What do you think would happen if you did this at work..?

What a surprise -- this is really a testament to the "young effin studs" and your orgasms about them.

Yes, we know the youngsters and their knowledge of the Blackberry will help carry newspapers to new heights as they plummet to new lows. We're covering Brangelina, but damn, those youngsters write well!

I'd be a lot more likely to believe in the organizing effort if I had seen one employee -- EVER -- whose first priority wasn't either being a coward, using the "I have to feed MY family" defense, or saying, "Fuck doing this as a group. I'll do it as an individual so everyone can see me doing it."

And EE94 holds the crown for a second day!

 

It's not that it can't happen, but it won't. There are way too many people, that despite the bitching and ramblings, know that they are expendable, and due to family/circumstances, etc...smiply can't afford the risk.

To get it done, it would have to be well organized. Problem is if it becomes organized, during the organization process management will get wind of it and be prepared. Thus the mass walk out can quickly become a mass firing.

Heck at my place, they could care less. They just want bodies to fill seats on the news side. Good writing or experience be damned.

At an old job, we all used to complain about our old SE for years. Scum of the earth/worhtless piece of crap. The guy was useless, and we all wanted change. Finally during the heart of football season (a golden walkout time in Texas), one guy had enough. Got up, yelled at the SE...used a phrase like "And all these other guys agree with me."
You could heard a pin drop as the entire sports staff sunk in their seat none of us willing to make a move. This was pre 9/11, pre economic slump/ still during a time when the job market was decent, and most of the sports guys were single apartment dwellers.
Prime time for a walkout, but who the hell wants to risk it? The crappy job you have is more secure than the one you want (need) to find.

 

Thank you, joe, for that post. It's dead on.

 

We need Jack Bauer to head the negotiations!

 

I agree with DyePack. Everyone is too wimpy and scared and wussified to cowboy up and take a stand and change this fucking system.

and then I agreed with EE94, who laid out how to do it, at least for starters. made damn fine sense to me.

and then DyePack turtled on the very idea, which seems to be what he was pushing for in the first place. call a union, find some others (can't be too hard if play it tight, then take a stand).

don't knock EE94, DyePack. guess you talk the talk but won't walk the walk. those who dream can get things done. those who sit on the sideline and jsut bitch about their seats never get better seats.

me, if the Newspaper Guild or another union called me up and said they're rolling on it, first thing i'd say is "count me in," and second thing i'd say is, "what do you need, and when?"

those of you who balk, i say this: you have a college degree (or equal experience), you're highly skilled with totally professional duties and responsibilities, and how much are you raking in a year? how does that compare with your college equals in other fields? and how does that compare with your corporate newsroom suits/stars?

word to suits: we in the trenches are the stars. we pound it out on deadline so you can take nights, weekends and holidays off. so what's up with this pay scale shit and the lousy cheap talent you hire now?

ok, i'm done. it felt great.

what i'm saying is, i've been waiting a long time for the revolution. get behind it. you can always get another job if you're good. trust me on that one.

 

What in the hell are you talking about? My point is, has been and always will be that no one will do anything substantive to push for changes. It comes from the experience of seeing people do nothing.

Had EE94 not included a moronic comment at the end of the first post, I probably wouldn't even have bothered to argue.

 

Dye,
I only included the moronic comment because your only suggestion to the guy was to stick with the status quo and hide in the crowd. Not unlike most of your posts.

Well, guess what, I've seen it change. I've seen people stand up, say they've had enough, and organize.

End result? It worked.

So keep walking toward the bow and your inevitable end.

the rest of us will think a little differently, head for the stern, and save ourselves. (Except for Shelley Winters. She dies, remember.)

 

I have no idea where you are getting that. My point was no one would do anything, so what was the point of planning for some mass uprising that wouldn't happen?

 

I don't disagree that a mass uprising is an unwise decision for printdust

I also don't disagree that most people will do nothing, and newsrooms are hardly unique in that regard.

99.9 percent of the world is followers. But you give that 99.9% a leader and change will happen.

I don't want to get into pissing matches with you, but I felt I had to counter-act not just one post discouraging print dust from doing anything, but repeated posts becoming more and more emphatic that printdust should do nothing.

That's the part I find so curious.

 

Again, for the 367th time:

I never discouraged him from doing anything. I simply said no one would.

Why did I say that? Because I've seen it time and time and time again. People had the chance to make a difference, and they tucked their tail between their legs and whimpered.

If anyone were going to do anything, they would have done it by now, at least according to all the stories of misery we read about here.

The time to act was a few years ago when the hiring situation wasn't so dire. Instead, people wanted to be "effing studs." The opportunity was pissed away.