Gratitude is strength

Manuel Garcia 12 October 1997

"I am so grateful,... it is a privilege to be able to do the work that I do." Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (recollected from a televised interview on 10 October 1997).

What a liberating sense of gratitude. Isn't this actually true for all of us? Ours is one of the few occupations with the potential for technical creativity and participation in nationally significant and socially beneficial projects.

Participation is the key to a dynamic organization. Consider the contrast between Athens and Sparta in the Greece of 2500 years ago. Both were powerful military and trading centers, Athens with a growing sea empire, and Sparta holding sway over much of the Peloponnese peninsula. Athens was a democracy, and participation in government was both passionate and widespread. In this buoyant and stimulating environment many fresh ideas ignited exciting developments in trade, all the arts, architecture, social organization, government, and even individual freedom. Sparta, on the other hand, was a tightly held oligarchy, only a few thousand heads of families were citizens, called Spartiates. Most of the people under Spartan control were serfs tied to the land, and the men among them were called helots. The helots were conscripted foot soldiers in armies commanded by Spartiate "knights" (only the rich owned horses). Spartan society was efficient and stagnant. The only acceptable ideas came from the Spartiate class, and they exercised complete control over a workforce required to implement their designs. The legacy of those times, what we call the beginnings of Western Civilization, are essentially Athenian. In Sparta, a small class consumed, controlled, and eventually faded. The value of the inclusiveness of Athenian society, what in today's lingo we might call open, diverse, and democratic, was demonstrated by the genius of that community in uniting to fight off an oligarchic coup and to expand its democracy in about 505 BC, and then later in brilliant action to defeat the invasion of the Persians in 480 BC. Herodotos commented:

It shows how splendid a thing is political equality; The Athenians under the tyrants were no better soldiers than their neighbors, but once they were rid of them they were far the best of all.... Once they were free, every man was zealous, in his own interest.

Our Lab is the size of a small Greek polis, and I think, like ancient Athens or Syracuse in Sicily, we would benefit from an egalitarian form of participation in the life of the Lab. I believe the Lab should:

1. give immediate full-time status to all term employees, and
2. eliminate term employment and abandon Restricted Status employment.
   

My reasons are as follows:

1. To ensure that managers hire people who have depth beyond the immediate need -- no disposable employees. Infusing new blood into an organization (especially a stodgy one like ours) is always good, but Restricted Status employment is the exploitation of young workers by a vampire organization: a place where vision is dead.
2. If you want employees committed to your long term goals you must be committed to theirs. Our security, safety, and programmatic goals are most stringent and can be compromised by a worker's employment insecurity (reread the quote from Herodotos). I have met people here who have not reported illegal incidents because of the fear of job loss (for the record: chance provided a happy ending).
3. If the Lab is to be no more than a low-bid defense contractor with an expendable workforce, then it undercuts its rationale for existing. If long term research can be done with people on short term contracts, why have this Lab? In that case Lockheed-Martin or Rockwell International can marshal the necessary teams of temporary workers to dispose of DOE programmatic chores at much less cost. If AVLIS can be done by a private entity why not NIF? The point is that even as we become more "businesslike" we must always cost more than a business if we continue to provide that most valued rarity: long-term committed scientific thought to the technology of our nation's energy and defense. Good ideas do not emanate from small oligarchies controlling many expendable serfs: think Athens, not Sparta.
   

We are all lucky to be able to work in a technically advanced environment. I believe that those of us who have indeterminate ("full-time") status should express our gratitude by working to keep the same opportunities open to future employees. I base my belief on the concepts of "the community of science" and "generational responsibility." I urge you to act in any of three ways:

1. Write a letter to Lab management opposing Restricted Status employment. You can do this without having any connection to SPSE whatsoever (some people actually don't like us).
2. Join SPSE. We need dues in order to fund grievance representatives and mount legal challenges to the anti-employee trend of LLNL employment policy. Whether you think we are good, bad, or indifferent, we are committed to getting people a fairer shake in this Lab, and you know it. Whether by guile or fumble, our efforts do more good for your work situation than all the carping of the privileged uninvolved.
3. Sign an authorization card so we can organize the American way. Those of you ready for this step share a very special vision, one that Pericles, Jefferson, and Lincoln would understand.
   

In a few months Kalina Wong will take my place as President of SPSE, and she will be the voice of our group during 1998. Kalina will bring a fresh approach to this job, will no doubt learn from my public relations mistakes (and successes), and I sincerely hope she will have a broader appeal with all of you. During my term, as the Themistokles of unionization, I have developed views on segments of the Lab population that I offer below.

To anyone who is just hanging on till retirement:

Shame on you. You have a responsibility to the next generation of problem-solvers. Voice your support for them to have the same opportunity you did: a decent full-time job, and not exploitation. Stop counting the days till the cash-out of your 403(b) and put some fire into those letters to the Lab, the University, and any civil authority you think will listen. Also, whether they pay attention to you or not, you are an example to younger workers. So practice your craft with gusto, with pride in your hard-won experience. Demonstrate that real achievement emanates from self-motivation, and is not dimmed or diverted by performance evaluations and merit raises which are simply a distraction for the gullible.

To term employees too fearful of losing their jobs to act:

You lose courage as you grow older. If you are willing to accept being exploited today, you will never be free of it. The pipe dream in many ghettos is that if you shoot enough hoops you'll break into the NBA (National Basketball Association). Restricted Status employment is the same kind of pipe dream -- for the few selected, many will be discarded. Just as the older generation has the responsibility to pass on a vigorous science environment with decent jobs, so you have a responsibility to take on the challenge of maintaining those standards. Do not depreciate yourself as a short term expedient. Break out of the cage that fear holds you in, join SPSE, write letters, speak out, act! This Lab's future is only as good as the commitment it makes to you.

I am not concerned that you "help" the old guys keep their SPSE grievance insurance; on the contrary, I am angered that many of them see term employees as a buffer protecting their own more privileged positions. I am more concerned about what kind of employment environment my children will face. I am not suggesting that you do anything foolhardy, but that you join together to act in your own behalf. I am well aware of the realities of the job scene, within my own circle of family and friends we have experienced layoffs, involuntary permanent-to-part-time temp employment, long job hunts, and the beginnings of a new round of downsizing ("to improve shareholder earnings"). These realities have had a direct impact on my plans for my children's education.

Naturally, in acting in your own behalf, I believe your most effective avenue is to join SPSE in droves, become the dominant group in this organization, and leverage off our 25-year investment in legal and employment policy experience within the UC system. If you are not ready for this yet, then at least talk to each other and form your own group. It is as a group that you will realize more gains in securing a fair employment environment, and it is as a group that you can more effectively protect those individuals who are unfairly targeted. You've read the articles in this newsletter, how do you think this lady would have fared on her own?

Another reason I want you as members of SPSE is because we need the dues in order to pay the legal expenses to defend people (attorney advice, expert witness fees, at least one half of the arbitration fee, and office expenses to prepare briefs, obtain data by public records request, make phone calls and do research). The situation we see today requires that we put our principles on the line and dip into our funds to challenge the unsavory drift of Lab employment policy, and I do not see any ethical way of raising money other than by membership dues. So act at some level: as a separate group if you can't stomach us, or better yet as members (and as officers and board members setting policy), and, if you can make the commitment, by signing an authorization card.

During the last four years I weathered several difficult family crises that helped me to overcome my fear of appearing ridiculous in the pursuit of what I believed. I have learned that it is important to develop a strong sense of ethics and to stick to these principle even in the face of possible hardship -- like the threat of job loss. Careers, jobs, money all come and go, but your principles are the ground upon which a fulfilling life are based. How you act in this regard has a profound effect upon your children and will do more to prepare them for a rewarding life than the admittedly useful advantages that money and influence can obtain. So I ask you to consider my message seriously, however ridiculous or disconnected from your personal situation you may think I seem. When (if?) my kids get out of college and start hunting for jobs, some of you may be the hiring managers, and I want them to have the same chance that I had. That is what I am asking you to fight for.

Let me tell you what freedom from fear can do for you. Today (12 October 1997, Columbus Day, the 505th year of the war of conquest over Native America, the beginning of Latino Americanos) I went to a street fair featuring samba music with my lovely wife. Having worked during the last two years to overcome my fear of appearing ridiculous on the dance floor, I took her hand and gaily swayed, weaved, and hopped with the music. She looked lovely smiling in the sunshine. Of course my wife was embarrassed and delighted, we were the only couple dancing, and many men and women observed in envy. The men because they lacked the confidence to ignore their self-consciousness, and the women, because so many of them want a companion who will dance with them. I'm not a very good dancer, I've just forgotten about appearing ridiculous and awakened to the joy of pleasing my wife. Who can put a price on this feeling? Nobody in this Laboratory has a career as rewarding as I do.

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