'Professionalism'

[Das war einmal]

Here's the story: I'm currently working as a cleaner, I clean at invalid people, wash the windows, use the vacuum cleaning, do the laundry, that sort of stuff. Now I have this hammer-and-sickle necklace on me, so I got some critique by an old lady. She was saying something in the likes of: 'what is the importance of millions of dead if you have a ideology to follow'. I was sort of offended, also by the fact that her home was full of Christian symbols, but I managed to stay cool and say that every ideology has killed millions of people, but I rather wanted her to tell that the body count of Christianity is a million times as more than communism can ever achieve.

Well this brings the question, should you be able to wear anything you like to work, or do you have to separate work and your private life, because that expresses so called 'professionalism' I am not really sure if I should wear my necklace or any other clothing (like a che guevara tshirt for example) resembling my ideology.

[Bitter Ashes]

I also work as a cleaner (Solidarity for cleaners!)

I've been told that in the Netherlands you have some kind of legal right to expression which means that you can pretty much wear whatever you like to work. I dont live in the Netherlands, so I may be wrong here. We dont have that at all here in the UK. I've got a pinny to wear and I've been told that I cant wear any headwear, "Because it doesnt look professional". That really annoyed me actualy because I hadnt got the money for shampoo that week and my hair was really awful and I wanted to cover it up. They did the same thing too when they demanded that I bought myself a new pair of trainers because the ones I was wearing had visable holes in them.

The excuse the capitalists will give for all this is that they're paying you a wage while you're clocked in and in exchange, you'll do thier cleaning for them and you'll sacrafice your freedom to dress as you damn please. We all know that it's a poor deal for the worker, but it doesnt stop capitalists from believing that it's fair and that employers are within thier rights to restrict your freedom at work.

But it all breaks down because it seems that employers seem to think that this domination over your conduct and attire extends to out of hours too when they're not even making this "exchange". Just take a look at the "Sacked on Facebook" thread to see what I mean.

Employers have far too much control over our lives, especially given the pitiful benefits that we, as workers, recieve for our labour. Unfortuantly, until things change, they'll keep that power and continue to use it against the working class.

On a personal note, I'd avoid having it on display. You havent got time there to dispell all the myths to everyone who sees it at work, so if you're walking around with it on, then they're going to continue believing that you agree with the myths and that doesnt help anyone.

Best of luck anyway. :)

[cyu]

I was sort of offended, also by the fact that her home was full of Christian symbols, but I managed to stay cool and say that every ideology has killed millions of people

If it were me, I might say something like: These are from the Christians I admire -

"When I fed the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked, 'Why are they poor?' they called me a communist."
- Dom Helder Camara

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another cannot gain. Hence that common opinion seems to be very true, 'the rich man is unjust, or the heir to an unjust one.' Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, then by his predecessor."
- St. Jerome

"You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich."
- Populorum Progressio

"by degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself."
- Rerum Novarum

...if they seem open to exploring these ideas, then you might point them to http://liberationtheology.org/ - if they don't, then I wouldn't waste my time...

[h0m0revolutionary]

I would keep my political beliefs from my boss, it's just bad conduct for a revolutionayr, no boss will look kindly on their employees being in full knowledge that thier position of priviledge is only temporary ;)

[Il Medico]

Well the one benefit of my job is that since I am technically not an "employee" they can't just fire me because they feel like it.

[Sarah Palin]

Being a professional at something would lead one to believe you are good at that thing. I hardly see how any boss can argue that wearing a hammer and sickle necklace, a head band, or any other article of clothing hinders one's skill. They make all the damn money can;t they at least give us the decency to wear what we want? No. This is capitalism at its best.

[NecroCommie]

When I worked at the library several months back, the only person customer to notice my DAILY Lenin pin was an old Russian lady who immediately tipped me handsomely. She said she felt great that some traditions of her childhood still live, and abroad even.

My coworkers always tried to slip something "clever" in our conversation, clearly noticing my communist insignia. I hated it because they always continued the very next second on another topic never giving me a chance to retaliate. They said things like: "I believe there can be no perfect equality", or "It's a gooood thing we have no equal wages". I just stared at them with murder in my eyes.

My boss never noticed anything.

[PRC-UTE]

Here's the story: I'm currently working as a cleaner, I clean at invalid people, wash the windows, use the vacuum cleaning, do the laundry, that sort of stuff. Now I have this hammer-and-sickle necklace on me, so I got some critique by an old lady. She was saying something in the likes of: 'what is the importance of millions of dead if you have a ideology to follow'. I was sort of offended, also by the fact that her home was full of Christian symbols, but I managed to stay cool and say that every ideology has killed millions of people, but I rather wanted her to tell that the body count of Christianity is a million times as more than communism can ever achieve.

Well this brings the question, should you be able to wear anything you like to work, or do you have to separate work and your private life, because that expresses so called 'professionalism' I am not really sure if I should wear my necklace or any other clothing (like a che guevara tshirt for example) resembling my ideology.

If you can get away with it, go for it. I would have thought that wearing a communist symbol was a good way to discuss what it stands for. Che shirts are useful for that as well so

[Ned Flanders]

We should defend the little freedom of expression we have left. So of course you should be able to wear any kind of statement you want at work as any other place. And as to that "millions dead" statement of that christian lady, the words of comrade Bertolt Brecht come to mind:
IN ERWÄGUNG DASS IHR UNS DANN EBENMIT, GEWEHREN UND KANONEN DROHT
HABEN WIR BESCHLOSSEN NUN MEHR SCHLECHTES LEBEN, MEHR ZU FÜRCHTEN ALS DEN TOD!

[Smash DEM BMP]

I Guess maybe you could be right.

[Muzk]

critique by an old lady.


...Good that all those old people die sooner or later, and their crap with them.
But dead communists will always live on - inside of us, as part of our mind, our heart.

[Rood]

Allways infeltrate a company, express you're ideoligy and slowly create good will with other workers..!

[cyu]

Allways infeltrate a company, express you're ideoligy and slowly create good will with other workers..!
"Salting"! I can't help but admire anyone who does that: http://www.iww.org/organize/strategy/salt.shtml

[Sarah Palin]

I plan on salting Wal-Mart in the near future.

[Bitter Ashes]

I plan on salting Wal-Mart in the near future.
Given the size of Walmart, I think you can get away with saying that, but usualy, it'd be a bit counter-productive to declare on a public forum that you plan on salting a company. I guess it doesnt really matter with Walmart though as they've got like a babillion zillion squillion stores in the USA if I understand right and they cant put them all "on alert" for one potential salter. lol.

[*Red*Alert]

Cool, I've never heard of "Salting" before, but it's something do all the time through infiltrating clubs, gyms, community groups, etc. to secretly politicize, recruit and organise sympathetic people in them.

Its a very slow process though.

[Pogue]

Yeh its slow, hard and daunting but can be very worthwhile.

[*Red*Alert]

Yeh its slow, hard and daunting but can be very worthwhile.
It's easy when you scope out those who are respected and/or have leadership qualities and are sympathetic to your position. In one place there was a lad who everyone looked up to, and once he was on board, the others followed.

[Pogue]

It's easy when you scope out those who are respected and/or have leadership qualities and are sympathetic to your position. In one place there was a lad who everyone looked up to, and once he was on board, the others followed.

Yeh when you start making the inroads its fine. When I tried setting about organising my workplace (an ultimately failed attempt, I got sacked before I did anything) I had alot of trouble trying to find who to approach. I really couldn't tell who I could trust.

[bosgek]

It depends on your function. If you represent your organisation as salesman, deliverer or even a cleaner outside your companies workplace, the organisation can expect a certain way you appear. This includes what you wear, your hair style and jewellery. Usually, the more important the people you have to meet are for the company, the stricter the rules are and anything political, cultural and sometimes individual are off. You'll find hints of those demands in vacancies ('excellent people's skills', 'communicative').

In other functions, wearing jewellery is not allowed because of the working conditions (e.g. in factories) and company clothing is obligatory, usually this is meant to protect and/or identify the workers (e.g. on a container ship or a supermarket). I doubt those rules would be different in a communist work place.

[NecroCommie]

Organizing under cover? True worker going to job interview wearing Union shirt, make fist salute and say Unionist 'till I die!
Where as I agree, one must remember that it's a bit different to do that in the US.

[cyu]

True worker going to job interview wearing Union shirt, make fist salute and say Unionist 'till I die!

Indeed this is discussed at this union-busting lawyers' site: http://www.fklaborlaw.com/union-salt-objectives.html

The union sends out a member/employee to apply for a job, while wearing union hat and clothing, pointing out on the application that he/she is a union member and pointing out that he/she wants to organize the company. The salt obviously does not want a career with the company, he/she wants to organize the company. If the salt is not hired, the union files an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.

Notice that all of the examples end with the union filing an unfair labor practice charge ("ULP") with the NLRB. ULPs can be very expensive for the company to defend, and usually costs the union very little, since the charge is prosecuted by the NLRB, an agency of the federal government. During a salting campaign, the union's goals are either (1) forcing the company to sign the union contract, or if unsuccessful, (2) cripple the company with legal fees spent defending ULPs. Some construction trade unions have also used the election procedure of the NLRB to force an election of the employees. Even in losing such an election, the process enables the union to file even more charges with the NLRB, alleging campaign violations, and unfair election proceedings.

Salting campaigns are serious business. They can cost a company several thousand dollars and can result in a company going under. Company project managers and superintendents must understand that their actions can lead to serious liabilities for the company. Each project manager and superintendent must understand what the company believes and what he can and can't say within the bounds of the law.

Part of the site, of course, is to drum up business by making employers fear unions. Then again, if the union being formed is just going to negotiate with the employers, that's hardly anything to be feared. What they should really be worried about is union members assuming democratic control of the company and ignoring these lawyers and their corporate dictators permanently.

[Invincible Summer]

We should defend the little freedom of expression we have left. So of course you should be able to wear any kind of statement you want at work as any other place. And as to that "millions dead" statement of that christian lady, the words of comrade Bertolt Brecht come to mind:
IN ERWÄGUNG DASS IHR UNS DANN EBENMIT, GEWEHREN UND KANONEN DROHT
HABEN WIR BESCHLOSSEN NUN MEHR SCHLECHTES LEBEN, MEHR ZU FÜRCHTEN ALS DEN TOD!

Translation, bitte?

[NecroCommie]

Translation, bitte?
A very free translation would go like: "Taken into consideration that you can only threathen us with rifles and cannons, we have decided to fear poverty more than death"
This is with my limited german, so it is not very literal translation. The basic message is correct however.

[Das war einmal]

It depends on your function. If you represent your organisation as salesman, deliverer or even a cleaner outside your companies workplace, the organisation can expect a certain way you appear. This includes what you wear, your hair style and jewellery. Usually, the more important the people you have to meet are for the company, the stricter the rules are and anything political, cultural and sometimes individual are off. You'll find hints of those demands in vacancies ('excellent people's skills', 'communicative').

In other functions, wearing jewellery is not allowed because of the working conditions (e.g. in factories) and company clothing is obligatory, usually this is meant to protect and/or identify the workers (e.g. on a container ship or a supermarket). I doubt those rules would be different in a communist work place.

Good post. Although I must say that 'hints of demands' are most of the time to vague to clearly understand. Also, I bet there is no problem if a cleaner wears religious stuff like a headscarf or a cross-shaped necklace. In the last case, I'm saying that if thats allowed then political signs should be allowed to, with the exception of fascist and racist propaganda (is this unequeal? a liberal would say yes but then again he is not the main target of a fascist)

I'm still wearing my necklace but now I'm wearing it under my shirt, since most people I visit to clean are aged (and therefor most of the time have been brainwashed by the church their entire life) , its no use in starting a discussion. Although I did get respect from an elderly man, when I asked him about the socialist books he had on the shelf and when I answered what my own political views were.

[Das war einmal]

Our organization joined a demonstration of the Labor Union when a person got sacked at his company for representing the labor union by the way. But that is kind of different. Because this case is clearly about intimidation whereas my appearance as a communist has not so much to do with my workers rights but more with the individual freedom of expression.