A beehive would be nothing without its worker bees, and the Queen would be worthless without her honey. So it goes without saying that society would be nothing without the working class, and the elite would be obsolete without the sweat dripping down our backs. There is, above all else, one certain truth: we (by “we,” I mean you, me, and everyone in between) are way too overworked, underpaid, and unfulfilled. Of course, we find love, happiness, and entertainment along the way, but from day to day we are the people of production in a world of corporate empire and greed. That part is our power, the fact that there would be no economy without the masses of the people, without our work, time, and sacrifices. If we behave as if we control the fruits of our labor, our bosses, and theirs, will begin acknowledging that we do.
If you are reading this, I am assuming that you like to read. Therefore, I’m going to conclude that you’ve grown to have a certain respect for teachers, maybe your elementary school teachers, especially since they are so crucial in our most transformative years. You would, then, think that a bilingual teacher with over 25 years of experience in public school education, with amazingly cool degrees, would be respected and treated with at least decency by their principal. Describing my mother, I could not believe her story of how her boss was treating her, but more importantly, I could not be more proud of how she responded.
My mom had been stressed out, worse than any second-grade underpaid teacher should ever be, due to unnecessary judgments made on her classroom schedule. Her boss, although she had copies of all the teacher’s daily schedules, would walk into my mom’s classroom during times of transitioning between subjects or activities, stay for a few moments, then leave thinking that what she observed in that short time was an accurate representation of the good work my mom does with her students. She expected my mom to then rewrite her entire schedule, send her a copy, and instructed her to “have more time with the students”… as if she’s not literally busy teaching them how to count and read almost 30 hours a week. For dramatic effect, I’ll add how this same week, this woman denied my mom’s request for a day off — even though my mom had secured a substitute teacher and countless PTO days. She said, “I already told you, you cannot take that day off. Be here.”
Mis amigas, I will tell you what I told my mom: Your boss cannot tell you no. Simple as that. If you do everything that is required of you per your job contract to call off a day (for example), that day is your time, and whether your boss likes it or not, you work according to the contract to get the work done, but you do not work for them. That’s our power, we work to eat and to invest in ourselves and our families, but we do not work for the people above us; they should not and cannot make decisions for us. They are simply there to support and uplift us.Â
My mom, like the absolute queen she is, walked with confidence and poise into her boss’ office, closed the door, sat down, and told her everything that needed to be said. She made it clear that she was, in fact, not going to be there on the day she requested off. I find most remarkable how transparent she was in telling her boss that she was the reason my mom needed the day off — for a mental health break, because of her boss’ lack of respect and accountability in doing her own job accurately (like observing and scoring teachers). She told her that because that is the truth; honesty is admirable.Â
Then, my mom contacted her union representative, explaining all the conversations had and her concerns regarding them. THAT PART! If your job is a part of a union, take advantage of it! Unions are there to protect the human and civil rights of employees. Including them in the conversation when your boss makes you feel unvalued and disrespected will only add to your power. If your job is not part of a union, ask yourself why then consider if that reason aligns with your values — your employee rights are only as valid as your boss believes them to be. Unions make sure they are valid at all times. The CEA was astounded at my mom’s principal having the audacity to tell her she couldn’t take a personal day off, considering my mom had done her job to request that day. The union had my mom’s back, not for personal reasons, but because they clearly saw something wrong and had the jurisdiction to make it right.Â
Incredibly, unions would not even exist if it were not for fearless, confident women and people like my mother, who marched into their boss’ offices and, with full transparency, demanded to be treated better. The idea that respect has to be “earned” is ridiculous; everyone needs to be respected, at all positions, at all times. Instead, far too many of us have experienced having to fight to be respected or even recognized by our bosses, teachers, or even peers. This is when we use the fact that their jobs wouldn’t exist without our work and that the power of labor and industry is actually ours. We don’t need to fight for or earn respect; the respect we receive comes from the fruitful and colorful world we produce.Â
The power has always been ours; someday, we’ll collectively believe it.