bm226 Dishwasher Pete on Work and Workers

In his quest to wash dishes in all 50 states, Pete Jordan was seeking freedom, adventure, free food and whatever peaked his interest. Many of his objectives have to do with the very human desire to find some form of freedom within a structured work place. In this podcast we talk about his experience with work, labor unions, different cultures, and more.

Pete’s website
His Book: Dishwasher

We discuss:

– Pete’s early thoughts on working
– Responsibility, avoiding it
– Freedom to think and quit
– Labor Unions for Dishwashers
– Decline of Labor or the Return of Labor?
– Cultural Differences in the workplace, Netherlands vs US

bm213 Canadians in Amsterdam; The Struggle

After studying, working, and living in the Netherlands for 5, 10 or even 20 years, people are being deported on technicalities and bureaucratic errors. Faced with the choice of fighting or leaving the life they’ve built, many people are finding that there is no fair fight to be had. In this podcast the focus is on the Canadian example, the story of current and former residents. Asking the question, what kind of immigration policies are these?

Interviewees:

Thomas here in Amsterdam
Sarah in Toronto
Dutch Immigration Lawyer (anonymous)

 

Dishwasher Pete and Personal Politics

Last night was one of those classic Amsterdam nights that involved a whole lot of things to do, places to be, and people to spend time with. The kind of night that helps to remind oneself why oneself lives in this place.

The highlight of the evening was attending a reading by my friend Dishwasher Pete, who’s book is flying off shelves everywhere. Over at the American book store, Pete treated the crowd to free artisan brewed beer and an opportunity to ask him questions, get your book signed,and of course – hear him further explain some of the adventures included in the book.

While it is probably often considered comedy or travel if you look it up on some Amazon type site, I see this book as something far more important – political. By political I mean personal-politics, the most important politics one has.

As I read this book it was his personal politics that jumped off the page for me, at least the way I read it. The idea that a job is not the most important thing in your life. Or even beyond that, that no job that makes you miserable should be kept. The power of your feet, to walk out, walk away, and walk on when some force threatens to destroy or damage your mental or physical quality of life. Typical societal values would call such a philosophy “lazy”, but then again, typical society is miserable, in debt, uninspired and hoping to drag everyone else along with them.

Nowadays many of us live the reality of this “new economy”, which is a fancy name for a world where jobs come and go, and people have hardly any employment security or financial guarantee in the future. Hopping from 6 month contract to 6 month contract, accepting low salaries in exchange for the empty promise that it will significantly increase.

Yet being so disposable brings some of the very benefits that Dishwasher Pete realized more than a decade ago; the freedom and power of using your feet. Just as jobs use todays workers, todays workers are learning how to use jobs. They are no longer paranoid of losing their longtime jobs, instead often looking forward to an upcoming resignation. For those that understand and believe in their ability to find something else when needed, like the dishwasher, todays workers can also say goodbye to the irrational or incompetent boss. And of course, there are more and more of us that love to find ways to steal naps or wander off during the day.

My point today is more of a theory. And as I live my day-to-day, I see a connection between Pete’s marvelous thoughts and wisdom, and personal politics of today’s young “professional.”

Or maybe I should just replace the term “young professional” with “ME”.

Iraqi Labor

The media conversation about the goings-on in Iraq doesn’t get much beyond the religious divisions and political executions. When it does, it certainly doesn’t make the front pages.

Over the weekend my Radio Labor Start Podcast feed included a recent episode of building bridges, the labor radio program from WBAI in NYC and an old favorite of mine. I expected the usual discussion of labor organizing in the US. But this episode featured a labor leader from Iraq.

Complete with translator, the IRaqi talked about the struggle of organized labor since the early 20th century in Iraq. Beyond that, he spoke about how the current government is passing laws that allow labor organizers to be arrested, tortured, and killed. While workers for sectors like oil and power, struggle to organize themselves and demand a living wage.

While we’ve long read about how terrible this current Iraqi government is, I hadn’t heard about it’s despicable labor policies. It is as if part of bringing “freedom” to Iraq involves making sure the labor movement is destroyed.

Highly recommended listening.

Prepping Child Care Workers Show

Currently researching, in between doing some projects for trippist.com, the order by the governor of New York that Child Care Workers be allowed to organize and form labor unions.

As I seek out guests, I’m thinking alot about the whole industry, and how it works. Those people who take care of the children, often its the type of job that gets paid under the table, isn’t it? Perhaps many immigrants as well, who often fear what risks may be involved with organizing, or perhaps they aren’t aware of their rights.

What I’m most curious about are the next steps. Once this decision goes into effect, suddenly all these people have the right to demand some basic standards of work. Will big unions take the lead and recruit them or teach them how to do things? Will smaller locals of child care workers emerge around new york state? Will many somehow get fired for trying?

Sorting through the questions while sorting through the interview possibilities. It is hard to believe that they didn’t have the right to organize to begin with. I wonder how that was possible for so long. And what about this Elliot Spitzer, a few months on the job and he’s already more competent than most governors in my brief lifetime.

Podcast, including all these questions and concerns, in the coming days…

Don’t Mourn, Organize

Those were Joe Hill’s final words. And he’s a hero of mine.

I thought of him tonight as I sat at the MacDocMan’s place watching the latest episode of the Dutch investigative report program, Tegenlicht. The episode was about union organizing in the Netherlands, and also how the American Service Employees International Union (remember Janitors for Justice) are sending representatives around the world, to help organize workers, especially cleaning staff, at these multinational corporate offices. In itself, an interesting subject, especially taking into considering the Joe Hill in me.

But more interesting still, was the fact that as I sat there watching it, the director of the piece was sitting to my left, watching very intensely so as to not miss a moment or a sound of that which she had worked so hard on. There were demonstrations, confrontations with angry security officers, cleaning people who had immigrated from all over the developing world, and the occasional funny moment between the corporate reps and the organizers. A compelling piece, all in all, especially when I think about the decline of unions in the US, not including what is happening with Service Workers International in places like LA and Las Vegas. Some of it is actually in english, so you may want to watch it online.

Afterwards we sat and talked about it. I tried to keep quiet observe how the family members discussed it. They explained that first you have to present all the criticisms, so they did. And then you can give compliments, which is where I chimed in.

The final thought of the evening, that I will leave you with, actually comes from the Docman himself, talking about the goals of the American Unions to organize workers in the Netherlands. He said something to the effect of, Why are American Organizers being sent here to teach us as if we don’t have unions. This country actually has some amazingly strong union traditions, which were developed without any teaching from American labor unions.

Not his words, of course. But it was the point that I understood, and I felt it a good question.