Being in the computer industry is sort of like being in the wild wild west. There is no computer workers labor union, no licenses, no governing body, and a government that understands so little of what is going on that they wisdom can not fathom the world around them. Therefore, those in my industry have never been able to strike effectively, some have chose other more drastic methods, but I am not going to go into that now.
I have witnessed strikes at various times in my life, mainly in New York city as I was growing up. I have seen the “union rat” and many other forms of labor protest, but it is rare that I have seen a labor protest reach something louder than yelling through a blow horn.
Today was different, as I was walking towards the rush hour subway on 86th street and Lexington Avenue, I traversed 85th street and 3rd avenue, which I do on occasion.
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I came across a labor protest of some self-proclaimed skilled workers in front of a new residential building on that side of the street.
As a method of protest they decided to march in a narrow oval pattern as to allow commuters pass them on the sidewalk while they proceed to blow whistles, while wearing heavy duty ear plugs. The noise almost tore right through the sound of the podcast I was listening to using my in ear headphones. However, the poor people that walked by this noise field with no ear protection were cringing and covering there ears as they hurriedly walked passed the strike.
This to me was a successful case of proving a point. How this point was going to get these people there job back, I have no idea, but it struck a cord with me enough to author a blog post about it.