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The virtual meeting place of the left in the unions and in the workplace
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I voted NO, because of the health-care takebacks, the measly little pension increase, the temporary, part-time work force, and the "joint activities fund."
Considering all those who say they voted NO, it's hard to believe that the new contract actually passed by 79%.
Yes, the four 3% raises plus COLA roll-in is a little better than past contracts. But did we really come out ahead when you consider the huge amount the Company will save per member per month for our lower-class health benefits?
We now have the worst class of Kaiser coverage. Shaq from Plastics says, "This is like McDonald's-class coverage!"
Shaq has 4 kids. His 15-year-old had to go to the doctor 6 times in the past two weeks. He figures the increased doctor and prescription costs for his family of 6 will cost him around $1,000 extra per year.
"They took away my raise and my bonus with this health care cutback," he says.
The agreement to temporary, part-time workers goes against union solidarity. We will now have a group of second-class union members here at NUMMI, members who do the same work but have less medical coverage (not until 9 months) and no right to a permanent job, no right to time and a half on Saturdays or holidays.
The "Highlights" of the contract says, "Part-time employees will not be used to avoid hiring full-time regular employees." Give me a break! OF COURSE they are going to cut into hiring full-time workers.
Another take-back: new hires now have to wait 7 months instead of 4 to get medical coverage, and they must remain in an HMO for 42 months, instead of 18 months in the last contract. This is another blow to union solidarity.
Jay from Passenger Final 2 pointed out that the 3% wage increase doesn't apply to new hires. Jay has 13 months seniority, and only got a 28 cent increase (after the $1.40 COLA roll-in). New hires with less than 6 months only got a 7 cent increase!
When I first got hired at a GM plant in 1980, we got full pay and benefits following our 90-day probation. How far our union has gone in giving away the rights of new hires!
"Now this one really gets me," writes Zig-Zag from Production Control. "The Union thinks by having the company put a few cents in a joint fund for what is called excessive overtime, that that should help keep the O.T. down. This is pure unadulterated crap. This won't keep O.T. down at all.
"And not only that, this fund will be spent by the union and company on whatever they decide on. It can be used against the worker, like this contract that the union thinks is so great."
(See box on reverse side for more on Joint Funds.)
There will be 8 appointed full-time UAW ergonomics people, plus another appointed union rep in Return to Work. They are to be appointed by the International Union. Why aren't they elected? Don't we the members know best who is qualified for those jobs?
The truth is that those are nine more patronage jobs for the pro-company political machine that rules our union.
Whatever your opinion on the contract, everyone I talked to seems to agree that the way this contract was crammed down our throats was underhanded and disrespectful to the membership.
After receiving virtually no information on the issues in dispute, we were told Friday, Aug. 3 that we were to come to a union meeting on Sunday, Aug. 5 and vote on the contract proposal. No informational meeting beforehand. No chance to see the highlights before voting day. No chance to vote in the plant, or on a working day. No 24-hour vote like we've had in the past on contracts.
Why? Because our so-called "leaders" wanted a quick yes vote from a small group of members (only about 700 voted, out of 3,800 union members). They must have feared that an informed membership would vote it down.
Remember this experience when the next election for union officials comes around!
Thanks to Phil and Dennis from Plastics for contacting The Argus with their opinions on the contract. Argus reporter Alan Zibel wrote: "Several workers criticized the union's leadership, saying that union officials should not have held the vote at a special meeting on a Sunday. Instead, union members said their leaders should have scheduled a 24-hour voting period that would have enabled more union members to vote."
Phil wrote to The Argus: "You are correct there was an hourly raise but there was a 100% increase in co pays for medical and dental etc. The retirement is unbelievably bad. Just thought you would like to hear another opinion from the forgotten worker."
Following is an excerpt from an article in the Detroit Free Press, May 18, 2001:
The union and General Motors Corp. proudly call their joint fund "the largest privately funded educational program in the world." Between 1996 and 1999, the joint funds with GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG spent more than $1.3 billion.
"These programs have really benefited a lot of people in very tangible ways; they're programs that we're very proud of," said Paul Krell, assistant to UAW President Stephen Yokich.
But critics say the union shouldn't be proud of some of the other things the funds have done. They argue: Not all the money is well spent. Copies of purchase orders, vouchers, invoices, checks and federal tax returns obtained by the Free Press show the funds have hefty administrative costs, sponsor stock-car races and teams, host political receptions, rent limousines and private planes for union brass, and throw lavish parties. . . .
Spending all that money in concert with the automakers compromises the union's ability to represent members in negotiations with the auto companies that employ just under half of the UAW's 728,000 members.
"They're a sham [the joint funds]," said Nelson Lichtenstein, professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of a biography of Walter Reuther, the UAW's charismatic leader for 24 years. "I think they're buying off a layer of militants and bringing them into the bosom of management. It's an ideological assault on the idea of unionism." [Source: the Internet]
We are being led to believe that it is the T/Ms' [Team Member -- what NUMMI calls its employees] fault that we are not as high as we have been in the past J.D. Power Surveys.
I suggest that it is equally if not more management's responsibility for what and how things are done. We the union T/Ms' task (within reason) is to maintain the level of results we are instructed to by management.
Having been in three different departments of Q.C. since Sept. '85, it has been my experience that management is high on authority and short on responsibility. I must say that it was such a welcome relief and pleasure to have worked with the very few in management who were responsible. Thank You!
It has been my experience that most significant changes in the work areas have been dumped on lower management and union T/Ms, without so much as a single word of two-way communication, which is far from "mutual trust and respect," or the concept that workers of the area are the experts, etc., etc. You remember all those pretty words that were stacked upon one another in orientation as to just how valuable you were as a worker?
Many of the problems that come with these implemented changes could have been avoided by simply involving the input of T/Ms on the floor prior to final planning. Lower management has difficulty in changing anything for the better since the original dictate came from so-called upper management. Meanwhile, T/Ms on the floor must deal with the muda [waste] situations that are intermixed with the good concepts that are implemented as a whole.
This makes me wonder as to management's true concept of kaizen. Does it have different levels depending on who suggested it, or what?
Questions:
I ask you to consider the old cliche, "A workforce is a direct reflection of the quality of its supervision and or management."
In closing I say that both management and union T/Ms need to work together to accomplish our common goals and maintain both of our needs for security. Management is not immune, but evokes that perception.
Any TMs with ideas or suggestions are welcome to speak with me. If a proper suggestion results and is filed it would be yours solely.
To: "Sisters":
Thank you for your moving and encouraging message in support of my right to speak at union meetings.
Caroline
Tom Burton, Union Coordinator in Passember Trim 5, has put the contract Highlights up on his web site. He also has a place where you can express your opinion on the contract negotiations process and exchange views with coworkers. Here is the address:
Quote of the Month
"Dignity in Labor should not be measured in terms of "collar" color [white or blue collar], for each collar needs a neck to sit on."
Anthony Young-Harry
The shock, horror, and sorrow stay with us.
But, shining through the evil of the events was the inspiring human solidarity that welled up as soon as the first attack took place. Those firefighters ran into the World Trade Center buildings, giving their lives to try to help others. People lined up to give blood, volunteered in searching the rubble, built shrines, and reached out to each other in creative ways.
Around the world, average people expressed their sympathy. Here in California, thousands of prison inmates have so far pledged $22,700 to aid families of fallen firefighters and police.
So what can be done to stop such attacks? President Bush's war and vengeance campaign will not stop the terrorism but will nurture more of it.
We need to start from the worldwide human solidarity we saw expressed in the aftermath of the attacks. We need to examine the relationship of our country to the rest of the world. What about our government's support to Israel against the Palestinians? What about the continued U.S. bombing of Iraqi civilians? What about the crushing debt of poor countries to U.S. banks? What about the increasing gap between rich and poor countries? What about U.S. support for dictatorships like those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?
Instead of Bush's campaign of war and retribution, we need a campaign to promote education, health care, democracy and cooperative economic development in the poorest areas of the world. Such a campaign would help dry up the hatred and desperation that breed terrorists.
Military might won't save us. We need to try to heal our wounded and sick human society.
Michael Moore is the producer of the film Roger and Me, about the devastation of layoffs in the auto industry in Flint, Michigan. He also wrote Downsize This! and produced TV Nation.
Here is an excerpt of a recent article where he addresses President Bush:
". . . do not declare war and massacre more innocents. After bin Laden's previous act of terror, our last elected president went and bombed what he said was "bin Laden's camp" in Afghanistan - but instead just killed civilians. Then he bombed a factory in the Sudan, saying it was 'making chemical weapons.' It turned out to be making aspirin. Innocent people murdered by our Air Force.
"Back in May, you gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $48 million dollars of our tax money. No free nation on earth would give them a cent, but you gave them a gift of $48 million because they said they had 'banned all drugs.'
"Because your drug war was more important than the actual war the Taliban had inflicted on its own people, you helped to fund the regime who had given refuge to the very man you now say is responsible for killing my friend on that plane and for killing the friends of families of thousands and thousands of people. How dare you talk about more killing now! Shame! Shame! Shame! Explain your actions in support of the Taliban! Tell us why your father and his partner Mr. Reagan trained Mr. Bin Laden in how to be a terrorist!"
These are the views of a lineworker with less than one year seniority who wished to remain anonymous:
"This whole contract is based on fraud! People who voted for it thought they were going to get a 3% wage increase, but this was not so for new hires.
"Wage increases should be for the whole of the brotherhood, for the whole union. Not just for the top echelons of the union. Why were the lowest seniority people left out?
"Why should I pay my union dues if I am left out of the benefits? For what?
"Also, how can the Company justify this contract, seeing as it was based on fraud? I've been an independent contractor for 25 years, and as every businessperson knows, if a contract is based on fraud, it can be thrown out of court!"
From a Team Leader in Passenger Trim:
"I went to the union hall early Saturday morning after night shift. It was only then that I found out we were going to vote on the contract proposal on Sunday. I and others had thought the Sunday meeting was going to be purely informational.
"I went to the union hall on Sunday and got the "Highlights" booklet from a union official who was passing them out. He told me 1,000 had been printed. We have 3,800 union members in our plant. That showed me that they were expecting only a small number of members to show up. This is not the way to have a democratic vote on our contract."
The September 4 NUMMI News informed us that we had the worst Toyota quality audit ever. Vice President Jesse Wingard said our plant can do better "IF we want to," and said "Team Members decide the level of quality."
How can we "decide the level of quality" when we have no control over the production process, no control over speed-up and job overload, and no control over the elimination of Q.C. jobs?
Here is what our previous contract says: "the Company has the exclusive responsibility, except as specifically relinquished in this Agreement, to plan, direct, and control Company operations, including items such as products to be manufactured; method of manufacturing, including tools and equipment, schedules or production, and processes of manufacturing or assembling; establishment of standardized work . . . ." etc., etc.
No, we workers are not to blame; the big majority of us are doing our best to do our overloaded jobs well.
Mitsubishi workers in Normal, Illinois surprised everybody by walking out on strike on Aug. 24 in their first walkout ever. At 6 a.m. that day, about 1,000 workers from UAW Local 2488 lined the roadway to the plant. The two-day strike forced management to drop several concessions they had been demanding.
The contract they got was similar to ours here at NUMMI -- four years, 3% wage increases each year, and a lump sum of $1,350. Wages will go up from $22.28/hr to $27.75/hr. Copayments for prescription drugs went up from $3 to $5. Eighty-three percent of the members voted yes, with 2,200 voting out of 2,800 workers.
One of the big issues was injuries and job rotation. The company wanted to lessen the number of job rotations drastically, but the union won out on this. And management agreed to investigate a job within 2 weeks when an injury happens on that job.
The company was demanding to limit the right of workers to call off work 4 days a year, up to 30 minutes before start time, called "spontaneous time off." They backed down after the strike.
We need some of that "spontaneous time off" here at NUMMI!
Jason Codding, a union coordinator, told the local newspaper, "I'm really happy with the way the union came together. They've never had a strike at a Japanese company before (in the United States). I think it woke them up."
Another worker, Carole Mayo, thought union members weren't given enough information. "They said to go out on strike, but they didn't tell us anything, but said, 'trust us.'
"I'm a big girl. I can decide for myself."
Sources: The Normal, Ill. Journal Star, Pantagraph, and Justin West, President of UAW Local 2488.
A past issue of The Barking Dog reported that the Canadian Auto Workers were trying to organize Toyota's plant in Ontario, Canada. A vote was taken, but on July 26 the CAW conceded that they did not have the signatures of 40% of the membership which is required to have the vote counted. So the votes were not counted.
A statement by the CAW said, "The CAW is proud of the several hundred workers who in spite of employer intimidation had the courage to sign a union card. We are committed to continuing to support the efforts of these workers to have a union in the future."
More than 50% of Nissan workers in Smyrna, Tennessee, have signed cards saying they want the UAW. The plant has 4,100 employees. If they win, this will be the first foreign-owned assembly plant organized by the UAW.
Back in 1989 the union suffered a big defeat, when Nissan workers voted two to one against the union. To try to keep out the union, Japanese auto companies have been paying the same wages as GM, Ford, and Chrysler. But they provide much less health and other benefits.
Over the years, workers have seen more and more people injured on the job. Stamping worker Aubrey Beard told the New York Times that the work force has become more conscious of the need for medical and retirement benefits.
"What made the difference between this time and '97 was people have got more years under their belt," he said. Plus, management has recently told workers of plans to speed up the line.
Source: The New York Times, Aug. 15, 2001
Following is a resolution adopted by the Oakland teachers union Executive Board on Sep. 20:
We of the Oakland Education Association share the grief of the country and the world at the horrific loss of life in the last week in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania and its national impact. As teachers we must help students to sort out their emotions and to have opportunities to both consider the issues involved and find stability in the classroom.
In addition, we must be present for any fellow staff members or family who have been impacted. The OEA leadership and CTA staff will try to provide personal support for anyone grieving.
Further as a leading organization in our community we shall continue to be a voice for nonviolence, defense of democratic rights and civil liberties and resistance to ethnic and religious scapegoating. We support our Congressional Representative Barbara Lee in expressing opposition to granting authority to the President to wage war and oppose any military escalation and intervention, even while wishing to seek justice in this case.
"OK, they killed thousands and thousands of innocent people, then do we go and kill thousands and thousands of their innocent people?"
Kristina Shaw-Krivosh, 13, Walnut Creek Intermediate School
Our Contract
The Executive Board was told that we won't get printed copies of the new contract until February. But all Committeepeople have a copy of it, so if you want to see specific language, ask your Committeeperson
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