Unions » Susan

“I can see blood even in the dark. I don’t need light to see it. I can even see it beneath skin. Apparently lead, wood, and concrete get in the way, but skin does not.”

“Well, that is unusual, but not unheard of”

“Other vampires can see blood?”

“Yes. There are some abilities that some vampires have. They aren’t very common, but they are also not unique.”

“And seeing and moving blood is one of them?”

“Moving blood? Without touching it?”

“Yes. I can make my blood move. Not very much of it, but I seem to be able to control more and more as I practice. I have not tried moving other people’s blood”

“Interesting…”

UNIONS » SUSAN

May

“So patients can choose whatever shift they want and we need to balance for that?” Mark continues.

“Yes, the customer is always right. We are just poorly paid employees”

“This is keeping us alive… how can that be poorly paid?”

“Slaves were kept alive too. And it isn’t like this is just (or even) for our benefit: we are each keeping a dozen other people alive. How much

would those people pay if we did it directly for them? Say get rid of the clinics… provide it directly.”

“I don’t know how much they would pay… I guess it would be some combination of what it is worth to them, what they could afford, and what alternatives they would have.”

“It would be worth their lives, so that factor is clear. But currently there aren’t alternatives… the clinics own the process keeping patients alive… and the clinics own us. It is like Amazon only worse: they have a complete monopoly and there is no possibility of competition”

“There are multiple chains. They should be competing.”

“Except we can’t change clinics. Patients can, but we can’t. ”

“The clinics are conspiring to keep us restricted?”

“I assume so. We can’t change employers… we don’t control where we work… we don’t control when we work… we can’t go out on our own… and we can’t negotiate a better salary, benefits, or situation.”

“Has anyone tried?”

“I think so, but the results were similar to trying to form unions within Amazon or similar companies. It did not go well. I believe the leaders of those activities are not around anymore.”

“They aren’t still trying to unionize?”

“No… they aren’t doing anything anymore. People don’t appreciate undead who complain. We do not appear to have that right.”