Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/942009
10 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2018 all their bosses' admonitions notwithstanding. Why are some groups able to maintain their resolve in the face of strenuous employer opposition, while others falter? Some journalists seem to ascribe the failure of the LA Times union-busting campaign to a triumph of reason. In the terms of such an explanation, management's anti-union arguments were weak, and journalists were sharp enough to see through the holes in management's logic. Management's campaign was characterized by, in the words of a Huffington Post article, "oafishness and ineptitude." Moreover, the article asserts (perhaps betraying a professional bias), "journalists are a skeptical bunch." Having seen many of the printed materials that management distributed in their campaign, I can vouch for the fairness of that charge of oafishness and ineptitude. Their textbook anti-union handouts offered stock arguments as generic and clunky as the outdated clip art with which they were illustrated. But were the LA Times workers able to beat back union-busting efforts simply because their management was too stupid and the employees too smart? I don't find that explanation satisfying. In my experience as an organizer, the damage done by an anti- union campaign is rarely a function of the sophistication of its arguments. Nor does it come down to the inherent credulity or skepticism of the employees in question. Bosses' campaigns are fundamentally about coercion rather than persuasion; they are neither won nor lost on the basis of logic and intellect. When thinking about how some groups of employees are able to maintain their resolve in the face of management's attempts to faze them, I believe it's instructive to reflect upon what works — and what doesn't — when individuals struggle to keep their personal resolutions. In a recent article in The New York Times, David DeSteno, of Northeastern University's psychology faculty, wrote about our frequent failures to fulfill the resolutions we make in the new year. He faults our reliance upon the forces of rationality and willpower to do those difficult things we are naturally inclined to avoid. According to DeSteno, research demonstrates that "social emotions" — feelings of gratitude, compassion and self-esteem — are stronger motivators than reason and self- discipline when it comes to sacrificing immediate comforts for longer-term benefits. Sheer determination is often insufficient when it comes to overcoming temptation and enduring hardship; the development and maintenance of social bonds constitute a much stronger force to power us to do the right thing, even when it's tough. Moral strength does not derive from isolated intellection; instead it's from our relationships to those whose welfare and opinions we value. In other words, our resolve is strongest when it's strongly shared. Defying bosses is difficult, especially in the context of an intense pressure campaign. As in the case with individual resolutions for self-improvement, a group's resolve to improve its workplace is best sustained not through a reliance upon each group member's discrete strength of will or keenness of reasoning, but within the context of their ties to one another. A newly unionized LA Times employee was quoted by In These Times as observing, "One of the really great things about this whole process has been getting this sense of banding together across different parts of the newsroom, and getting to express our appreciation for each other in ways that don't really happen over rushed deadlines." That emphasis upon camaraderie in the face of employer intimidation jibes with what I have seen work among groups of post- production professionals who successfully weather management's efforts to deter them from organizing. The strongest rebuttal to the boss's naysaying is the cultivation of a community of co-workers committed to mutual respect and mutual support. In the words of an Editors Guild member reflecting on how he and his colleagues persevered in a contentious campaign to organize a post-production facility, "Through the whole process, we just kept talking to each other, keeping involved, voicing our fears, sticking together. All management ultimately did was cement our resolve, leading to our near-unanimous victory when it came time to vote." Making change is tough, and the powers buttressing the status quo are formidable. But we needn't face such obstacles alone. Whether in our personal lives or our workplaces, we can persevere when we entwine our aspirations with our connections to the people we care about. Where subtle syllogisms and sheer stubbornness might fail, solidarity can sustain the resolve necessary to prevail. If your goal is to improve the quality of your job, a good first step is to forge strong ties to the folks you work alongside. f GET TING ORGANIZED Moral strength does not derive from isolated intellection; instead it's from our relationships to those whose welfare and opinions we value. In other words, our resolve is strongest when it's strongly shared.