Blue Collar Issues

I write a lot about the blue collar lifestyle here at the C-blog, and I talk about it among friends. In these conversations, certain issues come up again and again, and I'd like to take the time to discuss some of them.



1. UNIONS

I despise unions. As a libertarian, free marketeer, and a citizen of a right-to-work state, I see unions as being both unjust and detrimental to the economic wellbeing of everyone including union members. Basically, unions violate the rights of people to freely associate by banding together and using extortion and intimidation to get what they want. If you cross a picket line, you get your face smashed in. And union workers wonder why companies choose to outsource. But you only have to look at the economic wasteland of Michigan to see where unionization leads. I hear they are trying to become a right-to-work state.

Unionistas don't want to compete in the free market. They don't want a market wage. Tbey want a protected wage. They are the mercantilists of labor. But when unions have their way, their pay grows exorbitant. Their benefits and pensions become a burden. And companies that get unionized end up going bankrupt. This is precisely the reason why Detroit automakers have fallen on hard times. In other industries and public service, unions become a burden as workers get paid more and more to do less and less. This drives down the living standards of everyone else. Granted, the union member benefits, but then he bitches because he can't afford a new American car. He ends up buying a Hyundai. Meanwhile, non-union workers make more money by offering more value for the dollar with enhanced skills and more work.

When given the freedom to choose, workers overwhelmingly reject union membership. They don't want a union. They don't want the union dues, and they don't want their working relationship determined by a third party. This is why unions always oppose employee choice. If unions were so great, all blue collar people would join them freely. But unions benefit lazy worthless fuckers who spend more time bitching than working. For the ones who work, they see this disparity and know the truth.



2. SAFETY

Blue collar jobs can be dangerous. This is a fact of life. I can't sugarcoat it. One of the appeals of a show like Deadliest Catch is the danger the men face on the Bering Sea. As I write this, some miners in Chile are trapped in a mine and will probably not get out until Christmas. Without a doubt, working in an office does not present the same hazards as working in a blue collar occupation. But there is an upside to the danger. It attunes your senses like nothing else. This is part of the reason that blue collar jobs yield more flow than white collar jobs. You are always aware of your surroundings. You are always anticipating something happening. This is stressful, but it is the good stress. This is the excitement office workers try to find on the weekends by rock climbing, surfing, and riding motorcycles.

This was highlighted for me watching an episode of World's Toughtest Fixes where Sean Riley helped some guys replace a transmitter on one of those insanely tall towers. Just watching that episode gave you tingles of excitement and the thrill of danger. Riley enthused that he couldn't believe guys get paid to have that much fun. Clearly, this is a guy who loves heights.

For the white collar worker, there is danger, but it is artificial danger. They never know when they are going to get the pink slip or get fucked over by the boss or a coworker. The result is stress that never ends. Where the blue collar worker experiences excitement and flow, the white collar worker experiences dread and misery. This danger is mostly mental which actually increases it. Since there is no external stimuli, there is no way to respond. The survival mechanism goes haywire and years of this stress leads to coronary artery disease and a heart attack. The blue collar worker goes home to rest and relax with a beer and some great stories to share with the family. The white collar guy homes to his scotch to keep worrying all night. A blue collar guy might fall to his death, but the white collar guy jumps to his death.



3. WEAR AND TEAR

My brother is an engineer and works at a desk most of the day. One day, he told me he was suffering from back pain. Being blue collar, I asked him what he had been moving to cause the injury. He told me he hadn't done anything except sit at his desk drawing plans. I told him the back pain came from sitting on his ass, and I recommended a standing desk. Nowadays, he sits at a desk, but he works out like a fiend on the weights to counteract the sedentary nature of his work. Naturally, he has calluses and hand issues from the barbell.

I hear a lot of talk about blue collar work creating too much wear and tear on the body. It supposedly uses you up like the way a machine gets worn out. This is not exactly true. Unlike machines, bodies heal. As you get older, healing takes longer. But blue collar people experience the same wear and tear on their bodies as athletes performing sports. The alternative is to find a sedentary occupation and get fat and out of shape. My reasoning is that you are fucked either way, so it is better to wear out than rust out. The problem isn't your job but your mortality. We all have an expiration date. Blue collar people choose to use up their bodies before that date.



4. HEALTH AND FITNESS

The stereotypical image of the blue collar guy is a gnarly dude that smokes Marlboros and drinks beer and eats greasy food in diners and truck stops. There is some truth to this. I work with people who don't take care of themselves. One guy even had a part of his lung cut out because of cancer, but he still continued to smoke. But I also work with people who hit the gym and watch their diets. I've worked with blue collar people who don't smoke and participate in marathons and triathlons. Even on Deadliest Catch, you have Captain Keith who does triathlons when he isn't on the boat, and you have Captain Andy who is not a smoker and is into training horses. Having a blue collar occupation doesn't mean you have to suck on cigarettes or drink a lot of beer in a smoky bar. That is a personal choice and not a consequence of the job.

The flip side of being blue collar is how much shape you have to be in to do the job. The one thing employers look for in a prospective hire is their physical conditioning. Will they get the job done? Or will they suck wind until they quit? The fact is that many of these jobs will pay you to get in shape. White collar workers pay to get in shape.

That does it for blue collar issues.

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