Guest on Strike

Guest on Strike, a series of b/w photos of an action in Chicago and a  fan-shaped placard. Part of the ongoing series:  A Glass of Water (Some Objects on the Path to Enlightenment). A series of works based on weekly buddhist classes in a small buddhist temple located in a basement under a sun tan studio  in the east of Amsterdam.

Saskia Janssen, artist, Guest on Strike, Chicago, 2011

Saskia Janssen, artist, together with union strikers in Chicago 2011

Saskia Janssen, artist, props for Guest onSstrike

 

Saskia Janssen, artist, together with union strikers in Chicago 2011

Saskia Janssen, book A Glass of Water, page 58-59, published by Roma Publications

Saskia Janssen, artist, paper fan for private performance Guest on Strike

 

Chapter from the book: A Glass of Water (Some Objects on the Path to Enlightenment)

Guest on Strike, Chicago, May 2010 / Amsterdam, 15 October 2011

 The lesson is about the importance of devotion and practice. It makes me think back to my stay in Chicago, a year earlier. I’m in Chicago for two weeks and we are staying at the Congress Plaza Hotel in thformed a picket line and are demonstrating against the level of their pay and the poor working conditions. We find out that it is the longest ongoing strike in the USA*. At that point the strike has been going on for almost six years without pause and it doesn’t look like the hotel will agree to their demands.

The strikers walk laps of about 10 metres, back and forth in front of the entrance to the hotel. Soft evergreens issue from the hotel’s speakers above their heads. They are there every day, organized into set shifts. Sometimes there are just five of them, sometimes 20, but they have been there every day since June 2003. I walk a couple of laps with them and speak with Jose, one of the strikers. He tells me that for them the strike action is a daily activity which has replaced actually working in the hotel, and returning to a job in the hotel is highly unlikely after all these years.

The union gives them a small allowance while they are on strike. Jose tells me that for them it has become a form of meditation. You turn up, walk for hours and empty your mind.
It has become a new way of life.

I feel slightly uncomfortable about staying in this hotel. On the internet I had already read something about the six-year strike, but I couldn’t believe it was true. I decide to walk with them. I receive an ‘On Strike’ placard from the strikers and add the word ‘Guest’ to it. I march with the sign for hours, until my feet hurt from the constant turning about. Nobody else seems to be bothered by it. We walk to and fro beneath the awning of the hotel. From the hotel’s speakers above our heads I hear an instrumental version
of You Never Walk Alone as well as a version of Heal the World.

* On 15 June 2003, about 130 members of UNITE HERE Local 1 went on strike to protest a proposed seven percent wage cut. They continue to picket the hotel in what is the longest ongoing strike in the USA. Management has not increased its hourly wage offer to meet the norm of other unionized hotels. According to the union, house­keepers in other hotels in the city earn $14.60 an hour. Management has offered $8.83 an hour. On 16 June 2007, Barack Obama, who was running for the presidency at the time, briefly joined the picket line. He promised to return as President. In March 2013 the strike still continues and Obama has not yet returned.e centre of the city. There are strikers taking industrial action in front of the hotel’s main entrance. Cleaners and housekeepers have formed a picket line and are demonstrating against the level of their pay and the poor working conditions. We find out that it is the longest ongoing strike in the USA*. At that point the strike has been going on for almost six years without pause and it doesn’t look like the hotel will agree to their demands.

The strikers walk laps of about 10 metres, back and forth in front of the entrance to the hotel. Soft evergreens issue from the hotel’s speakers above their heads. They are there every day, organized into set shifts. Sometimes there are just five of them, sometimes 20, but they have been there every day since June 2003. I walk a couple of laps with them and speak with Jose, one of the strikers. He tells me that for them the strike action is a daily activity which has replaced actually working in the hotel, and returning to a job in the hotel is highly unlikely after all these years.

The union gives them a small allowance while they are on strike. Jose tells me that for them it has become a form of meditation. You turn up, walk for hours and empty your mind.
It has become a new way of life.

I feel slightly uncomfortable about staying in this hotel. On the internet I had already read something about the six-year strike, but I couldn’t believe it was true. I decide to walk with them. I receive an ‘On Strike’ placard from the strikers and add the word ‘Guest’ to it. I march with the sign for hours, until my feet hurt from the constant turning about. Nobody else seems to be bothered by it. We walk to and fro beneath the awning of the hotel. From the hotel’s speakers above our heads I hear an instrumental version
of You Never Walk Alone as well as a version of Heal the World.

* On 15 June 2003, about 130 members of UNITE HERE Local 1 went on strike to protest a proposed seven percent wage cut. They continue to picket the hotel in what is the longest ongoing strike in the USA. Management has not increased its hourly wage offer to meet the norm of other unionized hotels. According to the union, house­keepers in other hotels in the city earn $14.60 an hour. Management has offered $8.83 an hour. On 16 June 2007, Barack Obama, who was running for the presidency at the time, briefly joined the picket line. He promised to return as President. In March 2013 the strike still continues and Obama has not yet returned.

 Caption 1, 4, 6 : Fan-shaped placard, made as a gift to the strikers.

Caption 2, 3, 5 : Guest on Strike, Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago, USA, 2 May 2010

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