there's our catastrophe

May 3

So the ~feminist blogosphere~ seemed eerily silent on Twitter, wrt May Day

suzy-x:

Y’all talk about money, status, equal pay and all that jazz. But you really need to talk about WORK.

If anything, May Day (and all the preparations for it) have made me reconsider feminism as a movement of disgruntled reproductive and affective laborers who are fed up with The Bullshit. There is a lot of labor that goes into maintaining social relations and even performing gender under a hetero-patriarchy. But contemporary cultural/liberal feminism stops at gender as an ~identity~ in and of itself, and not as something that is maintained by such labor. Like, think harder will you?

If they focused on labour then they’d have to indirectly refer to all the thieving, exploiting and appropriating that they do when it comes to their writing and marginalised women’s writing and lives. But yeah I love this so much.

(via leonineantiheroine-deactivated2)

May 1

“

In my experience, those who are anti-sex work tend to fall within the radical feminist school of thought, a movement marked for its transphobia, whorephobia and the promotion of the idea of false-consciousness (and don’t get on me for this - if it weren’t for these factors, I may have turned out to be a radical feminist. I’m not unsympathetic to everything they have to say).

But. I do NOT want the rights of sex workers fought for by the sex-positivity, pro-porn but non-sex working camp either.

Because sex work and sex workers rights is not a matter of a sexual revolution.

IT IS A MATTER OF LABOUR, INDUSTRIAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

First. Foremost. Most importantly. Without compromise.

”

from a longer post you should read by The Only Elise Archer Who Counts

happy may day, everyone.

Apr 26

“lady using toilet: “you didn’t do a very good job of cleaning this toilet!”
cleaner: “not…. a good…. job?”
toilet lady: “YEAH. NOT. A. GOOD JOB”
cleaner: “yeah. i know it’s not a good job. it’s a terrible job. so give me a break already, okay?”

—an actual conversation I heard in the Flinders St Train Station ladies toilets. my hero.

the prescription benefits: this really happened

Apr 4

Crackdown on union logos//Victoria//The Age

A NEW code of conduct for publicly funded construction projects in Victoria will crack down on the display of union logos, mottos and insignia on building sites.

And ”no ticket, no start” signs on sites, or any indicators that imply union membership is compulsory, will be banned under the code.

…The guidelines will apply to contractors on major public construction work in Victoria, and will attempt to stop companies being pressured to make payments to staff that are above award levels.

The code is not backed by legislation but contractors who fail to abide by it could lose potentially lucrative future government work.

Finance minister Robert Clark said the new code did not seek to attack unions. ”It will only be anti-union if unions are anti-productive,” he said.

are you fucking kidding me? this is treating signs of union affiliation like they’re hate speech or obscenity or something. it’s anti-union on the face of it.

in any case, pressuring companies to pay higher wages is pretty much what unions do. it’s their thing. if you’re anti-that then you are anti-union. q.e.fucking d.

ugh this Bailleu fuckery never ends.

related.

Dec 24

aunt molly jackson — christmas eve in the east side

my heart it is breaking
it’s christmas eve night
I’m in the slums on the east side
without any light
….come fellow workers
and let us unite
and take all that belongs to the labourers
from those rich parasites
united we stand
and divided we fall
come and join the worker’s alliance
while I’m making this call
come and join the worker’s alliance
while I’m making this call
united we stand and divided we fall

merry christmas if you celebrate it; keep loving, keep fighting; taking stock and taking note.

Dec 8

My body, my rules: a case for rape and domestic violence survivors becoming workplace organizers

Liberté Locke, a Starbucks Workers Union organizer, writes about how violence at work and in our personal lives are similar, how domestic abusers and bosses use the same techniques of control and that we need to fight both.

TRIGGER WARNING: sexual violence [specifically: detailed discussion of the events and emotions following a rape by a partner].

…Through therapy I started to feel like I was worth something and that he was the sad loser. Not me. He wanted something from me and getting that something wasn’t enough. He wanted my spirit and body. Ownership over things uncontainable.

When I started to feel stronger and less afraid I really stopped being able to put up with rude customers. Not putting up with rude customers meant facing the bosses’ wrath when the customers complained which then meant I had to stand up to my bosses. Finally the real opportunity came and not wanting to live as a victim anymore took the form of signing a union card with the Industrial Workers of the World.

Sep 19

Bullying alleged at WorkSafe//David Rood and Melissa Fyfe//The Age

Compared to the Australian average, WorkSafe employees were more likely to feel negative about working relationships, leadership and direction. One in three staff believed management did not care about their health, safety and wellbeing.

The Age investigation revealed widespread distrust of WorkSafe’s approach to internal complaints. When a consultant is commissioned to investigate, the terms of reference and the final report are kept secret from the complainant.

In one case involving a complaint of bullying, the human resources department discussed a ”creative option” of offering redundancy to the complainant. In several cases, the WorkSafe-appointed investigator refused to interview witnesses suggested by the complainants.

omg the irony is killing me

but honestly I’m not surprised — I mean the whole point of WorkSafe is that it’s government, not trade union — it’s a massively depoliticised way of seeming to address workers’ rights

of course unions are usually terrible employers as well

sigh

Jan 30

“More than 1,500 people in this predominantly Latino community took part in the protest, many of them chanting “Si, se puede,” the Spanish-language version of President Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan.”

amazed how quick erasure takes place.

California Latinos protest Arizona push to end birthright citizenship - By the CNN Wire staff

You have got to be kidding me.

From the first two paragraphs of the wikipedia page for Sí se puede.:

Sí, se puede (Spanish for “Yes, it is possible” or, roughly, “Yes, it can be done”[1]) is the motto of the United Farm Workers. In 1972, during Cesar Chavez’s 24 day fast in Phoenix, Arizona, he and UFW’s co-founder, Dolores Huerta came up with the slogan.[1]

The phrase has been widely adopted by other labor unions and civil rights organizations and drew widespread political and media attention as a rallying cry during the 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests.[2][3]

This is what cultural appropriation looks like, if you’re ever in need of an example.

(via sexartandpolitics)

^^^

(via healingsakina

)

And I just am convinced these jackasses don’t read anything not written by white folks

(via blackamazon)

Same thing happened around here a while ago; the Yale Daily News ran an article that started off the same way in describing a union rally using a chant that started in union organizing but trying to say they’d translated it into Spanish.

(via readnfight)

jfc

(via bossyfemme)

there's our catastrophe

work is its own cure. you have to like it better than being loved. ⚑ ♀

So the ~feminist blogosphere~ seemed eerily silent on Twitter, wrt May Day

Crackdown on union logos//Victoria//The Age

My body, my rules: a case for rape and domestic violence survivors becoming workplace organizers

Bullying alleged at WorkSafe//David Rood and Melissa Fyfe//The Age

work is its own cure. you have to like it better than being loved.

⚑ ♀