Archives for October 5th, 2004

The return of the Black Hand? No. Slovenia’s journalists are striking.

I’m on strike. Actually, the Union of Slovenian Journalists is on strike. They started on Sunday (to coincide with parliamentary elections) and they’re still rockin’ the casbah today. The major dailies — Delo, VeÄ?er and Slovenske Novice — are not publishing a Tuesday edition.

I’m not a member of the union, so I thought I wouldn’t be participating. Looks like I was wrong. I showed up at work on Monday morning and found myself smack in the middle of a sit-down strike. To be honest, I always imagined industrial actions looking more like this — with strike busters cracking open people’s heads and feasting on the goo inside — but this was pretty much the opposite. We quietly sat at our desks and repeatedly asked one another if anything was new.

Employee A: “What’s going on? Did you hear anything new? How long is this going to last?”
Employee B: “I don’t know. You asked me that 30 minutes ago.”
Employee A: “Sorry. I thought you might have heard something new while I was in the bathroom.”
Employee B: “No, of course not.”
Employee C (entering office): “Hey guys, I was just in the bathroom. Did I miss anything? How long is this thing going to last?”

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but at times it was certainly like living in a Beckett play. It’s just bizarre to be at your workplace and not work. Although maybe I’ll get used to it. We’ll have to wait and see.