This week’s installment of labour themes in popular culture features Alabama’s 1984 hit Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler). I chose this song because it is about a difficult and dangerous blue-collar occupation that demands workers spend a lot of time away from their families. In this case, daddy’s “off on a midwest run” and his family “sure miss him when he’s gone.” Not all that different from the experiences of thousands of families who have someone commuting to and within Alberta every week.
It also talks about the distress caused to families by workplace accidents. Here, the worker’s rig has jackknifed and “the driver was missing’”. Due to bad weather, the police had called off the search. I’m not really prone to emotional reactions to songs, but this lyric about the family waiting to find out whether “daddy” is dead or alive always chokes me up.
Momma and the children will be waiting up all night long
Thinkin' nothing but the worst is comin'
With the ringin' of the telephone
The emotional toll of workplace injuries and fatalities on the families of workers is often missing from public policy discussions of injury and injury prevention.
[Chorus:]
Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler, roll on. (roll on.)
Well, it's Monday morning, he's kissin' momma goodbye
He's up and gone with the sun
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And he's off on a midwest run
As three sad faces gather round momma
They ask her when daddy's comin' home
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And they sure miss him when he's gone (yeah they do)
Ah, but he calls them everynight
And he tells them that he loves them
And he taught them this song to sing.
[Chorus:]
Well, it's Wednesday evening, momma's waitin by the phone
It rings but it's not his voice
Seems the highway patrol has found a jackknifed rig
In a snow bank in Illinois
But the driver was missin'
And the search had been abandoned.
'Cause the weather had everything stalled
And they had checked all the houses and the local motels
When they had some more news they'd call
And she told them when they found him
To tell him that she loved him
And she hung up the phone singin'.
[Chorus:]
Momma and the children will be waiting up all night long
Thinkin' nothing but the worst is comin'
With the ringin' of the telephone
Oh, but the man upstairs was listening
When momma asked him to bring daddy home
And when the call came in it was daddy on the other end
Askin' her if she had been singin' the song, singin'.
[Chorus:]
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Roll on
Roll on... end of lyrics
-- Bob Barnetson
Friday, February 6, 2015
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Report: Live-in Caregivers in Fort Mac
Live-in caregivers tend to be cheaper than daycare and allow workers to cope with shift work and out-of-town work. In this way, live-in caregivers absorb some of the stress caused by the organization of work in the oilsands.
-- Bob Barnetson
By working long and often irregular hours, live-in caregivers save money for their employers and allow them to access the highest wages in the country, and yet they generally invest more to come and work in Canada than their employers do to hire them.
They must also endure long years without their own spouses and children to care for other people’s families. While the opportunity to immigrate often makes these sacrifices seem worthwhile, the conditions of work in the caregiving stream, including weak monitoring and regulation, can make them vulnerable to employer abuses and workplace violations.Most of the live-in caregivers surveyed were women, Filipino and between 25 and 44 years old. Overall, an interesting examination of how workers are managing social reproduction in Alberta, often by exploiting other workers.
-- Bob Barnetson
Friday, January 30, 2015
Friday Tunes: The Way It Is
This week’s installment of labour issues in popular culture features The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby. Hornsby identifies many of the themes covered in Linda Tirado’s book Hand to Mouth that I wrote about on Tuesday. He tackles poverty and the demonizing of the poor (“The man in the silk suit hurries by/As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes/Just for fun he says ‘Get a job’”).
He also comments on racism (“They say hey little boy you can't go/Where the others go/'Cause you don't look like they do”). Yet this song ends on a more upbeat note, identifying the (imperfect) changes that flowed from the US civil rights movement and questions whether indeed “That's just the way it is/Some things will never change”.
Standing in line marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says "Get a job"
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules
He said, Son
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
There's a the law that don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
-- Bob Barnetson
He also comments on racism (“They say hey little boy you can't go/Where the others go/'Cause you don't look like they do”). Yet this song ends on a more upbeat note, identifying the (imperfect) changes that flowed from the US civil rights movement and questions whether indeed “That's just the way it is/Some things will never change”.
Standing in line marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says "Get a job"
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules
He said, Son
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
There's a the law that don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them
-- Bob Barnetson
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Poverty, sex and the working poor
Over the holidays, I had a chance to read Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America. Author Linda Tirado is one of the working poor—holding multiple jobs at or just above minimum wage with few or no benefits and zero job security—and provides pretty blunt insight into a life without hope as well as the logic of grinding poverty.
She explains the oft-cited lack of work ethic among low-wage workers (would you go all out if you worked two jobs for minimum wage for jerks and could be fired at will?) and the constant state of emergency that poverty brings. She debunks most advice for pulling oneself out of poverty (assuming she pinched every penny and absolutely nothing went wrong, she estimates she could save a whole $260 a year).
Particularly stinging is her analysis of how the working poor are despised for their circumstances. For example, the working poor are often criticized for having multiple children, but are denied adequate income to purchase birth control and limited (and deteriorating) access to publically funded birth control. Yet the same lack of funds also means that sex is one of the few forms of recreation the working poor can afford.
Entertainment costs. Movies, bowling, whatever you can think of that nice folks do on dates that don’t involve sex—that’s all a luxury. When you have nothing in your wallet and nothing else to do, sex is really good for killing time. I’ve spent more than one afternoon in bed because it was the only entertaining option I had. Give the choice between a) sex minus boredom, and b) celibacy plus boredom, I think we all know which one is preferable.This gives rise to judgments about the morals of the working poor:
That does mean we’re indiscriminant. We do not simply drop trou and rut like animals upon spotting another human that we might be able to fuck. We have sex for the same reasons rich people do—we are in love, we like someone’s smile, someone made us laugh. Sometime’s they’re cute and there’s a spark.Overall, a very eye-opening book that identifies classist assumptions and the systemic issues that create and sustain poverty. Particularly poignant are her thoughts about the inter-generational nature of poverty and how poor people are judged for things they essentially can’t control:
I’m not preparing our kids for a gentle world full of interesting and stimulating experiences. I’m getting them ready to keep their damn mouths shut while some idiot tells them what to do. I’m preparing them to keep a sense of self when they can’t define themselves by their work because the likeliest scenario is that (unlike doctors and lawyers) they will not want to. I’m getting them ready to scrap and hustle and pursue happiness despite the struggle.
I think a lot of what people see as bad parenting is simply that our kids have different expectations, It would make any sense to take wealthy kids and prepare their brains for drudge work. And it doesn’t make much sense to take poor kids and prepare them to seek fulfillment from work. That’s not how it goes for us. If the find it, that’s fantastic. But odds are. They will work just as many zombie jobs as they will good ones.Tirado’s writing is (ahem) a bit “earthy” and oscillates between hilariously insight and extremely angry (this isn’t an easy book to read). But it is worthwhile.
-- Bob Barnetson
Friday, January 23, 2015
Friday Tunes: Bread and Roses
This week’s installment of labour themes in popular culture is the song Bread and Roses. The song has it origins in the early part of the 20th century and is most often associated with the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This strike was largely led by women and the lyrics speak to the need for both fair wages and dignified conditions of work and life.
As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses
For the people hear us singing, bread and roses, bread and roses.
As we come marching, marching, we battle too, for men,
For they are in the struggle and together we shall win.
Our days shall not be sweated from birth until life closes,
Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses.
As we come marching, marching, un-numbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread,
Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew
Yes, it is bread we. fight for, but we fight for roses, too.
As we go marching, marching, we're standing proud and tall.
The rising of the women means the rising of us all.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories, bread and roses, bread and roses.
-- Bob Barnetson
Our days shall not be sweated from birth until life closes,The video below is from the movie Pride, which documents the support of British LBGT activists of coal miners during the 1984 strike. Pride is one of two movies about the coal strike the Alberta Labour History Institute is screening (for free!) on February 5 (7 pm show time) at the Garneau Theatre.
Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses
As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses
For the people hear us singing, bread and roses, bread and roses.
As we come marching, marching, we battle too, for men,
For they are in the struggle and together we shall win.
Our days shall not be sweated from birth until life closes,
Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses.
As we come marching, marching, un-numbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread,
Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew
Yes, it is bread we. fight for, but we fight for roses, too.
As we go marching, marching, we're standing proud and tall.
The rising of the women means the rising of us all.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories, bread and roses, bread and roses.
-- Bob Barnetson
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Fall out from farm worker WCB exemption
Last week, the Parkland Institute released a report examining why Alberta continues to exclude farm workers from mandatory workers’ compensation coverage. The crux of it was that the Tories are in a symbiotic relationship with rural voters: farmers vote Tory and the Tories (more or less) enact policies farmers want.
There was some good coverage in the Edmonton Journal. The Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour (Ric McIver) responded to demands for mandatory workers’ compensation coverage for farm workers by saying:
“It’s a traditional system that we haven’t chosen to change.”The Calgary Herald subsequently pointed out that maintaining historical practices does not necessarily result in ethical or otherwise desirable public policy (cough, cough…segregation, male-only franchise, slavery, residential schools). Maybe pubic policy should be based on a deeper rationale than “that’s the way we’ve always done it”?
McIver also said Alberta has other supports in place for farm workers who have endured financial ruin after an uninsured injury or death. The newspaper didn’t report what those supports are, but I would guess he’s talking about CPP or EI (which are actually federal programs), welfare and, as the Herald snarkily suggested, maybe food banks.
Not really a great set of “supports” compared to what farm workers would get if their employers were compelled to carry under worker’s compensation coverage.
Caught out by the reporter, McIver then switched arguments to “well, you don’t have to work there.” The idea that farm workers have a choice in the jobs is deceptively attractive. It is, theoretically, true.
(A)nd he added that farm workers are not the only Albertans without WCB coverage.
“When I ran an independent business, and just worked for myself, there were times when I wasn’t required to have WCB insurance, and I worked under those conditions for a number of years myself,” McIver said.
He rejected a suggestion that a self-employed person chooses not to have coverage, while a farm worker has no choice and is instead at the mercy of his or her employer, who decides whether or not to purchase WCB coverage.
“Respectfully, they do (have a choice). If they take a job that doesn’t have that coverage, they do. I think people need to make the best choices they can for themselves and their families.”Where to start? Clearly there is a difference between choosing not to have coverage as a self-employed worker and having your employer choose not to cover you as a worker. In one case, you have a choice and in the other your don’t. This is so obvious as to warrant a "duuuh".
Caught out by the reporter, McIver then switched arguments to “well, you don’t have to work there.” The idea that farm workers have a choice in the jobs is deceptively attractive. It is, theoretically, true.
Yet, it ignores that farm work is (for the most part) unskilled labour. Those farm workers who have other employment options have largely departed the occupation (which is one reason farmers are bringing in foreign migrant workers).
Much of the remainder of the workforce is, effectively, trapped in the occupation unless they want to quit and go on welfare (or just quietly starve to death).
What I’m most struck by is how unsympathetic the Minister’s response was to the plight of injured farm workers and the families of farm workers who died on the job. He (and by association, the government) looks like a real prick.
So what happened? Did he get really, really bad communications advice? Or did he fail to heed that advice? (When I worked in government, there were some Ministers who were simply unbriefable.)
Alternately, this may well be the best rationale the Tories can come up with for the continued exclusion of farm workers from mandatory workers’ compensation coverage. If so, perhaps they might want to change their policy?
-- Bob Barnetson
What I’m most struck by is how unsympathetic the Minister’s response was to the plight of injured farm workers and the families of farm workers who died on the job. He (and by association, the government) looks like a real prick.
So what happened? Did he get really, really bad communications advice? Or did he fail to heed that advice? (When I worked in government, there were some Ministers who were simply unbriefable.)
Alternately, this may well be the best rationale the Tories can come up with for the continued exclusion of farm workers from mandatory workers’ compensation coverage. If so, perhaps they might want to change their policy?
-- Bob Barnetson
Friday, January 16, 2015
Friday Tunes: Teacher, Teacher
There are lots of songs about jobs. Today’s installment of labour themes in popular culture is one of my favourite songs from the 1980s: .38 Special’s Teacher, Teacher (from the 1984 soundtrack to Teachers and co-written by Bryan Adams, of all people).
Written from the perspective of a high-school student, it highlights the role teachers play in opening students’ eyes—even if some of the enlightenment comes later and only after some experience (“Just when I thought I finally learned my lesson well/There was more to this than meets the eye”).
It also canvasses the insecurity of young people transitioning into the labour market (“Am I ready for the real world? Will I pass the test?/You know it's a jungle out there”). And picking up on some of the themes from the movie, it also has a bit of cynicism (”But the joke's on those who believe the system's fair”). I have a hard time knowing if this song is intended to be upbeat or quite angst-ridden—perhaps it's both.
Just when I thought I finally learned my lesson well
There was more to this than meets the eye
And for all the things you taught me, only time will tell
If I'll be able to survive, oh yeah
Teacher, teacher can you teach me?
Can you tell me all I need to know?
Teacher, teacher can you reach me?
Or will I fall when you let me go? Oh, no
Am I ready for the real world? Will I pass the test?
You know it's a jungle out there
Ain't nothin' gonna stop me, I won't be second best
But the joke's on those who believe the system's fair, oh yeah
Teacher, teacher can you teach me?
Can you tell me if I'm right or wrong?
Teacher, teacher can you reach me?
I wanna know what's goin' on, oh yeah
So the years go on and on but nothing's lost or won
What you learn is soon forgotten
They take the best years of your life
Try to tell you wrong from right
But you walk away with nothing, oh oh
Teacher, teacher can you teach me?
Can you tell me all I need to know?
Teacher, teacher can you reach me?
Or will I fall when you let me go?
Teacher, teacher can you teach me?
Can you tell me if I'm right or wrong?
Teacher, teacher can you reach me?
I wanna know what's goin' on, oh
Teacher, teacher, can you teach me?
Teacher, teacher, can you reach me?
Teacher, teacher, can you teach me?
Teacher, teacher, oh yeah
Teacher, teacher can you teach me?
Teach me
-- Bob
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