Long Division

Strange as it may sound, they keep us pretty competitive in a field where we're by ourselves. Sure, there's other housing complexes and other construction and maintenance outfits out there, but we don't compete with them. They wouldn't be able to do what we do because (1) there's no profit in it and (2) there's no support for it. If an outside construction outfit was told they had to wait three weeks for supplies, and that wait wasn't considered when they were drawing up the schedule that they still expect them to meet, do you know what would happen? They'd quit. Probably sue, too.

Not us. We love that kind of challenge. So they give it to us. (What an understatement THAT is, eh?)

No, by competition, I mean that the bigwigs foster a zero-sum-gain outlook to keep everyone at each others' throats. What is a zero-sum-gain, you ask? In a nutshell, they try to convince everyone that anything anyone else gets is that much less that is available for YOU. They think it makes us all keep each other 'honest' and 'productive' - but what it really does is make us all bitter and cynical.

What do you hear in an average day? Complaining. Complaining about the laborers. Complaining about the mechanics. Complaining about the supers. Complaining about the unions. Complaining about the materials the vendors toss over on the ninety-days-same-as-cash deal. All that rancor aimed at each other for allegedly causing everyone else's problems, and that you're more or less powerless to do anything about it. That's what the bigwigs want you to think about your fellow workers and your situation. Why? Because it breeds division and disunity. You convince people that they're all alone against the Big Machine, and they don't rock the boat - or when they do, everyone else quickly puts a hole in it. They want us all to be crabs in a barrel, because when we're so busy snapping at each other nobody notices when they wheel the barrel over to the pot.

And you know what happens to the crabs when they get to the pot, right?

Unity

I hope to encourage a larger sense of unity amongst my fellow PHA Workers. To that end, besides this site, I am able to set up an e-mail account for anyone that wants one here at PHAWorkers.org. Just send an email to me by clicking the Contact Button on the upper right, and title your message 'E-Mail Account' along with whatever name you'd like to use for same. Then I'll send you the information you need to get things configured on your end. As things get rolling, I'll hopefully be able to provide more services for all of us.