Pandemic: dark days, silver linings & tender mercies

Bill Knight column for 3-26, 27 or 28, 2020 

News about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 can be overwhelming, leaving people not just helpless, but hopeless. However, in addition to persistent negatives, both physiological and political, there are positives of a sort, including a resurgence of real Mercies to opportunities in states of near-isolation.

The bad news ranges from consequences of failing to prepare for such an eventuality to difficult inconveniences: Supplies of masks and other protective gear are inadequate, and tests are scarce, so as dire as the case numbers seem, they’re probably worse – because tests aren’t available to say; government claims that a new stimulus provides paid sick leave are wildly exaggerated; the public is confused, or duped, by such misinformation, or scams or skeptics such as ex-Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke, who advised his 900,000 Twitter followers to ignore social-distancing recommendations and “go into the streets. If government doesn’t stop this foolishness, stay in the streets.”

Also, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “shelter-in-place” order is a self-quarantine a bit reminiscent of the 14^th century bubonic plague edict that ships stay offshore for 40 days before disembarking (“quarantine” comes from the Venetian word “quarantena,” meaning 40 days.)

HOWEVER…

There are “essential services,” government says. (And grocery and restaurant workers. clerks and child-care workers, gas-station cashiers and truckers, warehouse stockers and other jobs exempt from shutdowns should no longer be dismissed as “unskilled workers.” It’s official: They’re “essential.”) No, “shelter in place” is not martial law. San Francisco’s police chief said there’d be a “compassionate, common-sense approach” to compliance; elsewhere, some successes are reported in China and South Korea, and an inspiring blend of resilience and optimism was exhibited in hard-hit Italy and Spain, where isolated residents sang together from balconies and from their windows applauded health-care workers; hardy restauranteurs and employees are offering take-out foods, with some giving free meals to students whose schools are closed; philanthropists ranging from Cub players Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo to former Democratic presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Mike Bloomberg are donating to relief efforts and health-care workers; and entertainers including Neil Diamond and Neil Young, Norah Jones and Kim Urban, Brian Wilson .and Waxahatchee, Code Orange and John Legend, Diplo and Coldplay’s Chris Martin all are performing online.

Meanwhile, other meaningful moments arise, and Mercies become more apparent and more common. In Abrahamic faiths, we’re taught that Mercies are comforting the sick, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the homeless, clothing the poor, freeing the prisoners and burying the dead (in Christianity); “feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and freeing prisoners” (according to Islam’s Prophet Mohammad); and the great mitzvah Tzedakah notes that donors benefit as much or more from helping others as the recipients of charity (in Judaism’s Torah).

That was noticeable when Iran freed more than 80,000 political prisoners and President Trump said he was considering releasing all nonviolent federal inmates, and when Pritzker explained that employees at schools closed to limit the virus’ spread will be paid because the situation is an “Act of God.”

Avoiding exposure by removing yourself from crowds is reminiscent of the bubonic plague in the 1600s, when William Shakespeare wrote “Antony & Cleopatra,” “King Lear” and “Macbeth” in the year when he couldn’t work at London’s shuttered Globe Theater, and when Isaac Newton retreated to the secluded countryside where his observations would include the concept and effects of gravity.

If life is a journey, the road can be rough and dangerous, mystifying and gratifying. Maybe, human responses along the way help determine our destination as they ease others’ burdens, whether pestilence, poverty or prison.

Labor Board ruling could threaten construction workers

Bill Knight column for 3-23, 24 or 25, 2020             

The National Labor Relations Board is preparing to override a decades-old standard for construction labor relations, upending the mutual trust and stable work environment achieved by good employers and unions in the building trades, according to a prominent labor lawyer in Illinois.

The Republican majority on the NLRB is expected to issue a new rule disrupting contracts in construction by empowering employers to arbitrarily require evidence of unions’ majority support before or even after collective bargaining agreements have been reached.

 “Not long ago, I was talking about this with Richard Griffin, who used to be General Counsel for the NLRB [from 2013-2017],” said Dale Pierson, General Counsel for Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, headquartered in Countryside, Ill., and “this could be very bad for construction unions.”

Because of construction’s unique situation (with conditions frequently changing depending on project type and length), much of the industry for decades has operated under pre-hire agreements, including employers recognizing unions, without resorting to the lengthy NLRB election process, which could last longer than the job itself.

“Actually, the industry had these arrangements even before the National Labor Relations Act,” Pierson said.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, most bargaining relationships are governed by Section 9(a), which requires unions to have the support of a majority of workers in the bargaining units before negotiations with employers.

In 1959, Congress addressed construction’s needs and tried to ensure that its workers – often hired by for erratic and short periods of time – retained their right to organize in unions. So, the federal government added Section 8(f) to the NLRA, authorizing construction employers and unions to enter into pre-hire collective bargaining agreements.

For years, many construction-industry union contracts have been governed by Section 8(f), which provides for what’s essentially voluntary recognition of unions’ representation rights based on unions having shown, or having offered to show, evidence of its majority support.

“There’s been a long-time Board interpretation for contracts in the construction industry to ‘mature’ into 9(a) agreements with contract language or a letter okaying the presumption of union representation,” Pierson said.

Under 8(f), union contracts in construction also can require employers to notify unions about job openings, and to establish the opportunity for unions to refer qualified workers, plus set skill standards and provide for workers’ length of service as a preference in hiring.

The arrangement began eroding in 1987, when President Reagan’s GOP-majority NLRB in a recognition dispute between the Iron Workers and a Pennsylvania construction firm, Deklewa & Sons, held that pre-hire agreements don’t prohibit election petitions, noting that during the term of an 8(f) agreement, an employer can request a representation election.

Despite the decision, there was no wholesale retreat from the long-standing practice. However, after Donald Trump’s election and appointments to the NLRB, the Board in 2018 invited legal briefs concerning whether it should reconsider the 8(f) provision.

“Now, management says they want evidence of continuing support – the language isn’t enough,” Pierson said. “This Board is parroting [anti-union] Circuit Court decisions, and employer arguments, that would return everything to a 9(a) status.”

The consequences could upset how both building-trades unions and construction companies run.

“Unions might have to prove their representation each time a contract’s signed,” Pierson said.

That could entrail almost constant organizing for frequent representation elections or producing authorization cards – with each contract or from years earlier.

“It could create nightmares as far as record-keeping,” Pierson continued “Say a union had eight or 10 members working on some construction project in 2001, paying dues, contributing to trust funds, whatever, and then an employer demands proof the union still represents them. Would there be cards from 20 years ago?”

The NLRB usually has gone through a long process, including public comments, but this Republican Board sometimes just alters regulations. For this proposed change, the Board did go through the traditional process, accepting public comments until October 11.

“This could come down any time,” Pierson said.

Irish movies can soothe St. Pat’s postponements

Bill Knight column for 3-19, 20 or 21, 2020 

On Tuesday, many missed going to cancelled St. Patrick’s Day parades or saloons serving stout with corned beef and cabbage and friendly blarney. But isolation to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and protect others is a reasonable recommendation. Still, if you need a wee bit of “Erin go bragh!” without knocking yourself out with a shillelagh, you might enjoy binging on classic Irish movies.

(If you do, realize that many of these films continue stereotypes that are more typical of Hollywood than in Celtic music, literature, art from “The Book of Kells,” Guinness and other flavors of popular culture.)

“The number of Irish characters on the screen is, of course, legion,” said John Walker, editor of “Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion.”

“The most numerous and memorable varieties being priests, drunks, New York cops, and Old Mother Riley,” he wrote.

Through virtually all such movies thread common themes of connectedness, simplicity and spirituality, the ideals of land and family, community and cause, and some recent or distant past that can momentarily seem to inform or enrich our present and future, according to film writer Deborah Hornblow of the Los Angeles Times.

“That, ultimately, may be what draws us,” she says. “We insist on a vision of Ireland that is comforting and familiar. The Ireland on our theater screens calls to mind a set of values that many Americans feel we have lost.”

Besides movies about Ireland’s long conflict with England are varied dramas such as “Angela’s Ashes,” “The Boxer,” “Far and Away,” “The Secret of The Roan Inish,” and “Young Cassidy,” plus lighter fare (“Luck of the Irish,” “Darby O’Gill and The Little People”). There’s “Shake Hands with The Devil” and “The Devil’s Own,” “The Commitments” and “The Playboys”; and “In The Name of The Father” and “Some Mother’s Son.”

            Here are 10 top Irish movies:

“The Field” (1990). Described as “the dark side of John Ford’s ‘The Quiet Man’,” this stars Richard Harris as a land-loving country man resisting the intentions of an American (Tom Berenger) who’s come to find his Irish roots – and develop property. John Hurt and Sean Bean co-star.

“Hidden Agenda” (1990). Frances McDormand is excellent as an investigator looking into British atrocities in Northern Ireland. Her boyfriend was killed by British soldiers, and a cover-up is protecting the guilty. A subplot glimpses the political rise of British conservative Margaret Thatcher. Brad Dourif and Brian Cox co-star.

“The Informer” (1935). Director John Ford cast Victor McLagen as a dim-witted tough guy who needs money to impress a girl, so he turns in a friend wanted by the authorities. The IRA can’t tolerate that. Besides the tale of betrayal, it’s an atmospheric gem of imagery and impact, and McLagen is superb. Preston Foster co-stars.

“In The Name of The Father” (1993). Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this grim drama based on real incidents. A jailed Belfastian accused of terrorism tries to clear his family. Emma Thompson is featured.

“Juno and The Paycock” (1929). Alfred Hitchcock directed this ominous Sean O’Casey melodrama centered on the 1916 Dublin uprising. While the world seems to be disintegrating, a family endures unimaginable woe, from an unwed mother to an unwise young man.

“Michael Collins” (1996). Liam Neeson has the title role in Neil Jordan’s historical drama about the Dublin rebel leader in the 1910s and ’20s. Alan Rickman, Aidan Quinn and Julia Roberts co-sta.

“The Molly Maguires” (1970). Sean Connery and Richard Harris star in a gripping drama about Irish-immigrant coal miners in the Pennsylvania fields in the 1870s, when conditions and pay were so bad that failed unionization resorted to violence. Connery is the leader of the insurgents, and Harris is a Pinkerton agent.

“The Quiet Man” (1952). John Ford’s tribute to Ireland and its people stars John Wayne as an ex-boxer and Maureen O’Hara as a spirited Irish woman. It features Victor McLagen, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and lush scenery.

“Ryan’s Daughter” (1970). Director David Lean’s film examines a spoiled wife (Sarah Miles) shaming her family by pursuing a young military officer (Christopher Jones). Robert Mitchum is the decent, long-suffering husband, one of his best performances. Trevor Howard, Leo McKern and John Mills co-star.

“Shake Hands with The Devil” (1959). This adventure stars James Cagney as Kerry O’Shea, an Irish American attending Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons in 1921, when the Home Rule movement ignites. Initially innocent in his involvement, he’s hunted by loyalists and rescued by the IRA. Dana Wynter and Michael Redgrave co-star.