Our families and friends "worry" about him, about us ... while they continue to spend their money at stores with proven anti-labor track records -- and I'll be specific here -- like Whole Foods, Home Depot, WalMart, or Copps. If you're reading this, and you care about Mr. Ether and our family, you won't shop at those places. Period. Otherwise your sympathy doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot.
I am angry, and somehow need to find a way to be at peace. Maybe you can help me, because right now it is eating me up.
Yesterday there was a front page article in our local newspaper about unemployment, encouraging people who have been laid off to "make the job search their full time job" and "network." When there ARE no jobs, or the available employers want someone with a college degree, but they are only offering $10/hr., something is very wrong. This assumption that you only have to try harder is blaming the victim. The dirty secret is that the system has been stacked against workers for a long time. If you were non-white with any kind of a police record, you probably knew that years ago. Now it is coming home to roost in what is left of the white middle class.
Work -- with dignity and a living wage -- for a brief time in U.S. history, was an entitlement. It is time to build strong trade unions again. If you aren't in a union, you can still educate yourself about the businesses you support with your dollars.
Looking for union-made products? Here is a good place to start.
Destroying the unions and creating a large jobless class is a tool the rich use to oppress everyone else. They wage war against the poor, working class, and now the middle class through jobs. I'll leave you with the chorus of another favorite Johnny Clegg song, Work For All.
We need work for all.
We want work for all.
We need work to be.
Give us work for all.
Give us work to be.
8 comments:
I'm with ya sister. I will continue to boycott Home Depot and Wal Mart until the end of time.
Oh Suzy, I am so with you 100%.
Unemployment has been a problem that was below the surface for so many, but a real problem and a huge one, as you know.
There is so much I want to say but I don't want to hijack the comments here.
What I will say is that most unemployment these days comes from businesses that use the current economy as a way to shove people off the payroll. Some businesses are struggling... A portion of them are genuinely struggling and have tried to be good employers. Some of them struggle because they fell under the weight of debt- that grew out of greed.
My husband's workplace, which employed 110 people 10 days ago now employs 93. He made it through the layoff.... this time. It sucks.
I am in solidarity with you.
I know this is insensitive.
Think of it as a game. The company buys the precious minutes and hours of your life. Your one and only life. That's fine. You agreed to play the role as long as it's mutually beneficial.
You see a layoff as a one-sided divorce. You feel rejected, defective, and your self esteem is broken.
But wait! It was a game. Just a game. It's over. And it wasn't that much fun, anyway.
But now what? A broken economy. Winter. Depression. A vicious cycle.
Break out. Dare to have faith in yourself. Find your niche. Play your music. Grow your veggies. Do what you love. Join forces with friends and neighbors.
Spring will come.
We don't shop at those places. Wal-Mart especially gets on my nerves; sucking the last few dollars from the poorest Americans, selling crap. It's so depressing.
Yet, we're preaching to the choir. Almost all of my school kids report a trip to Wal-Mart as part of their weekend.
Suzy I am so sorry to hear this. I have went to Wal Mart a few times in the past few months. Not often. I am not even X-mas shopping there this year.. I havent even started that. Yikes.. Anyway I hope things look up my friend.. Life is a bummer but we take what we can and run with it.. Merry X-mas and Happy New Year and I hope it brings lots of happy things your way..
I hear you loud and clear.
I've also been frightened by how the term "restructuring" for the "big three" auto companies in their little bailout is a code word for "union busting".
A dear friend was recently forced into early retirement by Chrysler. That's frightening to me.
I'm also frightened by folks like my brother and his family, intelligent people all, who think of a trip to Wal Mart as a field trip. What a good time! I've presented arguments against shopping there. They say "Hey, we're on the margin and they have the lowest prices". Right.
I'm am so angry about the union busting Republicans. What's new, right? Well, I can certainly honor your request to buy union products. We don't shop at WalMart, Home Depot or Whole Foods and we won't start.
Dammit. Hell. And shit!
I wish I could somehow get my friends to understand how bad Walmart is. All they think about is the price tags. Sigh. Also, I think of dad every time "Work For All" comes up on my ipod (which is quite often, as it's one of my favorite songs). Johnny Clegg is so wise.
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