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Sunday 13 September 2009

Sell out?

This week I was accused, on another blog, of selling out. The premiss of the argument was that because my job entails certain activities that could be considered anti-union, therefore I could not be a socialist.

To be fair to the individual involved, they are not the first person (nor can I imagine will they be the last) to accuse me of either hypocrisy or selling out. And they are probably just trying to be sensationalist and inflammatory in order to serve their own ends.

But honestly? I find this ridiculously naive and idealistic.

I have a job, which I am paid to do. I am good at it.

I have my beliefs and my ideologies. These are what make me who I am.

Sometimes in my job I have to do certain things that clash with my beliefs.

So I have a choice, I can either walk away from the job or I can get on with it and know that regardless I am who I am. I'm me and I'm loved.

And at the end of the day I am putting food on the the table and in the mouths of my children. There is nothing I wouldn't do to ensure that they were ok. If I wasn't working and they needed food, then I would steal. I don't believe in breaking the law, but I would steal. Its these kinds of decisions that those of us in the real world come up against every day.

We all make compromises in order to make our way. That's just the way it is.

My experience of these social idealists is that they normally spend most of the time lurking in their bedrooms, pleasuring themselves over well worn sticky copies of the Little Red Book, whilst dreaming of having a girlfriend/boyfriend....I mean..... the glorious day. Not a million miles away from religious zealots, war gamers or the guys that get dressed up as Wizards and Warlocks for fun.

Me? I get on with it. I work, I make a living, I care and I provide. And in my spare time? Well that would be telling......but come the revolution, I'll be putting myself up against the wall.

7 comments:

Fernandomando said...

Always thought that anyone who remained true to their radiacl views from the 6th form or university was an immature dogmatic reactionary who probably got far less sex than they were hoping for when they first embraced naive communism at their polytechnic. I think they are just envious of your success, and would like everyone to be dragged down to theirs, so they don't have to feel so bad.

Anonymous said...

So pointing out that a raise, much less an 11.8% raise, in a time when other people are LOSING THEIR JOBS is unreasonable counts as union busting?

Ha. My husband has taken a pay freeze, has lost three weeks of vacation, and will not get a bonus this year. But he STILL HAS A JOB.

The union at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac (north of Milwaukee) voted against a pay cut FOR RECALLED WORKERS AND NEW HIRES, thinking the company was bluffing when it said if it didn't get the concessions, it was moving almost 1,000 jobs to Oklahoma.

The vote came in. The company said, "We're moving," and the union said, "Now wait a minute. You meant it?"

They did. AND NOBODY ACCUSED THEM OF UNION BUSTING. They were doing what they needed to do to survive as a company. Guess what? When the economy is slow, people do not buy motorboats. They buy food. But they don't buy boats.

BTW, I don't think in principle that union busting is such a bad thing because other than artificially increasing the cost of labor and denying people the opportunity to be paid what they are worth ON THEIR OWN, I don't see how unions add much value to the system.

Sayya26 said...

Poo on them HRD! You go boiii!

HRD said...

@fernando - Ahh back in the simple days when the world seemed easy and the biggest concern was where to find your next beer and explaining how you were "misunderstood by society"!
@class-factotum - Yeah, the ecconomic viability argument didn't really seem to sink in! Its amazing sometimes how you have to be looking the horrible truth in the face before the seriousness of the matter sinks in. Personally, I'm not anti- union, just anti irresponsible union.
@Sayya - I think that's encouragement....? :)

Anonymous said...

HRD -- I don't support illegal activities, but the teachers' union in the US does not seem to have the children's interests at heart. The plumbers' union? The electricians'? OK. They set standards and define what it means to be in that profession, provide training and apprenticeships, etc.

But the teachers' union? Public employees' union? (I'm sorry -- you are a government employee, ie, employed for life no matter how incompetent you are, and you need a union why?) Screw the taxpayer, who might be unemployed right now. Give us our raise. So what that the kids can't read? So yeah -- they definitely meet the definition of "irresponsible union."

HRD said...

@class-factotum - I couldn't agree more! You might like to look at this.

http://people-everyday.blogspot.com/2009/04/nuts.html

Sayya26 said...

LOL! yes it is encouragement :)