Where do we start?

Here is a list of the most common complaints I hear and read from local union members.

1. Management doesn't care how many grievances there are. They just refuse to settle.

2. Management laughs at me when I call for my rep.

3. No one does anything about safety complaints.

4. My co-worker(s) are a pain in my ass.

5. People work breaks/People yell at me when I work breaks. 

6. Temps do extra work/Temps are lazy.

7. No one gives a damn about my problems.

8. My job is overloaded.

9. My pay is always screwed up.

There are many others, but I have chosen these as a place to begin. Why? Because to me these complaints tell me one thing: Management, not the union, is in control.

Well isn't management always in control? Don't they run the place? Don't they pay the wages? etc. Yes, Yes, Yes and No.

What the union must control is the "etc."

The labor movement was begun as a counter-balancing force against unfair management. Management's job is to squeeze every little bit of work out of you they can for the lowest price. If you think they care even one little bit about you then you are a fool. If you die on the line they'll just plug in someone else. They don't care if you go blind, wreck your back, get carpal tunnel, lose a hand or fracture a skull. You are replaceable. Don't believe me? Well buckle up buttercup because believe it or not that is exactly the way it is.

Let me tell you a story. Not long after the plant opened in Ft. Wayne the eight (8) year old daughter of a 2209 member was kidnapped, raped and murdered. I attended the visitation as did many members. Not one single SOB from management did. NOT ONE! This was the most horrible time that this family was ever going to go through but the managers our brother worked with every day as well as the upper managers from our "team concept" plant couldn't be bothered to attend. The next morning I threw a tantrum at the plant staff meeting and I peeled every one of their asses. I yelled, I swore, and I did everything I could to humiliate them. They turned out for the funeral and the member never knew what I had done.

I tell this story for two reasons: 1) You better believe they don't give a shit; and, 2) What I did is the "etc." I talked about above. The union has to care.

Now I'm not going to get to all the points I listed above because it would make the post overly long for most readers and I have some more groundwork to lay first. But I promise to get to every one of them in this and future posts.

Here is the first thing I need to make clear. You are "the union." You. The guys in the work center, the e-board members and the appointed people are not the union. They are part of it, but You are the union. 

Rule number one is that management doesn't give a damn. Rule number two is that You are the union. Get those things firmly in your mind. Nothing I write about from this point forward will be worth a thing until you understand and believe those two points.

You know what the above means? It means You are the "etc." And sisters and brothers you can make stuff happen! 

But not alone. Together. Eugene Debs, a great labor leader put it this way, "I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks." 

Let's talk a bit about #s 1 and 2 on my list. 

1) Management doesn't care how many grievances there are. They just refuse to settle.

Why won't management settle? Simple. They don't have any incentive to make it worthwhile. Bargaining reps sometimes get lazy. They think, "I've written the grievance and gotten the member off my back," instead of thinking, "I've got a member with a problem that needs to be taken care of." Managers think, "the union doesn't care," and grievances pile up. Eventually comes contract time and some kinds of settlements are made, usually for less than the full dollar amount, or after members have been out on discharge for a long time, and long after many of the problems simply died of old age.

How can that be changed? 

As usual I'll begin with a story. When I was a committeeman I met with the Superintendent EVERY Tuesday I was in town to settle grievances. He had reasons to want a low count (it made him look better than the other supt's) and I wanted problems solved. I made it easier by not writing stupid grievances, and eventually he realized settling made sense. (See my previous post for a further discussion of this point).

Why did I meet on Tuesday? I knew the supt. required all his supervisors to give him their fact sheets on open grievances on Monday. This was leverage I could use. If a foreman was being an ass, I waited 'til Friday afternoon to write a grievance (or two or three). Then the foreman either had to write a fact sheet before he left work, or do it on his or her weekend. Either way it was a pain in their ass. And, if they wrote a lousy fact sheet I'd not only get the grievance settled, but they would get their ass kicked.

Another point: It was easy to know what grievances were important to the supt.--any one that made him look stupid, for example. I NEVER let the supt. determine the order we would discuss grievances. His would ALWAYS be on the bottom of the list I'd submit. When he'd try to move it up, as he often tried, I'd just say no, we'll go from top to bottom.

If he wanted to try and avoid settling I'd give him two weeks. Then I'd send it up to 2nd step. He hated that, since whatever I wrote was a good grievance the labor reps would call and raise hell with him.

And I would ALWAYS remind him when he had to sign off on a grievance that the foreman could have settled it right away, saving the supt. time and embarrassment. 

Fine, Wray, but that doesn't keep my foreman from just blowing off me and my rep.

That, brothers and sisters, can be stopped as well--it just takes a bit more work and cooperation from the chairman/shop committee, and, a bit more explanation from me, so I'll leave the discussion here and pick it up next time.

But first, let me take care of an easy one: paycheck errors, number nine (9).

Fixing paycheck errors is NOT the rep.'s job! It is the supervisor's job. He or she is responsible for the time.

If I got called out on a paycheck error here is how the call went: I peeled the supervisor's ass for wasting my time and told him to fix it RIGHT NOW! If he tried laughing it off (and a few did, but only once) I would page the superintendent with an emergency 999 to let him know the call was important. When he called back I told him I had a paycheck error I needed him/her to fix. The response was always the same. "That's not my job! I'm not going to waste my time . . . talk to (the supervisor). I'd tell him I did and he said he didn't care so I called you. Usually that is all it took. The superintendent would usually just take the phone and make damned certain the supervisor knew he didn't want to be bothered with piddly stuff. Just once a superintendent blew me off. I called the general supt. If you think the supt was pissed at the foreman just think how pissed the general supt was to have to deal with the matter. I never had to deal with paycheck errors after that.

It wasn't so hard after all.

Solidarity forever isn't just a song lyric; it is the union way of life.