| May 27, 2005 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth Meet the new boss . . . same as
the old boss
I saw Ben Stevens on Monday. He was walking gravely down a hallway on the 2nd floor of the Capitol building towards his office. The hallway was lined with union lobbyists and when one of them said, “Hello, senator,” he nodded stiffly. Stevens didn’t look very happy. He was fighting to make it harder for workers with on-the-job injuries to get their health care covered. He and men like Sen. Bert Stedman were also trying to shift the burden of the state’s retirement program to the worker. It’s easy to see why Stevens doesn’t like employees. He was the captain of a fishing boat and is used to yelling at people. Folks say he is just an angry guy (what’s the bumper sticker? Mean people suck?). Two of Stedman’s employees quit last year. He admitted on Sitka’s community radio station that he “worked them too hard.” The way Stevens, Stedman, and that dim bulb from Anchorage, Rep. Tom Anderson, see it, the boss should have all the money, all the rights, and all the property in the workplace. The slave ... er ... employee, can “work their way up, just like I did,” they’d likely boast. When I saw Rep. Harry Crawford, a labor champ, earlier that day he told me the Republicans are “bringing us back to the days that gave rise to the labor movement.” “There’ll have to be strikes, sit-ins, walk-outs,” I told him. “Yes,” he said, “that’s the direction they’re taking us.” After all, who wants to be screamed at all day by some asshole like Stevens, Stedman or that pathetic Anderson? Who wants someone to have constant control over his or her lives? Who wants some guy who inherited daddy’s wealth to continually push them to work more, to deny compensation when their finger is sliced of in the grinder, to dictate their life for 40 hours a day, 50 weeks a year? Not me! The only finger Stedman, Stevens and the lot will get is my middle one. Compare that course of living to that of the fine people of Gustavus, where I had the chance to participate in some community events after a week kayaking in the Beardsley’s. I volunteered, along with about 25 others, to move a yurt from one part of the town to the other. We didn’t need a boss to get us to work, only beer. Later, we were invited to a going away party for a local who, according to friends, had served selflessly on numerous committees and volunteered for countless community projects. She even ran for the legislature. The incredible spread of seafood, salads and someone’s deliciously spiked pound cake was free, though a woman came around with a bucket for donations. Folks sat in the sunshine and seemed to all realize that life really isn’t as hard as Stevens, Stedman, and other right-wing ideologues like to make it. On the boat coming home, a charter-boat operator told me his idea is to send the legislature out on a ferry with the mandate that they can’t return until they get their business done. With some many bosses aboard, what would that look like? My reply came quick, “Give them plenty of booze and steer clear of Gustavus”. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist. He resides in an undisclosed location in Southeast Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
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| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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