Yes, I know that's what it's called.
But is Lady Gaga a "worker"? Is Charlie Sheen a "worker"? He recently got fired. Must I support his struggle for basic dignity and a living wage? Shall I down tools to take up the cause?
NFL Lockout
Mon, 2011-03-21 14:56
#52
Snert
Mon, 2011-03-21 15:01
#53
They are workers. I'll ignore the two rhetorical questions which follow.
Mon, 2011-03-21 18:40
#54
Pogo
Yes for the binary question, "Boss vs employee" it is easy to provide the answer. What I am saying is that communities should be elbowing their way into the negotiations.
Imagine the pressure on the ownership group, if the union and communities came out with a joint proposal that called for both players and management to take a cut in pay (let's say equivalent to the additional cut management is trying to take for itself) in order to provide services to the communities they make their billions from.
Mon, 2011-03-21 22:13
#55
Mon, 2011-03-21 23:15
#56
They are workers. I'll ignore the two rhetorical questions which follow.
I'm sorry but this is not a bunch of school teachers or miners looking for a fair wage and job security. If your position is going to be in favor of the 'workers' in any situation no matter how absurd the fight then you lose credibility of reasonable thought. There are some situations when both sides are just as silly as each other and when you have millionaires claiming how hard they have it against billionaires who claim they don't make enough both sides are making ludicrous claims. No one on either side has asked for better wages or conditions for the actual 'workers' (stadium employees, equipment staff etc) caught up in this fight so nobody has any moral high ground.
As it stands the owners are declaring a lock-out and the players are trying to decertify so they can claim collusion and anti-trust but you can guarantee as soon as its settled they will unionize again. Neither side is acting in good faith and neither side cares about all the ancilliary jobs this dispute affects. I can't stand behind either side under these ridiculous circumstances.
Tue, 2011-03-22 02:39
#57
No one on either side has asked for better wages or conditions for the actual 'workers' (stadium employees, equipment staff etc)
The NFLPA (before they decertified) could only bargain on behalf of their own members, although I do agree that as a union they should act in solidarity with other workers when they're locked-out or on strike.
For what it's worth, the NFLPA and DeMaurice Smith did recently issue statements of solidarity with unions in Wisconsin and Egypt.
“The NFL Players Association will always support efforts protecting a worker’s right to join a union and collectively bargain. Today, the NFLPA stands in solidarity with its organized labor brothers and sisters in Wisconsin.”
"One team. We believe in what [the Egyptian unions] are doing. We believe in any time people stand up for what's right. We love the fact that people have a sense of history and that for those people over there, they are taking a stand for the generations to come."
Tue, 2011-03-22 11:39
#58
Snert
Imagine the pressure on the ownership group, if the union and communities came out with a joint proposal that called for both players and management to take a cut in pay (let's say equivalent to the additional cut management is trying to take for itself) in order to provide services to the communities they make their billions from.
Here's another thought. If a community could really use, say, a new drop-in centre for kids, maybe the people of that community could just spend their money on that drop in centre directly, instead of blowing $800 on seats on the 50 yard line to watch a bunch of men in funny costumes throw a ball back and forth, and then expecting those men to give some portion back.
Just saying that maybe we don't need these millionaires' charity.
Tue, 2011-03-22 12:14
#59
Pogo
Realistically though it is easier to get someone to spend $800 to sit in the cold and rain, then it is to get them to donate $25 to their community. So given that the communities really do have an ability to influence the business, I think they should make some collective demands. If I was a mayor of an NFL city I would be calling the other mayors and brainstorming on how to get a piece of the pie. Now is a time when both the players and the owners are going to be talking about how they are important to communities. Well if the communities asked them to back up their words, it will be hard for them to turn them down.
Sun, 2011-03-27 13:17
#60
[url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/159361/wish-nfl-wife]Jaclyn Fujita: Wish of an NFL Wife[/url]
Each man will walk away thinking that if his knees are to give out, hopefully it happens in the next five years before his health coverage expires. And if he has to cover himself with money from his own pocket, he will hope it doesn’t break him. Insurance companies aren’t looking to cover the ten-year veteran pro football player with the pounding migraines and ALS or severe depression that could be lurking just around the corner. His knees and back are sure to give out faster than the average person, and he may lose his mind due to all the concussions.And here they are, simply asking the men who profit from their work, to please look after their health, as they should have done throughout their career. They ask this so that someday, the young boy who chooses this path knows he will be protected the way he deserves. So his mother, wife, or child will know that even though that hit looks awful, there is someone on the sideline with his best interests at heart. So future NFL wives who watch their husbands unable to get out of a chair on a Tuesday, yet still strap it come Sunday, will be taken care of. So the man who is sacrificing his body and mind for the thrill of the game can be confident that his work will not go unnoticed. He will not be forgotten. He will not go unprotected. He will have earned the right to be taken care of for life. He will be kept safe from his damaged body and mind. For it was those bodies and minds of fifty-three men on thirty-two teams who every year generate billions of dollars for this industry. They deserve to be cared about.
Sat, 2011-04-09 13:13
#61
They are workers. I'll ignore the two rhetorical questions which follow.
I'm sorry but this is not a bunch of school teachers or miners looking for a fair wage and job security. If your position is going to be in favor of the 'workers' in any situation no matter how absurd the fight then you lose credibility of reasonable thought. There are some situations when both sides are just as silly as each other and when you have millionaires claiming how hard they have it against billionaires who claim they don't make enough both sides are making ludicrous claims. No one on either side has asked for better wages or conditions for the actual 'workers' (stadium employees, equipment staff etc) caught up in this fight so nobody has any moral high ground.
As it stands the owners are declaring a lock-out and the players are trying to decertify so they can claim collusion and anti-trust but you can guarantee as soon as its settled they will unionize again. Neither side is acting in good faith and neither side cares about all the ancilliary jobs this dispute affects. I can't stand behind either side under these ridiculous circumstances.
School teachers probably live better lives than the average NFL player. They get careers going from age 25 to 65, with pensions, job security, good hours, health care... and it's less competitive to getr in.
Sat, 2011-04-09 13:18
#62
Yes for the binary question, "Boss vs employee" it is easy to provide the answer. What I am saying is that communities should be elbowing their way into the negotiations.
Imagine the pressure on the ownership group, if the union and communities came out with a joint proposal that called for both players and management to take a cut in pay (let's say equivalent to the additional cut management is trying to take for itself) in order to provide services to the communities they make their billions from.
Sounds like a ridiculous bourgeois liberal idea.
If you think the NFL makes too much profit, then agitate for higher corporate income tax or fewer subsidies for pro sports stadiums. Don't suggest that activists go begging for pocket change, cap-in-hand, to any particular and arbitrary business that might be making money off the general system.
Sat, 2011-04-09 16:02
#63
Realistically though it is easier to get someone to spend $800 to sit in the cold and rain, then it is to get them to donate $25 to their community. So given that the communities really do have an ability to influence the business, I think they should make some collective demands. If I was a mayor of an NFL city I would be calling the other mayors and brainstorming on how to get a piece of the pie. Now is a time when both the players and the owners are going to be talking about how they are important to communities. Well if the communities asked them to back up their words, it will be hard for them to turn them down.
So add a fee to every ticket. $25 per ticket for community outreach or some such. If you are going to pay 800 another 25 isnt gonna break you.
Not that I would have paid that anyway. I paid like 125 for my pair of seats for a eagles game in philly
Mon, 2011-04-11 22:23
#64
Pogo
I wasn't saying they should go begging. I was saying they should get their act together and demand the money.
Mon, 2011-04-25 19:01
#65
[url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl-lockout-20110426,0,5854412.story... sides with players; grants injunction against owners[/url]
The NFL lockout has been lifted.Judge Susan Nelson of the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis granted the request of the players for an injunction that forces NFL teams to continue football operations.
Nelson could have granted the injunction but issued a stay to keep the lockout in place until the appeal. However, she decided not to stay the decision, meaning the league must lift the lockout immediately and cannot put it in place while it waits for an appellate court's decision.
Thu, 2011-07-07 13:09
#66
Catchfire
Mon, 2011-07-25 12:52
#67
[url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/162260/against-all-odds-nfl-players-associ... All Odds: NFL Players Association Emerges From Lockout as Bruised, Battered Victors[/url]
this deal—against all odds—is a victory for players, their families, their health, and their long-term financial solvency. [b]It’s also an example for workers across the country. There is power in labor and there is power in solidarity[/b].