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PORTSIDE CULTURE

GOOD GUYS DON’T FINISH LAST—IF THEY HAVE A MILITANT UNION BEHIND
THEM  
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Joe Maniscalco
November 18, 2024
Work-Bites
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_ Children's book teaches role of unions, unity and struggle - just
what we need for these times. Written by a labor attorney and author,
for young readers aged 7-12, just in time for the holidays. _

“Good Guy Jake” by Mark Torres is available at Hard Ball Press.,
Illustration by Yana Murashko.

 

You know the old saying, “Good guys finish last.” Even at
Christmas.

But whoever said that didn’t have a fighting labor union behind them
well prepared to work a little holiday magic on behalf of the rank &
file.

Labor attorney and author Mark Torres invokes both the militancy of
the movement and the merriment of the holiday season in his delightful
Christmas story for kids from Hard Ball Press called, _“Good Guy
Jake.”_
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Good Guy Jake/Buen Chico Jake
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By Mark Torres
Illustrations: Yana Murashko; Translation: Medlin Arroyo
Hard Ball Press; 58 pages
Paperback::  $13.50;  E-book:  $5.50
July 30, 2017
ISBN-10 ? : ? 0999135805
ISBN-13 ? : ? 978-0999135808

 
Hard Ball Press
Jake is a Sanitation Worker from New York City and a member of the
United Street Cleaners Union [USCU] who for years has been pulling
discarded toys from the trash, fixing them up like new à la
“Santa’s Little Helper,” and donating them to children
celebrating their Christmas at the local homeless shelter.

One day in December, Jake runs afoul of a neighborhood Scrooge in a
fancy car who doesn’t appreciate being held up for two minutes while
Jake hops out of his garbage truck to rescue a few more broken toys
from the curb.

 
Jake picks up broken toys left on the curb for collection.
 (Illustration by Yana Murashko.)
The guy wastes no time snapping up pix of Jake “breaking the
rules” and sends them off to the authorities in cynical protest. The
next day, Jake is summarily fired from his longtime job.

“Jake, you are a good worker, but a man complained that you were
blocking traffic because you were taking toys from the garbage…Jake,
you know that is against the rules, right?” Jake’s manager tells
him.

_“Hey, that ain’t right,”_ you’re probably saying to yourself
right now.

That’s certainly the innate reaction Torres wants to draw from his
young readers. He also wants them to understand that labor unions like
the one that represents Jake protect good people from bad
things—good people that children often see picking up the garbage or
cleaning the sidewalks in their own neighborhoods.

Warmly illustrated by Yana Murashko and translated into Spanish by
Madeline Arroyo Romero, _“Good Guy Jake”_
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children to core union concepts in terms they can easily understand
and enjoy.

Chief among them is the idea that workers covered by a union contract
can file a “grievance” when bosses try to deny them of their
rights.

 
The neighborhood Scrooge gets mad because Jake’s garbage truck is
momentarily blocking the road.  (Illustration by Yana Murashko.)
After Jake is fired from his Sanitation job, he immediately goes to
his union representative who helps him file a grievance in a bid to
get back his job.

When the bosses still refuse to give Jake back his job—his union
representative files for “arbitration” and a further opportunity
for Jake to argue his case.

But the arbitration process isn’t enough to get Jake back his
job—the deck is still stacked too high against him. The bosses have
lawyers, too, and their whole _raison d'ê·tre _is to help mean
bosses do very bad things to hard-working people like Jake.

Things look bleak, indeed, for Jake one week before Christmas at his
arbitration hearing. Rules are rules, and Jake has clearly broken them
by pulling broken toys from the trash and blocking traffic.

But then, Torres has Jake’s labor lawyer do something magical that
goes far beyond the constraints of the normal arbitration process.

 
Children from the local homeless shelter bring some of the toys that
Jake has repaired into the arbitration hearing. (Illustration by Yana
Murashko.)
In a scene that is straight out of _Miracle on 34th Stree_t, the
homeless children who’ve been the recipients of Jake’s kindness
and generosity march into the hearing room, calling on the arbitration
judge to give Jake back his job.

How many working people out there wish their arbitration cases were
similarly handled? 

“The first child said, ‘Hello, my name is Olivia. I am here
because I heard that Jake was fired from his job,” Torres writes.
“‘Jake brought me this gift for Christmas.’  Olivia showed the
judge a pink scooter. ‘Sometimes at the shelter we are sad. When
Jake gave us gifts, it made us happy. He made us feel loved.’ The
second child showed the judge a shiny green bicycle. He said, ‘Jake
gave me this bicycle. Jake has a good heart. If he broke a rule, he
should’t lose his job because he was trying to do something nice.
Please give him a second chance.’”

The arbitration judge has no other choice but to admit, “There are
times when a rule is broken for a good reason”—another startling
good message to instill in children.

It’s a Christmas miracle—Jake gets his job back!

Torres solidifies the learning experience with a list of pertinent
questions following the conclusion aimed at helping prompt parents,
teachers, and librarians to further engage with children about the
story they’ve just read.

Some of those prompts include, “If the Sanitation Workers in the
story did not have a union, do you think Jake would have won his job
back? If not, why not?” and “Can you name other public employees
you see as you go about your day?

What a gift…an illustrated children’s book that teaches kids they
never have to feel powerless in the face of  dumb, stupid bosses or
heartless cranks. 

_Merry Christmas to all!_

_THANKS FOR READING! IF YOU VALUE THIS REPORTING AND WOULD LIKE TO
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