Riverside, California.
I guess it’s not hello, but more like “Hello again” to my hometown which I both love and hate.
I’ve decided to move back home with my family for a while. Although I haven’t lived with my parents since I transferred to Berkeley when I was 17 years old, I do recognize the immense privilege it is to return to a home.
I made the decision when I decided to quit my over 100k union salary job and take a 30k pay cut to continue to align with my values. I thought it’d be incredibly difficult to make the decision, but in all honesty, once I decided to leave and recenter my life, the world literally got brighter. Yes- it’s also springtime, but I’d like to think it’s the universe saying that my decisions are aligning with what is right for me.
I’m a big believer that what is meant for us will always feel natural (not that it won’t be hard), but it’s a gut reaction thing, an intuition. The first time I felt it was when I transferred to Berkeley. I had this strong feeling that I was meant to be in the Bay when I visited the campus for the first time. I felt it when I moved to Mexico City 10 years ago. I felt it when I decided to attend Cornell for grad school. Again, nothing about these choices was easy, some I absolutely hated (Cornell) but, they shaped me into who I am today.
But honestly, I believe our everyday choices shape us into who we are and who we will become.
One of the first moments when I realized this was when I was promoted to supervisor at a nonprofit. This was when my coworkers and I unionized our first workplace together. I learned about the union efforts, was first frightened, then educated by my coworkers, then completely on board. After we filed, management began to cc me in their “management meetings” because they wanted to kick me out of the bargaining unit. I jumped on a call with the union attorney who told me we could have an election and we can have the National Labor Relations Board (this one was under Trump) decide if I actually had a supervisory role. We decided to kick me out of the unit in order to win voluntary recognition because turnover was incredibly high (we had someone quit almost every week. It was to the point where we no longer had going away parties LOL). I remember thinking, that as long as the majority of my coworkers were protected under a collective bargaining agreement then kicking me out was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
I stayed under “management” for about 7 more months. I hated it. LOL Not the supervisory role, but dealing directly with upper management. I realized being middle management is being the little bitch to the big bitches and trying to protect your team is emotionally taxing, especially when higher management sends you a Teams message saying “Make sure your staff flexes his time so he doesn’t get paid overtime this weekend.” *Insert screaming emoji here* And of course, I didn’t let this happen. I emailed HR (to create a paper trail) about how it is illegal to force an employee to flex their time to avoid overtime (hello wage theft!).
Anyway, all this is to say that the choices we make are the ones that mold us. Not the ideas we have for the future, not the things we tweet or the things we say we care about, but the things we actually do and do over and over again.
I hate when people say “Work at a piece of shit corporation, make your money, and THEN give back to your community” because first of all, who the fuck has ever made a lot of money ethically, then left that job to “give back to their community.” Please fuck way off with that bs. I don’t buy it.
Practice solidarity every day. Don’t give to your community, but be part of your community.
If a job is not aligned with your definition of collective action or values, then organize. If you can’t change it, then leave. I’ll be honest, I was incredibly happy finally making over 100k, and with the way inflation is going, I really hope I get back there at some point, but right now my vision of a democratic, worker-led, labor movement involves utilizing my skillsets in a more grassroots manner and that matters more to me than making a “good salary”. My allegiance and my direct relationship with workers is what fuels my heart and soul. It is not politics or even labor politics, that shit was soul-crushing. I should’ve realized I worked in immigration advocacy for 7 years mostly because it was direct work and that’s where my strength and love lie, with our community not with politicians or politician-adjacent people, even those that are “labor”.
Solidarity forever with the working class,
No bosses, no masters, no idols
Love only to the rank-and-file.
-Alex