20160710 (union)

Why indeed should workers at the bottom not earn a family wage?

Calder’s mobiles are the 

Anti-metaphor for the butterfly-

Hurricane mechanics of chaos—

(If indeed there is any such

Analysis). Touching any 

Portion of one results in 

Movement in another section 

But not amplified. That’s how

I’ve always understood it:

Motions in systems grow

Larger only if some other

Power source acts on it.  

Mobiles are not perpetual

Motion machines. Leave 

Them alone in a room 

Without breezes and viola! 

They grind to a halt. Only

If the flapping of the butterfly’s 

Wing acts as a key to release 

Another stronger force, and 

The next releases again a 

Larger force, etc., does any 

One have to worry about a

Typhoon in Asia. Poor 

Butterfly! Dethroned by

Simple observation. Alas,

Science. Were it true, there’d

Be a whole lot more storm 

Systems given the number

Of Lepidoptera. Economists 

Like to use these metaphors

Because they cannot decide

Whether their subject of study

Is governed by strict laws or

Whether it is ultimately chaotic.

The sun is a good example:

Motions of particles in the sun

Are chaotic, yet the result occurs

By rigid physical laws. So 

When one segment of society

Is raised to $15 an hour, the news

Spreads almost instantaneously,

Affecting not just everyone in

That particular chain of 

Economic activity—managers,

Investors—but those in other

Sectors who begin questioning

“If Burger King gets more,

Why shouldn’t I at Panera, 

Pizza Hut, and the like?” 

Indeed if everyone (from bank

Heads to astronauts) gets the 

Hike, the original workers 

Getting the $15 are relegated

To the same place as before

Except their money is now 

Worth less. So to strike for an

Increase is not the whole 

Program. To make a change in

Their earning power, they have

To get the raise and everybody

Else has to stay at their earning

Level. How likely is that? I’ve

Seen the industrial unions keep 

Plunking for increases for 

Themselves and not giving 

A damn about the unorganized

At the bottom. Workers in one

Or another segment of industry

Can leverage their power for

Higher wages, better conditions

Only to leave the “masses” in

The dust. We can get that kind

Of greed from the capitalists—

Who needs it from other workers?

That’s why I like the Wobblies,

The Industrial Workers of the 

World whose aim was to 

Organize all the workers and 

Win benefits for all people even

At the bottom of society’s ladder.

Only when technicians strike 

For bootblacks will there be 

Just pay for the masses.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016