Union Member on Union (and Company) Leaders

by | Jul 14, 2009 | Positive Workplace, Unionized Company

I get email all the time from current union members. It’s usually hate mail containing all kinds of “thoughtful feedback” about things I should do to myself and asking me about my sleep (I sleep well, by the way…). Since most of this email can’t even spell the curse words right I don’t reprint it. However, I do occasionally get insightful emails like the one below (lots of great stuff in here for union leaders as well as company leaders):

Dear Sir: And a very pleasant good morning to you. I really don’t know how it happened, perhaps reading something on NPR or whatever, but your ‘spot’ on the page caught my attention. Allow me to introduce and explain myself and why I am writing. I have been employed for the last  (almost) 31 years as an agreement employee on a major US railroad. I can speak of unions with a little bit of ‘authority’ I believe. I subscribed to ‘the seven lies’ out of curiosity; and surprisingly, I am not in total disagreement with you! I guess it’s because of the failure of some of these organizations to ‘deliver’ on their empty and ‘fantastic’ promises. SOMEthing is wrong when, at a regular meeting, five people show up and of that five, two are retired and bringing the day old doughnuts. Perhaps two active members are present, and of course, there is most likely the local political windbag there along with some ‘investigator’ (usually a disabled former employee) from some (usually) ambulance chasing law firm. This is a sad commentary, sir! Very sad. Unions were born out of necessity. They are not some exclusive, elite prestigious organization. I needn’t go in to the history and genesis of all this because I can easily tell that your firm and your associates are educated, intelligent and learned folks, otherwise you would not be in the business you are in. But I digress. Unions were (originally) born to combat the corporate greed, disregard for the well being of employees and SAFETY. Let’s throw in MEDICAL insurance, also. I KNOW I am not receiving these benefits, along with somewhat fair work rules (debatable) because my employer LOVES me. To them I am a liability; even though people such as myself and my Brothers and Sisters are the ones who actually MAKE IT HAPPEN for these folks and generate the revenue so that they can make their millions and all their stock options etc etc ad nauseum. Yet we are the same folks that they exploit, abuse, cheat and intimidate to achieve their ultimate goal. It’s things like that that spawned unions. A fair piece of the ‘pie’, a safe place to work, fair pay etc. No, I donot think that some Detroit ghetto kid with barely an eighth grade education should have a job as a forklift operator in one of the “Big Three” automakers to the tune of seventy dollars an hour or what ever obscene amount they get. There’s something WRONG there. I’m TWICE as skilled as that individual, and I am only considered ‘Semi Skilled’ and my pay, albeit is a decent living, doesn’t come close to the forklift driver from the ‘hood.’  Strong Unionism? Yes. Fair? Absolutely not! I am not envious of thsi person, I just think there is a fine line between ‘subliminal’ and ‘bizarre’ And we wonder why an automobile costs so much. There’s a start, wouldn’t you say? I am not so blind as to rule out what the executives get, either, so there is ‘fault’ if you will, enough to go around so that everyone gets their share. (Akin to ‘partisan ploitics’) Sadly, I have come to the realization that perhaps in the ‘beginning’ unions served an important purpose. I don’t think anyone in their right mind will argue that. What is even more sad, is the fact that most of our leaders have lost sight of their objective, and have ceased to serve their membership. I have a real problem with some joker in Cleveland OH making six figures, who is so out of touch with his membership, and is probably ‘in bed’ with someone from the industry or playing golf with another, and acepting little ‘perks’ if they will relent on a certain point of contention on an upcoming negotiation. I have seen some terrible things happen where we have all but been sold out. I donot even belong to the union that holds my contract becasue of a certain representative (if you want to call him that; I prefer ‘Company Whore”) continues to be re elected despite all his opposition. This ‘person’ ( I refuse to recognize him as a MAN) has consistently made agreements that are so detrimental to his membership, that he doesn’t even DARE set foot in Denver, as actual threats have been made on his life. And for THIS I am supposed to pay over one hundred dollars a month? Representation for WHAT? I received a lot of flak when I joined an opposing union, but I trust them more than the former. It’s a matter of who lies to yiou least, and who will screw you with less impunity! I am cognizant of the goal and purpose of my employer is to make money for their stockholders. I own a chunk of Union Pacific and over the years, the stock has been very good to me and has allowed me to get rid of a lot of bills prior to retirement (47 days). I’m all about the company doing well. Unfortunately, Big Business has a mindset today that makes the ‘Robber Barons’ of the past look tame. What’s worse, our unions can’t even come CLOSE to competing with them at the so called “bargaining” table. How do you justify a Philly lawyer going against some Harley T-shirt wearing, surely not as educated and polished as the former in negotiations and expect to come out victorious? Do we still believe in the Easter Bunny? Our illustrious leaders aren’t even smart enough to get a real negotiator, to do our bidding. Michael Jordan surely wouldn’t be making the money he is making today in the NBA had one of our ‘negotiators’ been his agent. He’d be sweeping floors after the game! Sir, I am not going to ramble on about this. Our unions have lost their vision, have strayed from their mission and are STUCK in the Fifties. Along with every other facet of life, things progress, things change, and life goes on. If one isn’t flexible, and ‘strong enough to bend’ he/she will surely be left in the dust. Yes, getting rid of a union is a Herculaen task in itself! It has been discussed many times among us rank and file. The down side is, that if we were to ;’decertify’ these folks, we’d have to wait an unacceptable amount of time before we could get a NEW organization to do our bidding, and that would leave us unprotected. I would not trust my employer for TWO SECONDS let alone the two years it takes for this process. We’d ALL be working for minimum wage, I’m afraid. Corporate greed is why there are unions. Unfortunately, the Unions have just become another corporation and are no better than the folks that they are supposed to ‘defend’ us against.

It’s too bad that we can’t “just get along” Thank you for your time

I sent him the following reply (you can judge for yourself whether it was thoughtful or not…):

Thanks for your email. I appreciate your thoughtful analysis and, like you say, I think we probably agree on more than we disagree (that’s true of most union members I talk with). Unions are not all bad, and some employers need a union to keep them honest – although many unions don’t do a very good job of that. You are also right that it is tough to decertify a union. I don’t know your company, but if you think a decertification is possible I wouldn’t assume that the employer will just turn around and screw you if you get rid of the union. They know that you can turn right around and organize another one and most companies would prefer to deal directly with their employees. Like you say, not all employers are honorable and they might take the actions you fear while you are in between unions, but if the current union isn’t representing you that’s probably a risk worth taking.

He gave me permission to post his original message on the blog and I thought it was something most employers could find useful. Not just about the mistrust many union members have toward their unions, but the fact that they look at companies just as suspiciously. It is so important to do the hard work of building trust, no matter what kind of environment (non-union or union) that you have in your workplace.

INK Newsletter

APPROACHABILITY MINUTE

GET OUR RETENTION TOOLKIT

PUBLICATIONS

Archives

Categories