Hee hee ha ha! Hiddy-ho neighbours!
You may think I'm in a good mood, but I always get a laugh when I here this one. Well, I'll let you read it for yourself. This is a comment from my previous blog entitled "Droogies Unite:"
"I'm amazed that you some how think "you" saved or are saving "the scene" don't let your ego fail you boy!
I'm also amazed how you blame Pittsburgh for the demise of Stelco, look in the mirror, buddy, any intelligent person knows the Steel Workers Union failed Stelco...Where is your leader now! Oh he's writing books! In closing is this a crying Marxist blog or a music scene blog? Put that in your Stelco and smoke it"
— John
Oh John. I can't let this slide. When I was asked to contribute to this website it was on the understanding that I could pretty much write whatever I want, and I do. Now John doesn't seem to know me very well, does he, my dear enamoured readers. I didn't think that anyone would take me literally, that I thought I was saving the scene all by my lonesome. I thought it was pretty obvious that I sometimes like to use a bit of artistic flair while writing my little ditties on here. By the omission, John does seem to think it
entirely plausible that I did in fact go to war, while building what is This Ain't Hollywood, and maintaining my job at The Steel Company.
Now for the Stelco comments our poor misinformed friend John makes. I always get a wise old smile whenever I hear the theory espoused that the union at Stelco brought on its demise. I smile, because the speaker is showing his ignorance. No one who has worked at Hilton Works for any length of time would ever go out on such a slender limb. Did the union spend $200 million on the Plate Mill to shut it down and sell it to India? No. Did the union refuse to update the electrical on the Strip Mill to keep it going? No.
Did the union think it was a bad idea to update the Rod Mill, and reinforce the Pickle Lines? No. You see, those are business decisions, and it has been made clear to me on many occasions by my superiors, that union members have no say in business decisions. I am just machine # 70069, and I'm supposed to do what I'm told. I am baffled by the theory that a union would work to destroy a company so that the members would lose their jobs, and not be able to pay union dues anymore, thus killing USWA Local 1005. Does that sound like something "any intelligent person" would think?
Now John (and I really like that his name is the sort of nondescript "John"), seems to get a little confused in some of his comments.
I blame Pittsburg for shutting down what had then become U.S. Steel - Hamilton Works, because that's where the decision came from. U.S. Steel's head office is in Pittsburgh. I can guarantee you the call did not come from the union hall on Kenilworth Avenue. Since Stelco's creation in 1910, it had never actually shutdown everything until the spring of 2009. Yes, over the years, production halted when the union would go on strike. But everything would be put on "hot idle", like your computer on sleep mode. To actually lock the gate, and hang a sign saying "Gone Fishin' " (I know the sign thing didn't really happen John) was unheard of before last year.
The most confusing part is the book authorship thing. To the best of my knowledge, "my leader," union local #1005 president Rolf Gertsenburger has never written a book. But when the company was named Hamilton Steel for a short time, then CEO Courtney Pratt wrote "Into the Blast Furnace: The Forging of A CEO's Conscience". The tale of the ethical quandary of a CEO selling Canada's last independent steel manufacturer to a multinational corporation, while standing to personally make tens of millions of dollars in the process. I can't make this stuff up folks.
So, John. I hope that you are sufficiently honoured that I, the Great Hamilton Kid, took the time to pick apart your groundless accusations. I don't like being called a Marxist, but I am of the left. As any good political punk should. I will try to talk more about bands and stuff in the future.
If I feel like it.
Your pal,
The Kid
ps. I'm not really much of a kid anymore either. HA!
