I've been doing other things lately, so it's nice to get back to writing. Plenty of things to think about...
I wrote a few weeks ago about my experience on the negotiating team, and how it's sometimes better to have a cohesive union. After a few weeks negotiating we dead-fish flopped our way to a contract that both sides accepted, only to have the union rank and file dump it like the barf bag it was. No new talks are scheduled. I continue to be dumbfounded by the flat ignorance on both sides. The union (or I should say a vocal segment of the union) is steadfast against any company take-aways, and the company is just as stubborn that the take-aways will indeed by a part of the new deal. It appears that the company is "winning". The hourly folks simply do not have the leadership to pull the group in any direction. They have to rely on the company to give them something they can all stand behind, and the compny, in their infinite idiocy, have handed them a gem on a silver garbage can lid.
The union VP works for a supervisor whose manager bunks across the hall from me. He is also the brother of the manager who bunks across the hall from me. Needless to say, the union VP thinks he's as indestructable as a T-1000 Terminator. (He's also a shape shifter in the same vein, but that's merely a nice coincidence.) He has had a nasty habit of emailing the management team helpful hints on how to manage. He has used union funds to purchase management books which he helpfully given to the management team. (He actually chose some good ones, especially this one.) Despite the helpful veneer, he is an expert at poking people in the eye with a pointed stick, and then lamenting that it was their fault for getting their eye in the way of the poke.
His post contract-failure antics brought him renewed attention from management. He purchased several magnetic signs for his pickup truck, adorned them with union propaganda, and parked his rig at the entrance to the employee parking lot so everyone (including vendors and the odd corporate officer) would see them. One of the signs was a quote attributed to the HR manager which was stupid enough that the HR guy could have said it but actually never did (it was one of my ex-bosses who uttered this particular piece of pablum that I dare not repeat here, suffice to say it enraged most of the hourly folks who don't suffer from too much introspection). Most HR managers do not like to be shone in a negative light, and ours is no exception. A showdown was coming, and right soon.
One day recently the union VP walked past the HR manager's office window with signs under one arm. When he saw the manager look, he switched the signs to his other arm as if to hide the writing. I wasn't there, but it looked something like this. The union man ran to the nearest shop for reinforcements, pursued doggedly by the HR guy. Once treed, the gentleman refused to disclose the content of the signs even though he was directed to do so. After several attempts, the manager directed him to find a shop steward (code for "you're getting disciplined") and meet in the HR building.
Long story short, he fired the union VP right then and there for insubordination. (Oh, and by the way the signs were work-related and had nothing to do with the union.) This is a bit like skipping straight to the triple dog dare, but it stood up in the review and looks like for now it's going to stick.
Remember how the union was disjointed and carrying eleventeen different agendas? They aren't any more. The company management is pleased with itself because they got rid of a "malcontent" "non-team-player". Unfortunately, they've also given the union something and someone to rally around. Let's get back to the contract negotiations - remember that I lamented the lack of cohesiveness and the struggles of dealing with one union in name and scores of unions in practice. We now have fewer unions, but the ones we have created are less likely to negotiate. They have long memories when it come to things like terminations without just cause. This one will linger like a wet dog on your sleeping bag. Trust me.
I wrote a few weeks ago about my experience on the negotiating team, and how it's sometimes better to have a cohesive union. After a few weeks negotiating we dead-fish flopped our way to a contract that both sides accepted, only to have the union rank and file dump it like the barf bag it was. No new talks are scheduled. I continue to be dumbfounded by the flat ignorance on both sides. The union (or I should say a vocal segment of the union) is steadfast against any company take-aways, and the company is just as stubborn that the take-aways will indeed by a part of the new deal. It appears that the company is "winning". The hourly folks simply do not have the leadership to pull the group in any direction. They have to rely on the company to give them something they can all stand behind, and the compny, in their infinite idiocy, have handed them a gem on a silver garbage can lid.
The union VP works for a supervisor whose manager bunks across the hall from me. He is also the brother of the manager who bunks across the hall from me. Needless to say, the union VP thinks he's as indestructable as a T-1000 Terminator. (He's also a shape shifter in the same vein, but that's merely a nice coincidence.) He has had a nasty habit of emailing the management team helpful hints on how to manage. He has used union funds to purchase management books which he helpfully given to the management team. (He actually chose some good ones, especially this one.) Despite the helpful veneer, he is an expert at poking people in the eye with a pointed stick, and then lamenting that it was their fault for getting their eye in the way of the poke.
His post contract-failure antics brought him renewed attention from management. He purchased several magnetic signs for his pickup truck, adorned them with union propaganda, and parked his rig at the entrance to the employee parking lot so everyone (including vendors and the odd corporate officer) would see them. One of the signs was a quote attributed to the HR manager which was stupid enough that the HR guy could have said it but actually never did (it was one of my ex-bosses who uttered this particular piece of pablum that I dare not repeat here, suffice to say it enraged most of the hourly folks who don't suffer from too much introspection). Most HR managers do not like to be shone in a negative light, and ours is no exception. A showdown was coming, and right soon.
One day recently the union VP walked past the HR manager's office window with signs under one arm. When he saw the manager look, he switched the signs to his other arm as if to hide the writing. I wasn't there, but it looked something like this. The union man ran to the nearest shop for reinforcements, pursued doggedly by the HR guy. Once treed, the gentleman refused to disclose the content of the signs even though he was directed to do so. After several attempts, the manager directed him to find a shop steward (code for "you're getting disciplined") and meet in the HR building.
Long story short, he fired the union VP right then and there for insubordination. (Oh, and by the way the signs were work-related and had nothing to do with the union.) This is a bit like skipping straight to the triple dog dare, but it stood up in the review and looks like for now it's going to stick.
Remember how the union was disjointed and carrying eleventeen different agendas? They aren't any more. The company management is pleased with itself because they got rid of a "malcontent" "non-team-player". Unfortunately, they've also given the union something and someone to rally around. Let's get back to the contract negotiations - remember that I lamented the lack of cohesiveness and the struggles of dealing with one union in name and scores of unions in practice. We now have fewer unions, but the ones we have created are less likely to negotiate. They have long memories when it come to things like terminations without just cause. This one will linger like a wet dog on your sleeping bag. Trust me.
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