Holiday, schmoliday: The trash crews are on the job.
It’s Labor Day, but trash collection continues as scheduled.
This delights the neighbor kids, who jump up and down and shriek at the trash truck working our cul-de-sac until the driver toots his horn a couple of times.
I don’t know how much fun the trash guys are having. But I applaud them for their generosity to a couple of little girls.
We’re told that it’s easy to find a job these days. But what kind of a job? How much does it pay? What are the benefits? Is there a future in it? Will you need more than one of these jobs to make ends meet?
Our cul-de-sac does pretty well for itself. We work for Sandia National Labs, the University of New Mexico, the U.S. Postal Service, and local government. One loser scribbles nonsense for a couple bike mags, but every good neighborhood needs a bad example.
But I expect we all know a few people who aren’t eating quite so high off the hog.
Without even breaking a light sweat I can think of one colleague who hasn’t been paid for a few months while his corporate masters hunt for new suckers … er, investors. They didn’t ask if he’d work for free during the search. They just quit paying him. The work, of course, arrives as per usual.
Another quit a job he hated, only to go back to it for some reason. I expect it had something to do with paying the bills.
I’m a geezer and long since gone from the job market. My little bit of business doesn’t show up on anyone’s statistical radar. But I still identify with the working class, though I don’t work and have no class, and so I agitate, however feebly, on their behalf.
Thus, here are a few Labor Day notes from around the Innertubes. Chime in with your own notions in comments.
And remember, when you’re smashing the State, keep a smile on your lips and a song in your heart.
• One job is not enough. From The New York Times.
• Strike! From The Nation.
• General strike! Also from The Nation.
• A different approach to collective bargaining. From The American Prospect.
