Another Guy With a Desk Job Bitches About Those Lazy Union Thugs

Courken George Deukmejian, Jr. 

Conor's back with another column wherein he simply cannot bring himself to blame Republicans for anything. Instead, he goes after K-Thug for not blaming the Democrats for anything.

"...political victory doesn't guarantee good governance."

I know, right? Just look at the disaster that was the Bush Administration. The David Brooks of the Atlantic really nailed that subtitle.

Jerry Brown's secret tree-hugging, union-thugging plan to bankrupt the state right into the Pacific is totally like something that happened that Conor doesn't like to talk about.

But California Governorships? He's all over that...

"Since Ronald Reagan departed in 1975, it has gone back and forth between Democrats (like current and former governor Jerry Brown) and Republicans, most recently the moderate Arnold Schwarzenegger."

CA Governorships since 1975:

1975-1983 DEM 8
1983-1999 GOP 16
1999-2003 DEM 4
2003-2011 GOP 8
2011-2013 DEM 2

Peter Barton “Pete” Wilson

24 years of GOP, 14 yrs of DEM.

Conor Math: 24/14  = "gone back and forth."

If we really wanted to stay out of the obfuscation game we'd take a more recent, and relevant time frame, say, 1983-2013, the last 30 years of pertinent American History. During this period of mostly GOP presidents, the CA Governorship has been 24 years of GOP, and 6 years of DEM.

The "back and forth" for the last 30 years has been a 4 to 1 GOP dominance of the California Governor's Mansion.

So, right off the bat I get the feeling that Conor's is bluffing. But here's his tell:

"...the moderate Arnold Schwarzenegger."

See that gentle nudge to the left Connor gives the union hating, Ken Lay and Dick Cheney secret meeting taking, lower taxes for the rich loving, education slashing, safety-net-cutting Plutocrat who happened to believe in global warming while he drove his Hummer down the sunny beach of gay rights?

Conor's never-blame-the-GOP-for-anything-unless-you-call-them-RINOs attitude runs rampant while he criticizes Krugman for not blaming the Democrats for anything (and, seriously, go read K-Thug's column, because Conor's really stretching it).

Of course, there is no mention of Prop 13.

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger

Conor's serious tackling of The Big Issue? Blame the unions.

In Conor's world, union thugs (who bust their asses fixing roads, controlling violent prisoners, policing dangerous streets, risking their lives to put out fires, and teaching our children while the school crumbles around them) are just a bunch of greedy socialist parasites because they want a defined benefit pension that gives them a decent retirement. In Conor's world, it's fine to let corporate market riggers hijack corporate boards and reward themselves golden parachutes after tanking their companies and the world economy, but if some hard working middle class union member wants a decent retirement, they're greedy and responsible for the downfall of the whole state. It's fine to keep paying into a bloated and corrupt medical industrial complex, the main reason for our long term debt, but wanting to be modestly middle class in a home you've lived in all your life in one of the most expensive states to live in is just too much.

I wish we had a program where people who sit on their asses for their whole career actually have to go work at one of those cushy union jobs guarding dangerous criminals or getting shot at or teaching kids in a crumbling school for crappy pay for just one year. Just one year. Maybe we'd get a lot less Glib Bullshit and a little more sympathy for the people who literally bust their asses making the world work well enough for Conor Friedersdorf to get paid to sit on his ass and write Glib Bullshit. Maybe one year on the streets of south central LA would make him think twice about raising the retirement age, or cutting pensions, or not giving those hard-working, brave Americans raises that keep up with inflation.

Maybe one year isn't enough of too little sleep, sore feet, aching joints, permanent physical damage and pain, while simultaneously never having enough money to make ends meet, not being able to afford college for your kids, or not being able to stay in your home after retirement. The real trick to appreciating the life these hard-working Americans lead is to have to face the long, backwards bending arc of the universe of hard work for little reward. I'm not sure one year of walking in those shoes would be enough for the pampered hordes of Conor Friedersdorfs to really appreciate what it's like to Play Spent in the real world.

My advice to liberals and progressives? If you're ever in contact with some union hating, hard work punishing, market rigging, plutocrat ass-kissing suck up, tell them to just try one little on-line game about being poor. Let's see what kind of choices they make when faced with near poverty, no savings, and one bad break from homelessness and hunger... one medical emergency from bankruptcy. Maybe they'll be kind enough to explain how it's their own lazy faults.

The "Both Parties Suck" Mentality is Really Bad for Workers

Those who say both parties suck should note that only one US Political Party supports the right of workers to organize into unions. In fact, the other, i.e. the Republican Party, is actively taking away the right of people to collectively bargain for a good wage, easing child labor laws, and even ranting about the evils of a minimum wage.

Remember the Battle of Blair Mountain and all the other struggles workers went through in this country when you go to the ballot box.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the biggest civil uprisings in the United States history and the largest armed insurrection since the American Civil War.[1] For five days in late August and early September 1921, in Logan County, West Virginia, between 10,000 and 15,000 coal miners confronted an army of police and strikebreakers backed by coal operators during a struggle by the miners to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields. Their struggle ended only after approximately one million rounds were fired,[2] and the United States Army intervened by presidential order.

People fought and died for American Workers to have rights like 8 hour days, weekends, minimum wages, and unions. The least any of us can do, but especially union members, is to remember those people who fought for our rights against powerful corporations, and to vote for the people most likely to make sure we retain those rights.

Of course, there are a lot of other reasons to vote for Democrats, not the least of which is that we tend to have at least a basic understanding and respect for science. But most of all, just look at what George Bush did. Seriously. The Republicans had their chance, they ran things the way they wanted, and it was a disaster of epic proportions. GW Bush is the modern Hoover, and here we are in a Great Recession started by GOP ideology. It doesn't work. Tax cuts for the rich don't create jobs (in fact, George Bush had the worst job creation record since Hoover). Deregulation and privatization create corruption and legalized theft. Pollution increases health care costs.

Democrats, for all their faults, did not cause our current troubles. Republicans did.

Freedom of Speech Goes Only to Those Who Can Buy the Volume

Reading these opinions on what The Ruling means, and I'm intrigued with the ACLU lawyer Joel Gora's argument that this is a first amendment victory. Since money does pay for louder speech, I foresee even more deaf ears as a result of the cacophony of screaming that will result from this ruling.

Oh, wait, I just thought of the Republican staffers that were flown down to Miami to do some "impromptu" hallway screaming during the Florida recount, but that gets way too complicated to think about. And it was so long ago...

No, in this case, reading Gora, I see he goes out of his way to point out that unions can get in on the money = speech thing. But let's think about the economic logic here: large and very rich (stupendously rich as compared to unions) companies like Wal Mart will be able to bombard the airways with advertising for anti-union candidates, spending a small fraction of their profit on 10 times the ads any union could buy with a large fraction of their budget (unions are non-profit).

Is that fair? I suppose if you advocate other forms of campaign finance that would somehow make up for that difference in spending ability, then yeah. But I can't think of one offhand, at least not one that we can get passed in the Senate now that we only have an 18 vote lead.

Maybe Republicans, noting that many corporations actually prefer Democrats these days (it's all about Branding), will get on board (I'm looking at you, McCain) and pass something decent to make free speech equal.

Oh, and by the way, freedom of the press, on the other hand, goes only to those who own one. I can set up a blog for you. It's what I do.

Health Care's the Cure that Ails Us

I'm a big fan of the Freakonomics blog. They recently announced the winner of their new 6 word slogan for the US contest. The winner was: Consumption's the Cure that Ails Us.

Today, I learned from two of my stagehand buddies that health care is the cure that's going to break the back of the unions. One of those buddies you probably heard of. He's the stagehand who "surfed" the collapsing scaffolding at the Academy Awards a few years ago, breaking his back in the process. He was a rigger, made good money, and is now disabled, but he stays in touch with old friends from backstage. Here's what he told me:

[...] health care has a annual low limit....weekly, a person has to make $830/week to qualify for health insurance....[a friend] worked for Port Charles props nighttime turnaround...averaged 40 hour weeks. in 2000, she made $600/week for a 40 hr week. with the raises per year to now.....nighttime turnaround at GH probably makes over $700/week...not enough to make health insurance.....there are many uninsured members in the 2 and 3 groups [this union has 5 senority "groups"].

Health care is killing unions. Every inch of negotiating room is eaten alive by the health insurance monster. My other friend from the IATSE sent me a story from today's LA Times, Conflict erupts inside theatrical stage employees union:

Leaders of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose members include 35,000 who work behind the scenes on film and television sets, are facing a high level of dissent from the rank and file over a contract that includes modest pay increases but also deep cuts in the union's coveted health and pension benefits.

There's more than one way to battle the health care monster. Cutting coverage for those covered is one way. Another is to put heafty qualifications on qualifying, like requiring substantial over time hours or even a second call (daily hire job) on your days off. Here we have yet another American Union, the battlers for the 40 hour week, and worker protection, essentially bowing to corporate demands that workers only deserve health care and pensions if they work more than 40 hours per week. From the LA Times again:

Under the proposed three-year contract, members would be required to work 400 hours every six months, up from the current 300 hours, to keep their benefits.

That's the movie locals requirement, and at least it's less than 40 hours per week average. My old local, 33, is in even worse shape, and has been forced to institute coverage that only covers those who make the most money. Younger members, who often work in lower paying television jobs, don't even make enough to qualify when they work full time.

Eugene Debs would be appalled.

Unions are going to be forced to cut back on pensions, 401ks, increased hourly wages, and better working conditions (meal penalties, continuous tour, golden time, etc) in order to feed the health care monster, and the Wall Street Monster that Ate the Pensions. These Unions (not all IATSE) already hamper themselves by sending stagehands in $200 suits in to negotiate with lawyers in $5000 suites. Now they have the other arm tied behind their back with capitalist, robber baron, Republican tactics to drain power away from what they see as communist union thugs robbing them of their next BMW.

As much as I hate to say it, I don't see any light on the cyc, so to speak. Things are going to get much worse, and who knows if we'll ever recover. And now our new progressive government is going to tinker around the edges while the solution, single payer universal non-profit health care, stands screaming from the sidelines, while we all talk about Rush Fucking Limbaugh.

The only slight glow coming from the dimmer racks on this one is that, in the kollapsnik world, guys with calluses and working knowledge of mechanical systems will be the new kings, wearing $200 overalls.

My Local One Union Brothers on Strike

A stagehand friend of mine sent me this story about a typical Broadway stagehand, who's on strike. It reminded me a of great period in my career as a stagehand, and got me thinking about this crazy career.

Back in the summer of 2000, I went to New York to learn how to operate the automation for the LA version of The Lion King, which was built by Hudson Scenic. The New York version of the show was still running at the New Amsterdam Theatre, home to many great shows including the Ziegfeld Follies. We spent our days at Hudson's shop in Yonkers, and at night we went to the show where we watched and learned backstage. I'll never forget the tour Drew Sicardi, the head carpenter, gave us of the theater above the theater, known as the Roof Garden Theater, where a racier version of the Follies, the Midnight Frolics, played, starring Fanny Brice. It was just a concrete shell of a theatre, but I was amazed at the sense of history and the grooves in the floor where blocks of ice were put to cool the big theater downstairs.

I've been a stagehand for 20 years, but being backstage on Broadway welled up a sense of history and awe. Mostly I was amazed at how small the theaters are. Working in LA, space is usually never a problem (I say usually because I spent the last few years working in the Mark Taper Forum, where space is always a problem). But in New York, especially on a show the size of The Lion King, I was amazed at how they got so much in such a small space. As if working backstage on a Broadway show isn't hard enough. Depending on the show, people scurry all over the place trying to do things at precisely the right moment. Traffic patterns, technical problems, actor variations, and many other variables make each show an adventure. The stress is enormous. So is the sense of accomplishment.

I got to know a lot of those IATSE Local One guys. Many of them came out to LA and helped install our Lion King at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. These are some of the hardest working guys in the world, and they have a very specialized set of skills. People don't really understand what stagecraft is all about. The hours are awful. The work--a combination of the worst aspects of movers, riggers, mechanics, electricians, technicians, and construction workers--is extremely hard. Perhaps the worst part is that usually the only time anyone notices a stagehand is when they screw up.

For this production--the strike--hopefully people are noticing the stagehands for a better reason. And when you hear from some anti-labor people how much the "typical" stagehand in New York makes, remember what they do and that they live and work in New York. It's all relative.

Hang in there guys. You've earned the respect you deserve.