i used the effword in here- but couldn't help it.
nora... eat her w/ spoon
i have a few things to say tonight.
it is a very good thing that phoenix kay has joined the world.
i very much look forward to meeting him.
i watched two segments of 60 minutes that were very compelling.
the first was coverage of andy stern and his efforts to revitalize labor unions in america. it was very interesting. i'd be interested to hear what the readership that are union members (or former members) have to say about it (read- jess abei). he proposes that labor unions are a practical way to move people out of poverty.
the second segment was on a charter school and a second reniassance happening in harlem. very kozol- very very cool. i was raised in a home where private education was scoffed at and home schoolers scorned. irregardless of being a daughter of a public school teacher- it seems most would agree that without drastic intervention- the underserved kids in urban settings today will be left by the wayside... again. no white child left behind you know...
which brings me to something i find myself often trying to work unnaturally into conversation... how christians involved or interested in community development should look into credit unions. thy kingdom come should not only lend immediate aid to alievate suffering in order to lessen it- but actually break cycles of poverty. responsible capatlisim, ethical lending/giving, and standards that work to preserve particpant's dignity are good things that can break the back of some of the demons that hold people in poverty.
i'm not going health and wealth on you my peeps.
i'm just sayin.
this has quickly turned into a rant. not my intention- but sometimes i can't help it.
i read something by dick durbin (d-il) where he quoted the oil revenue last year alone as some 110 bllion dollars. that was the same weekend i heard princess zulu speak on the response the the HIV/AIDS pandemic in africa. nearly seven thousand people die daily in africa due HIV/AIDS. that's not even to mention deaths due to preventable and treatable illnesses like malaria or others caused by lack of clean drinking water.
the diachotomy made me want to bash my head againest the wall. i'm sorry- but 110billion fucking dollars? it literally makes my stomach go into immediate non-cooperation. meanwhile (as princess zulu pointed out); i find room to complain about the cost of a gallon of gas. oye.
in closing- you should very much purchase this edition of the new rebublic. it will be a good account of our generation's passive and active role in the ongoing genocide in darfur for your grandchildren. will i be embarassed to share my story with my grandchilden? God have mercy on me- i hope not.
4 comments:
Maureen
I live at home. I hope my mom does not hold it against me, for using "damn and hell" on my blog. I even admitted to being Bitchy because I was so tired, since I worked about 50 hrs last week, with a right foot that is beginning to develop arthritis.
I wish I had my own computer so I could be more expressive when I was pissed off. I might think about editing about what I wrote the last time I was on the blog.
By the way, pray I get another temp job pretty soon. I have been laying low the past three days. I have done important things though. I need a break after the week I had. Pearson ran out of work last Fri/Sat
Well girl, you are gonna get your wish come true. I will chime in on the topic of labor unions. But first things first. If we are gonna be friends, you gotta start spelling my name right. Aebi. Not Abei.
Ok, back to unions. As a former labor union member myself I feel that I can speak with some authority on the issue. First, let me describe my experience. My labor union dues were the biggest waste of $15/month that I can think of. Over the course of my ten years of employment at Medco, I paid over $2000 to our union, the AMCP. And what is really bothersome to me is that the union for the non-pharmacist employees (PACE, a national union) was FAR worse. Not only were their dues more expensive than ours, they did NOTHING but shoot those poor people in the foot. None of the other Medco locations have pharmacist unions, and the labor relations at our location are the absolute worst. Not only that, but we routinely get inferior benfits/compensation contracts than the pharmacists at the non-union locations. Nearly 100% of the problems that I had with working part time at Medco were due to rules insisted upon by the union, not by management. These rules were in place to protect seniority, not to protect me.
Having said all that, I definitely think that labor unions have played a critical role in our nation's history, and that they perhaps continue to do so in less developed countries. In places where job conditions are truly awful, and employers are genuinely oppressive. I am not talking about Ford, or McDonalds, the postal service, or teachers in America. To me, the fact that an employer may not want to give their employees a raise that keeps up with inflation is not a cardinal sin. Or that they want to double their health care premiums. And the idea that the entity which pulls people out of poverty (at least here in the US) is a labor union is laughable to me. People are not in situations of poverty (here in the US) because of the fact that their raise last year was not big enough. They are in poverty because they have no hope, because they are uneducated, and (I know this will be an unpopular statement) in some cases due to their own stupid choices.
Getting out of poverty is a complicated issue. I am not suggesting that 60 minutes does not realize that fact. I have no doubt that outside of the US, labor unions have an important role to play. But will they be effective in bringing people out of poverty? Perhaps. But I think it is more likely that there are other forces more powerful at work. If a labor union can bring hope, then more power to it. It just hasn't been my own experience.
as far as embarrassment in sharing your story...hell no! and do you know why? because IT matters to you. does that make sense? it's not like you can go out and gather an army and end the genocide next week. BUT in posts like this, you create awareness, share your passion and encourage a forum for thinking. there's nothing embarrassing about that, ma'am.
This comes from the CEO of Whole Foods. We watched a documentary on him- good stuff. Anyway, he said people should remember that unions are in it for profit like anybody else. They're interested in more members + high dues. He also acknowledged that they played an important role historically.
Having worked in manufacturing a bit myself and being in touch with vendors now who are in it, I personally see unions as a millstone around our collective neck. If we want manufacturing to continue to head overseas, we should keep them. That's my worthless two cents.
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