Four flights and strikes

So I'm still recovering from my trip up the stairs to the fourth floor of the library. When I reached the halfway point between three and four, and found myself completely out of breath, I thought about the prophet of our church, Gordon B. Hinckley, and how he climbs the stairs to his fourth floor office everyday. The difference: I'm 20 and he's 95. My only defense was that I was carrying about 25-30 pounds of stuff. I hope that this semester and all of my book carrying is making me super macho.

Okay, so the mine (a copper mine) my dad works at has been on strike since this summer. My dad, as a member of management, and on a salary (not just paid hourly), goes to work everyday...for 12 hours a day because of the lack of workers. He started out having to do this 7 days a week, but after they figured out how many people they had they were able to schedule in some days off for those who are working. I was talking to my mom last night and she said that when he goes to work he has to drive through all of the picketers...and they yell vulgar things at him. One thing they call him is a scab. A "scab" is someone who either refuses to join a union or still works while the rest of the workers are on strike. My dad is not a member of the union as his position does not allow him to be, which means he's not just going to work to spite them (and there are some who are members of the union, but can't afford to go on strike). Anyway, it made me very mad. I want to go stand on the other side and picket for kindness and respect. We had the president of one of the Oklahoma's teacher unions come in and talk to one of my classes about joining. After that meeting I had no desire whatsoever to join a union and came to the conclusion that if unions were really doing what they claim to do, there wouldn't be unions anymore. By being a part of one, and by still existing at all, means that they haven't done anything to improve the condition of the individual worker, if they still have to hide behind the union. Their voice isn't loud enough or what they have to say doesn't mean enough to be respected or taken seriously alone. And how ethical is it to be the reason a man must work 12 hour days and then taunt him as he shows up to get the job done. Bah!

Leave a Comment