Identity and Training/PTN

Jim Askins told us at PTN 98 that if the presentation gets boring, then
start a fight.

"While never suggesting unionization for preservation, organizing the
trade within a collective body is the purpose of PTN." Rob Cagnetti

I believe I am the one individual, as Executive Coordinator of PTN, who
has the responsiblity to make definitive statements as to *what* PTN is,
and even at that I consider refraining as either the PTN Executive
Committee, or the various members of the PTN Committees, many of which
frequent BP, would easily take me to task for mouthing off and
expressing views that may be too narrow for their vision of the
organization. I certainly do not mind if anyone says, "I think PTN is
yada yada." I do mind if someone says in a public forum that PTN is
this, or that. It is missleading to those who are not involved with PTN.
There are subscribers on BP who would not give a boar's tit to the
discussion, and worse, narrow definitions exclude those who would be
involved with PTN but for the fact that they were told what it was, when
it was not the whole truth.

A problem I have with Rob's statement is that he is expressing one
purpose, "the purpose", making a quite complicated set of relationships
suddenly appear very deceptively simple. PTN is not as simple as
collective organizing, and to view PTN in terms of union/non-union
dynamics is to put blinders on to larger and more pressing global and
environmental issues.

Rob is also expressing a one purpose in a way that I find personally
degrading. A good friend of mine, who is not in construction, thought he
had a flash of insight when he said that construction is a commodity.
Well, I take it personal when anyone places me as a commodity... next
step is numbers and tattoos and reconstruction programs, and I don't
mean reconstructing buildings. If you want a commodity, then pursue a
vision of collective organizing. I bristle at the idea that the
multiplicity of experiences and emotions of the preservation trades
would be harnessed into a collective identity. Collective organizing is
NOT *the* purpose of PTN.

"Thus, becoming the organization that represents the historic
preservationists requires defining some criteria for participation.  And
if that participation criteria then becomes the broader criteria for
experience expectations, then how that experience is provided and
acquired should be part of the trade criteria."

The question at hand is WHO gets to define the criteria for PTN. I
believe the criteria will be established by the collective leadership of
the organization. The leadership will act like Borgs and will place
forehead stamps on those who are acceptable and will drown the babies of
carpenters and blacksmiths who show signs of weakness. If a babe is not
able to weild a framing hammer and strike a 10D nail squarely at the age
of 7 months, using only the right arm to hold the hammer, then their
contract shall be terminated.

"So, with governments recognizing the "collective body" of a trade, the
need to define training and educational opportunities for craftspeople
will become expected."

This reeks of Socialist, Marxist dogma, but not fully, as it sounds too
hollow of a pronouncement. Predictions for the future always sound
phenomenal. Hyperbolic rhetoric.

"The existing means for structured skills training, i.e.
apprenticeships, is the first step towards trade recognition."

Bullshit. We have to look closely to the historical context of where the
*preservation* trades came from, why they took, as individuals, the
route that they did take, and what pressures there were in the local and
global environment to put them where they are now. Making apriori
structural statements about social organizations without going back to
fundamental causes is backwards. Geography has more to do with the
current state of histo presto than modern socialist movements. The
preservation industry exists because there are old buildings, old
buildings relate to when humans built them, and to what materials were
available for them to build with. So let us argue geographic
determinism. Then we can move our way towards an identity package.

NYC has 27,000 historic structures. Rob has one apprentice. Does Rob
imagine the world has been sleeping while one apprentice has
apprenticed? Teamsters Local 868 Restoration Mechanics may not be
conducive to his argument, and I'm sure Local 66 and the International
Brotherhood of Bricklayers will have a different viewpoint -- and they
are a part of PTN, but neither are they the purpose. But they are small
beans. Of 27,000 buildings I believe, though for reasons of the
difficulty of collecting statistics on an illegal workforce can't prove,
the majority of the work is done by trades that have no concept of
unionism. Neither do they have very much of a concept of the IRS, DOL,
DEP or OSHA. They do understand the INS. There are many more $5,000 -
$20,000 histo presto projects in NYC than there are $20,000 - $50,000,
of which there are more even than for $1.3 - 6M histo presto projects.
What determines the identity of those who work on these buildings is the
person/organization who pays for the work.

"No, rather it means that those that have, have no defined means of
identification."

We don't need no stinkin' badges. Or do we? I prefer
stick-it-in-your-face T-shirts. I'm into identity, you can tell when I
am in the room.

"So the purpose of my muse was to incite some discussion on unifying the
trade, and how those moving through their career lattice may have
clearer trade based
opportunities. Comments and info are certainly welcome."

I'm incited, are we happy now? Here is another vision of PTN which can
be found in the BP archives. >There are political ramifications of our
empowering the preservation trades with the tools to develop trust
relationships and cut across the adversarial positions. On the question
of trade unions, a trust relationship with the owner implies a
relationship not only to the owner of the building, but the owner of the
capital. Trade unions tend to position themselves as adversarial to
everyone, which is not conducive to alliances in a changing world. What
needs to be realized within the preservation industry, eventually, is
that the blue and white collar workers, preservation trades and design
professionals, are both equally subject to the inclinations of the
owners of capital.<

The difficulty of trade unions taking an adversarial stance towards
others was played out in a mini-drama on the floor at IPTW 99. The
International Brotherhood of Bricklayers has a lot to offer to PTN (I
admire what I see of their training programs), as well, the non-union
constituency of PTN has a lot to offer to the union -- and not only as a
buffer against third world developmental expansion. For some in the
trade unions PTN is a threat to their existence... somewhat neglecting
that there are larger threats surrounding all of us, and some union
members are afraid, agitated, to give away their SECRETS. For non-union
PTN trades there is a fear of being taken over and collectivized. I
think if one talks around PTN they will find a pattern where early in a
craftsperson's career they were rejected by the union (or their parents)
for idiosyncracies of *sharing* unbefitting of a union member, and that
eventually the rejection lead to their individuation into being a
multi-disciplined historic preservation craftsperson... rather than a
mono-disciplined pipe fitter or derrickman. Asking craftspeople to turn
back to the hand that bit them is a tough nut.

][<en Follett, PTN Executive Coordinator (one badge, one world)