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Bust the Unions!

My distaste for organized labor is sprinkled here and there throughout my blog. It wasn’t something that has been on my mind recently until I read this headline today: La Scala Opera Union Threatens Strike .

Pretty benign headline. There was some color added on the radio news as I was driving in that bugged me even more.

First of all, let me restate my position: There was a time and a place for them, but, we now have labor laws, minimum wage, rules, and regulations that protect the worker. So, with all of these protections, I think the markets should decide wages, benefits, and tenure. If it’s not worth the pay, get another job. If you can’t retain workers, pay them more. It all works out in the end.

UAW, AGMA, AFTRA, SAG, USCW, Teamsters, etc. etc. etc. All Evil.

So, Italy, being the crazy socialist state that it is, is very big on worker entitlements. We have all seen what that did to their economy as the Lira in its waning stages was printed on convenient rolls that fit neatly into the dispensers next to the commode. (Guess you could say the same thing about the future of the dollar, but, that Opera is still being written).

The last time I was in Italy, you could buy a Panini for 2 Euros, or 75 Gazillion Lire. They seemed to still have national pride with their currency and printed the receipts with both numbers. But, I digress.

The La Scala unionistas threatened to strike, and actually put on a performance where the prima donnas (meant figuratively and not literally) refused to wear costumes and went on stage wearing their street clothes. (luckily the Balletomanes and Aficionados booed them and gave them no sympathy for their plight. Trogladytes!)

What were they protesting? Apparently, a road rehearsal went 6 minutes overtime. The HORROR!!! Imagine having to work an extra 6 minutes before putting on an out-of-town performance! I’m calling my union rep!

This, of course, reminded me of my personal experiences with Unions… First off, the “arts” unions, SAG (screen actor’s guild), AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists), AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), FAG (Film Actors Guild)… Ok, ok… I stole that last one from Team America… But, moving right along… As some of you may know… I used to pay the rent by working in the performing arts… Yes, I will admit it here… I was a Musical Theatre major my first year in college… Well, when I hit the streets and was a working performer, I never worked a union house. Which, in the performing arts industry, is a catch-22. In other words, you must have a union card to audition for a union production, and you must perform in a union production in order to get a union card.

(BTW, I counted 9 ellipses “…” in that last paragraph…)

Of course, they held “open” auditions as well, but, these cattle calls weren’t really designed to cast productions, they were more like “round-one” of American Idol. In any case, the unions had a strangle-hold on who could actually “apply” for the job.

If you were one of the chosen ones, and actually got into a production, then you had to deal with the IATSE Nazis (that’s just fun to say). These are the maniacal unionized stage workers that had every cigarette break scheduled with nuclear precision. Since I’m probably leading most of you astray, let me bring this back closer to center.

Eventually, I left the performing arts and went back to school at the NYU Department of Computer Science. During this time, I also worked at NYU. I started out as a systems guy, then a research scientist, and eventually as adjunct faculty. As an NYU Employee, I had to deal with the United Staff and Clerical Workers Union. EVIL! I mentioned them in my Healthcare Recovery Entry last year, but, will rehash that now.

As an NYU employee, I had to regularly deal with clerical staff. These were the secretaries, office managers, low-level administrators, payroll, general staff types. These people understood the system, what it meant, and how to work it. They knew exactly how many sick days a month they could take, exactly how late they could be for work every day, how many vacation days they could take and how little work they could produce without getting fired.

The non-union administrators were held hostage by the ridiculous power of the unions. Short of murder, it was virtually impossible to fire a union employee, and most “managers” simply over-staffed in order to keep the offices running. A dismissal would, of course, cause a union representative to get involved and fight for the rights of the employee. This was obviously counter productive and time-consuming, so, it was easier to just let things slip by.

The collective bargaining agreements also allowed for exorbitant salary and benefit packages. So, not only were we double-staffed, but the cost of the staff was out of control.

You may be thinking “so what?”. Why does this matter? Well, it matters because it drives up the cost of education. Yes, the students who can afford to go to NYU are somewhat of an élite cross-section of society, so, how does that affect the rest of us? (by élite, I mean those who can afford a private education.) Well… The student loans and expenses that these students run up have to get paid… So, those doctors and dentists and lawyers all recap the costs of their education through the prices they charge for their services. It all comes back to the consumer eventually. Nothing’s free.

Let’s look at some other ridiculosity. The United Auto Workers union or “UAW”. You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find a person that doesn’t believe that the compensation packages “negotiated” by the UAW are excessive. The job pool, the excessive salaries, the diminutive work hours, the excessive overtime payments, “Cadillac” health insurance… This was a deal from outer space. There was simply no way for the automotive industry to stay afloat with the burdens of the UAW unless they started selling new suburbans for $100k each. Even then, it would be a tenuous business plan at best.

But, here’s the real tell… Even in the face of impending doom and certain disaster, the UAW wouldn’t give an inch. Like a parasite that eventually kills its host, the UAW would rather suck on the lifeless corpses of Chrysler and GM than to give even the smallest of token concessions. Evil! Short sighted! Entitlist!

I want to live in a post-union era. Where a worker negotiates based on their value, and an employer compensates what they need to in order to retain workers. We have arrived at the point where entitlist prima donnas are threatening strikes because they were held after rehearsal for 6 minutes. Does this seem reasonable to anyone?

Bust ‘em!

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Source: Troy's World

031. first love is all right as far as it goes, last love — that’s what i’m interested in.

Beware of adorableness. Drawn on couple rings. Mini-dance. Skinship. Ga-in’s shyness. Big heart. MATCHING DYED HAIR LOL ♥

So, I’ve just completed my first week at my new internship. It’s at a literary agency by union square. Which means that once school starts, I can use my meal plan instead of dropping big money at the deli. Anyway, moving away from food…

My first day was Monday, and it went by really smoothly. I guess this is what an internship is really like: running errands for other people/the higher ups. When I was doing my internship at Harris Comics, I just did packaging all day. It was then that I realized I would SO much prefer to read comics rather than work on them. It just didn’t really hold my interest. But I stayed at my desk the whole time except for when the Boss called me over. When I was interning at Xanga, it was one of the most relaxing things I had EVER done counting as work. And it’s not that I didn’t do anything because I did, but it was also just fun. The only time I got extremely aggravated was when there were idiot, uneducated comments — but hey, it’s not like everyone shares the same beliefs, right? (My article was even featured on PopSeoul! blog lol.) For xanga, I stayed at my computer, in a comfortable chair and nice big flat-screen monitors with soft keyboards. And air-conditioning &hearts;. Also, interning at xanga was a really great experience because the editors were really chill, and that’s when I realized that I’m never much more comfortable doing this type of stuff (blogging, communications work) than I am with anything else, really. So I’m trying to find communications interns-wanted ads.

This one, though, working at the literary agency is chill but intense at the same time. As in, I don’t have a particular set of hours that I need to log in (mainly because I’m not getting credit for this, at all), and it’s not like I have a boss on my back the entire time. I’m doing coffee and bank runs — something I’ve never done before because I’m an intern — which I don’t really mind because then I can listen to my ipod but those few time I do it in the day detracts from the stuff I’m working on. What I’m mostly doing right now is reading through author queries, reading some samples from manuscripts, helping mink out, and sending out reject/request letters. I have yet to meet the Main Boss, and I’m kind of terrified. It’s really interesting reading these queries because I’m the one deciding on Pass or Go & Possibly Collect $200, which leads me to thinking of how would I write MY query letter? Would people be interested? And then I notice how most of the agents are interested in multicultural literature, and I think Hellloooo~ I’m golden! Blegh, I have to send out two reader reports to Mink by tonight but…I’m watching on my TV now ;D.

God, nyu financial aid always ruins my life. For some reason, they ALWAYS manage to fuck up my loans. I have been at the financial aid office at least five times per semester since attending. This time, they’re saying that because my extended financial aid application (which btw they said that THEY would take care of it, and I guess to them that means letting me know last minute what to REALLY do) didn’t come in until after they approved my loan, they switched it to only fall semester rather than fall-spring. ARGH. It got me so stressed, i broke out with two pimples on my chin =’(. I just really hate loans in general, and I’m really worried about how I can pay everything back. I really wish I could bank on a job that pays $100K+, but well, shit, doesn’t everyone? And for what I want to go into, that’s not exactly going to happen. Sigh, we’ll what the future holds for me. Not only that, I just found out that nyu student’s starting salary is $32K. Awesome. I’ve invested this much money only to fully realize that I’m going to struggle for most of my life to pay back these loans. Fuck you citibank.

I’ve decided that i’m going to shell out money for a gym membership. Since i’ve moved back home, I have packed on the jiggly. I won’t say that I’ve gained a lot of weight (because I haven’t), but what’s happened is that now the fat has collected into one area (AKA my stomach) and it’s just…not going away like it usually does. It’s surprising and annoying at the same time. Aarti told me about the gym and she said she would drive so with all that time together then she won’t be complaining so much about not seeing me or me not being around because I’m with Shamas. The hate-on-Shamas/bf meme is old, but well, I don’t know how to fix that without his cooperation ESPECIALLY because he doesn’t understand why he would be disliked. This is when I finally must conclude that boys do not have the same a) emotional response, b) insight, c) empathy, and d) tact as most girls do. I can’t help but think, sigh, boys ARE dense. I’m also supposed to take a gym class with Christine which I think if I do, then I would only do that on the weekends after work.

I know I said I would update everyday even if it is random stuff, but well, some days I really don’t have anything to say. Okay, fine, that’s a lie. I have a lot of things to say. I’m always thinking and dreaming, even if it’s random or irrelevant. It’s just that even though I’m using wordpress/blog as a platform, I still censor myself and swallow a LOT of my indignation, and a lot of it is because I don’t want you to know certain things about me (because really, I have no idea who reads this besides cora and mink, sometimes). A lot of the times I do want to update, but I don’t want to vent out my frustrations and regret them later — BUT I don’t want to deny myself from emotional release. I will admit that sometimes I am so filled with resentment, I feel like my tongue will turn black from the acid I trap in m. Mouth rather than letting it out. I don’t know why I continue to do the things I do sometimes. I swallow my pride almost all the time, and I have to try to convince myself that certain things are okay. But I’m too good at doublethink. I know very well that some things are wrong, but to not cause a scene, I bottle it inside for another day until I burst. Being slightly emotionally unstable is one of my personality flaws, if you haven’t guessed that yet.

The awful misguided bangs-cut is slowly growing out but I need my bangs to be longer before i do anything to them again. It’s not growing quickly enough though. The thing is, I’m becoming really paranoid that I’m losing my hair. I have to wash and blow dry my hair everyday otherwise it looks greasy as all hell; it’s NASTAY. I have yet to buy dry shampoo though — that shit is MAD expensive for such a small quantity. But I heard that vitamin b is good for your hair and nails. Thus, I went to The Vitamin Shoppe and bought biotin-vitamin b supplements. So hopefully that means my hair will grow faster and my nails will stop breaking so easily.

I’ve decided to also learn various dances from particular MVs:

I will not learn Hyuna’s “ Change ,” actually, maybe I will, but I don’t like the song or, well, her. Or 4minute. Sigh. Anyway.

There’s just something so RIDICULOUSLY addictive about k-pop. Maybe it’s because we don’t have this type of genre in America. We mostly have solo artists; the girl/boy groups died out a long time ago, but even then, the most popular one was, what, the Spice Girls? And they hailed from the UK. I guess we have NSYNC and BSB, but they were predominantly ballad groups (imho). And it’s not like we really have bubblegum rap that’s catchy and NOT demeaning towards women nor do we have women in mainstream rap. Listen, I like Nicki Minaj and Trina can fuck anyone’s shit up and I burned Lil’ Kim’s “How Many Licks” onto a CD for my car, but shoving your sexuality into other people’s faces In an attempt to prove your street cred isn’t something that can be sold to everyone. I mean, I think having more than 5 members is stupid, and even five members is just pushing it. And I think there was never a “leader” (spokesperson?) of the group unlike in the k-groups. Well, it’s just my bias but I’m not into SNSD or Wonder Girls or After School or SHINee or 2PM or BEAST. (I guess I’m too faithful to YG lol.) My problem with the boy groups is that they all look SO MUCH LIKE GIRLS. not even WOMEN, they just look like straight up girls. I have no idea how that’s attractive. Sigh. Idk…I’m just really obsessed with kpop right now ^__^.

Lol cute.

I need to start saving a lot of money. Not only am I aiming to buy a new digital camera and also paying off my interest on my loans, I’m also trying to save up so that I can go yo Asia over the summer. What I would really like to do is go to china with my father and visit Nanking, Shenzhen (ahem shopping ahem), and HK. I want go see the international market for myself while living and breathing Chinese, and MAN, if i could land a job there, I think I’d take it. I mean, of course I’d consult with my parents and Shamas first, but that would be like a dream come true.

From there, I want to meet up with Mink in South Korea. Ugh, then maybe we can see 2ne1 or Big Bang or something =D. Music Bank, much? And maybe from Seoul, stop by India and visit Sandhini… if not, then I might just stay in china for a few…months. Only if things work out, of course. and then I’ll come back to the US, get a job during the week and start paying off my loans before I go to grad school for my MFA in creative writing. Or maybe at that point, I’ll just also send my stuff out to lit agencies/publishing houses while also applying to grad schools. That would be interesting, but it might be more than enough rejections for me to handle. The only thing is that I don’t really know how I’m going to be able to save up that much money. This proctoring gig doesn’t pay NEARLY enough and my internship is unpaid. I wish I knew of a way to get cash on the side that doesn’t rely on me stripping or flashing or casual fast sex. And even writing contests, you have to pay to get judged. PFFTT!!! maybe I can just do freelance? Man, I REALLY have no idea what to do.

I went to the bar last night to meet up with aarti and her two DC friends, Michelle and Tiffany. It was good seeing them again, even though LV and I mostly just sat and spoke with Tiffany. And apparently, Tiffany plans on doing rush at nyu and she wants me to do it with her. -__-

I don’t even KNOW of any Greeks at NYU and I’ve been going there for four years. That’s how out of touch I am with that kind of stuff. And I mean, I don’t think carrying a brick around is going to build character nor do I feel like sitting on top of a dryer and being humiliated nor do I want to sleep with someone else’s boyfriend (or have anyone sleep with mine!!). Group-pack mentality isn’t really my thing whatsoever, but hey…I might not ever find out anyway. I don’t know if I would really ever want to go through with that type of shit. SIGH IDK IDK MAYBE THEIR HAZINGS ARE JUST MYTHS?? See? I’m already bugging out at the mere possibility of sororities. Dammit Tiffany! >.<

I only have one more week before the semester begins! Within that week, I need to order my textbooks; buy a new bag; go to NYU financial aid office & be financially cleared for the semester; three days at the internship; see Dania & LV & Aarti for dinner&drinks; call MTA for a new metrocard; see Lucy, jfc; hand boots over to my mom so that she can get them fixed in queens; hem new uniqlo jeans; learn a dance routine from previously stated above; look into GRE prepping; new shoes/shirts/dresses/omgshopping?? Fuck, I wish. =(. Can someone just give me a job or something -__-…

Source: i am a woman giving birth to myself.