Live Bait & Ammo #187: Shop Talk
I haven’t forgotten the factory: dull, dirty, ugly, loud, and dangerous. The shopfloor teemed with angry people who hated their jobs....
Workers rights are not defined by law or contract. Workers rights are defined by struggle.
Gregg Shotwell
- Jan 23, 2021
Live Bait & Ammo #186: Do the Right Thing
The contract contained a poison pill coated in a signing bonus. It slid down easy as a Mickey Finn, but had an aftertaste like regret...
Gregg Shotwell
- Jul 9, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #185: Protect and Serve
“It’s police unions that are the problem,” my friend said, “Ask any mayor, they’ll tell you.” Which is to say, just ask the boss. Of...
Gregg Shotwell
- Jun 15, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #184: Shout Them Down and Throw Them Out
Active and retired Flower Funders are flouncing around like weekend revolutionaries in flip-flops eager as cheerleaders to heap accolades...
Gregg Shotwell
- May 22, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #183: Direct Action Beats Sell Out Bargaining
What do you do if your union is controlled by a Concession Caucus — a bureaucracy devoted to helping the Corps eliminate jobs? Direct...
Gregg Shotwell
- May 8, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #182: Take a Chance on Gamble?
The Culinary Union in Las Vegas demands 100% testing of all workers before they will agree to go back to work. Workers “are not rats in a...
Gregg Shotwell
- Apr 30, 2020
Just in Time
Advisory: SHOP TALK
Gregg Shotwell
- Apr 28, 2020
The World is in Their Care
The power of blessing in a poem is that it weaves a new vision of the world. The blessing is awareness. A blessing calls sanctity down...
Gregg Shotwell
- Apr 20, 2020
We Want Action - Poem dedicated to Travis Watkins in Corona Time
Brother Rory We don’t want to hear about your laundromatic Ethics Committee appointed by the cons for the cons of the cons We don’t want...
Gregg Shotwell
- Apr 11, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #181: Beneath the Bottom of the Barrel Lies a Snitch
Article 41 of the UAW Constitution describes the duties of a UAW member. Section 2 states: “It shall be the duty of each member to render...
Gregg Shotwell
- Apr 4, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #180: Which side are you on, Rory, which side are you on?
How many autoworkers have died from Covid-19? How many more UAW families are awaiting diagnosis? Who is ultimately responsible for the...
Gregg Shotwell
- Mar 14, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #179: Go/No-Go
They always assign me the simplest jobs. Jobs that don’t require a thought: no skill, no dexterity, no mechanical or analytical aptitude....
Gregg Shotwell
- Mar 11, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #178: Whistling Past the Graveyard
Can the International UAW Concession Caucus reform itself with a self appointed ethics committee? I watched a video of our new UAW...
Gregg Shotwell
- Feb 21, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #177: The One-Two Punch
UAWD’s resolution goal failed to meet the deadline. I am not disheartened. The long term goal is to restore the UAW to not only an honest...
Gregg Shotwell
- Feb 21, 2020
Live Bait & Ammo #176: Sabotage, Wildcat, and Riot
These are the worst of times. When the wick of our collective conscience is a lie, politicians mime conviction, and sheep submit with...
Live Bait & Ammo