My friend Terry Phillips, who hosts a weekly public affairs radio program on KPVR in Fresno and regularly contributes stories to NPR, asked me to go with him to Boron to capture images to accompany a story he was preparing for NPR on the lockout. We were both left with the impression that the workers were getting insufficient and inaccurate information from their representatives. At the same time, the mine's supervisors were extremely frustrated because they believed that if they could just speak to the locked-out workers directly, they could end the conflict immediately. This, of course, was prohibited. All information going to the workers had to go through their representatives and the company's managers had to deal with, what appeared to Terry and me, a torrent of disinformation. In the end, the dispute was settled largely on the company's terms. If the workers and supervisors had been able to work this out themselves, it probably would have been resolved months earlier.
The workers didn't win. They lost thousands in wages. The company didn't win. They lost productivity and had to deal with the complications and delays of the lockout. The already-down-on-its-heels town of Boron didn't win. It took a huge fiscal shot. The only people who won here, I think, are the attorneys who "represented" the union workers. They got paid, I'm sure, a great deal to string this thing out as long as possible.
In any event, I got some interesting photos of a real live work action.
The bustling town Boron.
Boron residents attempt to explain the situation.
Scabs arrive for the night shift.
Tellin' it to the man.
Protectors: just who do they protect?
No comments:
Post a Comment