Speaker 1: Welcome to Dick It Happen Here, a podcast about NGO
Speaker 1: is portraying the working class and casting reproductive autonomy to
Speaker 1: the wolves. I'm your host, Christopher Wong, and this is
Speaker 1: part two of my interview with Crystal and Elizabeth from
Speaker 1: UEI Local sixe six. They are once again representing only
Speaker 1: themselves in the union and not planned parenthood. Yes, so
Speaker 1: let's get back to the interview. Okay, should should I?
Speaker 1: Should I do a incredibly long and drawn out metaphor
Speaker 1: about migrant workers in China? Go for it? Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna, I'm Gonna'm gonna, I'm gonna do a
Speaker 1: man for it. Okay, So alright, alright. So one of
Speaker 1: one of the sort of engines of Chinese economic growth
Speaker 1: for a long time is that China's economy is built
Speaker 1: on migrant labor. There are I think it's like two
Speaker 1: fifty million migrant workers. It's like like if you put
Speaker 1: them together as a country, I think I got to nine.
Speaker 1: If you put together as a country, it would be
Speaker 1: like the fourth largest country in the world. And this
Speaker 1: was able to happen, you know, and like the sort
Speaker 1: of like the secret of the Chinese miracle is that
Speaker 1: it was a bunch of workers who were exploited horribly
Speaker 1: and they also had a lot A lot of these
Speaker 1: workers are coming from the countryside, and there's still sort
Speaker 1: of like kinds of forms of like communal landownership that
Speaker 1: are left over from the socialist period there. And so
Speaker 1: what happens is you have these sort of like I
Speaker 1: don't know, like kind of socialist collective air like collective
Speaker 1: landownership stuff that's like basically subsidizing these workers so that
Speaker 1: they can move into the cities. And this means that
Speaker 1: their bosses have to pay like that their their bosses
Speaker 1: can pay them less because part of their income and
Speaker 1: part of their support network is coming from something that's
Speaker 1: outside of the outside of the such a system. And
Speaker 1: that's what this reminds me of where it's like, this
Speaker 1: stuff is happening because of this incredible community mobilization and
Speaker 1: like that's where the support is coming from. But that
Speaker 1: also means that like the actual like the organizations who
Speaker 1: are getting the most money and the most resources into
Speaker 1: are like you know, who are your bosses don't have
Speaker 1: to do that because it's it's you know, and this
Speaker 1: is the same thing with your labor to where it's
Speaker 1: it's you have these these like there's this way in
Speaker 1: which solidarity is mobilized as a way to sort of
Speaker 1: like stop gap the fact that these groups don't want
Speaker 1: to pay people and don't want to give people the
Speaker 1: resources that are necessary, and so because it has to
Speaker 1: get done, people will, like, people will do it, and
Speaker 1: people will people will donate stuff, people will help support,
Speaker 1: people will do this work. But the thing that it
Speaker 1: winds up doing is that these people are never actually
Speaker 1: forced to see the full consequences of their actions. They're
Speaker 1: never never forced to like actually see what what the
Speaker 1: staff and decisions like does what what the fact that
Speaker 1: they don't pay you anything? Like actually does they don't?
Speaker 1: They never have to face it because people are like
Speaker 1: desperately trying to patch the boat together so it doesn't sink. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been thinking a lot, like what would it be
Speaker 1: like if you know, one of our higher up managers
Speaker 1: turned away all of these patients and it was them, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what if they knew what it was like? I remember
Speaker 1: picking up the phone a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: the only thing that I heard when I picked up
Speaker 1: that phone was a blood curdling scream like This was
Speaker 1: like a scream out of a horror movie. And then
Speaker 1: there were two thuds and then dead sides and I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened to that person. I I don't
Speaker 1: know if they were able to call back. I didn't
Speaker 1: call back because if that person is in danger right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to subject them to any more danger. UM.
Speaker 1: There's a reason that when we dial out it's the
Speaker 1: restricted or block numbers. But it's moments like that that
Speaker 1: stick with you. And the fact that we're having more
Speaker 1: and more of these moments where like every other call
Speaker 1: is not like exactly to that level, but like emotionally
Speaker 1: still sticks with you. And just for some additional UM,
Speaker 1: just like to kind of like build out this kind
Speaker 1: of like misogynistic context that we're working. And it's actually
Speaker 1: super common to get people calling in for abortion services,
Speaker 1: like in the middle of a fight with their partner. UM.
Speaker 1: I have had had like men like actively obstructing the
Speaker 1: caller and you know, I'm trying to schedule them, and
Speaker 1: they'll have me on speaker phone and everything and training
Speaker 1: me to and I was like, are you able to
Speaker 1: get to like another place because I can't hear you
Speaker 1: over him? And you know, and he's like, I'm not
Speaker 1: doing anything, and I'm like I just need to be
Speaker 1: able to hear you, and like, um, yeah, so you
Speaker 1: do you get that because that's you know, because there's
Speaker 1: people want abortions for every reason under the sun, and
Speaker 1: it's totally fine. Um. People get abortions for lots of
Speaker 1: different reasons, but a common reason is because their partner
Speaker 1: sucks and he's a piece of ship. He was abusive
Speaker 1: and they got to get away from him. And that's
Speaker 1: unfortunately common. And we're on the phone getting that. Sometimes
Speaker 1: we get to meet them in real life too, and
Speaker 1: that's always super fun. I always say that, I say
Speaker 1: to patients constantly that boyfriends either only go one of
Speaker 1: two ways when we meet them in our clinic. They're
Speaker 1: either wonderful and fantastic and very supportive um or they're
Speaker 1: just the worst. And I've had patients boyfriends who literally,
Speaker 1: while this person is mid procedure will be like, you're
Speaker 1: being dramatic and need to stop, and they'll take a
Speaker 1: phone call yeah or something, but playing games on their
Speaker 1: phone and they won't look at anybody m or they'll
Speaker 1: actively leave their partner there. And these are people that
Speaker 1: like were their rides. Oh yeah, we've had people get abandoned. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they'll just see like I'm done, I'm bored, and then
Speaker 1: they'll just leave and it's just so frustrating. Lots of
Speaker 1: deal with We have a lot to deal with the staff.
Speaker 1: And I always tell people because I trained UM staff
Speaker 1: at the clinic, and I'm always like, we see everything here.
Speaker 1: And when I say I say that, I mean it.
Speaker 1: We see literally everything like you just and I'm sure
Speaker 1: there are other similar health provisions like health services that
Speaker 1: it's kind of similar. We just kind of see everything, UM,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we we literally see everything because people when
Speaker 1: people come in for an abortion appointment, UM, like we
Speaker 1: don't just talk about the procedure, you know, we do
Speaker 1: birth control counseling, STD screening, UM, we provide resources for housing,
Speaker 1: legal support, UM, therapy, finding therapists, and we just we
Speaker 1: we do so much because we're providing a comprehend of
Speaker 1: health care service. And again, like something that we tell
Speaker 1: patients is that they can expect to be here for
Speaker 1: like four hours six and it depends on the individual patients,
Speaker 1: their individual needs UM and what services we can provide
Speaker 1: for them. And sometimes patients need a lot of TLC
Speaker 1: and we're not going to rush that. Um, they're going
Speaker 1: to get the services that they need and they want,
Speaker 1: and we're going to do it on their time because
Speaker 1: they're very they're very fragile, and that's not the time
Speaker 1: to run times through. They're not always so sometimes they're
Speaker 1: fragile and like sometimes they're like, let's get this done,
Speaker 1: you know, I just oh, yeah, I just want to
Speaker 1: the whole range of we get, we get. But sometimes
Speaker 1: they're very fragile. Yeah. We have had some really confident
Speaker 1: patients that I really like talking to though that they're
Speaker 1: very yeah, like ready to get it over with and
Speaker 1: are like thanks for being here, and they just my day.
Speaker 1: I love it when we're like, oh, how do because
Speaker 1: we have to you know, we have to do like
Speaker 1: make sure that they're not being coerced in everything. And
Speaker 1: it's like, so, you know, how are you feeling about everything?
Speaker 1: And they're like, I feel great. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: not be pregnant, and they're like dancing. Obviously that's nice,
Speaker 1: but you know, in reality, a lot of times when
Speaker 1: we ask someone how they're feeling and what's going on,
Speaker 1: we're like the first person to have asked them that
Speaker 1: in like two years, so then we're like opening up
Speaker 1: a space, which I'm so glad we get to do. Um.
Speaker 1: I love working with patients, I love the services we provide, UM.
Speaker 1: But it's it's what what sucks and what's a failure
Speaker 1: is that I'm like the first healthcare provider to like
Speaker 1: ask them how they're feeling and actually care and like years,
Speaker 1: like we really get something. We get some patients who
Speaker 1: have been like shoot up and spit out by the
Speaker 1: health care system, and no one's ever given a ship
Speaker 1: and we all, we all are very good at giving
Speaker 1: a ship. So um. Yeah, it really seems like just
Speaker 1: like everything that's wrong with this country gets thrown at
Speaker 1: like you specifically, because this is like like every every
Speaker 1: sort of like every bit of racism, every bit of sexism,
Speaker 1: like every like failure of the health care system, like
Speaker 1: every every like and it's not even like everything on
Speaker 1: a political level and on a social level that goes
Speaker 1: wrong with people's lives. Yeah, I think it comes up
Speaker 1: a lot with stigmatized health care UM like abortion and
Speaker 1: then also hormotherapy I imagine was pretty similar. Is you're
Speaker 1: facing a lot of obstacles that are put up by
Speaker 1: the communities, the institution, and the health care system. The
Speaker 1: employer is like your family. There's a Remember we did
Speaker 1: an interview with a promotion activist from Mexico. One of
Speaker 1: the things that she was talking about was, um, she
Speaker 1: called it social decriminalization. Oh, is it kind of destigmatizing?
Speaker 1: Like yeah, yeah, but it's like, like I think she
Speaker 1: didn't talk about it a huge amount, but it seemed
Speaker 1: like the concept behind it, it was like, Okay, so
Speaker 1: you have legal you have like legal criminalization, but then yeah,
Speaker 1: like social segmatization means that it's still not really legal
Speaker 1: because there's there's like there's you know, there's like social
Speaker 1: laws against the rights. You have to like deal with both.
Speaker 1: And that that struck me as like a really I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's a really powerful like way to think
Speaker 1: about it. I guess. Is it kind of like a
Speaker 1: moral thing where people think, like it's not okay to
Speaker 1: get an abortion, so you get like that pressure and that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think and also I mean, like it's not
Speaker 1: it's it's it's the pressure like applied on a person
Speaker 1: from just like you know, like I mean in Mexico
Speaker 1: is a lot of like people who a growing up Catholic, right,
Speaker 1: but also like it's the pressure from your family, is
Speaker 1: pressure from your friends, it's a pressure from everyone around you,
Speaker 1: and you have to like socially like legalize it. Because
Speaker 1: Crystal has been doing this work longer than I have.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I've only been working at our current
Speaker 1: job for a year, which I love. UM, But definitely
Speaker 1: when I started, UM, there were people in my life
Speaker 1: that I didn't think, we're gonna get weird about it,
Speaker 1: because I know a lot of liberal people. Most of
Speaker 1: all of my friends are very liberal, very open pro choice,
Speaker 1: like very union friendly. And immediately I noticed that when
Speaker 1: I started talking happily about abortions, people would get really
Speaker 1: quiet and really awkward. Um, and they would be like
Speaker 1: that's great, I'm happy for you. But then that was
Speaker 1: like it like I couldn't and I'd be like no,
Speaker 1: but like abortions and then they're great, They're great. People
Speaker 1: need them. It's an essential service. And so I just
Speaker 1: upped up the anti more and I started talking about
Speaker 1: it a lot more. This is what I gotta do,
Speaker 1: gotta weed out the week. Like if you're uncomfortable with
Speaker 1: my job, job, I'm not going to talk about it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that is a component to like also on
Speaker 1: top of literally everything else, like um, you know, like
Speaker 1: how hard the job is and how then we got
Speaker 1: to like rally as a union and get better wages
Speaker 1: and and then we can't even sometimes talk about it
Speaker 1: because because the stigma like with friends or family, like
Speaker 1: I can't talk about my parents or I can't talk
Speaker 1: with my parents about my job. So it's just like
Speaker 1: this whole big part of my life because I'm pretty
Speaker 1: much like an abortion access activist and I just can't
Speaker 1: talk about it and with them, which is just you know,
Speaker 1: it's it would be nice if I could, but I can't,
Speaker 1: and I just kind of deal with it. And then
Speaker 1: also um even tiny normal situations like getting a haircut
Speaker 1: or getting an uber, it's people ask you what you
Speaker 1: do all the time. I lie every time, But that's
Speaker 1: a decision you have to make because sometimes I lie
Speaker 1: and sometimes I don't know what it is just going
Speaker 1: to tell the truth, and it's like a gamble because
Speaker 1: I've told the truth before and then an uber driver
Speaker 1: starts praying for me. And then I've told the truth
Speaker 1: before and had someone um like open up to me,
Speaker 1: and then we have a great conversation and then I've
Speaker 1: told the truth before and had really awkward conversations were
Speaker 1: like I support abortion, I think some people have too
Speaker 1: many and it's like, why are you telling me to
Speaker 1: get out here? But um, yeah, this was a decision
Speaker 1: that I made for myself personally because of this. One
Speaker 1: time I took an uber to work and I mentioned
Speaker 1: what I did, and then that guy um started like
Speaker 1: talking about me to the antis in front of our
Speaker 1: job and they were like talking about it was it
Speaker 1: was actually it was a woman. It was a it
Speaker 1: was a female Uber driver. I mentioned this to her um,
Speaker 1: and she went up and was like, I think that
Speaker 1: like what you guys are doing. It's like she was
Speaker 1: talking to the anti specifically. She was like, what you're
Speaker 1: doing it is too aggressive. You need to buy the
Speaker 1: building next door, Oh my god, set up shop there
Speaker 1: and make it less antagonizing so people want to listen
Speaker 1: to you. And then immediately in the group chat, everybody
Speaker 1: was like, who's talking to the antis? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I just mentioned that I worked there. Um. It was
Speaker 1: just a lot. So after that, I was like, on
Speaker 1: my way to work at the very least, I'm just
Speaker 1: not going to talk about it. I'm gonna be like
Speaker 1: I work at a doctor's office downtown. It's like risk assessment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like the antis learned my name by listening
Speaker 1: for the uber drivers and I've got an uber drivers.
Speaker 1: They're like, who are you? What's your name? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you because there's a dude
Speaker 1: standing there that wants to follow me. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: deal with that a brew driver. Yeah, we gotta switch
Speaker 1: up patterns when we come into work sometimes too. And
Speaker 1: I do what I actually started, Um when I call
Speaker 1: an uber to work because I don't have a car
Speaker 1: all the time because I don't get paid that much.
Speaker 1: But U when I have to uber to work, Um,
Speaker 1: I've started getting dropped off like somewhere else and just
Speaker 1: walking because it's just too too many problems, too much,
Speaker 1: Like I got, I get dropped off at like a
Speaker 1: different location, like a couple of blocks away from work,
Speaker 1: at a different spot usually, and then I just walk in.
Speaker 1: Like if you you might just want to go to
Speaker 1: work and drink your coffee and you have like your
Speaker 1: uber driver joining the protests outside, it's like then it's
Speaker 1: worse because they know they picked you up, they know
Speaker 1: where you live and they know your name, your name,
Speaker 1: they want to shout your name out the door. It's like, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: the protesters learned my name and they like chant my
Speaker 1: name and we're like, I'll walk behind and like the
Speaker 1: whispering my name. I'm like, what is this? This is
Speaker 1: kind this is kind of kinky, but like yeah, and
Speaker 1: we decide that they don't actually know who you are.
Speaker 1: They just like every do with banks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So for the listeners, I have like pretty blunt banks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I'm not the only worker in the building obviously
Speaker 1: who has banks. But so everyone in the buildings like Crystal, Crystal.
Speaker 1: I think everybody with banks worts your worker named Crystal.
Speaker 1: I guess that's reassuring, but also bad for other people
Speaker 1: with banks because they might get killed. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: funny but not funny. I'm just you got were trying
Speaker 1: to make light of it. We all we have to. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the other thing I still wanted to ask about
Speaker 1: was Crystal. Yeah, you've had like the bosses doing disciplinary
Speaker 1: action for stuff that you've been doing in terms of
Speaker 1: unions stuff. We'll talk about that a little bit technically
Speaker 1: pre disciplinary, but I mean, like, what does it matter
Speaker 1: because like the point is the same is is intimidation. UM.
Speaker 1: It's very easy to do, is to get your lawyer,
Speaker 1: get your HR and have them talk to someone, and
Speaker 1: then everybody knows about it because everybody talks at work
Speaker 1: and bad gas travels fast and UM, then they and
Speaker 1: the whole idea is to to scare people into not
Speaker 1: talking to reporters, not talking to UM people about what's
Speaker 1: going on. And I feel like it's difficult to talk
Speaker 1: about what's been happening like this is like I keep
Speaker 1: saying it, it's a it's a national health crisis. It's
Speaker 1: a disaster, it's a tidal wave, it's a hurricane, and
Speaker 1: it's generational trauma. We're using all of these words, and
Speaker 1: then like I feel like being I'm pressured into not
Speaker 1: even talking about it because I'm talking about everything. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about how we're understaffed, I'm talking about how we're
Speaker 1: seeing patients from all over. I'm talking about, UM, how
Speaker 1: how traumatizing it is. And for whatever reason, it's just
Speaker 1: more comforting for some of these organizations to hide under
Speaker 1: the table with their lawyer and just like shaking their
Speaker 1: boots and say, like we could be sued for this
Speaker 1: and we could be sued for that and what if
Speaker 1: that happens? What if this happens? And like for me,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, you know what, what what if someone
Speaker 1: dies because we can't get them in and they can't
Speaker 1: get to us because of legislation and there being no
Speaker 1: health care infrastructure because part of healthcare is also getting
Speaker 1: to the appointment. Um, so if like none of that
Speaker 1: exists and like people are suffering because of it, Like
Speaker 1: I just can't keep my mouth shut about that. And
Speaker 1: I definitely feel like as like somebody a member on
Speaker 1: the bargaining team, and I also am ced our rally. Um,
Speaker 1: I feel like there's been a lot of pressure on
Speaker 1: me and my big mouth. Um. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: they're trying to intimidate me and scare me. And I'm
Speaker 1: blessed for a reasons. Number One, UM, my dad, who
Speaker 1: is otherwise conservative and doesn't support anything that I do,
Speaker 1: but he was a union stewart, and growing up, I
Speaker 1: would see him resolving conflict as a union stewart and
Speaker 1: that was very influential and inspirational to me because it
Speaker 1: really instilled some good values, even though we don't have
Speaker 1: the same values obviously, but and you didn't. But there's that,
Speaker 1: Like I I developed like a strong sense of labor
Speaker 1: rights and labor activism from him and then too, my
Speaker 1: first career choice was a middle school teacher, so I've
Speaker 1: taught seventh and eighth grade for about seven years. So like,
Speaker 1: literally nothing scares me, because after you've talked to a
Speaker 1: cafeteria full of a hundred and twenty thirteen year olds,
Speaker 1: it's like that's it. That's like the scariest thing ever.
Speaker 1: Um So I'm not really afraid of the bullying and
Speaker 1: the intimidation. Um, which is good because it definitely is
Speaker 1: very effective and I'm sure a lot of people would
Speaker 1: be pissing themselves, but um, I'm pissing uself a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I'm fine. Um, I have a second job after
Speaker 1: all that, Like that's like fun, the fact you have
Speaker 1: to work another job. Like and they're like one of
Speaker 1: the things I noticed is they're they're doing they're doing
Speaker 1: the working you for thirty five hours and not forty
Speaker 1: because yeah, so don't benefits. I don't know. Like the
Speaker 1: impression that I get from this and I think that
Speaker 1: makes you really angry is like it really feels like
Speaker 1: like the like how worried they are about being suited.
Speaker 1: It feels like like the fact that that's sort of
Speaker 1: like the basis of all this, and just like they
Speaker 1: they they're behaving as if they've already lost and they're
Speaker 1: trying to like like claw and hold onto whatever they have.
Speaker 1: But it's like if if if you're if you're fighting
Speaker 1: from the position of we have already lost, you're you're
Speaker 1: just gonna keep losing. And it's like and and and
Speaker 1: you know it's not just that it's like okay, like
Speaker 1: if they were just doing that, but then you know,
Speaker 1: like not passing, like not literally forcing everyone else who's
Speaker 1: working with them to also be in the same sort
Speaker 1: of defeatism, like it would be different. But it's like
Speaker 1: it's like no, that they're they're then inflicting that on you,
Speaker 1: and it's just infuriating. Yeah. I think this also, um
Speaker 1: to segue to something that actually had happened to me today.
Speaker 1: Um as part of um, you know, being in a
Speaker 1: call center for an abortion provider is that we I
Speaker 1: think this instills like a sense of fear for providers
Speaker 1: as well, um, for their own personal safety. It just
Speaker 1: makes it feel bigger because you have all these other
Speaker 1: people would be like, well, it's it's like, these are
Speaker 1: all these things that could happen to you, this is
Speaker 1: what might happen to you. UM. And I think that
Speaker 1: it makes providers have to evaluate, you know, their own
Speaker 1: risks to what they do. UM. And if you are
Speaker 1: somebody with not as strong values for this work, like
Speaker 1: it's not a strong an opinion towards this work, it
Speaker 1: causes UM, you to just neglect patients because UM. I
Speaker 1: had an incident that happened today where we had somebody
Speaker 1: call UM from a different state where abortion is not legal,
Speaker 1: and they had their best friend in the car with
Speaker 1: them and they were like, my friend is like actively hemorrhaging.
Speaker 1: She's been like bleeding for days. UM, do you have
Speaker 1: like an emergency appointment? Like we could drive up to
Speaker 1: p A. UM, Like what do I do? She's been
Speaker 1: to her doctor three different times and they refused to
Speaker 1: treat her because they like viable. And in my brain,
Speaker 1: I'm just shaking because I'm like, this is a h
Speaker 1: this is your job, Like you're the first thing as
Speaker 1: a doctor is to make sure that your patient doesn't die,
Speaker 1: and they might die and I'm not a doctor. UM.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, if your friend is losing
Speaker 1: so much blood that you are worried for her safety. UM.
Speaker 1: I know on the phone they were talking about how
Speaker 1: she felt like she was like getting dizzy and like
Speaker 1: losing a ridiculous amount of blood. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I strongly suggest that you go to a hospital where
Speaker 1: um abortion is legal, since you're planning on, you know,
Speaker 1: coming up for an abortion anyway, UM, because in that case,
Speaker 1: they would have to treat you no matter what. UM.
Speaker 1: And if you know it's going to result in an abortion,
Speaker 1: then at the very least you're protected because you're here
Speaker 1: in your cross state line. And I'm like, because any
Speaker 1: any hospital has to treat you, UM for something that's serious,
Speaker 1: and it's it's scary to think that there are definitely
Speaker 1: other other providers and other places where this kind of
Speaker 1: thing is also happening. UM. And I just worry that,
Speaker 1: you know, Um, what if I was ten minutes, Like
Speaker 1: what if I was two minutes late, what if I
Speaker 1: was thirty seconds? Like what if I told her to wait? Um?
Speaker 1: Like some places kind of have to um or I
Speaker 1: told her that I couldn't help her, Like some places
Speaker 1: kind of have to with these laws. I don't think
Speaker 1: that I could live with the guilt of that. M
Speaker 1: hm um. It's just another another added trauma to the day.
Speaker 1: And I feel like a lot of people said and
Speaker 1: like these people suck, But a lot of people were
Speaker 1: saying that, like stuff like this wouldn't happen. I know
Speaker 1: for a fact that I had so many I'm very
Speaker 1: vocal about oortion access in my work, and I've had
Speaker 1: people tell me like, people won't be hemorrhaging and driving
Speaker 1: across state lines, and I'm like, absolutely, they will be. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And this was like a month ago, and then well
Speaker 1: more than a month ago. Time goes fast, but like
Speaker 1: this was like prior to dobs, I should say, but um,
Speaker 1: and it's just when they were telling me, like I
Speaker 1: don't believe you, and I'm like, what do you mean
Speaker 1: you don't believe me? This is the most believable thing.
Speaker 1: And then to have had people say that it wouldn't
Speaker 1: happen and to call me a liar and like a
Speaker 1: drama queen, and then now to like, I mean, I
Speaker 1: wasn't I didn't get a call like that, but like
Speaker 1: to hear like my coworker and like and then just
Speaker 1: like hearing it happened elsewhere, because like you know, we
Speaker 1: have comrades and and Union UM siblings in Ohio UM
Speaker 1: with other unions, and they've talked about it happening, and
Speaker 1: just so hearing my my um my peers talking about
Speaker 1: it and just knowing like we knew this would happen,
Speaker 1: and we I just it feels like we just like
Speaker 1: walked right into it with no plan. There's still no plan.
Speaker 1: People are still in cars drive across state lines while
Speaker 1: actively hemorrhaging, and I don't know what it will be
Speaker 1: done other than us workers really stepping up and hopefully
Speaker 1: the community then supporting us UM, because we can't do
Speaker 1: it without community support, like like Elizabeth was saying before,
Speaker 1: you know, oh, and Elizabeth was actually talking about before
Speaker 1: about the food that we've been getting from the community.
Speaker 1: And this also made me think of what it looks
Speaker 1: like to turn up for workers in general, because you know,
Speaker 1: we're all workers here and like we know what it
Speaker 1: feels like where you're too busy to stop and eat
Speaker 1: and you're just going through your day and you're running
Speaker 1: on fumes and you're exhausted. But the fact that our
Speaker 1: community was like feeding has been feeding us, and like
Speaker 1: turning up for us to the point where like I was,
Speaker 1: having good, healthy food confused me from day to day
Speaker 1: in that well since then and then it really got
Speaker 1: me wondering like, is this is what it likes? This
Speaker 1: is what it's like when you have well fed workers
Speaker 1: and that are cared for. So, you know, if the
Speaker 1: only people answering the call for these these people who
Speaker 1: need healthcare are us, We're exhausted, we don't have time
Speaker 1: to go out and get food, especially since we've got
Speaker 1: people following us down the street whatever, um while we
Speaker 1: go get a hot dog trying to bother us, um.
Speaker 1: But then to have like the community bringing us food
Speaker 1: and then being well fed, it was just like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what if all workers were well fed and
Speaker 1: all communities turned up for their workers. Wouldn't that be
Speaker 1: so nice? And it got me thinking like like wow,
Speaker 1: this is like a really positive thing that is not
Speaker 1: really talked about. Like I mean, we talk about feeding people,
Speaker 1: but like what if workers were well fed? Like I
Speaker 1: don't like healthcare workers. It's just it's been really nice.
Speaker 1: And I love our community. Um, I love our city.
Speaker 1: I love the organizations that have been organizing it. We're
Speaker 1: incredibly grateful. Yeah, they're fantastic, they're they're so good to us. Um.
Speaker 1: I know that for those couple of weeks where we
Speaker 1: had food in our breakroom, UM, I think we worked
Speaker 1: a lot better. Everybody was in much better moods. I
Speaker 1: didn't get shaky hands, you know. Yeah, we were all
Speaker 1: like really excited to see each other and talk to
Speaker 1: each other and talk about our days. Um just over
Speaker 1: like actually good coffee. And it was just a huge
Speaker 1: morale boost to have the community supporting the workers. And
Speaker 1: then now we have the community coming to our union
Speaker 1: rally saying we support you, we want you to get
Speaker 1: paid more, we want you to have better staff, and
Speaker 1: that is just like so necessary right now because we
Speaker 1: need we need the community, we need everyone. What else
Speaker 1: can listeners who are decord like want to help but
Speaker 1: are not in the industry do just uh to support
Speaker 1: you all well? And I guess on two levels, like
Speaker 1: one is like like what what can they do sort
Speaker 1: of in general in their communities and then to specifically
Speaker 1: to help y'all with your fight with the hospital clinic
Speaker 1: just a little clinic, just a tiny, little, tiny little guy. UM.
Speaker 1: I know that for us specifically, I think do what
Speaker 1: you do best if you are a person who likes
Speaker 1: to make art, um, we love seeing your drawings. We
Speaker 1: love seeing like your handwritten notes. UM. If you're a
Speaker 1: person who makes a really good cup of coffee, or
Speaker 1: if you're a cafe who just wants to bring us coffee,
Speaker 1: we love coffee. UM. If you're a bakery that wants
Speaker 1: to donate like donuts or you know, cheesecakes, we will
Speaker 1: happily eat them. Um. Yeah. If you want to, like
Speaker 1: send us a bluetooth speaker so we can listen to
Speaker 1: music during the day. Whatever you do best is what
Speaker 1: we would love as long as it comes from like you,
Speaker 1: comes from your heart, like we love um weighted blankets
Speaker 1: and fluffy things and snacks and just um all of
Speaker 1: those things that come like from the heart make us
Speaker 1: feel like it's worth it um at least from the community. UM.
Speaker 1: And things also that we don't have to think about um.
Speaker 1: Because as beautiful as make your own taco kids are,
Speaker 1: we still have to have time to make our own
Speaker 1: tasso ta. Yeah. So if if there's anything that you
Speaker 1: could just like throw at us and it's already like
Speaker 1: put together, like assembled, has very little thought, like a um,
Speaker 1: a zombie or a toddler or a burnt out abortion
Speaker 1: worker and you know, put two and two together. We
Speaker 1: love those two. And you could also follow our union
Speaker 1: UM and there's actually a bunch of abortion care worker unions.
Speaker 1: We're not the only one, we are many. We are
Speaker 1: legion UM. So you can really follow any of us
Speaker 1: and just boost what we need because right right now
Speaker 1: the p p F A union like New York City
Speaker 1: San Francisco is needing a lot of boosting what they're
Speaker 1: what they're doing. Goot Mocker union needs a lot of
Speaker 1: love and support. But our union UI Local six Night
Speaker 1: six UM. Our social media is at p p w
Speaker 1: P Union UM. Not to self vote, but if you
Speaker 1: go on there, there are videos of our rally and
Speaker 1: I need leader a shaped putata if anything wants to
Speaker 1: see us busted open, it's pretty it's pretty cool. We
Speaker 1: busted open a Uterus shape pinata at our rally and
Speaker 1: as we brought up a UM union family child because
Speaker 1: it was it was the son of a local union member.
Speaker 1: We brought him up and we helped him splash the panada,
Speaker 1: the Uterus panada, and as he was swinging it was like,
Speaker 1: this is what we think about low wages. This is
Speaker 1: what we think about scotis, this is what we think
Speaker 1: about understaffing. And then candy just like burst out of it.
Speaker 1: It was like a normal birth, you know. Yeah, glitter
Speaker 1: and candy pop out, very realistic. Actually abortions to people
Speaker 1: don't know this, but glitter always comes out during an abortion.
Speaker 1: Can confirm there's gonna be there's gonna be like three
Speaker 1: people who actually believe you. They're gonna they're gonna like
Speaker 1: tell their friend this, and their friends gonna be like,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about that. You're like, no, no,
Speaker 1: I heard it on a podcast, or like the servings
Speaker 1: sprays glitter when you when you touch it, Dilating the
Speaker 1: cervix is really just opening it up so that it
Speaker 1: litter come out. Yeah. I guess. Well okay, so logistics wise, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you send me links, I will we will put
Speaker 1: them in the episode description. Um. Yeah, and yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1: Do you two have anything else that you want to say? Um?
Speaker 1: I don't think so, other than like thank you for
Speaker 1: having guess. Um, this is super fun. We had a
Speaker 1: great time. Yeah, me too. Yeah, it was good. I
Speaker 1: love talking about abortion. Oh yeah, oh my god. Me
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth on the phone, just gabbing away, and we'll
Speaker 1: we'll be on twenty on a call twenty minutes talking
Speaker 1: to like someone who who needs help, and then we'll
Speaker 1: like get off and then we'll be gathering about whatever
Speaker 1: for like ten minutes and mostly TikTok's mostly TikTok. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. It's it's so important too that we can
Speaker 1: be platformed as like abortion care workers, as union members,
Speaker 1: as people working in a stigmatized field during a crisis.
Speaker 1: It's very It means so much, and it's meant a
Speaker 1: lot to me to see how many abortion episodes this podcast, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're really cover and everything. Yeah, I was looking them
Speaker 1: up and I was like, there's it's it's every angle
Speaker 1: of abortion care and I love it. We love to
Speaker 1: see my knowledge too, and we love to see it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna run out of topics, so eventually, but you
Speaker 1: really should have an episode about the serve ex glitter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so this will this will be our actually wait are
Speaker 1: you full episodes actually booked me the second apul fulls episode.
Speaker 1: More people need to know about this phenomenon alright, that
Speaker 1: this this has been make it happen here. Uh, you
Speaker 1: can find us in the places where you know where
Speaker 1: to find us, because we say this at the end
Speaker 1: of every episode. H yeah, thank you too. Again, thank you.
Speaker 1: It could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Speaker 1: cool zone media dot com, or check us out on
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Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could
Speaker 1: Happen Here, updated monthly at cool zone media dot com
Speaker 1: slash sources. Thanks for listening.