Scabs on society

"One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys." –Proverbs 18:9

The right-wing Bowling Green Daily News gloats that it's "inevitable" that Kentucky will become a so-called "right-to-work" state. Never mind that right-to-scab laws violate not only the U.S. Constitution (which conservatives ignore) but also the National Labor Relations Act and Section 19 of the Kentucky Constitution, which bars the impairing of contracts. Never mind that passing such a law will be legislatively impossible if the upcoming redistricting conforms to laws that govern the redistricting process.

We will fight against the violence and fascism of "right-to-work" laws. I'm not afraid to die for the cause.

In workplaces that I've been in or have become at least somewhat familiar with, the laziest people were always those who supported union-busting. Strikebreakers are called scabs for a reason. Incidentally, employing people to break a strike also violates the National Labor Relations Act - but it occurs anyway. Back to my main point: I worked at the local library in the '90s. One day, the libe hired a bloke to work in my office who personified the attitude of scabs everywhere.

The man was about 65, so he was a bit older than the average worker there. Still, his somewhat advanced age didn't excuse his behavior. He had a desk job, so it's not like he was expected to lift TV's and adjust the satellite dish like I had to do. I know people who had to break their backs daily well past 60, so it's hard for me to feel bad for this guy.

This man bore an unwavering reptilian smirk as he sat at his desk. He didn't seem to do much actual work. Supervisors would give him stacks of books to process, and a day later, the same pile would still be sitting there. The only thing different would be that one of the books would have our all-important roll of lamination sheeting hanging off of it. He hadn't gotten around to cutting the sheet yet (an act that took a whole 30 seconds).

This guy would offer his right-wing commentaries just out of the clear blue. We'd all be sitting there working in the quiet office, when all of a sudden, he might say, "You know, I never did like unions." Thus would begin a speech lasting at least 10 minutes about the "corruption" of organized labor. He once treated us to a philippic about how he thought the Kennedys were communists. And one day, when some of us were lamenting the rise of the police state, he pointed to the government-mandated warning label on a bottle of Liquid Paper - as if he thought consumer protection regulations were the same as being arrested without charges by secret police spying on you at a Cheap Trick concert.

This gent's economic views indicated he was among the then-burgeoning brand of loudmouth who believed that being anything more than barely breathing was a privilege, not a right. He's like the clod who attacked me on a BBS around the same time during a discussion about proper wages for personal groundskeepers. I had a good mind to slug that guy! I wasn't even talking to him, and he started calling me a punk kid because I said minimum wage wasn't enough for a person to tend someone's lawn.

Some people understand the value of a dollar. Scabs and their apologists don't. And they can't stand that I know better than to sell myself short.

Their ignorance can't be anything but deliberate. And - just as the Book of Proverbs says - they are just like those who destroy. Right-to-scab laws are destructive.

If the Daily News gets its way and Kentucky - by some miracle - becomes a right-to-loaf state, I will either go on strike until the law is repealed or start my own business. I'll be damned if I'm going to work for less just so nonunion labor can be subsidized. That's slavery. If I own my own business, then at least I can choose to defy the right-to-scab law. If you work for me, you pay the union fees. End of discussion.