Working Fer The Man

Handcuffed and Gagged

Who owns our experience? I know for me I spend a lot of time thinking about things that I want to write, unfortunately I often never get around to writing them. Part of this is my own lack of discipline, but there is another more ominous reason. It lurks in the shadows of my consciousness gaining strength by fortifying itself on my fear. It eats at me. Those of us who work for corporations really don’t own our experience. When we write about or talk about our lives we risk our livelihood. In the era of glossy paged and hypertext corporate codes of conduct, we find our selves handcuffed and gagged. A year or two ago the Nation Labor Relations Board (NLRB) gave the thumbs up to a corporate policy that made it a violation for one worker to talk to another worker outside of the workplace – no beers, no ballgames, no girls or boys night out. It sure is a good thing we live in “America,” the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Seriously though, I’m glad to say that I’ve been pushed past the point of fear and into action. It’s time to start speaking out against these corporate stooges and their government flunkies. I’m lucky enough to have a union in my workplace, and while the union movement has buckled at the knees, it still provides a sense of collective power, all though I must admit even that is waning. Our contract with Verizon expires in August, and both sides are gearing up for what could prove to be a donnybrook. I’ll document the saga here along with other musings about wage slavery on the eve of the robot age.