01.18.2006 at 1:36 pm
stomach in knots
a little background info: my husband works construction. he is a journeyman-level electrician and he's been in this line of work for over 10 years. (no, he's not a member of the union, nor are any of the guys he currently works with � if they were, i wouldn't even be thinking about all this because IT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED) for the first 4 years of our marriage he worked away from home. in that time he worked in oklahoma, mississippi, texas, alabama, tennessee, north carolina, and virginia. for the past 5 months, he has been working within driving distance from home. it takes him about 15 minutes to get to work every morning.
yesterday when chris got home from work i was in the bathroom with janie helping her wash her hands. he said hello to us and janie immediately ran to him to give him a hug around his knees. he then went to the fridge that we keep outside in the garage to get him a beer. i couldn't help but think that something was VERY wrong. chris never drinks during the week. he came back into the kitchen and started rummaging through the junk-drawer looking for his cigars. � don't even act like you don't have a junk-drawer at your house. i know you do.
he walked outside onto the front porch. after i turned on madagascar for janie and gave her a pickle, i walked outside to find out what had chris acting so strange. as soon as i closed the screen door behind me, he started to unload.
"they fired a whole electrical crew today," he said right before he took a draw from his cigar. "and what makes me so mad is that it could just as easily have been my crew."
apparently a few guys laid out or work on monday. monday was (as most of you know) martin luther king day. i got a holiday from work (not a paid holiday, but a holiday, nevertheless). construction workers' holidays are few and far between and they differ from company to company as well as location to location and they are NEVER paid holidays. the normal holidays for a construction worker are independence day, thanksgiving and Christmas. that's it.
there is no sick leave. there is no personal time off. when you are at work, you get paid. if you are not at work, you don't get paid. simple enough.
but this is the problem with what happened yesterday: a man and his crew were FIRED for one member of the crew taking monday off. and yes, the member of the crew that did not show up to work on monday is a black man. let's call call him dale. from what chris has said about dale, he is a fine person and he is a hard worker as well. the powers-that-be at this place of employment are a bunch of good-ole-boys. the kind of guys that, in high school, couldn't play on the varsity football team because they either didn't have the grades or the guts and still dated cheerleaders, drove old beat up mud and tobacco-stained pickup trucks with rebel flags covering the back glass. the kind of guys that now look at life much like they looked at the football field in high school. as something that can be won.
chris has come to the conclusion that it is all just a game to them. they know there are men working there who want to stay where they are. if for no other reason than they want to stay close to home (which, is actually the biggest and most important reason of all) and still be able to support their families.
this is what scares me: the rumor that spread around afterwards was that there would be another electrical crew fired soon. and there is a BIG difference in being laid off from a construction job and being FIRED from one. being laid off means that there was is no use for you trade at that time. your job is finished. there is no problem getting work after being laid off. it's respectable. it also means that the company is not suppose to hire anyone to perform your job because they just got rid of YOU. they should not have laid you off if they still needed your type of expertise. that's just not how it's done.
being FIRED is a whole 'nother story. chris made the comparison to having a "permanent record" like in elementary school. which is i'm sure how it feels. when a person gets fired from a construction job is is for reason like not following safety rules (which could get someone killed), not knowing what in the heck you're doing (which could also get someone killed), laying out of work ALL THE TIME (and a lot of construction companies don't even fire employees for this, because if they ain't at work, they ain't getting' paid), or stealing from the company. these are reasons ANYONE could get fired.
but to fire a person for taking off from work on a day that is celebrated all over the nation as a holiday and a day of community service? AREN'T THEY BASICALLY ASKING TO BE SUED BY THE NAACP? do they really think that this is okay? do they care? apparently not.
of course, what bothers me most is that chris has worked his butt off for this company. he rarely misses work (he's only missed one day since he started there � because janie was sick) and he loves being home with us. but he could be the next guy they decide to fire in their little chess game of evil power.
okay. i'm tired of thinking about this. it is time to think about something that won't tie my stomach in knots.
xoxo
tell me i'm beautiful...
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