Should Goldsmiths Unionize/Organize

   Great jewelers are still out there; they just need the chance to
prove and improve themselves to start. 

Hello Rene;

One thing I should mention here. It’s my opinion that, while there
are many great new schools and academic programs out there to train
jewelers, there are fewer and fewer oportunities to learn by working
along side a veteran jeweler with advanced skills. First, there are
fewer jewelers of high skill level. Second, they don’t have time to
train anybody since they are always, it seems, overworked. It’s a
vicous circle. I would like nothing better than to have time to share
my decades of skill with a young jeweler, but I’m working 60-70 hours
a week just to get enough work done to pay my bills, and I’m going
into debt as well.

But I know, from experience, that if I went to work for somebody
else, I’d end up where I’ve always been. It’s called “ride the good
horse”. There would be no time for anything but getting the next
money job done. So, I might as well do that for myself. To hear a
“potential” employer tell me, “this time it will be different” gives
me a picture, in my head, of the waitress in the topless bar talking
to the middle aged businessman with the comb-over who’s telling her
he’s going to get a divorce from his wife who doesn’t understand
him. She hears that 3 times before noon every day.

David L. Huffman

Richard - sounds like you know how this works how does the musician
& actors union/organization (im not sure what its called) work.?
it seems to be a situation where people go round to scattered places
of work? looking forward to checkin out the book -goo

The power of a union relies on the solidarity of it’s workers and
their ability to impact their employers by withdrawing their labor.
In the 19th century when the labor union movement began,
manufacturing was in the hands of a few robber barons and their
response to strikes, whether on in the coal mines, steel mills, or
cotton mills or on the railroads, docks every other place labor
sought to organize, was to hire goons and strike-breakers. Today we
are dealing with a different reality. Robber barons are now
multi-national corporations and instead of using intimidation they
simply take the jobs “off-shore”. The only unions that have retained
their power are those whose jobs cannot be exported. I know that the
promise of a guaranteed living wage sounds wonderful, but
unfortunately today a union cannot deliver on that promise.

Today I must compete not only with other silversmiths and goldsmiths
working in my neighborhood, but also with some 10-year-old working in
a sweatshop in Taiwan. The best way for any of us to protect our
work is to get better at what we do. It is our creativity and our
skills which will protect us, not a union or a government regulation.

Batya Stark

Continue from:

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

David,

Some good ideas. Certainly the old model won’t work. The other
problem is a shrinking market for true goldsmiths. Remember in the
50s goldsmiths were almost as scarce as the Do Do. It was the Crafts
Revival of the 60-70s that brought renewed interest in the
handcrafts. The generation that sparked that interest is on the edge
of retirement. Generation X, Y and Z seems more interested in brands
and instant grat.

Not to be totally negative, there is a social dialectic and nothing,
certainly not consumer preferences, is immutable.

On the plus side, I believe there is greater demand for the
shrinking numbers of really good craftsmen and wages are up.

Richard

www.rwwise.com
For Information and sample chapters from my new book:

Goo,

   it seems to be a situation where people go round to scattered
places of work? 

Good point, organizing against multple employers at widely seperated
locations is difficult though not impossible. Depends a lot on
solidarity of the membership.

I organized a bunch of city-wide tenant unions in Rhode Island in
the early 70s. A few minor early sucesses resulted in the
organization of a Property Owners organization statewide. They had
money, clout, waved the flag and kicked our butt. In physical
science you have the law that every action prompts an equal and
opposite reaction. In social dynamics there may be nothing equal
about the reaction you cause. Before you take on the big guys its
best to read Sun Tsu.

Read a short interview in Time with the new president of the SEIU,
they and the Teamsters recently dropped out of the AFL-CIO. He is
talking about global unions. Wonder how he plans to pull that one
off.

Richard

www.rwwise.com
For Information and sample chapters from my new book:

Hello Orchidland,

This is an interesting question. I live in a “right to work” state,
ie. virtually no unions. The unions that do exist are based on
licensed employment, like plumbers, electricians, carpenters,
teachers, and so forth. City codes require that such work be done
by licensed people, and it’s enforced by the code inspectors. The
city codes were developed in response to shoddy work that resulted
in fire or structure failure. (I’m not sure how the teachers got
into the act, but there is a state requirement that they be
certified and tested before they can be hired to teach.)

My point is that these codes do offer protection of the public
safety and health. It’s pretty unlikely that a shoddy piece of
jewelry is going to cause a problem to the public welfare. While I
think goldsmiths’ skill deserves far better pay than it generally
brings, I doubt there is support from the general public for a
union.

Batya Stark’s statement,

  "The best way for any of us to protect our work is to get
  better at what we do. It is our creativity and our skills
  which will protect us, not a union or a government
  regulation." tells it like it is.

Judy in Kansas

    The organizational model is dictated, at least in part, by the
structure of your adversary. 

Well said, Richard. I would like to add that there is a separation in
the types of work that goldsmiths do. Some of us work as bench
people, handling general repair duties that demand a wide range of
skill sets. Some of us work as independent craftspeople, working out
of private studios, and selling directly to the consumer, i.e. they
are the owner and the worker. Some may still work for factories or
larger shops where they only work with a few well developed skills
every day. I think that having some form of certification or license
would even out the playing field, so that people with a similar set
of skills would be paid at a consistent rate. (Of course, if the job
only required a small set of skills, a highly skilled jeweler would
be overqualified and, to the employer, seem to be asking for more
than was deserved.).

The global marketplace offers the same skill sets at a much lower
cost to the manufacturers. The store owners are looking to stay
competitive, and want to buy products that can be sold for less and
still produce a profit. The jeweler wants to earn enough to afford
health care and a reasonable lifestyle, especially after years of
learning and perfecting those skills. The problem, as I see it, has
less to do with a union-type organization, but in educating the
american buying public that local-owned, local-produced is the only
way to keep money in our communities and provide jobs with livable
wages for everyone. The real enemy is the push to make all business
be big or be gone.

Melissa Veres, Engraver
@M_Veres

Dear Mz. Stark-

I believe that a society’s success is guaged by how it cares for its
old, infirm and the young.

What will you do, regardless of your accumulated skills, when
illness or disease strikes you? What kind of safety net do you have?
What about your children or parents? And what of other less
fortunates? What kind of skills must they acquire to protect
themselves?

These questions have been debated since the beginning of the
industrial revolution. Societies have come to a variety of solutions
ranging from a cradle-to-grave national health system (Sweden) to
the one you suggest (the USA model): let the strong swim and let the
weak sink. Granted, it’s a viable suggestion. But not one that I pay
my taxes for. Nor a world that I want to live in.

Regardless of what we now have in place, here in the ‘greatest
country in the world’, we can do alot better. Study the historical
accomplishments that overcame 60-70 hour work weeks, health
endangerment, no vacation time nor overtime pay, lack of health
insurance or child labor abuses.

We’ve lost many of these achievements here and abroad. But that
doesn’t mean we have to accept it. Do not accept the standad quo.
Speak up. Work with others. Make your voice heard.

We’re all in this boat together.

Peace. Kim

 It is our creativity and our skills which will protect us, not a
union or a government regulation.

Hello Batya;

If skills and creativity were really that hard to come by, you’d be
right. Even so, you will find yourself up against interests that have
the power to lock you out of your market or just steal your ideas and
beat you to the showroom floor.

Suppose we take your reasoning to the next step. Should we abandon
government protection in it’s form as copyright protection and
trademarking? That’s government. What do you think will happen when
the minimum wage laws and the 40 hour work week are overturned as
unconstitutional? You won’t have to worry about the 10 year olds in
Taiwanese sweatshops, you’ll have them right here in the good ol’
U.S. of A. And what about that Taiwanese 10 year old? How long are
we, in good conscience, going to let that be a part of our industry?
I know I’m getting political here, but I’m sorry, there is always
going to be an element of politics in business, and most of us here
are involved in business, ours or somebody’s. There is a fine line
between protectionism, or socialism for that matter, and having the
disposition to bargain collectively and have legislation that keeps
the playing field level. In the best of all possible worlds, we
wouldn’t need locks on our doors, everybody would be honest. Same
goes for labor relations in our trade as anywhere else. Anybody who
doesn’t think they have a dog in this fight is mistaken. My opinion
is, I’d rather stand and fight together than die alone.

David L. Huffman

Anyone who is looking for a goldsmith’s union in the US to provide
benefits like insurance and a pension is dreaming. These benefits
are terribly expensive to provide, and would have to come out of the
union dues. You do understand that union members pay dues, right? My
good (Blue Cross) health insurance (family) costs nearly $1,000 per
month, going through a buying group. A union would have to charge
this amount to you in union dues to provide it for you. Add in the
cost of pensions, short term disability, etc., and you could be
paying a couple of thousand dollars a month for union dues. How much
will a union increase your wages? Most jewelers would eliminate
their goldsmiths if they had to increase wages a significant amount.

Lee Cornelius
Vegas Jewelers

The best way for any of us to  protect our work is to get  better
at what we do. It is our creativity and our skills which will
protect us,  not a union or a government regulation. 

Batya Stark

Bravo Batya!!! Yours is a voice of reason and reality in this
debate! When we rely on others to protect us we simply become slaves
to the protectors…

Steve (who would rather succeed or fail due to his own abilities)
Stempinski

Jewelry Repair
While-U-Watch

This is something that has been discussed at length with some of my
fellow craftsmen/women during many stages of our careers. For us,
the common thread was the perceived need to associate, to find common
ground and establish goals which would benefit the industry overall.
A healthy industry provides for it’s employees, a sick one turns
people away and destroys all associated relationships, especially
the ones between those who buy and those who sell.

One specific, obvious benefit of organizing would be that potential
customers would have an understood minimum level of quality to look
forward to when making a purchase.

Most other trades, and professions especially, have associations
which govern members and guarantee the skill/education level of those
who practice their specific sort of work. If you aren’t a member, you
can’t get the work. You can’t become a member without proving
yourself beyond all doubt.

Having seen countless examples of really expensive gemstones and
diamonds being set, apparently, by chimpanzees, it might make sense
to form an association that would discourage people from purchasing
from grey-market, fly-by-night operators who hire minimally-skilled
bench people and work them nearly to death. The union/association
could provide certification, not with the intention of excluding the
chimpanzees, but in order to encourage them to become part of a
workforce which is well-trained and ethical. If the same sort of
chimpanzee work was tolerated in any other trade, buildings would
collapse, you’d suffer from electrocution, and your home heating
would asphyxiate you. Bananna peels littering the workspace.

Danger to human life shouldn’t be the only criteria which makes it
necessary to legislate minimum skill requirements for tradesmen.
Consumer protection sustains longevity in any sort of trade
relationship, and offers job security and a living wage by default.
Good work equals consistent demand and sustainable markets.

It’s all about preserving a market which is in decline, due to some
notable abuses of the freedom to call oneself a “jeweller”.
Consumers have become cynical about jewellery, following purchases
which fall far short of expectations. Stones shouldn’t drop out of
settings, but they do. Tanzanites don’t belong in rings, but that’s
the way they’re sold. Lightweight and low karat engagement rings
fail miserably, rhodium plating practices are a scourge, and gloopy
solder seams and snag-prone claws are a bloody embarrassment to what
used to be a proud and noble craft.

In order to promote excellence, a union makes perfect sense. Finding
a way to make it all work would be perplexing, but not
insurmountable. Perhaps some of our German friends could offer some
enlightenment, as they seem to have it all in the bag.

David Keeling
www.davidkeelingjewellery.com

I noticed this thread earlier, but just read it today. It’s a moot
question, because the IJWU would love to have your membership, I’m
sure. The International Jewelry Workers Union, of which I was once a
member and Local officer, has been around for at least decades, are
I believe base in Was. DC, and about 20 years ago merged with the
SEIU.

    I believe base in Was. DC, and about 20 years ago merged with
the SEIU.

Hi John;

That could be problematic. SIEU just broke with the AFL-CIO to take
a sharp right turn, politically speaking. The current political
ideology of U.S. government has an admitted agenda of completely
eliminating organized labor, ergo, the closer the SIEU gets to the
neo-cons the more likely they are going to be poisoned and rendered
impotent, if not worse. Case in point, the Environmental Protection
Agency. Once intended to oversee industry’s effect on the
invironment, they now do the research to find ways that industry can
get around any legistlation that stands in the way of their profits.
We don’t need another wolf in sheeps clothing.

David L. Huffman

When we rely on others to protect us we simply become slaves to the
 protectors..... 

I think you are missing the point.Ten guys rowing the same boat
together will get farther a lot faster than one guy paddling his own
canoe.The purpose of unionization is to give people a voice in their
own working conditions, and enable them to negotiate from a
position of strength. Ideally speaking, the workers ARE the
union.You don’t join a union so someone else will protect you. You
join to protect yourself and your buddies from becoming slaves.

I might add that this doesn’t apply to individual entrepreneurs who
have a cordial relationship with one or two employees, or even to a
well-run paternalistic setup. Also, craft guilds and trade unions
cover different territory, so it really remains up to the individual
to determine what kind of organization, if any, would be best suited
to his/her particular needs.

It really wouldn’t be all that hard to be honest to get some sort of
program under way. The union part might be difficult because you
would have to find which one to fall under, but coming up with
standards and an organization would work. The big part would be
educating consumers to buy and work with people who are in the
organization (goldsmiths guild or something). You could have
certifications much like the computer industry has with a certain
level of proficiency proven, etc much like a pipefitter or
electrician.

I was in the process of coming up with the whole certification for
the IT field back in 1990, then it came on like a storm before I
could even finalize my thoughts. Now there are a million different
certifications but they all hold weight with employers (well, most
do).

Craig
www.creativecutgems.com

I’ve been following thus thread since it started waiting for anyone
else to put down what I’m thing, because in all liklihood they would
make a better job of it.

I see, among others, two ideas stemming from this thread, the first
is that offshore production is hurting the local artisan, and the
second is that unions/guilds could be away ensuring that quality
remains high by excluding low skilled individuals.

The first makes reference to ten-year old kids and
chimpanzees producing cheap, poorly made goods that drive out well
made local goods. Usually if there enough voices or they are loud
enough politicians take note and slap a tariff on the imported
goods.

My brief exposure to economics has lead me believe that such tariffs
are a bad idea. An implementation of tariffs leads to inefficiencies
in the market place that may help the producer in the short term
they hurt the consumer both in the short and long term.

Examples are soft wood lumber from Canada imported into the United
States and bicycles in the low range ($100-$400 Can) being imported
from China, Taiwan and Vietnam into Canada. In the first instance it
appears that the move is in support of the lumber barons who own
most of the productive forests in the U.S. Consequently any new
house requiring lumber in the U.S. will cost and extra $1,000 U.S.,
meaning that the consumer has $1,000 less to spend on other items
such as jewellery. In Canada, the tariff is in response to Quebec
manufactorers complaining that the cheaper goods are hurting their
businesses. If it goes through then those who can olny afford
low-end cost bikes will be hurt and they, once again will have less
money to spend on other things such as jewellery.

So in my mind, to put it simply, protectionism is bad, free trade is
good. Besides, I don’t think that you have identified the correct
target of your displeasure. I believe that I am that target and that
there are across the U.S. and Canada lots of them just like I am. My
wife and I spent six weeks tavelling across Canada and the
northern-midwest states and we saw lots just like I am.

And what am I? I’m that low-skilled who overwhelimingly motivated to
with metal and then to colour it with glass. Because I like it so
much and because I have an other source of income (“called a ‘real
job’”) all I want to do is to make and sell enough pieces so that I
can buy more metal, glass and stuff to help me make more pieces to
sell, all the while learning about this incredible material called
metal. In my case I sell it on consignment and my retail prices are
low enough to sell most of items within 90 days. I also happen to
plot every item’s price against it days-to-sale and derive
forecasting models to help make sure that they do sell within 90
days.

Alternatively it is the stay-at-home mum who has a strong sense of
design and colour. She has the frame of here pieces manufactured in
Indonesia and she adds the colour. I’ve met her, and her works move
quickly.

Here in Victoria we have a summer market place and the same people
vendors show up year after year; meaning that they can sell enough
to sustain their lifestyle. Some of these vendors sell jewellery.

My question is how is an American union/guild going to prevent
others from selling their works, in the bastion of the
free-enterprise market? It would be liking pushing water up hill.
Besides, the customer is more interested in the article and the
story that comes with it than whether or not the maker has the
equivalent of a PhD in jewellery making.

Finally, I recently visited Seattle and along I believe second
avenue is a maker and seller of rings. His shop was a wonder, small
but perfectly organised. He had two support staff and they too were
on the ball. Here in Victoria I can think of at least five jewellers
who have carved out niches in this tough-to-sell-in little town and
they do OK.

My main cocern about the tone of the thread is that jewellers are
being “victimised”, either by others or by circumstances. If one
starts believing that one is victim one no longer needs to feel
responsible for what it taking place. Consequently one does not need
to adapt to changing circumstances, the main one as I see in the
United States is that the consumer debt is now about 120% of income.
Jewellery is not exactly a must-have item, and is likely one of the
first descretionary items consumers will forego.

So if you are having a rough time and your are going further and
further into debt each year it means that your expenses are
exceeding your income and your business model needs a change. Only
you can do it. One way is by jewllers starting educate its public.
It is not clear to me at all the jewellers are doing so.

david