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Here’s another 2 cents worth from someone who isn’t really a part of
the “industry” but only a long-time practicioner of the metal arts,
among some other arts as well. Sometimes I’ve made a goodish living
at one or another of them and sometimes not a very good living at
all. Sometimes I’ve worked for other folks and sometimes as a
self-employed entrepreneur or contractor - however you want to
describe the relationships between myself, my work, my customers, my
employers or employees, and my students - I’ve tried lots of
different versions. In each of those arrangements, my interests,
economic or otherwise, were different and yet I don’t feel that I had
to become a different person to fill any of those slots. I’ll get
back to this point eventually. Let me ramble a bit.
I’ve read some of the posts on this subject and I have seen some that
are the expected anti-union crap, almost a conditioned reflex in some
folks - because they are quite simply ignorant of what unions have
given to ALL of us in terms of what North Americans consider
“standard” working conditions - decent hours, pensions, days off,
surviveable work environments etc. You don’t have to be a pinko
commie radical, you don’t even have to be particularly well-educated.
You only need to have your eyes open and use your brain a little tiny
bit to see that these benefits did not fall out of the sky like the
gentle rain, but were fought for - long and hard. It’s like the same
kind of short-sighted thinking(?) you get from folks who grumble
about paying taxes but who don’t mind driving on tax-financed roads
or calling a tax-paid cop or fireman when there’s an emergency.
Garden variety idiots - I dismiss them out of hand.
But it is true that the “Goldsmith” business covers a broad spectrum
of business arrangememnts between people - sometimes huge
factory-like businesses and sometimes just one or two individuals
working things out between themselves. A uniform set of rules or
standards is hard to envision and the very idea of such uniformity
or rules scares folks, epecially creative types.
Right now I am thinking of a person I know who is an excellent
goldsmith - certified to the eyeballs and possessed of a huge range
of skills, any one of which takes years to learn. I could work
another 40 years and never be as good as she is right now. Even a
brief visit to her studio is deeply inspiring and educational to me
every time. She had been working for other folks for years - I guess
what you would call a “bench” jeweller. Finally struck out on her
own, set up a good studio at home, works hard and produces lots of
excellent quality work. In this field I have been more of an amateur
and I am in awe of someone like her. One day I asked what she had
earned while working for others. I was shocked by her answer -
about $15 an hour (Canadian) was the going rate. Maybe $18 if you’re
lucky. It took a while for that to sink in. When it really hit home
was when I realized we pay a yobbo $20 an hour to push a lawnmower
around our house every once in a while.
So ever since then I’ve been thinking about what it feels like to
have such a finely developed set of skills under your belt and to
find yourself out-classed by a yardboy. Nothing against yardboys -
they have to make a living too - and he does a nice job on the
lawn,picks up the clippings and all - but there is a huge difference
in the investment in time, mental effort, equipment and practice
which all adds up to a negative return. The more you put in, the less
you get back. It can’t be good for one’s self-esteem. It’d make me
feel absolutely lousy to be in that position.
In fact, I see similar pay structures in other so-called “skilled”
trades - Some make a bit more, some a bit less, but really none make
a whole lot more than subsistence level. My wife and I owned a
restaurant for a couple of years. Having worked in that field myself
in my younger years - dishwasher to chef - I know it is hard work and
must be done conscientiously to get a good product. I made sure that
the wages we paid were well above the “going rate” in our locality.
Even so, when I looked at the paychecks I signed every week I
marvelled that anyone could live on those paltry sums - never mind
support a family, never mind save up a few dollars to put a down
payment on a house. Impossible!
I’m sorry folks, I’m going to risk getting this whole post edited
out of existence because I may stray into politics. Heaven forbid!
But dearlings, it ain’t just jewellers who are getting screwed. And
for sure, a union is one answer I suppose, at least it has been at
certain times, in certain conditions, when looking at a particular
trade or industry. But the basic premise built into the situation in
which a union becomes a necessary or attractive or useful answer to
the problem of making a decent living (and a decent life), the
basic assumption is that there is an adversarial relationship. That
is not the problem of one particular industry or another. It is one
of the big basic organizing premises of our society - that we are all
in adversarial relationship to each other. Different folks will call
this by different names - everything from “original sin” to “class
warfare” to “human nature” to “free-market competition”. Call it
what you will - Accepting that premise leaves its ugly mark on all of
us. We strive to be the “winners” instead of the “losers” in this
cheesy environment.
But there is another premise to live with. At least one other. There
is also something natural in being a fine craftsperson, a creative
person. By “creative” I am thinking of a wide range of things, not
just art. I am thinking about all the activities that build, that
nurture, that bring pleasure and life, the raising of children, the
growing of food.
There is some innate satisfaction in that work - something as deeply
ingrained and natural to us as some folks think all that dog-eat-dog
competition is. Some of us will put out good work if we never get
paid a penny for it. Some of us will love and raise our kids and
never get a penny for that either. Women have been doing it for
centuries and they don’t like it one bit. Where does that energy
come from? If you’ve been infected by the virus of art you will be
an artist no matter what value your society places on your work.
But, dammit, it doesn’t help to be devalued. It doesn’t help to see
your family go hungry. It doesn’t help to see the so-called
“winners” celebrated and admired for how much money they have
amassed - no matter how they got it. None of that feels good. And it
doesn’t take a lot of education to see that when lots of people
feeling bad then bigger, badder things than unions will soon be
coming down the pike.
Two different worlds, at least two. Them that take and them that
make. The two activities rarely in balance.
Yep - there ought to be a union for jewellers and goldsmiths and
housepainters and housewives and for everyone who makes and builds
and feeds because if they feel bad enough about themelves and about
their work then the whole house of cards falls.
Artists may not save the human race, but they do make it worth
saving.
Marty