The letter began, “I never thought much about unions. I had no use for them actually. Until I started to work here. Now in this economy I can’t find another job and I owe too much on my house to move. So if you could get a union in here it sure would help.”
There really wasn’t anything unusual about this letter. No different then talking to a recently fired worker at a location where we have an active organizing drive. When I house called her last year she was too scared to sign the Authorization Card. “I’m afraid I’ll lose my job if I sign,” she said. I told her the employer will never know. She didn’t believe me. Now on the phone she asked, “Can I sign now? I was just fired and lost my job. I am a single mom and have no other options.”
It always causes me to wonder why the concept of change is so scary. Why do most of us assume that what we are doing today is safer than the alternative? In this case how can any worker believe that being an “at will” employee where the company can fire you for any reason is better than being protected by the legal concept of “just cause” where the employer must show a work related reason for the discharge, must have a penalty that is no greater than the proven miss-behavior, and where you the accused has the right to have a union steward by your side during the investigation. The choice boils down to “progressive discipline” or being fired for no reason without any recourse.
Too many non-union workers suffer from “it-can’t-happen-to-me” syndrome. “I’m a good worker; I don’t need to pay union dues,” they report. They hold that thought up until the moment security escorts them out of the building for the last time. Or when the economy crashes and the boss lay-offs the older workers in the mistaken belief that younger bodies will produce more in our physically demanding work. Perhaps the termination follows making the wrong comment to a co-worker who happens to be secretly dating the supervisor. What is an innocent comment among workers becomes a transgression and out the door you go.
The fact is being a good worker has no meaning if your definition of good conflicts with that of the supervisor or the owner. Too often on a house call we have heard, “my boss and I get along great, I do not need a union.” Only to get a phone call later asking if they can sign since his supervisor who was his buddy got transferred or promoted and the new guy doesn’t understand anything.
Maybe it sounds too good to be true. By signing the Authorization Card you guarantee as soon as the union is certified that all changes in hours, wages, and working conditions must be bargained, and that discipline must be progressive and based on due process. Or, maybe they think they already have these protections that only exist with a union contract.
For some their answer is, “Why should I pay union dues?” Even after you explain to them that union workers on average have 23% higher pay and benefits. That the money for union dues comes from the company not from you the worker, that you don’t have to pay dues until after you see the benefits of the union contract. They still believe they are being charged for nothing.
These same people, who give 10% of their earnings to their church, donate to the Red Cross, contribute to their bowling league, and pay more for a dinner and a movie than monthly union dues believe that they are not getting their money’s worth in higher wages, better benefits, and due process.
This entire process remains a mystery to me. I understand that we don’t teach any of this in our schools. I know that we in the union movement frequently fail to educate workers as to what it means to belong to a social movement dedicated to social justice for all workers and their families. I get it that the media, in a capitalist society is owned by the same capitalists and have the same economic interest as other owners which is reflected in their newspapers and on their television shows. I have experienced both the fear of and the reality of unemployment, of having no idea where the next pay check will come from. Yet, I do not comprehend the “acceptance”. The unwillingness to engage in the struggle for a better life for yourself and your family. The paralysis of fear. The absolute belief in the futility of even trying to make your life better by engaging in the simple act of signing an Authorization Card.
It will happen to you. In our society it is guaranteed that at least once in a life time if not far more often you will face injustice and corruption on the job. As Lord Acton is quoted, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Our employers are corrupt not because they are bad people but rather because they have too much power.
CEO’s use lay-offs to solve falling sales because they can and it is easier than alternatives. They transfer jobs overseas, because they can and once again it is easier than the alternative. Our supervisors ask us to do unsafe things and terminate us when we are caught doing them because it is either we who must go out the door or the supervisor and the supervisor has the power.
What would you pay to have some of that power? What if I told you we would pay you to get some of that power? We would help you get the power and use it responsibly to enhance your co-workers, your company (yes, union companies have higher productivity and are better managed than non-union ones), and both your community (higher wages means more money spent for downtown merchants), and your family (even with health insurance reform, a union health care plan and a union pension remain unbeatable).
Perhaps it just all sounds too good to be true?
