There’s a weird split in the way people think about public sector work. I’ve noted that those that are familiar with the work involved in any particular agency tend to acknowledge it where they can. I certainly do. Apart from court reporters, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know just how hard all sorts of people that come through the courtroom work. I have great respect for the people I work with and work for.
I have no illusions about how some people see us, though. Overpaid ingrates living off the hard work and toil of the private sector.
I’m reminded of that this morning.
Maybe therein lies the answer. Maybe public sector workers should use our free speech protections to encourage private sector people to unionize. As unionized private sector working conditions improve, it becomes more commonplace for working conditions to improve across the board, and we can all ask for the things we need.
Tax revenues would probably go up too. More money in more hands means more opportunities, no? Look at me, I had a little money in my hands and first thing I did was employ people. Multiply that by a few million New Yorkers. Yes, some people are tax cheats, but that’s inherent to the system as it is.
All I know is you have some really smart people out there who are restrained by the lack of resources the birth lottery granted them. Gotta get more money in their hands somehow. And the American right to unionize, and discuss pay and working conditions, is the legal structure to get them there on a systemic level.
And some folks view union as anti-market, but it’s all part of the market. Our labor is like all goods and services, and we have a legal right to push for more profit. This is, again, something the wealthy seem to inherently understand, as throughout my lifetime since the Citizens United ruling, there have been forces at play exerting control over our federal government, sometimes legally, sometimes not. And to the extreme detriment of working people and the poor. And the mega corporations that own our news do what they can to avoid coverage or slant coverage.
FDR saved capitalism with the New Deal almost 100 years ago. But we don’t necessarily have to wait for a great man to save us. We already know that a high concentration of the U.S. economy is in corporations. By some estimates, 20% more than they had in the 1930s. And we already have a legal vehicle with which to demand more of our corporations — the union.
Put it this way.
What could you do with 20% more?
You and your colleagues are such hypocrites. It’s ok for court reporters to engage in illegal acts but then you cry when the likes of Esquire, US Legal and Veritext engage in corruption. Corrupt just like this administration, perhaps that explains the silence of the court reporting industry. 85% white and so the loss of civil rights to those who are not white is of no concern to them. Stop using “Guardians of the Record” because it is a lie.
Perhaps there are times when I have been a hypocrite. I suppose we would have to see on a case by case basis. But I am deeply concerned with the erosion of civil rights in this country and the tyranny of the Trump administration.
The sad truth is that most Stenonymous readers are not here for my political writing. And I have lost funding in the past for speaking out against the Orange Emperor.
Perhaps I will make another political post. But I have some doubt it will change minds.