On Monday, GSOC is beginning a week-long voting process to authorize a strike.
The last time we had a strike vote, we won recognition (i think. I'm still a little fuzzy on GSOC history and i can't remember whether there was a separate vote over the first contract negotiations.) GSOC has never struck before, so if that's what we wind up having to do it'll be interesting to see how the campus reacts.
First thing when the picket lines go up, I plain on reclaiming "We're Not Gonna Take It" from Yale-New Haven Hospital. I can't remember the last time The Register gave top billing to any FHUE event to which only 250 people showed up. The July 7 2003 "They're The Quantity, We're The Quality" tax hearing, maybe? (Except we had way more than 250 there.) Second thing, I ressurect Plan:Chase University President Around With Boombox Playing Nothing But Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass's "Spanish Flea" On Repeat. Ok, i'm probably not going to do that, because I'd probably just get thrown in jail, and there are better and more powerful ways to do that. Also, what killed this the first time around was Abbey pointing out that actually Herb Alpert is an anti-union asshole. Perhaps ABBA's "Waterloo" would make more sense. Or Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop."
Anyway.
I want our picket lines to be explosive, euphoric, and imaginative. If we strike, we won't be striking out of desperation; we'll be striking to win. And i'm in this for the long haul, in one way or another.
I am eligible to vote. I've been to a couple of strike votes before, but I've never voted in one. There's a first for everything.
I've got yet another presentation paper to write this week/end, this one on David Harvey's The Condition of Postmodernity, which i've been meaning to read since Seth Fein gave it a shout-out in class three and a half years ago, and am happy i'll finally get the chance to do so. On Friday, i'll be taking time off from this, however to do some more organizing, because that's what David Harvey would probably want me to do. Not that I've ever met him. But if I were David Harvey, that's what I'd want me to do. At any rate, it's what I want to do.
Zach - We're all excited to hear what goes down up here in New Haven. Exciting times. (Also, we might be down in your neck of the woods soon for some impromptu visits... more soon).
ReplyDeleteBut for the picket lines, might I suggest, "ooo, aah, GSOC no se va!" ("ooo, aah, GSOC ain't going NOWHERE!"). It's huge in Venezuela, only it's "Chavez" instead of "GSOC."
- Thomas
Also, are you too busy with your strike nonsense to have missed this? --- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9727644/
ReplyDeleteThat's a good chant. I think i still prefer "Escucha, escucha, estamos en la lucha," though. Or "Move, yale, get out the way. get out the way, yale, get out the way." But that doesn't work for NYU. Too many syllables. Also, when i was up in New Haven in May, i heard "My life is getting kinda hectic/let's resolve the dialectic." Which is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, i know about the panda. I've been swamped all week, though, so i haven't been able to blog about it.
Surely you're not untroubled by the constructions of gendered violence reified by "Move Yale..."?
ReplyDeleteOnly when Alek says it.
ReplyDeleteJ/k!
ReplyDeleteOne of my faves:
ReplyDelete"Se ve, se siente, la union esta presente!"
I'm terribly excited. Damn.
I'm also kind of in awe that Thomas still exists. (Cuz he never returns my phone calls...) And neither does Josh.
I know! All i gotta do is say "strike vote" and people pop out of the woodwork. If only organizing were like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, La union esta presente is a good chant, but i tend to believe that things need to be a little more escalated while on strike.
You could always do what we did on the LLPL at College and Wall last year: a constant chatter of Russian poetry. Amazingly effective.
ReplyDeleteOr the nod to Cathy Caruth: "Unclaimed Experience On Strike!" Which of course has no rhythm whatsoever.
The language picket lines in both of the last two GESO strikes were pretty amazing. Any time the words "Comp Lit" are directly follwed by "On Strike," you know something is right with the world. I hope we're that creative.
ReplyDelete