My son is a musician.
He has a masters in cello pedagogy.
He is an excellent cello instructor.
I did not pick him up from a school.
I did not pick him up from a gig.
I picked him up from a steel mill. One of the very large steel mills on the south shore of Lake Michigan.
He is not a steel worker.
Parents love for their children to have music instruction.
But not enough to pay a living wage for it.
Communities love to have the performing arts.
But not enough to pay a living wage for it.
People love to have things made out of steel.
But they'd rather have that steel made at low wages and in unsafe conditions from a foreign country.
Steel companies want to make sure their equipment is in good working order. They are willing to pay for that.
But not a lot. But not on a full time basis.
So you get the perfect storm of employment hell. Employees know that work is available in an on-demand basis. It might be 16 hours today. It might be 14 days straight at 16 hours a day. Or it might be nothing. For weeks.
And they start to not care. That their lives are being disrupted. Because they have to work those 16 hour days. Because the work might not be there tomorrow. But they won't know that - until tomorrow. So they work. Every chance they can. For those 16 hour days.
And they miss their children's milestones.
And their marriages are in trouble.
And they don't have time to date.
And they don't know if they will be home for Christmas because a site in North Dakota needs repair. Right. Now.
And they don't see an end.
Because they are just a commodity. Mined from the earth. Like the natural gas. Or the coal. Or the iron.
And if they are not there the employer will just go mine another one. Of the unemployed. Or the underemployed.
That are just on the treadmill. Trying to keep their heads above water.
2:39 PM PT: Thank you for all the kind comments, tips, reccs and reads. This is just my story as a mom who sees that life in America does not offer all the opportunities to my children that I thought it would. It's not the 'not being able to pursue your dream career'; it's the 'not being able to have guaranteed gainful employment opportunities to be able to have a life'. A lot of people would say he's lucky to have a job but I'm just sad that the job ends up providing no security for him while at the same time demanding all of his time. All the best to all of you.
Thu Feb 26, 2015 at 5:31 PM PT: If you are interested
https://vimeo.com/...
Thu Feb 26, 2015 at 5:36 PM PT: And
http://www.gratefulweb.com/...