A handout picture provided by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera showing a handwritten note with the message "All 33 of us are fine in the shelter", written by the miners trapped deep underground for 17 days, in Copiapo, Chile, 22 August 2010. EPA/JOSÉ MANUEL DE LA MAZA/CHILEAN PRESIDENCY/HO
Okay, if you have been here before you now understand the title of my blog, “What’s on Katie’s Mind?” My brain is always going. I’m always thinking about things that relate to politics, art and education and of course I have my own unique perspective. If I’m out shopping I might see some obscure thing that may give me an idea for an art project for my students. My brain tends to hop around a lot in thought from one thing to the other. Maybe this is the way everyone processes information. I don’t really know. I just know that since my son, Josh, gave me this blog, I have found it really rewarding to write about some of the many ideas and thoughts that come to me on a daily basis. Much thanks to my wonderful son, Josh. Today I’m thinking about several things again, as always. It’s hard to pick just one topic to write about. These are the thoughts I’m having:
Worker’s Hell:
The risk is always at the bottom and the payoff is always at the top.
Education:
Is there a correlation with the drop in worker pay with the falling education scores?
19th Amendment:
Even though we celebrate ninety years, there are still inequities in pay and that ever illusive ERA has never been ratified.
Just heard on TV:
British spy murdered…Mystery…found in sports bag…..may have taken important work home. Computer stolen…sex games…porn…quiet person….cyclist…. This might be interesting to find out more about the spying, that is!
I’d like to focus a little bit on that “Worker’s Hell”.
We have all heard about the Chilean miners. I know everyone is praying for their safe return to their families. We are being told that this reunion could take months so obviously these poor guys are in serious “Worker’s Hell”. It is disturbing how many major catastrophes there have been for workers in mines and oil rigs this past year or so. Maybe there are more or maybe we are hearing more about it. One thing stands out for me and that is all of the mortal risk for these corporations that run these businesses is at the bottom of the pay grade. It is the worker bees that suffer the personal losses of life, limbs and economic hardship. The CEO at the top collects the pay off. It would be extremely rare to hear about a CEO dying on the job unless he/she had a heart attack or die in a plane or automobile crash. They just don’t die doing hard labor.
What seems to be over looked in this whole mine disaster is the safety of the mine to begin with. We are so busy just worrying about the miners that not much noteworthy effort from news sources has been placed on this issue. There was an accident in 2007 at this mine that killed two peoples. There should have been much effort at that time to make this mine safer. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0824/Chile-mine-collapse-sounds-alarm-on-safety-standards
This is the most important excerpt from this article:
“Chile has a free-market economy where the first principle is to maximize profit without any other consideration. We need to take other things into consideration, including worker security,” Augustin Latorre, spokesman for the Mining Federation, an association of 22 unions at private mines, said in a telephone interview. “The state should offer, in particular in mines, the necessary security measures and inspections. We aren’t demanding that mines be closed, but that they be secure.”
This sounds so familiar. We could talk about the BP oil spill or the recent coal mine disasters but the truth is corners have always been cut to maximize profits.
I don’t want to speculate about these miners and the real hardships they are facing over the next several months with their confinement. Mika, on Morning Joe, actually laughed this morning in reference to the fact that these guys are being told to “stay slim”. If you don’t know Mika Brezinski, she is the spoiled, entitled brat of Zbigniew Brezinski who has been on a “fat kick” for years. She likes to tell people to go on diets. I couldn’t believe anyone could be so cold to find humor in any of this. However, she will never be a “worker bee” that faces eminent peril. She is too far up the food chain! It is a nightmare beyond imagination to wonder how the scientists are going to pull these guys up through some endless tunnel to safety. I cannot even imagine the terror of going up a short length of a dark hole let alone one that is 2300 feet underground. I cannot and do not want to think about being entombed in a dark hole underground anxiously wondering about my rescue. My heart goes out to all these people and their families.
My heart always goes out to the “worker bees”. These are the people that move a country. They put food on the table. They mine the minerals that we use in everything from energy production to computers and jewelry. These are the workers that use manufacturing equipment that can literally crush them. These are the workers that can have limbs removed because someone cut a corner and either bought old, unsafe equipment or didn’t teach them safety standards.
No one should laugh at any worker bee as they take all the risk and receive the least amount of benefit. The CEO, the president, the person at the top gets the pay off. They expend the least amount of risk and receive the greatest benefits.
It’s time that we reward those worker bees. The people that are at the bottom of this proverbial food chain that have jobs that are not safe should be protected and rewarded with greater pay for the obvious risks they take to put food on the table for their families. Often times these people know no other way. Dad worked in the mine. Grandpa worked in the mine and there is no other choice for them. So, they work in a mine. Many probably would prefer other work. I know you’re thinking someone has to do this work. That may be true but the jobs can be made safer and more lucrative for the workers. It shouldn’t be just about maximizing profits. There has to be some financial reward for workers that work in very unsafe jobs.
We may have to pay a bit more for the products or the CEO and the administrators and owners of the company may have to receive a little less “bonus” money but it needs to be done. This isn’t a radical thought even though I know someone will say and think I’m a socialist. I may be. I don’t know. That’s just a label. I believe in social justice as I was taught with my Catholic upbringing. It’s time that the worker bees banded together and demanded social justice for all.