RE: Technical Writers Union

["Pete Sanborn" <psanborn2 -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Bruce Byfield wrote:

"A good shop steward knows the procedures for a grievance, the parts of the
collective agreement that might help you, and the management that you're
dealing with and what might persuade them."

You won't understand this argument, Bruce, but I will lay it before you,
anyway.  If I have a grievance, I know how to go to my boss and lay out the
grievance.  If going to my boss doesn't work, I kniow how to escalate my
grievance to HR.  If I still don't get satisfaction, I can usually go to the
GM or CEO and express my grievance to them.  And I know how to go higher if
I have a legitimate complaint that working inside the company doesn't
resolve.

I don't need an interpreter for my grievances unless my boss and I speak two
completely different languages.

Let me ask you.  When you buy a car, do you need an inter,eidary to
negotiate the deal for you?  When you take it to be repaired, do you have
someone to interpret you concerns about the car to the service manager?  How
about when you buy clothes, groceries, talk to your landlord or mortgage
company, do you need someone to speak for you to these people or can you
handle that yourself?

Your boss doesn't have to be an adversary, but if you can't sit down and
talk to your boss and work out a problem, I would agree there;s a problem
there and it could be you.  I can't recall a single situation I've had in
the work place that I couldn't sit down with my boss and arrive at a win-win
solution.

As for benefits, those are things I negotiated myself.  I negotiated the
salary and, in some instances, even negotiated some of the benefits.
Typically the benefits package is handled by HR and in all the companies I
have been in, I haven't seen union negotiated benefits that surpassed those
of the non-union negotiated benefits offered by the company.

"Bruce, there is no security for me but me.  I provide my own security
or the lack thereof.  No organization, union or company has or will ever be
able to do that for any of us.

I'm not sure what you mean here, but you seem to be suggesting that your
conduct on the job is the sole determinant of whether you keep it. If that
is what you mean, all I can really do is wish you good luck."

And that's the point.  I know that my conduct on the job is ONE of the
determinants of whether or not I keep it, not the sole determinant.  That's
an issue that no union supporter will ever comprehend because my performance
on the job, my raises or the lack thereof and my promotions or the lack
thereof are due, in large part to my efforts.

I once lived in an apartment building that had a system for distributing the
electrical bill called Residential Unit Billing.  There was one meter for
the entire building and the manager took the electric bill for the apartment
building and divided it by the number of square feet in each apartment and
that's how much each renter paid.  If I conserve electricity, it doesn't
mean that I will pay less in electric costs, it just means that I subsidize
everyone else's electricty usage that much more.  So, I became as wasteful
as the next person in the building.  That is a union mentality, Bruce.  Why
should I work harder than someone else in the department when we are both
going to see the same $0.32/hr increase whether we all earned it or not?  If
my individual efforts are not sufficient for me to get a better increase or
get a promotion, maybe I'm not as productive as I think I am.  So far, my
employers have all agreed with me.

Regards,
Pete Sanborn

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 4:03 PM
To: Pete Sanborn
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Technical Writers Union


Pete Sanborn wrote:

 >Bruce Byfield wrote:
 >"By the same argument, I suppose, you wouldn't use a lawyer in a court
 >case."
 >
 >Apples and oranges comparison, Bruce.  If you don't know the
difference, you
 >won't understand my arguments.

Not at all. Just as a lawyer knows more about the law than the average
person, a good shop steward knows the procedures for a grievance, the
parts of the collective agreement that might help you, and the
management that you're dealing with and what might persuade them. A shop
steward may even know a good deal about labor law, and have more
polished negotiation skills. All of this is expertise that nobody is
likely to have unless they are dealing with such matters on a daily
basis. In this sense, a steward knows much about your job - or, at
least, your working conditions - than you do.

If you have a problem with your employer, you would be extremely foolish
to forego this expertise in the belief that you could do better by
yourself. You might just possibly be able to, if you're an unusually
gifted person, and have kept yourself informed about such matters.
However, the odds would be as much against you as if you represented
yourself in court.


 >Benefits!?  I haven't seen any benefits from any union that would benefit
 >me.

Your wages, working condition, and contract with the employer are all
benefits that come from the union. So is its support if you have a
grievance.


 >Strikes and unions are terms that go together.  If you are in a union
that has no power to strike, what are the benefits?

Exactly. That's why it isn't silly to stage a wildcat strike to obtain
that right.

 >Bruce, there is no security for me but me.  I provide my own security
or the
 >lack thereof.  No organization, union or company has or will ever be
able to
 >do that for any of us.

I'm not sure what you mean here, but you seem to be suggesting that your
conduct on the job is the sole determinant of whether you keep it. If
that is what you mean, all I can really do is wish you good luck.

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"What will I say when my children ask me,
'Where were you flying on that day?'
With trembling voice, I gave the order
To the bombardier of Enola Gay."
-Utah Phillips, "Enola Gay"





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