Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit

by Eliese Colette Goldbach

When you worked at the mill, you felt owned by the mill. The lack of sick days meant that you slogged through your shift with a fever. The absence of paid time off meant that you might miss your daughter’s birthday or your son’s graduation. There was very little vacation time, especially for newer employees, and you couldn’t request a day off. That wasn’t even the worst of it, though. I had only been working at the mill for a couple months, but I already got the sense that the rich, powerful people who ran the company thought we should be grateful for being owned. That was the kicker. We sensed it from the bosses, who said they could replace us in a heartbeat. We sensed it from the HR Department, who scanned the footage from CCTV cameras for people to punish. We sensed it from the corporate types, who always wheedled their way out of paying us a profit sharing bonus.