I hadn't been all that happy with the last Yearlykos (now Netroots Nation). So, after Chicago, I decided no, not 2008. Now, I'm having second thoughts because I got this in my e-mail today from Mr. UnionReview himself, Richard.

If I was able to post a blog to your site tonight from Austin, where I am sitting in a hotel with a web connection that seems slower than dial up, I would have posted the following:

Men ... and Women ... at Work

When Atlanta-based magazine editor drove past another "Men at Work" sign, she clearly had about enough. She filed a complaint with the city about the gender-specific signs, which in turn ackonwledged that half of the area's Public Works employees are women, and complied.

Atlanta Public Works Commissioner Joe Basista, who was interviewed by FoxNews.com, said that the project, which involves painting over the exisiting 50 "Men at Work" and "Men Working" signs with the more gender neutral "Workers Ahead" or "Workers," will cost a whopping $1,000. The City will then have to pay about $110 per sign in the future to get the gender neutral signs.

I have to admit that I've thought about this once or twice recently.

In Takoma Park, where I live, there is endless construction on Carroll Avenue, a main street that runs like an artery through downtown. The construction workers seem to dig one hole after another, drop a metal plate over the hole, lift the plate, dig more, etc. While I have wondered why they don't just fill the holes, I have not seen any cement trucks roll through. At the construction zone there is a feeble attempt to control the flow of traffic. Regardless of how feeble, it is a woman worker in a hardhat holding a "Slow" sign or "Men Working" sign.

Well, no more "Men Working" only signs in Atlanta. Basista says that the project to repaint the signs will be completed by the end of the month. Now the fearless editor, from what I hear, is looking to bring her campaign nationwide.

"We're calling on the rest of the nation to follow suit and make a statement that we will not accept these subtle forms of discrimination," she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I don't think they are so subtle; I think it is just a matter of "Huh, we hadn't thought of that..."

I worked road construction back in college. I had flag duty (which no one ever wanted to do. I'd rather put down the tar to be perfectly honest, no matter how hot) far more often than anyone person should have to have it.

Our signs were often simply stop signs and slow signs, not men at work signs


I'm glad that this injustice is being corrected. And I'm even happier to see that it's being done for so little cost. $1000 isn't a lot to pay to remind all of us, that workers are workers and not men or women. In the end, we're all just workers.

In case you need linky goodness for this, head on over to the Atlanta Journal Constitution and read up on the changes.

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So, what brought me over to Fire on the Black Mountain? It was the story on the Irish Patriotic Strike.

Please go and read the entire piece.

Strikes are largely economic by nature, so much so, that there is a perception that those are the only kind. Which of course is what's so interesting about the Irish Patriotic Strike, from Fire on the Mountain:

Strikes are usually economic in nature; union labor in a particular industry goes on strike to demand higher wages, better working conditions, a stop to layoffs, etc. Few labor actions in U.S. history have the broad political implications of the Irish Patriotic Strike of 1920. A strike on U.S. docks in support of a national liberation movement was unusual in its own right. The support the walkout garnered outside the Irish community, and across the so-called "color-line," was truly significant.

It wasn't just significant in that it wasn't economically motivated but the kind of meetings that came out of this also shows one of the reasons that the longshoreman's unions divided into East and West in the early part of last century. It also shows how far sighted Harry Bridges was when he worked to integrate the union. The lessons from this strike must have been on his mind. Again, from Fire on the Mountain:

After Garvey sent the Rev. J. W. Selkridge, one of his chief lieutenants, to the docks urging the Black longshoremen to honor the strike, a contingent of Irish American longshoremen visited Liberty Hall in Harlem, seeking closer cooperation with the UNIA. A four-way meeting the next day brought together representatives of the UNIA, the American Women's Pickets, the Black longshoremen and the striking Irish longshoremen. When the African American dockworkers asked for promises that they wouldn't be banned from the piers after the strike, the striking workers refused to agree to this basic democratic demand. This decision sealed the strike's fate. It collapsed two days later.

Is it any wonder about why the Longshoreman's strike of 1936 was a successful strike? One answer, integration. When we all work together, we all win.

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