It was August, we were 18 and had just left school. I was preparing to go to university. One of my classmates was not going to university, so instead he got a job at a company that builds and refits luxury yachts. Now these were really luxury yachts costing many hundreds of millions of dollars. Oligarch’s yachts really. Out of reach of even elite porky to buy outright. Too large to fit in normal marinas.
As the apprentice new guy, this classmate had been given the job of cleaning out the resin tanks. Huge tanks large enough to stand in, used to store phenolic resin which is used extensively in yacht construction. All solvents capable of dissolving resin (eg acetone) are almost as flammable as gasoline. The vapor in the tank somehow ignited and he was burned, basically 100%. He made it to hospital then died.
I only heard about this when I returned from university, and since we didn't have any friends in common, it didn't affect me personally. However the horrific way it happened, combined with the socially useless work he was doing stuck with me, and years later resurfaced as a realization of the violence inherent in capitalism.
Porky got a light slap on the wrist, after all it was only a tragic accident, and the yacht company is an important employer in the area. Being an ex-navel dockyard it is otherwise economically depressed.
Sorry about the downer story, I’ve never told anyone about this. It happened a long time ago now. Press C to pay respects, and build a society where kids don’t get blown up earning minimum wage repairing gigaporky’s boat.
Nice blog also f part time minimum wage worker Remember, under capitalism, the less you get paid the more danger you endure during your job. A low wage is a literal valuation of your life under capitalist law and punishments for damage to them is proportional to it.
Dylan Gonzalez
This sounds like an assassination plot TBH, that or someone decided to be a bonafide arsonist.
Samuel Murphy
C low wage labor is hell. I feel for your friend.
Joseph Gutierrez
Exactly user, it was social murder. Then conservative cunts have the audacity to complain that health and safety standards have become too high, and are a burden on business, when shit straight out of a Dickensian factory happens in [modern times]. Literally weeks after finishing 13 years of education. We're that disposable.
This event played a part in me reading 'The Road to Wigan Pier', which made me read 'The condition of the working class in England', which lead to Marx.
Guy in charge of the company where 29 miners died in explosion due to failing all safety standards got a misdemeanour and one year in jail. I actually read his blog out of curiosity after he got out, and he was making typical posts about 'big gubmint' and so on.
Sometime after that he actually stunned even someone as cynical as me - he tried to win a primary to become a Republican Senator for WV. I could not fathom someone who murdered 29 people and was lucky enough to get away with it not hiding themselves away for the rest of their life. But, porksters are a whole different species from us.
Jack Moore
29 is nothing for most porkies.
Jackson Wood
Oh sure, I understand that, but usually their death toll is a bit more abstracted and intangible, this guy straight killed 29 guys due to his negligent management. Like when he was complaining about health and safety on his blog and running for Senate did he not ever think about the men he killed and their families?
Well, as you say, I guess that's what separates the powerful and the meek. That killer instinct.
Lucas Peterson
If you don't have a BSc in the 21st century, you are a second-class citizen at best.
Aaron Hill
And if you do you're third-class
Grayson Reed
This is what someone from the academy would say. If you don't have at least a bachelor, no country will take you and yours likely wants to get rid off you too. There are always crocodile tears in the media about how hard college graduates have it, how there are less and worse jobs, but they don't even think about what it means for those who do nit have that certificate of worthiness.
Caleb Morgan
C nice blog post. I always need a reminder.
Michael Hill
C
Austin Evans
Even without ignition, these vapors will fuck your body up after long term exposure. Aren’t you supposed to wear flame protection?
Jayden Butler
C
Sebastian Martinez
C
Levi Diaz
Didn't stop me from reading with his voice.
Connor Watson
For porky it probably increases the value knowing a prole died in the tank.
Ian Foster
C
(Why are we pressing C and not F? Is it short for Communism?)
