatest disaster for organized labor in the history of American labor.” Labor has never since regained the strength it had gained in the postwar era."
* IDK if I should feel any shame over being a Reagan Republican (I don't) right up until I left the party in 1986. At the same time that St Ronnie entered his Lame Duck period the overwhelming stench of the Neocons grew exponentially and they had no problems using a man growing more senile by the minute to get what they wanted.)
* Mr Loomis states that the destruction of PATCO could be the greatest disaster, but IMO that's just a singular event that turned out catastrophic for Labor. The largest attacks on employees came from the Titans of Industry in the late 19th century through the early 20th when they discovered that "The Pinkertons" could be hired as union busters by their busting heads and the indiscriminate use of firearms.
-----
"Even more shocking, he didn’t interview any crypto traders."
The likely reason is that Dr Who wouldn't loan Mr Turkle his TARTIS to make that possible.
-----
"It’s among the more harrowing jobs discussed in Working; hot, painful, repetitive work, the same series of movements every 40 seconds, up to 800 times a day for the lighter pieces, or 400 for the heavier large suitcases."
Are you ready for a return to the halcyon days of a management unconcerned with worker safety? With the Fulvous Fuckwad and his sycophants gutting OSHA, NIOSH, and other federal agencies tasked with watching out for the safety and health of the worker ants, employee care has become an expensive line item directly reducing profitability and they no longer need to concern themselves with it.
Anyone who actually voted to Reagan should of course feel shame.
It is important to remember that PATCO supported Reagan because he ran on racism. He opened his campaign in Philly, MS (where the civil rights workers were buried in a dam) praising state's rights.
I read 'Working' in high school. This was after I had actually seen Studs speak to a small gathering... 20 or 30 people, probably a quarter of which were us high school students. I don't remember where that was... may have been somebody's living room, though probably more likely a branch of the Chicago Public Library or someplace like that. He recounted some of the stories from the book and took questions. I had seen Studs on TV before, but this was a whole 'nother level.
I was also involved with United Farmworker protesting at the time and had seen Roberto Acuna, the farmworker interviewed for the book, speak a few times at rallies and may have met him once or twice.
Thanks for reminding me of this, Doc. It's long past time I re-read 'Working'.
Donald Trump ""lazy" and "incompetent"? Fie, fie, why such moralising condemnation? he is the smartest and most successful being on this Earth throughout its entire existence! The pinnacle of human evolution! A veritable God Man!
Consider my reasoning for this argument: For millennia prehumans wandered as scavengers on this planet, seeking whatever sustenance they could find, struggling to survive, and physical fitness determined who dominated and procreated, passing on their superior genes. Even after humans began to settle and work the land, labor was hard physical work, as poetically described by and early writer "and God cursed the ground and said 'by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat'".
Now all living beings naturally seek to converse energy, to obtain the maximum reward while putting forth the least effort. In short, it is natural to not want to work and that should be negatively labelled as laziness. So, as the human brain continued to evolve, the smartest conceived of a new idea that would help them achieve a greater chance of survival, while conforming to this universal Law of Nature: why not make other humans do the work, but keep the food for themselves?
And so was born the next great leap forward in the evolution of human intelligence: slavery! The physically fit were made to do the hard work for the least reward, and the smartest labored, in the old meaning of the word, the least, and kept the bulk of the slaves' output.
Therefore Trump is the most brilliant human ever to have lived, because he is stuffing his pockets with bagsful of loot, while at the same time......er, wait. What?
Throwing all the slaves working in the fields and the slaughterhouses out of the country? And lots of people are going to starve? Gulp.
Lightbulb moment. Psst, Donnie, remember the Cultural Revolution? Quick, drive all those educated elites out onto the farms and get them working. Like, really working, producing useful food instead of wasting time studying intellectual nonsense like Wonkette.
The ones who survive, will maybe one day write a new Working.
This is one of the very best labor posts I have reason on Wonkette. Thank you.
I want to shout out the song by Ella May Wiggins,
https://www.ncarts.org/blog/2019/06/10/ella-may-wiggins-and-mill-mothers-lament-protest-songs-change
"By 1929, twenty-eight-year-old Ella was a single mother who had lost four of her nine children to poverty related illnesses. She earned nine dollars for a seventy-two hour workweek on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City. That spring, Ella learned about the National Textile Workers’ Union strike at the Loray Mill seven miles to the east, and her life, as well as the life of many North Carolinians, changed forever. "
and the words (This song was originally posted on protestsonglyrics.net)
How it grieves the heart of a mother,
You every one must know,
But we can’t buy for our children,
Our wages are too low.
Now listen to me, workers,
Both women and men,
We are sure to win our union,
If all would enter in.
I hope this will be a warning,
I hope you will understand,
And help us win our victory,
And lend to us a hand.
It is for our little children,
That seem to us so dear,
But for us nor them, dear workers,
The bosses do not care.
But understand, all workers,
Our union they do fear,
Let’s stand together, workers,
And have a union here.
Just raising the minimum wage would be an incredible first step. Clinton did that, and so did Obama. Biden worked towards it. Fuck Republicans and those @BothSides fuckers.
I’m currently vacationing in Quebec City 🇨🇦 and was curious about their minimum wage which is $16.10 an hour. It must be so nice to live in a country that actually gives a fk about its citizens. Waaah, I go back to our 💩hole country tomorrow. In my next life I’m going to be 🇨🇦.
Found it on Audible and put it in my wish list!
I also read Working decades ago. I might still have the book someplace in the dark reaches of my closet.
A man would be able to say "see, that's me on the forty-fifth floor, I put in that steel beam." This reminds me of a scene in Breaking Away, where the stonecutter father walks with his son among the buildings of Indiana University, pointing out his work (many of those jobs no longer exist). "I built these but I can't go in them."
Wow, I read 'Working' about 40 years ago too. I had no idea it was also a musical!
It's late, and we have to drive to the pied-à-terre. To all who labor, I hope your day was groovy. I'll check in before bed. If you aren't up, I bid you good night, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Be kind, especially to yourself, and please stay safe.
Slava Ukraini. 🌻🇺🇦💙💛
so
like
a nurse job at the FBI was recommended to me on LinkedIn
At the FBI, we don’t just recognize talent—we strengthen and elevate it. We employ individuals who not only have experience in nursing, occupational health, and medicine but are also ready to apply their health care skills in a dynamic federal environment and contribute effectively to their teams.
Should I deep state it?
that’s alienated labor, bay-bee!
Sir to reward Giuliani with the Presidential Medal of Whatever for "making 9/11 possible".
Some people Live to work, most of us work to live.
this is so alien to me: down here you are brought up with the expectation that your boss will value your work. we have rights, we have expectations of behaviours that mean our customers will behave in a certain mannerly way (there are always assholes, I know, but for the most part we're at bare minimum polite if not friendly). its such a different cultural expectation
We used to be like that, too.
I miss it.
You might enjoy reading "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. She took on jobs as a maid, working at Walmart and other menial labor, and wrote about what that was like. Lots of insight and empathy with the working class.
https://youtu.be/zbbPAuAtSAA?si=EJeypvR0xXJSQRsu
Marianne Faithful’s voice is perfect for this.
"In 1981, the genial old bastard fired striking air traffic controllers, which labor historian Erik Loomis called “probably the greatest disaster for organized labor in the history of American labor.” Labor has never since regained the strength it had gained in the postwar era."
* IDK if I should feel any shame over being a Reagan Republican (I don't) right up until I left the party in 1986. At the same time that St Ronnie entered his Lame Duck period the overwhelming stench of the Neocons grew exponentially and they had no problems using a man growing more senile by the minute to get what they wanted.)
* Mr Loomis states that the destruction of PATCO could be the greatest disaster, but IMO that's just a singular event that turned out catastrophic for Labor. The largest attacks on employees came from the Titans of Industry in the late 19th century through the early 20th when they discovered that "The Pinkertons" could be hired as union busters by their busting heads and the indiscriminate use of firearms.
-----
"Even more shocking, he didn’t interview any crypto traders."
The likely reason is that Dr Who wouldn't loan Mr Turkle his TARTIS to make that possible.
-----
"It’s among the more harrowing jobs discussed in Working; hot, painful, repetitive work, the same series of movements every 40 seconds, up to 800 times a day for the lighter pieces, or 400 for the heavier large suitcases."
Are you ready for a return to the halcyon days of a management unconcerned with worker safety? With the Fulvous Fuckwad and his sycophants gutting OSHA, NIOSH, and other federal agencies tasked with watching out for the safety and health of the worker ants, employee care has become an expensive line item directly reducing profitability and they no longer need to concern themselves with it.
fnord
Anyone who actually voted to Reagan should of course feel shame.
It is important to remember that PATCO supported Reagan because he ran on racism. He opened his campaign in Philly, MS (where the civil rights workers were buried in a dam) praising state's rights.
The racism of PATCO members made that happen.
Thank you for calling yourself a reagan Republican and not a reagan Democrat. Being a Californian, I knew what he was.