[Jewelry making - Article 00004] - Re: [Orchid] Should Goldsmiths Unionize/Organize

[Marty]

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    Here's another 2 cents worth from someone who isn't really a part of
    the "industry" but only a long-time practicioner of the metal arts,
    among some other arts as well. Sometimes I've made a goodish living
    at one or another of them and sometimes not a very good living at
    all. Sometimes I've worked for other folks and sometimes as a
    self-employed entrepreneur or contractor - however you want to
    describe the relationships between myself, my work, my customers, my
    employers or employees, and my students - I've tried lots of
    different versions. In each of those arrangements, my interests,
    economic or otherwise, were different and yet I don't feel that I had
    to become a different person to fill any of those slots. I'll get
    back to this point eventually. Let me ramble a bit. 

    I've read some of the posts on this subject and I have seen some that
    are the expected anti-union crap, almost a conditioned reflex in some
    folks - because they are quite simply ignorant of what unions have
    given to ALL of us in terms of what North Americans consider
    "standard" working conditions - decent hours, pensions, days off,
    surviveable work environments etc. You don't have to be a pinko
    commie radical, you don't even have to be particularly well-educated.
    You only need to have your eyes open and use your brain a little tiny
    bit to see that these benefits did not fall out of the sky like the
    gentle rain, but were fought for - long and hard. It's like the same
    kind of short-sighted thinking(?) you get from folks who grumble
    about paying taxes but who don't mind driving on tax-financed roads
    or calling a tax-paid cop or fireman when there's an emergency.
    Garden variety idiots - I dismiss them out of hand. 

    But it is true that the "Goldsmith" business covers a broad spectrum
    of business arrangememnts between people - sometimes huge
    factory-like businesses and sometimes just one or two individuals
    working things out between themselves. A uniform set of rules or
    standards is hard to envision and the very idea of such uniformity
    or rules scares folks, epecially creative types. 

    Right now I am thinking of a person I know who is an excellent
    goldsmith - certified to the eyeballs and possessed of a huge range
    of skills, any one of which takes years to learn. I could work
    another 40 years and never be as good as she is right now. Even a
    brief visit to her studio is deeply inspiring and educational to me
    every time. She had been working for other folks for years - I guess
    what you would call a "bench" jeweller. Finally struck out on her
    own, set up a good studio at home, works hard and produces lots of
    excellent quality work. In this field I have been more of an amateur
    and I am in awe of someone like her. One day I asked what she had
    earned while working for others.  I was shocked by her answer -
    about $15 an hour (Canadian) was the going rate. Maybe $18 if you're
    lucky. It took a while for that to sink in. When it really hit home
    was when I realized we pay a yobbo $20 an hour to push a lawnmower
    around our house every once in a while. 

    So ever since then I've been thinking about what it feels like to
    have such a finely developed set of skills under your belt and to
    find yourself out-classed by a yardboy. Nothing against yardboys -
    they have to make a living too - and he does a nice job on the
    lawn,picks up the clippings and all - but there is a huge difference
    in the investment in time, mental effort, equipment and practice
    which all adds up to a negative return. The more you put in, the less
    you get back.  It can't be good for one's self-esteem. It'd make me
    feel absolutely lousy to be in that position. 

    In fact, I see similar pay structures in other so-called "skilled"
    trades - Some make a bit more, some a bit less, but really none make
    a whole lot more than subsistence level. My wife and I owned a
    restaurant for a couple of years. Having worked in that field myself
    in my younger years - dishwasher to chef - I know it is hard work and
    must be done conscientiously to get a good product. I made sure that
    the wages we paid were well above the "going rate" in our locality.
    Even so, when I looked at the paychecks I signed every week I
    marvelled that anyone could live on those paltry sums - never mind
    support a family, never mind save up a few dollars to put a down
    payment on a house.  Impossible! 

    I'm sorry folks, I'm going to risk getting this whole post edited
    out of existence because I may stray into politics. Heaven forbid!
    But dearlings, it ain't just jewellers who are getting screwed. And
    for sure, a union is one answer I suppose, at least it has been at
    certain times, in certain conditions, when looking at a particular
    trade or industry. But the basic premise built into the situation in
    which a union becomes a necessary or attractive or useful answer to
    the problem of making a decent living  (and a decent life), the
    basic assumption is that there is an adversarial relationship. That
    is not the problem of one particular industry or another. It is one
    of the big basic organizing premises of our society - that we are all
    in adversarial relationship to each other. Different folks will call
    this by different names - everything from "original sin" to "class
    warfare" to "human nature" to "free-market competition". Call it
    what you will - Accepting that premise leaves its ugly mark on all of
    us. We strive to be the "winners" instead of the "losers" in this
    cheesy environment. 

    But there is another premise to live with. At least one other. There
    is also something natural in being a fine craftsperson, a creative
    person. By "creative" I am thinking of a wide range of things, not
    just art. I am thinking about all the activities that build, that
    nurture, that bring pleasure and life, the raising of children, the
    growing of food.   

    There is some innate satisfaction in that work - something as deeply
    ingrained and natural to us as some folks think all that dog-eat-dog
    competition is. Some of us will put out good work if we never get
    paid a penny for it. Some of us will love and raise our kids and
    never get a penny for that either. Women have been doing it for
    centuries and they don't like it one bit. Where does that energy
    come from? If you've been infected by the virus of art you will be
    an artist no matter what value your society places on your work.
    But, dammit, it doesn't help to be devalued. It doesn't help to see
    your family go hungry. It doesn't help to see the so-called
    "winners" celebrated and admired for how much money they have
    amassed - no matter how they got it. None of that feels good. And it
    doesn't take a lot of education to see that when lots of people
    feeling bad then bigger, badder things than unions will soon be
    coming down the pike. 

    Two different worlds, at least two. Them that take and them that
    make. The two activities rarely in balance. 

    Yep - there ought to be a union for jewellers and goldsmiths and
    housepainters and housewives and for everyone who makes and builds
    and feeds because if they feel bad enough about themelves and about
    their work then the whole house of cards falls. 

    Artists may not save the human race, but they do make it worth
    saving. 

Marty

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