techworkerszine

[techworkerszine]

Call for Work: Workers in Tech Zine

I spent a lot of 2018-2020 thinking about driverless cars. I wrote about them. I taught a course about them. I wrote a novel about workers in Pittsburgh’s driverless car sector that will be published [ TK ].

While working on these projects, I talked to many people in and around the AV sector (you, dear reader, are likely one of these people). In these conversations I heard solutions to fixable global problems. I heard frustrations about unfixable company-related problems. More than anything, I heard stories from workers who felt 1) incredible scrutiny and pressure at their jobs 2) incredible social scrutiny and pressure the instant they left their workplaces. Yes, I endured conversations with some true A1 Tech Assholes, but far more frequently, I spoke with employees from all levels (think after-hours employees to directors) who were incredibly self-aware about their privilege, their skill, their replaceability, the shockingly entrenched and ascendant power of their company, the shall-we-say clumsy treatment of workers at said company…

Me, an artist and writing instructor: “you should write something about all of this!”

Worker: “yeah, but where would I write for? Plus my NDA really frowns on this sort of stuff.”

I made multiple offers to look at work, of any sort, whenever they wanted, if only as an exercise in self-reflection. The more work I saw, the more I thought: it would be so beneficial for this all this work to be in conversation in some way.

So, I’m seeking writing and art from tech workers to be published in a zine alongside the release of my book in [ TK ].

_____________________

So um, I’m just supposed to write? About working in tech?

Your prompt, which you are welcome to reject or reframe in any way you see fit: what is it like to be a worker in the tech industry?

How exactly am I supposed to tackle this prompt?

It’s up to you. Visual art, short written narratives, a comic, a poem—I am big believer that artists need space, not direction (though I can certainly help provide the latter if you find yourself in need).

The only constraint is that you get two pages--think 8.5ish x 7ish. Consider those two pages yours.

Do I have to work in the driverless car sector?

No. I’m fine with loose definitions of ‘tech’ and ‘worker.’

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that my very first two thoughts are: oh I would love to tell story ‘X’, and oh I could totally get in trouble for doing this. The risk-reward is too imbalanced.

Authored pieces are welcome, as are anonymous ones. I would be the only person to know which piece was yours, and I would ensure that there’s no identifying details or information of any sort. If you doubt my commitment to protecting workers, consider: when my teachers’ union went on strike, the state education system briefly terminated our healthcare. My wife was 8.5 months pregnant. So, I picketed, without healthcare, while my wife was on the verge of labor, all because she and I believe in protecting workers’ rights.

What I’m saying is: you’re safe with me. We can talk more if you’re concerned.

So like, why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?

To the extent my novel has a thesis, it’s that blue collar work ethic is an insufficient personal credo in the face of enormous social problems. This is not some flimsily chosen notion. For years, I have burrowed into my writing well, eager to ‘work hard’ and ‘uphold familial blue collar values’ and ‘something something steel industry something something.' Meanwhile, the world outside this writing well of mine has grown tragic-comically worse seemingly every hour. It is destined to deteriorate further without a continually replenished spirit of collaboration and organization. These notions are, in part, what my novel is about, and I hope this project can put this idea into more tactile action in some small way.

Come on, be real, what’s really in it for you? Aren’t you just trying to sell more books?

Fuck yes I am, though I would revise that sentence: I am trying to help my publisher sell more books. One of my primary goals is this: I want my publisher, the heroic small press outfit Propeller Books, to break even on my novel. This is very, very important to me. Breaking even will not earn me any financial reward. It will very much reward my publisher, the heroic Dan DeWeese, who has run Propeller Books and Propeller Magazine for ten years. I very much want the press to continue for another ten (and more).

I also very much want to help ___[cause TK]______, which is why I am building upon a ‘book launch’ model my wife concocted for her own book release in January of 2021 (read more here). Whereas she created her own zine for her Level 2 perk in her Indiegogo campaign, our zine will serve as the Level 2 perk. In our (not my, our) model, Level 1 contributors would receive my novel. Level 2 contributors would receive a Book and our Zine. Level 3 would get some yet-to-be-determined benefit.

I’m looking at your wife’s page and it seems like she’s making some decent money. Do I get any of that $?

That’s the goal! The biggest cut will go to Propeller Books. A second cut will go to ________. I am working on acquiring grant funds to pay for zine printing costs, and my hope is that once zine costs are met either from grant funds or from Level 2-and-up purchases, zine contributors will split funds earned from the sale of the zine.

Seems very complicated.

Collaboration often is.

What if I just want the zine?

Spoiler: there will be many zines left over after this project. Before we sell them individually, I’d like to try and maximize the launch campaign as much as possible. I imagine you will get plenty of zines in the end.

So what is really, actually, truly required of me?

Make something. Send it to me. And, if you want, maybe participate in a launch event at White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield when the novel comes out and vaccines are aplenty.

All this talk about ‘pieces’ and ‘comics’ and ‘anecdotes’….I’m just a freaking tech worker! I’m not an artist! Even if did want to submit, I’d have no idea how to go about it.

Look. Someone (me, a colleague, a friend) thinks you have a story to tell. That’s why you have arrived to this page. Don’t get caught up in the form. Think about your experience. What do you want people to know about you? What do they not understand about working in tech? What does your family not understand about working in tech? Your friends? Your bosses?

I know someone who would be oh-so-interested in this.

Give them my email—patrickmmcginty@gmail.com—or send them the link to this page. The more the merrier.

I’ve got to confess: I’m a little leery about making it seem as though tech workers are this incredibly disadvantaged group. I don’t want to come across as whiny.

This is a very self-aware concern, and I actually think there’s a way to invite this discomfort into whatever you submit. I also think that the best stories arise from tension, which the tech sector has quite a high supply of at the moment. It might be helpful to consider this advice I once received from a very, very smart organizer: “labor learns best from labor.” I won’t explain that quote away. Instead, I’m going to try and collect work for a zine that puts that advice into practice. 

When is this due?

Let’s say May 31st.