Pat Benatar, ON STRIKE

(to the tune of "Heartbreaker.")


With this strike we're trying to save
What you keep claiming is dead
Sketchy hugs, empty promises
We won't be misled

You're the wrong kind of leader to direct a university
The neoliberal schemer, hiding behind the NLRB
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around with me.
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around, no no no

You've proved yourself to be a huge liar
Hoarding real estate gold
But your behavior only inspires
organizing tenfold

You're the wrong kind of leader to direct a university
The neoliberal schemer, hiding behind the NLRB
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around with me.
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around, no no no

You're the wrong kind of leader to direct a university
The neoliberal schemer, hiding behind the NLRB
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around with me.
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around, no no no

You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, don't you mess around with me.
You're a strikebreaker, pay taker,
big faker, strikebreaker!

One Down.

Jack Lew, former Director of the Clinton Administration's Office of Management and the Budget, current Executive Vice President of New York University, and GSOC antagonist, is stepping down next month to make "a transition to a position in the private sector" (in John Sexton's words.) Perhaps NYU wasn't paying him enough (Lew is the highest paid official on the University's payroll.) Or maybe, dare we to dream, this could be sthe start of something analogous to the great jumping of ships which came at Yale during the summer of 2003, when, in rapid succession, Bob Culver, Barry S. Kane, and indeed a host of other administrators, apparently weary of constant labor strife, suddenly developed a desire to be closer to their families or move on to other coasts. I hope Mr. Lew's time here in New York has been educational, and I hope his successor, Michael Alfano, currently the dean of NYU's Dental School, moves quickly to avoid further turmoil by negotiating a new contract with GSOC. But it's telling to note the numerous references to Alfano's experience in the corporate sector in Sexton's letter to the community announcing the personnel changes. Real change, it seems, and this should surprise no one, will come only if we are organized to force it. Welcome to the ULT, Mr. Alfano. We look forward to meeting you at the bargaining table.

Pandas on Strike

While in DC for a friend's wedding (which was really beautiful and amazing, but I am going to refrain here from blogging about it) I attempted a pilgrimage to see Tai Shan, the baby panda at the National Zoo about whom i have blogged incessantly here. Needless to say, I was very excited. Unfortunately, Tai Shan and his mother, Mei Xiang, were both nowhere to be found in their yard, and the inside exibit was actually closed, leading me to conclude that what was taking place was in fact a wildcat (or, in this case, domesticated bear) strike. I have no way to substantiate this claim, but I stand by it nonetheless and pledge my full support to my furry companero who is currently climbing all over his mother. I did get to see a baby elephant dribble a ball around with its snout, just in time for the world cup, a hippopotamus swim really fast underwater and then take an unusually violent bowel movement, and some really freaking cute golden lion tamarins. And no, i'm not starting the monkey obsession again.

And in the "do i make you hate the left?" department,

Like pilgrims, the conference attendees carried their prayers up to Wicks,
bearing witness to her earthly skin tone and sun-white hair. As they dropped the
little bags in front of her, she smiled softly and looked down at her table.
Afterward, she received a warm ovation for her introductory remarks about her
lifelong fight against corporate interests.

This is who Judy Wicks is.

So why is it—no, how can it be—that across town at Sixth and Chestnut
streets in the seventh floor regional office of the National Labor Relations
Board, there sat a file containing a slew of unfair labor practices with which
Wicks is charged—practices that, if true, would amount to union busting?

***

For a week, Wicks heard nothing from the organizers. Then, on Nov. 3, a
letter addressed to "Judy" appeared on the same corkboard where she had posted
hers. It explained that organizing the White Dog was important because "this
restaurant must continue to be a model for socially responsible business," and
called on Judy to "live up to [her] values." The signature read, "White Dog
Organized for Leadership in Foodservice (W.O.L.F.)."
A sort of
leftier-than-thou back-and-forth ensued. Wicks posted another letter, this one
five pages, attacking the union:

Last night I went to hear John Wilhelm, the national head of [UNITE HERE],
speak at Penn. In a way, I went to see who it is that some of my staff look up
to more than me. … True, he did go to Yale, and he is a white male. I can't say
I have such credentials.

She continued to play on the theme of betrayal ("We have never had a "them'
and "us' here"), and to argue that a union would make things worse, not better:
It would charge unnecessary dues, she said, and add a bulky layer of bureaucracy
that was not tenable in a small restaurant. ("If there is a worker … who is not
doing his share of work, we could not fire him. Other staff will have to pull
the weight of the slacker. If a kitchen worker is outstanding … [executive chef]
Andy [Brown] will not be able to give that person a raise.")

The organizers, Wicks had decided, were misguided in their progressivism.
"I think some of the union people felt it was a logical step. They thought, "If
I'm truly a progressive person I should be unionized.'"

As for the union, Michael Mullins, a UNITE HERE organizer who
worked on the White Dog campaign, says Wicks' appeals to family and loyalty are
"boilerplate": startlingly similar to the anti-union rhetoric organizers are
accustomed to seeing from the likes of Wal-Mart. And her contention that a union
won't work in a restaurant, he says, is a classic canard: Small restaurants are
not a "growth market" for unions, he concedes, but, "Hotels used to say that
unions were good for autoworkers, automakers used to say [unions] were good for
meatpackers." To union advocates, Wicks' argument sounded a heck of a lot like
"not in my backyard."

For the curious, Mark Oppenheimer at the New Haven Advocate goes into detail on some of the anti-union actions Ian Shapiro took during the grade strike which recently cost him the Hillman prize. Oppenheimer reveals just how disingenuous Shapiro is being when he professes innocence (or ignorance.)

One charge against Shapiro is not so secret, however. Although it was not
part of the NLRB complaint, the allegation that Shapiro watered down a letter of
recommendation for Corey Robin, then a graduate student and pro-union activist,
has long been well known in GESO circles, and, according to Meyerson, was one of
the charges that led to the withdrawal of the Hillman Award.

Robin, now a professor at Brooklyn College, says he took a leave of
absence from Yale "to work full-time as director of the organizing drive for
GESO. And Ian had been on my dissertation committee before I did this. The
letter he wrote prior to my taking a leave was very positive. He said in
the letter, "He is one of the ablest students in our program.' After I returned
. . . he changed it to "He is an able student.' That's essentially saying, "He
can walk and chew gum at the same time.' And it was particularly detrimental to
my career, because he's one of the political theorists in the department, and I
would have needed his support on the job market."

Shapiro denies ever changing the language in question. However, we have the letters right in front of us, provided by Corey Robin, and they bear out Robin's charge.

Also in NLRB news, this is now legal, and the board may be about to rule that thousands of Registered Nurses in the private sector count are "managers" and thus can't form unions through the NLRB election process.

Ann Coulter's pissed off at the widow/ers of people who died on 9/11/2001. She thinks they are whiny and are using their grief for political purposes. Initial response is to wonder if this is because they deviate from the right's game plan of using somebody else's grief for political purposes which will probably screw them over.

Maybe more later. When i finish some papers.

I am such a shitty grad student.

just found out that Desmond Dekker passed away last week. Almost got to see him play once when I was in high school, but then he wasn't allowed into the country for some reason. Very sad. I'll listen to "Israelites" tonight as I continue to try to finish my papers.

Expect blogging to resume once i've done this and established a more dependable internet connection in my apartment. I have a lot to say.