Axlewrights' Union Election: Fayne Takes 68%, Keeps Seat

The wheel-menders have spoken in their union election, and it wasn't close.

Steward-General Shaun Fayne the Unbowed won a second four-year term in the United Axlewrights' union election, taking about 68 percent in the unofficial count released Friday. Vice-Steward Rich Boarer, the strongest of five challengers, got 13 percent. Fayne's slate swept every seat it ran for. That means nobody else gets a chair.

"The membership has spoken," Fayne said. "These results are about taking on the guildmasters and reversing the worst wealth inequality in the history of the realm." He pointed to the Axlewrights' organizing win at the Folkswain Wagonworks yard in Chatterhooga. Councilor Bernard Sanderling called him "one of the great union leaders in our country" who "has taken on the billionaire class." In Waterdeep, that means the guildmasters in the nice cloaks.

"I voted for the man who showed up at our picket line," said Durga Flintpocket, a rim-hammerer for twenty-two years. "Not the ones who show up at hearings." Fair enough. Turnout ran about one in ten, though. "I meant to vote," said Orsik Tanglebeard, a spoke-lathe operator. "Then my shift ran long, and then I had dinner." Orsik. Friend. Vote next time.

The win lands under a cloud. Court-Warden Neil Barrowsky, the monitor the High Courts installed to watch the Axlewrights' books, has filed a string of sharp reports about Fayne and his allies. The Royal Inquisitors, answering to High Lord Donwald of the Golden Towers, have opened a probe alleging Fayne misused his office. Fayne calls all of it politically motivated. I have met a lot of Inquisitors in forty years. Some were right. Some wanted a promotion. I'll wait for the scrolls.

The members said keep swinging. The next real test is 2028, when the contracts with the three great carriage houses expire. Fayne has two years to sharpen his chisel, and the carriage houses have two years to practice looking surprised.

The rest of the realm isn't waiting. The Golden Coast clerks walk out on the 21st, and the Orcrange County wagonmasters are already lettering their picket signs. Ballots are good. Picket lines are better. Both beat sitting quietly while a guildmaster calls your layoff "a talent opportunity."

Solidarity. And stretch your back. — Brakka