If you wanna' know the easy way - ask a lazy man: On Fighting Management

*see below

I'm not Irish - I'm of Slovak and Polish descent.  The "If you wanna' know title" comes from an Irishman I worked with.  He didn't particularly care for me.  But those were different times - we were from different generations - and I didn't yet understand what it was like to be 40 years old and concerned about job security.  They say hindsight is 20/20.  Next time I see the S.O.B. I'm givin' him a hug.

Oh - and regarding the Mollies - my brother and I painted a basement in Wilkes-Barre, PA where the WW2 vet that hired us informed us was a meeting place of the Mollies.  I never verified this - I was just a kid.  But the stories of the robber-barons - throwing dead miners on front porches - and company scrip were commonplace - as the people were still alive to tell us kids what it was like back in the bad old days.  The days before the miners got together to fight back against the robber barons.

The robber-barons' houses are still there - on River Street - some part of Wilkes College (University Now) in WB PA - geez - as a youngster painting the places for summer work - I was amazed at the opulance the rich had - as opposed to the double-blocks those of my socio-economic strata grew up in.  Heck - their showers were bigger than the rooms we lived in.

I still can remember like it was yesterday.

I'd been hired as a young early-twenties electronics kid into a large corporation.  There were some experienced guys there that resented me.  They would train me - at my much lower salary - and eventually I would present a threat to their employment - and salary.

At the time I thought they were just picking on me.  In hindsight - I understand completely.

How did they fight management in a place where the corporation rules - in the nineties?

Easy.  A bunch of the old-timers - that is - the guys who kept the place running - and I mean REALLY kept the place running -

...went to lunch at some Mexican place up on Route 1.  The strangest thing happened.  They all got food poisoning.  Bad.

It was so bad they couldn't work for a coupla' days.

The place fell apart.

Management - received this message loud and clear via the accounting department as customers (unserved) went ballistic and threats for nonpayment for non-services non-rendered mounted.

Concessions may have been made.

I guess it all depends on the leverage your group has to influence the bottom line.

Just some thoughts.
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*pic borrowed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires