3rd Attempt to unionize my hubby's work.....

[ejpoeta]

The first two attempts were by the IBEW. Each time the employer would give all kinds of mandatory meetings with disinformation and be 'nicer' to the guys until after the vote. Now, my brother and brother in law also work for this company and are anti union. The vote went down both times.

Now the Teamsters are aggressively trying to get a union in there. There is ONE area the is unionized and I can't understand why workers don't look at them to see the disparity in pay and treatment of the workers. The unionized guys have gotten raises where my husband just got his first in three years. Not sure what else the unionized guys get, but I do know that my husband has had to work through his lunch and doesn't get paid for it. Technically they don't force him, but they are on them all the time about getting all this work done that there aren't enough people to do. They keep piling more work on the guys that is impossible for them to complete and seem to be all about cutting costs.

So there was a meeting yesterday. Here is a bit of the stuff being sent around to these guys...
"Signing a union card is the first step to getting into your pocket" Then they urge the reader to wait until the get all the facts before they sign anything.

Here are 'the facts'....

A union authorization card is not just for information;
It is not just for an election;
It is not a guarantee of any changes, improvements or job security.

But if you do sign a card and a union gets in, you would be represented, like it or not, and you would face UNION COSTS and UNION RISKS, including the chance of a strike.

THE TRUTH ABOUT A UNION AUTHORIZATION CARD

It is a legal, binding document (a signature is required!
It is like giving a blank check on important job rights to a stranger;
It may be the only choice you get to make about the union (the cards can even be used to bring a union in, without a vote).
It is difficult to cancel once signed.

Now, my hubby has a booklet that would be the contract. First of all, there is a no strike thing right in there. Secondly, this is an attempt to scare people into thinking a union would get into their lives and they wouldn't have a say. This is a company that tells these guys if they don't like it here, there are a line of people waiting to take their job.

It's a shame really. When my husband came to this company, there was a lot of promise there. But when the company became more interested in the quarterly profits than actually taking care of their customers.... it went downhill from there. The hubby has been shopping around for something else for awhile. It's not just about money... he took a paycut to come to this place.

I know I know... just be glad you have a job. And he is glad to have a job. But this company has been beating them down for a long time now. I wonder if it is enough to finally get a union in there. I hope so.

[mn9driver]

1. Make sure the Teamsters get a copy of all this stuff.

Some of the statements look like they border on illegal interference. The NLRB might be interested.

[madrchsod]

2. this nlrb is labor friendly-we can thank obama for that!

[ejpoeta]

4. oh hubby's going to make sure they get it. he tried to help the first time.

didn't want to put his neck out last time. he is talking to the guys about it at work this time and trying to educate them. He was trying to get a sense of where everyone was on it. My brother who has always been anti union seems almost borderline. Hubby still doesn't know if my bro will send it in, thinks he probably won't end up sending it in. (My brother is one of the ones who PAID for beck's new thing. He bought a roku JUST so he could watch beck, so that tells you where he is.)

[madrchsod]

3. now a diss on obama.....

card check would have eliminated most of the crap a company throws at union organizing. obama had the chance to radically change union voting but his advisers told him it was`t wise. one of his closest friends in chicago is really anti-union.

[ejpoeta]

5. i was so upset about that card check thing. You have people like my husband

who was going out on a limb trying to get the union in that first time. I mean, it's weird fearing that he would lose his job over this. He's being very careful about it. And they can't be bothered to make it easier for employees to friggin TRY to get some say in things.

[Maine_Nurse]

6. There are lots of employees that don't want a union. That is just the way it is sometimes.

The non-union hospital I work at has a sister facility owned by the same local non-profit agency. They are union. A lot of workers at my place are refugees from there. We have better time off accrual, get extra work/promotions based on ability not seniority, same health benefits but they cost us less, pay is less for us by less than 1%, and our working conditions are a bit better overall. The couple times their union tried to come over here, our hospital did no anti-union campaigning, in fact they did nothing at all except send emails to us telling us when the union reps would be here to talk to us. The union just went away due to complete lack of interest by us. Sometimes that happens.

ETA: OOPS, that was meant to be a general reply not a reply to the post above mine. Sorry.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Now I'm sure you can figure out why they treat the non union shop better?

To use against the union in the sister hospital. Happens all the time.

[Maine_Nurse]

8. Except that hasn't happened in the 20 years we have existed...

the other facility has been around for over 100 years. We are never mentioned over there (or vice versa for that matter). I'm not saying unions are bad, but sometimes they don't help either. I prefer not to have one and negotiate for myself so I can work at getting what I want, not what some union thinks I should want. Even if both places were at a par, I'd work at mine for that reason alone. I make a little less than average for my position, but I accrue time off faster than the others. That is important to me, but maybe not to others. I like being an individual, and many feel that way.

[ejpoeta]

10. that may be great for you, but the fact is that not all employers care about employees.

at my husband's work, they had several levels of employees. my husband was a level one. the higher levels got paid more. they took all the higher level guys and cut their pay and made them a level 3 and level one guys (like my husband) got upped to level 2 and a pay increase. While it was nice to get a pay increase, I could see their attempt at dividing the workers. The ones who got a pay cut would resent the ones who got a pay increase. They have also forced more work and impossible goals on the guys. They change things without notice making it impossible to plan anything. Being an individual may be fine, but when you are an individual trying to get treated with respect against a corporation you have no standing. Their attitude is there are plenty waiting to take your job. And they have said so, not just thought it. They don't care... and they cut the work force and expect miracles from their workers.

[Rochester]

9. Good luck unionizing. Solidarity forever!