Re: Technical Writing Union

[Peter <pnewman1 -at- home -dot- com>]

Bruce Byfield wrote:
> 
> Only to the extent that doing so furthers your own goals. But an
> employee simply doesn't have the same stake in the company as an
> employer. Or are you telling me that you'd sacrifice your own job for
> the good of the company? If so, you're a far, far better man than I am.

That is not what I said. A good employee must make a contribution, that
the company will benefit from. Employees who don't should become
ex-employees. When you are at your desk you should be working and
devoting your full time and best efforts tot he business of the company.
Not surfing the net, and bs'ing.


> It's a matter of relative power. If employees are unfair to the company,
> the company has far more remedies for the situation than the employee. A
> union makes that power relation a little more equal.

The employee always has the right to quit. Very often the unfair
employee is not working while on company time. It takes a long time to
be found out. Also, companies recognize the huge cost factor in
terminating and rehiring employees. Stealing, yes using company items
for personal purposes without permission is stealing,  either time or
supplies, is just wrong. At one place I am serving as consultant for,
the screams when I blocked AOL were long and plaintive.

> Contracts are negotiated by both sides, so difficulties like this aren't
> simply the result of the union. The administration has agreed to this
> process.

Under a gun.

> At any rate, if the process results in fairer hiring and firing, then
> perhaps I wouldn't mind it. A parliament or a congress isn't a very
> efficient way to reach a decision, but I prefer it to a dictatorship
> because it's fairer.


There is only one boss. As you pointed out above, the employees don't
have the same stake in the company as the owner.

> 
> Acknowledging seniority shouldn't be the only criterion, perhaps, but
> it's a way to recognize the contributions that an employee has put into
> a company.

But not a very good way. 

-- 
Peter
Mailto:peternew -at- optonline -dot- net

Adapting old programs to fit new machines
usually means adapting new machines to
behave like old ones.

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