Local 222 Responds

We’ve been kind of quiet during the first half of the anti-union meetings conducted at UTA; we wanted to give UTA a chance to present its position clearly.  

And they have.  Clearly, they have no interest in seeing the UTA Supervisor Ranks join the Teamsters.  Clearly, they are willing to bend the truth and spend the money to stop this campaign.  Clearly they realize the stakes are high, even while nonchalantly dismissing this campaign as a trifle, a waste of effort, or of little consequence.

On the surface you are being presented a kind and understanding face, sympathetic to the frustrations you may be experiencing at UTA.  A friendly leader, urging you to seek out the truth, and be thoughtful and prudent in your conclusions.  Whether you feel you have a positive relationship with your employer or a negative one, UTA is not being truthful with you.  

UTA is bombarding you with lies, half-truths, and intentionally misleading statements to encourage you to choose against the strong representation possible through a Teamsters contract.  If there were truly no benefits in joining a Union, there would be no need to have extended conversations.  UTA is spending a lot of money to prevent this campaign from being successful, and they have fought your rights to organize every step of the way.  That is a lot of effort to put into something silly.

Why?

What is UTA afraid might happen?

Why is UTA hiring dishonest “consultants” who openly and freely tell lies?

What does this strategy say about respect at UTA?  

What does this strategy say about the value placed on you as en employee?

We wanted to give UTA the opportunity to take the high road and appeal to your concerns and address your issues.  But they have not.  Supervisors have been asking questions, only to be told people with answers will be around next week, but first listen to how awful unions are.  Simple issues continue to go unaddressed. 

Local 222 will now directly address issues.  For the next two weeks, Local 222 will provide links to specific issues that have been raised by not only the Supervisors, but also UTA Brass and the anti-union presenters.  Links are great because you only read what you choose.  If you do not wish to be contacted by us, just tell us so and you’re off the hook.

If you would like to contact us directly, feel free:

Britt Miller

Business Agent and Organizer

801.972.1898 ext 17

Union Solutions

Why join a Union?

There seems to be no shortage of worries about joining a Union.  No shortage of nay sayers giving their reasons not to join a Union.  So what are some reasons to join a Union.

Some are easy: people want better pay or better benefits.  After all, Unions can bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions.  If you pay attention, most company responses to Union organizing attempts focus primarily on economic issues: wages and benefits.  You can expect to hear: We run a thin profit margin, we can't afford to pay you more; you can't squeeze blood from a turnip; it's Obama's fault your insurance is so expensive.  Maybe the company even tells you that if you choose to organize, we'll just close up shop?

But what conversation is there about working conditions?  Most companies do not want to talk about that.  Why would that be?  What would they say?  We don't value your opinions regarding dispatching you out for four hours, unpaid, waiting on trash at a transfer station?  We don't think your concerns about pulling double 45's in the snow are valid?  We don't respect your judgement as a professional driver?  It is not our concern that your spouse is facing serious illness and you need time off?  They don't have to say that, because their actions say it for them.  Everyday.  Despite promising to have "an open door" to help "build the right relationship" for a "brighter future for everyone"?

We talk about Union Solutions, but really they are your solutions.
Solutions like seniority, which may not be perfect, but it is very hard to cheat seniority for personal gain.
Solutions like guaranteed scheduled time off so you can schedule and go to a doctor's appointment without burning a week's vacation, or begging your boss.
Solutions like disciplinary language to ensure you have access to due process and are given the opportunity to correct a behavior or plead your case before losing your job.
Solutions like the grievance procedure which allow you to respectfully address concerns you may have with your employer and expect a response.
Solutions like requirements to bargain which means they must engage in good faith attempts to address issues, they can't just "close the door to the office" and "not deal with you as individuals anymore."
Solutions like the Contract itself, which puts the company's word in stone, and forces them to keep it.  So if they tell you you're getting a third week of vacation at 9 years, you get it at 9 years.  Or if the law requires that you can drop that second trailer in the snow, you know you can do so without any fear of retaliation.

And perhaps the biggest solution of all, you have a collective bargaining agent, or an advocate, who works for you to see that your interests are being looked after and that you are getting a fair shake.  Where else in your life do you have someone you can call when there is a problem at work?  Someone whose job it is to protect your job, which in turn protects your family and your life?  Nowhere.

Union Solutions not only give you a voice at work, but also consistency over time.  You know what the rules are because you and your fellow drivers agreed to them.  You know that these rules will not change because they have a contractually binding lifetime, as outlined in the agreement.  You know that they won't change if a new boss comes in.  And most importantly, you know you will be taken seriously because you have chosen one of America's strongest Unions to represent you as your bargaining agent.  You've chosen the Teamsters.

These are but a few of the many examples of solutions other Teamsters have negotiated into their contracts over time.  It is illegal for either Union or the Company to make any promises during the organizing process.  But it is important for workers to understand what is not generally talked about, and is really very valuable: when it comes to a Labor Contract, you'll show up to see the economics, but you'll stay because of the conditions.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Teamsters Local Union 222 at 801.972.1898 and ask for Britt, ext. 17.

STRIKE!!!!

Have I got your attention?

Strikes are serious business.  They are serious for companies, they are serious for workers, and they are serious for Unions.  But not all strikes are the same.  And that is a very important issue.

But don't worry, I'm not trying to scare you, I just want to provide you with some facts about strikes.  And you don't have to take my word for it, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will tell you the same things right HERE.

ECONOMIC STRIKE:  If the object of a strike is to obtain from the employer some economic concession such as higher wages, shorter hours, or better working conditions, the striking employees are called economic strikers. They retain their status as employees and cannot be discharged, but they can be replaced by their employer. If the employer has hired bona fide permanent replacements who are filling the jobs of the economic strikers when the strikers apply unconditionally to go back to work, the strikers are not entitled to reinstatement at that time. However, if the strikers do not obtain regular and substantially equivalent employment, they are entitled to be recalled to jobs for which they are qualified when openings in such jobs occur if they, or their bargaining representative, have made an unconditional request for their reinstatement. 

UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE (ULP) STRIKE: Employees who strike to protest an unfair labor practice committed by their employer are called unfair labor practice strikers. Such strikers can be neither discharged nor permanently replaced. When the strike ends, unfair labor practice strikers, absent serious misconduct on their part, are entitled to have their jobs back even if employees hired to do their work have to be discharged. 

THE UNION CALLING A STRIKE:  It sounds awfully sketchy, why would a worker choose to put that level of authority in the hands of someone with no skin in the game?  Calling strikes to save face, potentially forcing you to honor the picket line, subjecting you to all manner of 

TRIALS,  DISCIPLINE, and FEES!!!! 

This Local Union does NOT call strikes.  We, as individual members, engage in the democratic process at all times.  This includes strikes.  If the decision is made to go out on strike, that decision will be made by you and your fellow MBI Drivers.  Nobody else.  That means a majority (and we are talking about a vast majority) of drivers have chosen to strike. If the majority of drivers do not vote to go out on strike, there is no strike.  Do not believe for a moment that this decision is made by somebody else.  It is made by you.

Now wait a moment: did your employer just send you a letter that starts out saying "the Union or its supporters" may tell you "that the Company will try to 'scare' you with strike talk" and then try to scare you with strike talk?  Why did they not mention the ULP Strike IF the Company wasn't trying to scare you?  Why would the company represent strikes as something you have no voice in determining IF the Company wasn't trying to scare you? Why would the Company suggest there are no protections for striking workers, when there are many, IF the Company wasn't trying to scare you? 

Of course the Union is going to tell you that the Company will try and scare you with talks of strikes. That is what companies do during organizing campaigns and this campaign is no different: they try and scare you into submission.  And it works.  Talk of closing the doors next Monday if the workers vote to organize on Wednesday, that is trying to scare you.  Saying they'll sell off the trucks and close down is trying to scare you.  Suggesting you will lose independence, or job security, or your hard earned wages are all attempts to scare you.  Suggesting that this Local does not follow through on grievances, or has no concern about timely negotiations are attempts to undermine our character, make us look shady.  If we are discredited, then our solutions are suspect.  Perhaps some of you recall a lively discussion wherein we predicted precisely what would be said about Local 222 and Unions? 

We want you to enjoy your rights.  And we are willing to tell you the truth to get you there.

Union Solutions, rooted in a democratic setting, protecting your due process, may seem to good to be true, but it is true.  And over 3,500 Utah Teamsters enjoy these rights, and their voice, both at work, and in their Union, everyday.  

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Teamsters Local Union 222 at 801.972.1898 and ask for Britt, ext. 17.

What An Authorization Card Looks Like.

This is what an Authorization Card from Local 222 looks like.  If you take the time to read it, you will find that your legal rights to Organize, as granted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), are listed.  Then you will find a list of tactics your employer is prohibited from engaging in.  The  actual authorization part is at the bottom of the card; this is what an employee interested in organizing signs.  This card has the necessary information to verify whether the person signing it is a legitimate employee.  The cards, once collected, are sent to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal body of oversight, who then receives a list of eligible employees.  The names and information on the cards are compared to the list of employees to verify they are, in fact, employees.  At the end of the campaign, the cards are returned to the Local Union.  The Company will never see these cards.  Unless you, as a card signer, choose to tell your employer that you signed a card, your employer will never know who signed a card.
What you will not find on this card is any financial commitments.  No binding contract to cause the signer to pay dues, nor pay initiation fees, nor be in anyway liable for costs incurred by the Local Union in the organizing effort.  There is no legal mumbo jumbo that could ever be used to sue anyone who signs the card.  All the cards does is authorize Local 222 to represent the signer in collective bargaining.
Here are a few links to the NLRB website:
For the organizing process.  (Check the bottom of this page for Representation Election Process)

For your rights.




We are comfortable sending you to where you can find facts regarding these Authorization Cards because we have no interest in misleading people.  The card does nothing more that fulfill the first pre-petition step of obtaining an initial showing of interest.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Teamsters Local Union 222 at 801.972.1898 and ask for Britt, ext. 17.

Taking the Pain out of Hertz

 Solidarity Overcomes Greed and Racism at Hertz in 1941

If we could do it then, we can do it now.

Wielding His Wrench: Joe Nero's story personifies the Spirit of the Teamsters. He is immortalized in the bronze panel in the lobby of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Headquarters. 

Joe Nero and Friend

In 1941, Hertz Rent-A-Car purchased a Teamster service garage whose lead mechanic was Joe Nero, a black man in a mixed race garage.  The company plan was to replace Joe; they had no interest in him remaining the top mechanic.  As a campaign unfolded to divide Joe from the white mechanics, one of whom was a very close friend of Joe, the other mechanics pulled together to support the friendship, and they fought to protect Joe's job.

The Teamsters stood with the mechanics, and as the fight escalated, the mechanics stood with Joe.  The company repeatedly tested Joe, but being a talented mechanic, his knowledge was great and he beat each trial handily.  Joe was constantly proving why he was the top mechanic, but the company wanted him gone all the same.

If it is happening to a fellow worker at your work, it is your fight, too.
From slideshare.net

Joe Nero

As is often the case, when fair and honest methods fail to achieve cowardly goals, shameful strategies are employed.  A plan was devised, and the company sent Joe out on what was to be his final test: one designed to fail.  Joe was to deliver a car to a very important account, across town, and in a tight time frame.  Unbeknownst to Joe, this car had been given a few extra mechanical problems.  The sheer number of issues, the tight time frame, and the fact the car would be on the road and not in the garage, were all part of this dastardly plan.

But word got out.  The other mechanics discovered that Joe was being set up to fail.  This group of Teamster mechanics fought back.  They took to the road and supported their brother.

As Joe was driving across town the car started to fall apart.  Joe's fellow mechanics started appearing out of nowhere to assist in the road side repairs.  Multiple sets of hands went to work at each stop, fixing what had been sabotaged and good number of other problems.  As the clock ticked, the car and its escort of mechanics crawled across town, making its unstoppable way towards its goal.  By the time that car reached its destination, Joe and crew had repaired all the problems the company had engineered, and several they had not.  After this defeat, Hertz abandoned its attempt to dump Joe, and many years later, in 1971, he retired on his own terms.  Joe Nero lived another 33 years.

Think about this: in 1941, despite facing a concerted effort to divide and conquer across racial lines, and being subjected to rigged tests designed to guarantee failure, solidarity carried the day.  This is the spirit of the Teamsters, the soul of the Labor Movement, and why Joe Nero's story is immortalized in the Bronze Panel at the IBT Headquarters.


Joe Nero: 1900 - 2004
"Being in the union was the difference between a good life and a tough one. Still is.”

REPRESSION VS. APATHY

Warning: Graphic Images of Violence

Two Photos to consider:

Police presence at the Homesteaders Strike, 7/6/1892

Police presence at a peaceful Walmart strike and protest, 10/4/2012

120 years of progress, and we still have armed forces marching on our workers. If you speak to non-union or anti-union folks, you will hear some nonsense about how Unions have out lived their usefulness. They will tell you we needed Unions 100 years ago, but we have laws now to protect us. This misbegotten belief fails to understand the underlying force Unions exist to fight: greed. Greed ships jobs over seas to cut labor costs, but you'll never see the price of the product go down. Greed cuts safety corners to save money, and greed ramps up unsustainable production requirements, so greed injures and kills workers. Greed tries to scare us all back in line, and failing to do so with normal job threatening will literally call out the police. And not just to scare us, but at points, attack:

Police and Strikers clash in Minneapolis, 5/16/1934

South African Police kill striking Miners, 8/16/2012

Labor History is punctuated with this style of violence and intimidation. The Occupy protests regularly produced images of peaceful protests being "kettled" or pepper sprayed. Currently in Wisconsin, The First Amendment is under attack by laws banning the carrying or posting of protest signs in the Capital Rotunda, and citations are being delivered to Patriots who challenge this law at work!

Intimidation has long been used by the empowered to control our attempts to pursue justice, both economic and social. Suppression tactics have long been successfull in keeping certain populations from voting. African-American voters and their supporters were met with brutal assaults during the Civil Rights Fights to gain equality and protect their rights to vote. When threats failed, violence followed:

The bodies of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, murdered by KKK members, 7/21/1964

But here's the thing. It didn't stop anybody:

African Americans lining up to vote in 1964

And when people have lived under repression and violence, the oppportunity to have a voice calls them action, no matter where you live or who you are:

Afghan women lining up to vote in Kabul, 10/4/2004

Our history shows, time and again, that violence and suppression may slow people down, but it rarely stops us. When the state deploys its muscle, the people stand fast.

Where violence works to slow progress, apathy simply eats away its core. Many workers today, Union Workers, have little appreciation for what efforts were required to win things we take for granted. Basic Safety in the workplace, like vents and fire escapes, became required after young women burned to death in textile mills, or died of lung cancer in their 20's. To suppress a miners' strike for the 40 hour work week, Colorado National Guard was dispatched and they murdered 11 women and children. People died or were murdered for fire escapes and the weekend.

But it is the apathy that threatens to do what force could not. Led to believe their vote does not count, 65% of Utahns do not vote. Led to believe there is no option other than the boss's declaration, many Union Workers attack their shop stewards, instead of joining in the defene of their work place agreements. Or worse, these workers are willing to allow the bosses ignore our contracts so they can get some personal benefit: going home early, or calling in sick once a week.

As apathy and selfishness consume our weaker members, greed and selfishness consume our "job creators." Failing to understand that reducing wages for public employees just means putting them on assistance programs or consigning them to a life of poverty, many misled citizens attack the Unions as the Unions protect the Middle Class.

On a national level, one Presidential candidate has been openly campaigning about rolling back Union protections! Watch the short version here, and the full version here (mainly running from 14:45-17:20, and 21:30-21:55.) Enacting national Right-to-Work-For-Less laws, repealing Davis Bacon, ending Project Labor Agreements (PLA's) and so-called Paycheck Protection: banning automatic dues check-off (paying your dues automatically through a pay roll deduction.) Despite the attitude of the apathetic worker, the actions of the Monied Interests sure suggest Unions still play a major role in preventing the most egregious actions of greed. As Union membership has declined, so to have the take home wages of the American Middle Class. But even more telling, as productivity levels go up, and lacking any Union protections, most of the money created by our labors is not going to us. Inequality is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, since 1979, only the top 20% of income levels have seen positive economic growth. Wealth created by the booming production levels of the other 80% of Americans. That there is real wealth redistribution.

It is almost enough to make even the toughest Union Thug cry.

And where do we find today's most notable source for inspiration: Walmart. Walmart, who threatens to close any store that Unionizes. Walmart, who places security cameras around their stores, not for preventing theft or violence, but to catch Union Organizers. Walmart, who has driven manufacturing jobs over sees to cut costs without ever passing the savings on to you.

Faced with having their work site close up, 70 workers at nine different locations have struck Walmart. Walmart prides itself on its low prices, but it does this with starvation wages and passing the costs of insurance to tax payers. All the while the Walton Family (Walmart Heirs) enjoy unimaginable wealth. The money could go to workers, but the workers are afraid to stand up because of what they might lose: a job that does not even pay enough to afford food. God bless 'em and good luck, because we have two clear choices in this day and age:

Food Stamp Recipients lining up outside of Walmart just before their benefits reset at midnight

OR

Striking Walmart Workers walking the picket line

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lesson One: SOLIDARITY

There has been some lamenting within the Left following our trouncing in Wisconsin.  We picked a fight and we got beat; it happens.  A number of Lefties have expectations of what Labor can do, how Labor should do it, and yet have no experience in Labor.  This is evident in a number of good writings (TheNation, LBO, The Progressive, Andy Kroll) and is brilliantly summed up by our friend at Streetheat.  This tells me there are some things we need to remember about Organized Labor.  So let us start with the most basic of basics:

Lesson One: SOLIDARITY - An injury to one is an injury to all

The International Workers of the World (aka the Wobblies) slogan, "An injury to one is an injury to all," sums up our lot.  When trying to organize into a Union, 1 in 17 campaigns will see the termination of key players.  They aren't fired for poor performance, they are sacked for trying to Organize.  Not only is this illegal, as you have a Constitutional Right to freedom of association, which includes Organizing, but it is really effective at killing an Organizing Drive.  If the remaining workers become afraid, then the cause is lost.  However, if they see the intimidation for what it is, pull together and support the fired activists, and dig in deeper, then the Union Spirit is alive and kicking.

Supporting your fellow worker is the crux of Collective Bargaining.  We are all in this together, we all benefit from our joint efforts.  We stand united or fall divided.  Use your own cliche, but it is all the same idea: we either defend each other or we don't.  When my shop has a termination to make a point and create fear, we collect cash to help the worker.  I encourage my fellow workers to give the money they'd like to receive.  I do this for two reasons: first, the Golden Rule is always applicable.  Second, the reality is that the bosses could have fired any one of us, they don't care.  It's not about performance, it's about creating fear.

In reality, as adults we must use the same strategies we used as kids on the playground, for the same reasons, really.  Bullies are so common in the workplace that some anti-bullying organizations report as many as half of America's workers are being bullied or have witnessed it.  When we stand silent in those moments, we give our consent to that behavior.  That evil triumphs when we say nothing.  It doesn't need to be that way.

The Strength of Solidarity


A series of clips on YouTube from a former Union-buster outlines the power of Solidarity.  The fact is that in every successful organizing campaign, it is the Solidarity that keeps the organizing workers strong and united.  Solidarity is the Faith of the Church of Union.  Without it, no existing Union shop can survive any concerted challenge.  With it, any unorganized work place can raise themselves to the Promised Land of Collective Bargaining.

One of our Pledges as Teamsters is to treat every Brother or Sister with compassion.  To put ourselves in their shoes before we react or judge.  This is critical because that simple exercise derails the knee-jerk reaction that erodes Solidarity.  Our older fellow workers don't move as fast we they once did.  Our Sisters often times face subtle (or alarmingly obvious) forms of harassment at the hands of management (or sometimes us) and that will impact their job performance and their personal life.  Fellow workers of color, or of the LGBT community, or of a different religion, or whose native language is not English, are all easily labeled as "different."  And different is the foundation for division.  It takes an intentional effort to step over this foundation of division and not get tripped up, but it is worth it.

When standing together, there is very little we, as workers, cannot achieve.  A recent organizing campaign in the Florida Corrections System by the Teamsters is a brilliant example.  Months of heavy lifting, overcoming barriers ranging from the usual problems, to logistical difficulties like shifts running 24/7 across an entire state, generated the victory of over 18,000 new Teamsters.  As soon as the vote was counted, the Governor and his anti-Union Legislative buddies immediately set about privatizing the Correctional System.  The machine was in place and just kept humming.  The privatization attempts were beaten as well.

The End Goal


There is nothing more to Solidarity than demanding both our fair share and our due respect.  Wages, health care and a comfortable retirement are examples of what we are due in return for our labors.  The freedom to lead a dignified life, and the respect inherent in simple issues like safety and civility, should not require some legally binding contract to secure.  But the fact is, they do in many work sites.  The recent attacks on Unions and America's Middle Class make it quite clear that not only is there a class of people who would prefer to see us broke and broken, but they won't afford us the simple respect of allowing us a say in our communities.  That's pretty cheap.

In the end, the fight is over power, and their money is very powerful.  But so is our Solidarity.  It is now, has been, and forever shall be, the one weapon in our arsenal that can overcome the money, the lies, the fear and whatever else the power hungry throw at us.  So stand tall, fellow workers, and stand together.

And here is a video I think speaks to the same end: Man on Fire by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.  It ends in a alley, what can I say?