Getting a Raise: Organizing Workers in an Industrializing Hospital Author(s): E.

Paul Durrenberger and Suzan Erem Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Spring, 1997), pp. 31-46 Published by: University of New Mexico Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3631114 . Accessed: 18/03/2013 20:39
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WORKERSIN AN GETTINGA RAISE: ORGANIZING INDUSTRIALIZINGHOSPITAL'

E. PaulDurrenberger of Iowa, Iowa of Anthropology, University City,IA52242 Department and Suzan Erem IL60610 Local International Service Union, 73, Chicago, Employees
and actionto underthat integrates Wedevelop a practice context, thought, perspective as she triesto change,ratherthan reproduce, stand the workof a union representative our and downsizing in an industrializing conditions By alternating hospital. for workers topresent in thestory, SuzanErem,theunionrepresentative narratives, speaks for herself an anthrowhilePaulDurrenberger, and reactions, an insideviewof motives, responses, and observational an outside analytical perspective. provides pologist,

I was ranting to Paulagainaboutmy strugglesat one THE to the airport ON WAY of the hospitalswhere I am the unionrepresentative. meetasking,'Cansome twittylittle girl sittingin a management "They're to I'd been in I said half can?' than we do more trying gain desperation. ing " the trust of the engineers. Paul started scribblingin his notebookagain.I knew the maintenance engineerswere dissatisfiedwith the unionfromthe At the meetingto ratifytheir time I hadtaken over as their representative. their ballotsinto the box, and contract,they asked a few questions,stuffed stormedout. Even thoughthe engineershadreceivedbiggerincreasesin this contractthan most of the other job classes, they were angrybecause they who they think unitas the janitors, were still lumpedintothe samebargaining dragdowntheirwages. I hada feelingI was goingto take the heat for all the burned-out reps andlousy contractsthat hadcome beforeme. I knew I was rightwhen I invitedall unionmembersto meet with me on their breaktime, duringtheir lunchperiod,or beforeor aftertheir shifts. I tackeda unionposteron the bulletinboardoutsidethe meetingroomthatthe had asmanagementof the hospital,operatedby a nonprofitorganization, for each of I charts me. the table On categoryof wageprogressions put signed Workers literature. and union buttons, stickers, beginto drift worker,bumper in one by one, some stayinga few minutes,otherslonger.Paulwas sittingat the end of the tabletakingnotes. The engineerscame in as a group,all but one new one, in theirgreen uniforms.An olderone namedGregory beganto outlinethe problems: Lots becausewe signedthe contract. I knowyou can'tchangeanything
of things worry us. Pay is inadequate. We don't just do maintenance
vol. 53, 1997) Research, (Journal ofAnthropological
31

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work.A to Z. They give you a time, they need the jobdonenow. ... We
can't change that, but we can change conditions. . . . We do a lot of

workwe don'tget recognized for. ... They saidif we'd get professional rid of the union,we'd gain. A youngeruniformed workersaid: maintenance Whyhavea unionif every time we go upstairs they say "nomoney"and we come downhere andhearthe same thing? The men complained that while they are classifiedas "maintenance mechanics,"they do specialized,skilledwork such as layingpipe for plumbing and runningwire for electricity.In anotherunionthey wouldhave received and "journeyman" status to recognizetheir educationin "apprenticeships" these skills. Ourunionoffersnone of that,andthey felt thatone reasonmanwearthosetitles. agementrefusedto recognizetheirskillswasthattheydidn't me in told how had the management's They protestthey boycotted holiday dinnerbecause they foundthe turkeysandwichesit offeredinsulting.They hadboycotted overtimeworkbecausemanagement was demanding they do it demands. by flexingtheirschedulesinsteadof payingovertimeas the contract the presidentof the hospital andhadwon a meeting They hadeven petitioned with management; they hadlaidout their discontents; they hadheardpromises. They also told me they'dfiled formalgrievances,but nothinghadhappenedwith them.Nothinghadchanged. These workerswere engagingin classicunorganized work-sitetactics-in was responding legalterms,"concerted activity." Management just as it would to avoida unionat an unorganized placeby saying,"Let'stalk,we'lllisten,let's resolve it," then sittingbackand waiting,lettingtime pass. Re-creating that time is such a that once workers do it and don't win, organization every struggle Witha they give up. The union,on the other hand,says "putit in writing." contract we don'thave to rev workersup every time. We keep the organizationalstructurein place and offerbackup. The engineerswere operating as didn't have a union at all. When out were thoughthey theyfigured they running in place,they decidedthey mightas well give "thenew unionlady" a shot. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? SuzanErem is the directorof communications for Service EmployeesInternational Union (SEIU) Local 73 in Chicago and a union rep. Paul is an anthropologist and professorat the Universityof Iowa. Durrenberger Likethe rest of the labormovement,SEIUis awareof the declining influence of organizedlaborin the U.S. To providethe basis for new initiatives,the
leadership of the InternationalUnion appointeda committee and commissioned a study of its members and leaders. As Erem read the results of the study, she concluded that while the com-

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mittee hadamasseda largeamountof surveyandfocusgroupdata,it hadnot madethese datarelevantto the dailyactivitiesof peopleworking in the locals. This situationstruckus as a uniqueopportunity to experimentwith new to approach some questionsaboutinequality and ways of doinganthropology power, inside and outside voices, and academicand practical anthropology. on a collaborative We resolvedto embark study.Eremwouldprovidethe dayto-dayinsiderview by keepingdetailedrecordsof events andconversations. wouldprovidethe outsiderview by ethnographic observation Durrenberger andinterviewing. We later expanded the scope of the studyto includeother reps, work-siteleaders (unionstewards),and other members.We extended work sites as well as hospitals.Erem the scope of employersto industrial and coworkerfor writing moved amongthe roles of informant, participant, and analysis.Durrenberger observed,questioned,interviewed,and worked the study. with Eremon writing,analysis,andorganizing of what we had As we started to experimentwith variousformulations of the formulaic remonstrated Suzan learned, pedanticwritagainst dryness to try to determined stock and trade of academic We the anthropology. ing: andto shift fromour earlierindefinite breaksome of the formulae third-pernarratives. to first-person son formulations Paul: The mainissue I was thinkingaboutwas how we couldmake anyrelevantto the problemof, as Suzanput it, getting thingaboutanthropology of themselves so they can run it, peopleto see the unionas an organization with the rep as an agent who insteadof seeing it as an insurancecompany comes in to fix things wheneverthere's trouble.A secondaryissue that becomes more salientin this essay is thatwhatSuzanwas doingis an example of tryingto achievechangethrough everydayactionwithina settingof differwas the ability of engineers entialpower.The mainpowerSuzanhadavailable wouldgive her Their solidarity to work togetheras a unit, to be organized. whatJimScott (1985)calleda weaponof the weak. resourceson behalfof ourmemcanmobilize Suzan:Unionrepresentatives to put some punchbeto use these resources I saw an opportunity bership. hindthe unitythe engineerswere showing.I knew I couldcallmeetingswith as they had,butI couldalso includeworkersfromotherpartsof management, the hospital.I coulduse the limitednumberof laborlaws with some impact. a andI bothknewthatI couldharmthe hospital's imagethrough Management I And would service. of the to related hospital's anyaspect publicity campaign andhelp unifythe rest withinthe hospitalto inform distributed use literature I could shut downthe entirearguknew of the workforce. Still, management in my faceandwalkingaway. contract ment by wavingthe signedandratified SOCIALMOVEMENTSAND PRACTICE
Paul: Suzan's struggle to mobilize resources on behalf of the engineers is one example of larger historical processes that social historians see developing in predictableways through time. Their current paradigmcenters on ques-

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or obof resourcesand state facilitation andorganization tions of availability CarolMueller(1992)reviews how questionsof the structionof mobilization. have gainedincreasedatof meaningand structural construction inequality andtranstention.Centralis the analysisof socialcontext,the development of actors embeddedin social netof meanings,and the definition formation works.The writers in the volume she and AldonMorriseditedarguedthat the connectionsbetween social furthertheorizingrequiredunderstanding of social movementsand the disparitiesin the resources and opportunities structures.Zald(1992) reinforcesthese views, and Morris(1992) suggests those dimensions of cultureandsocialorgathe importance of understanding nization thatgenerateandinhibitcollectiveaction.Morrisconcludesthatthe involvedeterminations of how systems of domination (hospikey dimensions tal management) andinfrastructures of challenging groups(the engineersand their union)are structured time andwhomthey benefit. through The problem for socialhistorians, is to sort out the as for anthropologists, interestsdon'ttranslate roles of action,ideas,andmaterial interests.Material into guidesfor action.If struggleswere primarily symbolic, straightforwardly we couldunderstand them as contestsbetweenpolitical tropesinsteadof palevents (Tarrow andengineerscouldwintheirgoals 1994:119), pablehistorical by clever slogansor literaryactionalone.However,their effortsto date had provedineffective. the engineerswin theirdemands Whycouldn't by sheer forceof argument? to studybarriers to participaMacLennan (1994:61)calls for anthropologists tionto showhow they are erectedin specificsettings,wherethey camefrom, in political life. This is what Caroline White andhow they affectinvolvement of two factories (1987-1988)didin her participant-observation study English that led her to ask why workers work as hardas they do. She foundthat to production of manageworkerscontributed aboveandbeyondthe demands than in because each rather active resistance or ment, engaging sabotage, form such cooperative was also a of resistance that showed incomactivity up line's pacing. petence of a superiorandgaineda respite fromthe production As Whitesays, the reasonsworkerstry to expandtheir controlin the work The opposition between capitaland labordoes not process are problematic. some of manexplainthe manyformsof resistance,some of them enhancing agement'sgoals, nor why there is resistance at one time and not another. arecomplexandcontradictory, butWhite Motives,actions,andinterpretations moves the questionfrom one of individual construction of meaningto how is maintained andhow workersrespondto it. inequality Suzanand I are studyingdifferential detailsof power in the ethnographic the workof a unionlocalas it confronts to benefitits members. management have the responsibilJamesPeacock(1994:42)suggests that anthropologists
ity to describe the particularitiesof cultures because nobody else does it very much or very well and that is what we do best. He argues (Peacock 1994:42) that via ethnography U.S. anthropologists could move toward coordinating field studies with larger issues of structure and system in America. We agree.

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Barrett(1984:201-2)identifiesan emergingsynthesisin anthropology parallel to that of socialmovementtheory.Some of the issues it focuses on inof the mental of culturefromthe dialectic clude:the processof the production with the material; choice,manipulation, dycomplexity; power,contradiction, namicratherthan static analysis;a tolerancefor disorderand open-ended of expressionsof inequality. schemes;andthe explanation conceptual Dorinne K. Knodo (1990:114-225) hoped to abandonthe search for an Archemedian point outside social action and to understand people as lives as they strugglewith decentered, multipleselves who live contradictory on contradiction, Barrett the massiveliterature (1984:150) meaning. Reviewing thatare "attimes contradictions" arguesthatwe live in a worldof "cluttered located,and devoidof ultiambiguously messy, lopsided,loosely integrated, that this view He materational maydrivelogicianscrazy recognizes design." hairof Frenchrationalism standon end"butthat andmake"thephilosophical of social life thantidy systems. But he, like the it is closer to the character that we focus on social historians,does not echo Knodo'srecommendation we differential individual for should quests meaning.Rather, study powerbefor immorality cause it alwayscontainsthe capacity (Barrett1984:151). thatMacLennan to the synthetic Weareattracted (1994)andBarrett thinking and the social historians of practice,as (1984, 1996) urge-an anthropology Ortner when she that the called it (1984) Sherry suggested principlesand their siturelationsamongcultural elements derivefrompeopleinterpreting ationsandactingcoherentlywithintheir institutional orders.This viewpoint focuses our attentionon agency and performance, individuals definingpractice as well as the limitsgivenby the past.Otherpeoples'understandings and motives constrainany person'salternatives.People don'tjust act out rules choices to get whatthey value.Whatpeople and normsbut makepragmatic want dependson what is useful to them in their historical contexts. Ortner in everyis reproduced wonderswhetheranychangeis possibleif everything of understanding the practice of peoplewho dayaction.Hencethe importance them, peoplelike unionorgaattemptto changethingsratherthanreproduce nizersandreps. Ortnersees historyandanthropology unifiedin the question of how societyandcultureare produced andreproduced interhuman through actionandaction. view whenshe arguesthatthe arrangeOrtner's JeanLave(1988)reinforces ments of knowledgeinsidepeoples'headsis indivisible fromthe way the sooutsidetheirheads.To understand howordinary cialworldis organized people she mind and the worldandconasked relations between the about calculate, cludedthatit isn't possibleto makesucha division.She developed the notion of cognitionas stretchedacross individual future conhistories, projections, andhistorical crete ongoingsituations, andeconomicstructures time. through
We found this practice point of view congenial because it allowed us to see motives, actions, and interpretations in complex and shifting relationships (Durrenberger 1990, 1996). Suzan's goal was to change people's minds so that they would participate in small actions-actions she could interpret to

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as sufficiently so thattheywouldrespond to the engimanagement threatening neers'demands. She couldthenrepresentthis success to otherworkersas an of unionstrength whichtheycouldemulate to achievetheirobjectives. example We couldsee the relationships betweenpersuasion, action,decisions,andresults. We couldthen ask questionsabouthow and why effortsto encourage workedin different participation waysin different places.Ordidnot. ASYMMETRIES OF POWER Lawsandlegalpracticestructure betweenlaborandmanagerelationships to organizeand ment, to labor'sdistinctdisadvantage, by makingit difficult maintain unions(Durrenberger 1991).As 1992,1994, 1995, 1996;Geoghegan in and executo management forces favorable gainedascendancy legislative laborlaw has redefinedthe functionof unions tive branchesof government, workersto protecttheir own rights againstmanagement to fromorganizing of contracts. that the protectiondirectlyby enforcing provisions providing of workersto being Thus the unionsmovedfrombeingprimarily organizers of their contracts with insurersof the provisions particular management. welare less costly thanstrikes,employers Becausegrievanceprocedures Act of 1947,whichmadecollectivebargaining comedthe Taft-Hartley agreeandunions.Unionswere to betweenmanagement mentsenforceable contracts fortheircompliance by seeing to it that representworkersandbe responsible ratherthanstrikes.The act changedthe disputeswere settled by arbitration members function of unionsfromorganizing workers,mobilizing unorganized membersfor political for building better bargaining leverage,and organizing actionto protectingmembersagainstunfairmanagement practices.Thus it and to handlegrievances turnedunionsintovast bureaucracies (Durrenberger of the Erem n.d.).JohnSweeney and the newly elected (in 1996) leadership and AFL-CIO organized appearto want to reverse this trend.The AFL-CIO of 1996,a move to trainanddeploynew organizfunded the "Union Summer" Institutehas provided a totalof four ers. In the pastfouryearsthe Organizing This development The goalfor 1996is one thousand. hundred new organizers. role. is takingan increasingly thatorganization important mayindicate The insurance role of the unionhas mademembersrelianton unionrepresentativesas quasi-lawyers and,because the relationsare indirect,has disof theirwork. in determining the conditions their active participation couraged in the of workers via the that once hands a was Disputesettlement, process and removed hasbecomebureaucratized, strikeor slowdown, professionalized, from their awareness and purview.For federalworkers and some others, Evenif strikesare forbidden by contracts. by law;forothers,they are banned ineffective. or strikes have become in one way another, they weren'tunlawful SocialmovementanalystCharlesTilly (1983, 1984, 1986b)observedthata
limited number of forms of action are feasible to achieve the interests shared by the people of any time and place. In Western Europe, the process of state formationand the expansion of capitalism led to the replacement of old forms

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of contention suchas shivareesandbread riotswiththe demonstrations, rallies, andurbaninsurrections of the publicmeetings,petitions,strikes,barricades, social movementsof the eighteenthand nineteenthcenturies (Tilly 1986a, 1990). Sidney Tarrow(1994) observed that some forms of contentionare modular-usefulto different socialactorsagainstdifferent targets.They form a vocabulary of protestwhichpeoplecancombineto suit theirneeds. As some of these methodsbecome conventional, they lose their power, but as they becomeless risky,morepeopleparticipate. As a repertory of protestis routinauthorities learn how to diffuse or it. The ized, repress cycle windsdown,and the repertoiremaybecomean institutionalized featureof politicsas usual. Strikes have been ineffectivesince the 1980s, when high unemployment createda largereserve of replacement workersand administrative interpretations of the NationalLaborRelationsAct beganto supportthese replacements. LaborleaderTom Balanoff (1988:7)explained why. Management apwhile proposing is trying pearsto bargain, wage andbenefitcuts, but actually to achievean impasseso that it can implement a finaloffer.If workersstrike over this offer,they are strikingover wages, hours,andterms andconditions of employment. They arethus definedby lawas economicstrikerswhocanbe workersare hired,the replaced,if not fired.Whenreplacement permanently unionis displaced, so strikes play into the handsof employerswho want to bust unions. As one modulein the repertoryof contention, the strike,is renderedinefBrotherhood of Boilermakfective, anotheris developed.The International ers, whichrepresentscement workers,has developedin-plantstrategiesfor workersto gain controlof workplaces fromthe inside. The mainidea is for workersto stay in a plantand legallyapplypressurefromthe inside to gain concessions(Balanoff As presidentof SEIULocal73, Tom Balanoff 1988:17). advocatesthis approach to organization. ORGANIZINGCHANGE Suzan: Gregoryand the other engineers at the hospitalwere displeased with their contractandfelt they hadbeen ignored. Paul: Fromthe time the contract was ratified, they hadmadetheirdispleasure knownby theirangrycomportment towardunionreps andtheirepisodic to management for reliefof specificcomplaints. WhenSuzantook approaches over as rep afterthe contract was ratified, one of her tasks was to strengthen the unionin the hospital. She seized on the discontentof the engineersas one way to do that. If she could organizethese workersto attainsome of their goals,otherunionmembersmightsee the valueof in-plant strategiesforthemselves and might begin to organizetheir own work arenasto achieve their
objectives. This development would then shift Suzan's role from insurance agent to organizer. Suzan knew that an early model of success was important for her credibility with workers and would serve as an example for future efforts.

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Suzan: I beganto recruitstewardsamongthe engineers.Withthe help of who atAngela,the chief steward,I foundMichael,a responsiveindividual tendedthe training sessions. Michael,the steward,andI held a membership workers.Then I meeting to hear directlyfromthe engineeringdepartment sent a newsletterto the entire membership to announcethat we wouldaddress the engineeringdepartment'sissues at the next labor-management forumused by both sides to discuss concerns.Many meeting, an informal unionshavebuiltsuch meetingsintotheircontracts to createa forum(before the formal,and often confrontational, to raise matters grievanceprocedure) that may not be clearcontractviolations, but whichmay improvethe operations of the workplace andgive workersopportunities for input.Agreements madeat these meetings are not binding, but they often provideresults that are mutually beneficial. The membersnoticedthe newsletterandwere waiting to see whatwouldhappen. Paul: Suzanbeginsto use the organizational elementsthatare available to her-union stewards,the union'sabilityto trainnew stewards,the union's communications resources to produceand distributea newsletter to members, andmeetingswith memberswhen they are off dutyto clarify goals and methodswith workers.She uses labor-management as for arenas meetings continuednegotiation with management. Suzan: I organized a labor-management meetingbetweenthe unionstewardsandthe hospital's Directorof HumanResourcesandothermanagement meetpersonnelto discussa rangeof issues thathadcome up in membership ings. Paulwas there with his notebook.The new stewardfromengineering reada letter in whichhe outlinedthe discontentsof his department. The humanresourcesdirectoragreedto namean ad hoc committeeto considerthe issues. He also discussedthe economicexigenciesof the hospital: All of us are tryingto figureout how to do with the resourceswe have. Howdowe payforit? If we don'tget increased productivity-operationally,it's not good.... We'remaking toughchoices.Thereare trade-offs. the steward fromengineering, the economics ofcontracting Michael, challenged forgroundskeepers ratherthanpayingwageworkers The Directorof directly. HumanResourcesresponded: I don'tknowwhatthe contractcost is. I knowwhatthe employeecost is. Whenan employeeis sick or on vacation,who is doingit? There's more thanmeets the eye in this process.... Everydepartment has to findways to be as productive as possible.We don'thave unlimitedresources.
I acknowledged that we would discuss such topics in further meetings. Paul: The ad hoc committee to discuss issues created an arena to continue the discussion. Meanwhile, though, the Director of Human Resources cited

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resourcesandproductivity. Like manyhospitals, this one is in the processof The presidentof the hospital industrialization. hadcirculated memoranda confor the and staff a and for the introduction profitable year gratulating physicians of new management systems, but he addedthat to providefor "appropriate to recruithighlyskilledprofessionals andmeet finanwageincreases,continue to restructure has set into motioninitiatives ... management cial obligations in fewer The memocontinand services" which resulted positions. programs will with all directors as ued that "management continueto meet department andbeginsrestructuring of this workforcereduction [thehospital] implements ... servicesin a changing so thatwe cancontinueto provide quality programs Workers such fiscalresources." environment withshrinking healthcare interpret is going memosandmessagesto mean:less resources,fewerjobs, somebody to be outof work,someonewhostillhasa jobwillhaveto pickupthe difference statement of managerial fact,the by doingmorework.Farfrombeinga neutral of resourcesandproductivity human resourcesdirector's repetitivediscussion to the conclusionthat there wouldbe fewer people doingmore contributed of Human Resourcesis tryinghere to createthe workwith less. The Director of no choices to be made. of of lack of alternatives, appearance inevitability, sufficient thatin the adhoccomthe was discontent of the However, engineers a meansto continuethe discussion. mitteehe provided to remindthe Suzan: A week later, I called the engineeringdepartment stewardandthe workerwho hadraisedmatterswhenI firstmet withthem of the ad hoc committeemeetingthat the humanresourcesdirectorhadschedthat the engineerswere in a meetingwith the departuled. I was informed some head and other ment people.1 took this as a sign thatthe management the situationin was headof the engineering department tryingto ameliorate orderto move the employeesawayfromworkingthroughthe union. and downsize,they sometimesattemptto Paul: As hospitalsindustrialize coulddiscredit eliminate unionsamongtheiremployees.Onewaythe hospital the union wouldbe to actuallydeal with the engineers' discontentsthemselves, thus makingthe union irrelevantto the goals and objectivesof the engineers. I met with the ad hoc committeeof stewards,with Suzan: Thatafternoon, withthe headof the engineering resourcesdirector, departJason,the human a vice president. ment,andwith some othermanagement personnelincluding skilledtradeswork,economizing the issues as defining by using Jasonframed of workthatwas not gettingdonebecause andthe problem fewercontractors, of filtersin the ventilation of downsizing, system. especiallythe changing as an exampleof imporfilterchanging Paul: The engineershadmentioned ofjobs.Changtantworkthatwasbeingneglectedbecauseof the consolidation a low to such had been priorityin new work relegated ing filters, they said, it in rules that, practice, was never done.
Suzan: Almost immediately, the head of the engineering department and I became embroiledin an animateddiscussion aboutwho is responsible for changing filters in the hospital. He said snidely, "Do you know anythingabout filters,

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Miss?"I knewhe was tryingto separate me fromthe workers on eitherside of the question. I assertedthatwhatI knewwas thatthey were me, so I ignored not beingchanged to my ability to invokethe frequently enough,andI alluded andbringin its agentsfora federal Occupational SafetyandHealthAct (OSHA) The vice president askedwhythe engineerswerejust nowbringing inspection. the issue forward. thatthis was not the approanswer,so I offered They didn't priateforumfor this discussion. Paul: Suzanknew whatthe engineershadreported aboutfilters.The head of engineering triedto use his presumed expertise,as well as an technological to reference of implicit genderedknowledge engineering topics,in an attempt to silence Suzanon the issue of filters.She counteredwith her abilityto involve a federalagency.The vice president, the gravityof the probrecognizing wondered the had not mentioned it earlier.Suzandefers lem, why engineers that discussionfor reasonsthatwill becomeapparent later. Suzan: The next issue was pay.Gregory, the olderengineersaid: You've got goodguys herewhodogoodwork.Youliketheirwork.[Managementpeoplenoddedandmadethumbsup signs.] Givethem a dollar more an hour. It won't breakthe bank.It's only, what?Twenty-five, thirtyguys? I joinedin: You'vegot peopleyou knowandtrusthere. AndI knowthe unioncould have done a betterjob in the past keepingup with these guys' issues, but in the last few monthsI've gottento knowa lot of them.I've got to say, in all the work sites I've ever repped,I've never seen such low morale.EverydayI talkto a different guy who says, "Eh,who cares,I'm for I'm looking somethingelse, gettingout of here."... Youfolkshave been coastingtoo longon the loyaltyof these guys. You're goingto start and then it'll be too late. losingthem, I toldthe management teamthatthese workerswere not making the prevailThe vice presidentinterrupted andasked,"ForChicago ingwagefor Chicago. andI said,"That'sright." hospitals?" The senior engineer,Gregory,interjected: All you'regonnaget for these wages is drugaddictsand such. You're know,I've been here twenty-oneyears. I put my kids throughcollege here andanother working jobto do it. This placeis like my home.I love the peopleI workwith.But I'mold.I'mretiring in three or fourmonths.
It's too late for me. I'm telling you all this for the young people. They deserve better. It's not so much-$1 an hour-but it's something, it's going to help, and they'll know you appreciate them and you want them not going to get good skilled workers like us .... I just want you to

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to stay. Yougot to do this. They'regoodpeopleandthey give you good work.I'm outtahere, but they'llbe here a long time, if you give them decent money. Paul: Suzanmentionsthe prevailing wage of other area hospitalsto sugThe senior engigest that the engineershave more attractivealternatives. neer tries to reinforcethis by contrasting himselfand his colleaguesto the drugusers whomthe hospitalcouldexpect to recruitwith inadequate wages. He then bolstershis argument with his personalstory. Suzan: The Directorof HumanResourcessaidhe'dbe ableto respondby the endof the month.LaterI learned thatthe two stewardshadbeenreluctant to press the pointaboutfiltersin frontof the vice presidentbecausethey had raisedit repeatedly with their department head-the manacrossthe tablewho hadassuredthem that he wouldremedythe matter.Fearinghis future himin frontof his superior. retaliation, they didnot wantto risk embarrassing This verifiedmy fears that management hadattemptedto maneuveraround me again. CONCLUSIONS Suzan: A few weeks later,the Human ResourcesDepartment of the hospital agreedto a $1.25raisefor most of the engineersanda smallerone for the others.Thereis no wayto tell whatswayedmanagement-whether it was the argumentthat they might lose their engineersto better-paying employers, the threatof badpublicity or OSHAinvestigation of unchanged filters,or feelevokedby the seniorengineer'seloquence.In anyevent,we ings of sympathy thatthere is anycause-and-effect won,thoughI am not confident relationship between our combined activitiesandthe responseby management. In environmentsless friendlyto unions-this one is relativelyfriendly-we would have hadto do proportionately more,andin the end we may still have hadto wait untilthe contract was openfor negotiation to try to gainanything forthe There's a lot of in what we do. engineers. guesswork I continueto recruitandtrainstewardsandto urgemembersto takecollective actionsto defineandresolve their own workplace problemsthroughthe structureof the stewardsthatthe unionprovides.The problem is how to get of themselves so that they run it, people to see the unionas an organization instead of seeing it as an insurancecompany-so they participate in it and become part of the problemsolving, insteadof reachingout to an external Thepointis to developtheiragency. agencyandsaying"solvethese problems." Oncethey do that,I've workedmyselfout of a job. Paul: Law defines the positionsof unionsand employers,the salience of contracts, andgrievance To changethese limitsto actionrequires procedures.
politicalpower which unions now lack. Unions can, however, use the resources available,among them, the discontents of workers as their companies downsize and consolidatemore work in the hands of fewer people. The workers feel these

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of productivity and changesin theirdailylives, changesthatmakethe rhetoric resourcesring hollowin their ears. The unioncan organize workersin their to pursuetheirowngoals,as Suzandidwiththe engineers. workplaces The chiefavenueavailable forchangeis in the unionitself,andthatis what Suzanhas been tryingto effectamongthe members.Her task is not to convince-but to show-members thatthey canachievetheirobjectives through workingtogethervia the unionin a versionof the in-plant strategy. are ordered all of the established rhetorics andmethAgainstthis approach ods of management. headscan co-optissues by promising action Department and establishing situationsin whichworkerscannoteffectivelychallengeinaction.Management can intimidate workerswho try to organizealternatives or to engage in individual or concertedaction.Finally,management can create an atmosphere of insecurityby rhetoricsandpracticesof downsizing and to which can the union with an ineffective layoffs, only respond quasi-legal of grievancehandling. procedure Both organization anddisorganization spiral.If unionsare ineffective, they lose membership andresourcesandbecomeeven less effective.If they organize more workersandbecomemore effective,they have greaterresources for such initiativesas lawsuitsand legislativeactionand can be even more effective.Thus some in management, those who opposeorganized labor,use available means to thwart that are or unions every organized preventthem frombecomingorganized. Suzan: Some unionmembershave begun to see that their collectiveefin the qualityof theirworksituations. forts can makea difference At another hospital,unionmemberswho riskedpassingpetitionsto protesttheir supervisors have received immediateresponses. Oftenmanagement reacts first withhostility,butin almosteverycase it has met withthe membersandtaken actionto changethe supervisor's Two supervisors were discharged. behavior. In the past,attemptsby the rep to intervene,or by the stewardsto file grievances, have had little or no influenceover these types of situations,and suto act with impunity. At thathospital, pervisorshavecontinued petitionsnow the have added the petimembers. Members up spring spontaneously among tion to theirrepertory of contention. As we were discussingthese questions,I told Paul: newtactics.They'reemploying We'reteaching workers themandthey're is an had to internalize this. She She winning.[A steward] example. came to the conclusionthat petitionswere workingbetter thangrievances. So there'llbe a changethere. The engineerswona raise,andI credittheirsuccess to theirowncollective actioncombined withmy abilityas a unionrep to maintain pressureandmake the collective action moreeffectivethaniftheyhadbeenacting alone,to present a crediblethreatof involving outsideagenciessuch as OSHA,andto communicatewith membersin other departments at the same hospital.

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Paul: We startedwith the questionof whethera unionrep can accomplish more than the engineers workingtogether, but we discoveredthat a more relevantquestionis how memberscanmost effectivelyserve theirowninterthe union.To the first question,the answeris a qualified ests through "yes"; the rep can accomplish more, if for no otherreasonthanbeingmore consisin gettingmanagement to deliveron its promises.Howtent anddemanding ever, the rep's effectivenessincreaseswith the activityandresourcesof the rest of the unionand its membership. The rep can help workersorganizea continuousin-plantstrategyto handleproblemsbefore they become grievances. Whetherthe organization of workersthatwouldmakethis a meansof work will in the long termremainsto be seen. be effective handling problems As Michael, the new stewardSuzanhadrecruited, saidin an interviewwith me severalmonthslater: If the unioncan be true to their word,to their purpose,they can win backthe people. Once they win the confidence of the people,they can do whateverthey want to. They can influencepoliticsand economics
and the way Congress is run.... Once they get to trust the union lead-

ership,the peoplewill go with them.... Showyou are fightingfor the unionmembership. I asked. "Thingslike that,not just that,the generalcondi"Bygrievances?" tion of the workingplace,"he answered. we see a dynamic To conclude, of changing mindsandactions. interweaving Smallactionsmake for slightlydifferent outlooksand dailylives that lay the for more changes.This is the centraldimensionof the in-plant groundwork strategies,andwe thinkthey canbe effective.Whatwouldbe missingwithout the unionis the ability to bringresourcessuchas newslettersandmeetingsto bearon issues andthe organizational Whatthis case contributes to continuity. an of is that at an of what work, anthropology example process example Jean in practice. Lave (1988)calledcognition It is this approach thatMiriam Wells (1996) uses so successfullyto show how economicandpoliticalsystems in California evolvetogether,as individuals of socialclasseswithheterogefluidly neousworldviews, local in sociopolitical differences andworkstrucgenerated by and these or tures,engage challenge systemsby abiding by resistingtheireconomicroles andby confronting their legal statuses in courtsandwork sites. Politicsdefinesthe legitimate termsforthe relations of production, andpeople around them. shapethe structures actinglocallyreciprocally Because of the academiccontext of "merit"raises, continualgradingof students,andbeing gradedby deans and department chairs,anthropologists at universitiesare saturated with the ideologyof meritocratic individualism whichKatherine Newman(1988, 1993)describesin her studiesof downward
mobility. Our workplace ideology explains things in terms of individualqualities rather than overarching structures. To move away from models of cultures as deterministic blueprints for unreflective action, we have sometimes

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individualist projectedthe meritocratic ideologyof our academyto develop individual-centered accounts(Durrenberger andPRilsson 1996). The practiceperspectiveallowsus to see engineersin action--constructof insultor intimidation; choicesto followSuzan's ing interpretations making not. or Our focuses on neither of but on the context these, story suggestions that shapes their alternativesand their experimentsat using the available means to achievetheir goals. We see Suzandoingthe same thing,tryingto meansandcreatenew ones. In the processshe enlargethe rangeof available for longerterm andmore collectivegoals. strives to organize The practicepointof view keeps us focusedon those dimensions of power that provideopportunities andfrustratethem. It keeps our attentionon the motives of actors, how they understandtheir situations, the constraints, them or not, andhow theirresponsesmakedifferwhetherthey understand ences. Or do not. Thus our ethnography does not get distracted to descripof of tions individual identity, construction narratives,symbolicforms, or ananthroagency,andwe canattemptthe goalwe statedearlierof developing andpowerin a practical way. pologythatcan speakto questionsof inequality EPILOGUE Suzan: A few days after I got wordaboutthe raises for the engineers,a stewardcalledaboutgrievances."Tomorrow he'll be backon the groundand forgetto file the grievances.I don'tthinkhe knowshow to file one butwon't admitit," I told Paul.A membercalledto enlist me in a fightagainsthis disI told himI didn'tcareif he were a chargebecausehe'dcome to workdrunk. he'dbe fired,firsttime,every time.I toldhim saint,if he cameto workdrunk, if he had a drinking problemand wantedto get treatment,I couldpleadhis case, but they didn'thave to listen. To be sure thatthe messageaboutthe raises hadbeen spread,I also spoke with one of the engineeringdepartment members,a painterwho was very I him. first met the rules and who hadgotten when After cynical explaining should whatraises, I said,"You be proudof yourselves."He said: guys have doneit withoutyou. Whensome of the You,too, Hon.We couldn't thatonegotthismuchandthe othergot thatmuch, guyswerecomplaining I toldthem,"Hey,this is a victory.Two yearsyou guys havebeen whinBut,I gottatell you,whenI cameout of that ingaboutthis,andnothing." firstgrievance meetingwithyou ..., I knewit, I went to the guys andI
said, "This girl. .. ." and they said, "She's just. .. ." and I said, "No, she's

not.Shewas in therepunching it outforme. She'sdifferent. She'snotlike allthose ones thatcamebefore,sellingyouguysouteverytime.Giveher

a chance." I told them, "Give her a chance."And you did it. In telling this story, or doing this work, I don't have a vested interest in developing a fan club. My bigger concern is that these workers give too much

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credit to some outside force, "the union," and not enough to themselves and their willingness to work with each other and with me. I've been and often still am on the end that fails-and that gets blamed--when they think that way, so I have to take the opportunitywhen I can to put the responsibility on them. Blaming the victim is such a pervasive outlook that it is easy for victims to do it themselves without analyzing the power of the organized inequality they are up against. Part of the union's job is to prevent that. I answered, "Well, we all did it. I guess we don't make such a bad team, huh?"

NOTE
1. We thankTom Balanoff, Union presidentof Service EmployeesInternational forhis support Local73 of Chicago, of this project. We also thankthose membersand workerswhose stories we tell andthe invisibleotherswhose stories they echo. The fieldwork uponwhichthis essay is basedwas carriedout in 1995 and 1996. We also thankour diligentcolleagueswho read the paperfor the Journalof Anthropological andthe Editor, all of whomhelpedto makethe Research, especiallyLouiseLamphere, papermuchbetter thanit otherwisecouldhave been.

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