Norma Rae-chael

I've been temping at this hedgefund since May 7th. My attempts to unionize the other administrative assistants has not gone well. The first problem is that I don't technically work for the hedge fund. Technincally, I work for a temporary employment angency, therefore, I can't join the hedgefund union I'm trying to organize. However, I feel I could still be elected President of the Hedgefund Administrative Assistants Union (aka HAA) if I could just get someone to join. And there lies the second problem. I only know have contact with one other administrative assistant. The other 4 admins are sequestered away on the 19th floor, locked away from my charm, charisma, and my truth about the working man (in this case the working women.) Meanwhile, the other administrative assistant and I are working for pitance on the 17th floor.

My 17th floor cohort has not yet warmed to joining my union. She asked me if there will be any single guys in the union. I answered that she'd be the only person in the union, however, if she organized herself she could then demand that the firm hire single men, who aren't 22 year old analysts. She didn't like that idea. My little proliterate secretary doesn't want her bosses knowing about her personal life. I told her that a union could defend her rights against snooping capitalists. "Hmmm. I don't know. Gosh it's so cold in here," was her response.
"I know," I said, "They're abusing our bodies with these horrible chairs with no back support, and these sub-arctic environmental conditions, we need to picket today!"
"Well, I brought a sweater."
"A sweater? Did they pay for this sweater?"
"No. I brought it from home."
I'm beginning to think she really isn't grasping the whole unionize thing. I really don't know what to do with her. I have about 5 weeks left here (maybe fewer if God accepts the goat sacrifice I offered him last night.) and I need to get this union together. I have to leave my mark. I have to contribute something. Change the world in a small way, at the very least make the administrative assistant's life who works on floor 17 more meaningful.

Tomorrow, I'm going to demand that she take her lunch break. I think I'll have a sit in at her desk so she has to go outside and for an hour. I mean, we work a block from Central Park. How could she choose to sit at her back crushing desk answering phones when there's magnifence a block away?

Comments

Christina said…
The thing with unionizing--it could be misconstrued as un-ionizing, as in, why do I have to unionize when I haven't been ionized in the first place?

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