Fuck fuck fuck... Latest news, "no talks scheduled" between labor and ownership...
Well, for those of us already set to work for American Sugar, the question is, are you still going?
It's true that by definition of a 'scab' for seasonal workers is iffy... You are not replacing a unionized worker, but on the other hand, you are accepting employment in a non-union company where unionized workers are locked out, thus enabling the company to continue locking out union workers. But this is semantics... the root of the issue is, is it right to work for American Sugar?
Reasons not to work for em':
1: You're crossing a picket line.
2: You're working - and making money - for a sleazy company.
3: You're helping to undermine solidarity in the region where you're working.
4: Workplace conditions could be really unsafe, since everyone in the factory is new and nobody knows what the hell they're doing.
5: Everybody in North Dakota / Minnesota will treat us like horseshit, assuming that we're replacement workers. (Good fucking luck hitchhiking...)
Reasons one might consider it okay to work for American Sugar:
1: Unions almost never stick their necks out for the very poor or seasonal workers, so why should we stick our necks out for them? (After all, we're not getting ANY health care benefits...) In other words, unions have been mostly self-serving enterprises for decades, and have largely given up on widespread social movements, so why should we necessarily feel obligated to participate in their strike / lockout?
2: Our refusal to work will absolutely not stop the beets from being processed; it's unskilled work, and we are infinitely replaceable, making our opting out of work merely symbolic. (The old posters are wrong: the boss doesn't need us.)
3: Most other options we have for making money are equally unethical.
For me, it comes down to this: Is it worth giving up the only job I have right now, and $3,000 to symbolically support a bunch of people that I sympathize with, but who I don't know, and who've never cared much for what happens to people like me?
So who's got an opinion? Who's going, who's not?