07/08/05: Eight Steps to a Stronger Union
I take responsibility for these opinions as my own. If you think the ideas herein have merit and you would like to share this document with other Union members, then I invite you to do so, but please, not in such a way as to intimidate or harass anyone. – Dennis Braun
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After two strikes in a row that resulted in little improvement over the Company’s originally rejected offers, it is probably a good time to re-assess the situation – where we are; where we want to go, and how to get there. Faced with an increasingly exploitive corporate mentality, “business-as-usual” tactics (for labor) haven’t been working too well, and good jobs have been outsourced, two-tiered, stripped of benefits, or sent overseas entirely. The march toward a lower standard for the next generation of workers continues – the generation of our own kids and grandkids.
Consequently, I’ve been giving some thought about what we, Local 709, might be able to do to more effectively challenge this alarming trend. I believe we can have a stronger Union if we can successfully achieve certain objectives, and it is with that in mind that I have developed the following list (and also with the realization that anything the Union does to make itself more viable, is likely to meet with Company resistance).
1. WEAR AN IAM BUTTON AT WORK – ALWAYS.
It is too easy to reap all the benefits of a Union negotiated contract without having to contribute to its support. Free-riding hourly people are allowed to blend into the dues paying workforce to a point where they are practically invisible. While I’m not advocating intimidation, harassment, or disrupting job performance, (at all) shouldn’t their non-contributing status be a little more obvious? After all, members are paying almost $600 a year for the same compensation package the sliders quietly enjoy for free. And who says they have to run with us in all the top social circles?
So, what’s the big idea? An IAM button (about the size of a dime) with a bendable tab, so it can be crimped to your Lockheed ID badge holder, just above the badge. This style would also make it flat enough (unlike a tack pin) so that those required to wear their ID badges inside FOD bags could keep the logo button visible in the window too.
Shop Stewards would be tasked with the supply, and with monitoring and encouraging all qualified members in their department to wear their IAM button everyday – and to ensure that only members do. By having it attached to your badge holder: it doesn’t obscure your ID, (something the Company could object to) everybody knows where to look for it, and you don’t have to worry about leaving it at home because you changed your clothes.
Hourly workers without the button might feel a little more conspicuous than usual, and the appearance of it on a member’s ID will act as a constant reminder that the wages and benefits everyone gets didn’t come for free.
But this “Identify Union Pride” program will only work if applied broadly and consistently.
An ethics minute: Right-to-work state or not, if they HAD to be Union members to get the raise and other benefits of the new contract – free-riders would be absolutely lining up to join.
2. AS A BARGAINING TOOL IN FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS, RELENTLESSLY PURSUE THE CONCEPT OF A COMPANY MATCHED CREDIT FOR DUES PAID - INSTEAD OF A “SIGNING BONUS.”
Management really won’t like this, because if worded correctly, it’s the one way to legally outflank the right-to-work-state (unfair) advantage the Company so enjoys the benefits of.
At contract ratification, each represented employee would receive (from the Company) a unique cash payment equal to the amount that they had personally paid in Union dues over the life of the expiring contract. Since ALL represented employees have had the opportunity to join and support the Union at some point in time, it is only by their own choice (or actions) that they might not now (uh-oh) get anything, and therefore no one is being unfairly excluded.
We should give this idea a high priority, (and let it be known as such) because once membership becomes essentially free, the crowd that likes free things might consider joining – and therefore being able to vote on the next contract – a reasonably priced deal. And at long last, dues paying members will be able to walk away from ratification with something that non-supporters aren’t also going to get.
Heaven knows the Company has had a keen interest in selectively parsing-up the membership with other deals in the past (two-tiers, new-hire benefits, etc.). So let’s see how they like shorting the freebee bunch for a change. It would probably be a good idea to consult with the Grand Lodge (or whoever) about how to legally implement this idea.
An ethics minute: How ethical is it that a Union that depends solely on its membership for financial support, is legally required to represent non-members that are not legally obligated to contribute?
3. TO BOOST MEMBERSHIP, CONSIDER SOME FORM OF “REPATRIATION” PROGRAM.
The details of this would have to be worked out as to who would be eligible, and what might have to be changed to allow it, but there are potential ex-members who’ve been out there awhile, that may (given a chance) consider re-joining, especially once the merits of a strongly unified membership begin to become more apparent.
4. TO STIMULATE INVOLVEMENT, ACTIVELY KEEP THE MEMBERSHIP INFORMED
If printing the “Organizer” is too expensive, or unwieldy, then I would suggest putting out a shorter, simpler newsletter at least after each monthly meeting. When I was summarizing the meetings and distributing copies in my department, they were also getting forwarded around a lot, and I was getting a lot of positive feedback. Members want information, and my intention had been to get people more involved by raising their interest level – because informed people become more interested; have a greater sense of belonging, and are more likely to want to participate in the Union’s day-to-day activities.
As far as our privacy is concerned, (imo) we’re dealing with a company that makes spy satellites! If there’s anything worth knowing – and millions of bucks are sometimes at stake – they already oversee our e-mail, and could easily have the Union hall “bugged” from the floor to the rafters.
Just telling folks they should come to the meetings, doesn’t work.
An ethics minute: How ethical is it for a Company to make their Op-Techs work the first 5 hours of overtime a week for FREE just because they don’t have any representation and so can’t do anything about it?
5. A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE IS IMPORTANT - UPGRADE THE WEBSITE
Our website is the Grand Entrance to who we are – on the Internet. It should be:
1. Aesthetically pleasing and suggest a level of sophistication commensurate with our line of business: Aerospace/High-Tech/Defense.
2. Uncluttered, with an intuitive layout that’s easy to navigate.
3. Complete, accurate and up-to-date in its information.
Unfortunately, our current site is None Of The Above!
As a former Graphics Artist, I have some specific ideas about what our look should be (but I-don’t-do-websites). However, I know someone who does, and he’s looked at ours and has offered to give it a complete makeover for $300 – which he says is cheap for that level of service. So that’s an option worth considering.
6. DEVELOP A PERMANENT PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN TO DEFINE THE ISSUES ON A COMMUNITY/NATIONAL LEVEL – WHERE THEY REALLY BELONG.
The public perception of our contract negotiations has essentially been that of an isolated local union battling it out with its host company over the terms of a “still fatter” new labor contract. The media tends to promote anything the Company does “business-wise” as necessary, self-preserving and good – and anything the Union does that may (conceivably) jeopardize that, as selfish, greedy and therefore not so good. Just think back about the local headlines during our recent strike.
The Company (and corporate America in general) has capitalized aggressively on this misperception for more than two decades.
The REAL truth that nobody’s seriously connecting the dots on is that Local 709 – as well as labor Unions throughout this country – are the last line of defense against a prevailing corporate mindset that has a seriously dwindling sense of responsibility toward its labor force, and therefore the community – and, by extension, the long-term economic future of the country itself.
Not thousands, but millions of American jobs have been economically downgraded or have disappeared to foreign lands in recent years. And, under the guise of “remaining competitive,” the wholesale “cost-cutting” continues unabated today because our first two lines of defense – Washington lawmakers and corporate conscience – are either asleep at the wheel or in bed with each other.
During contract negotiations (or anytime the media comes calling, really) we need to grab the initiative and define the issues for what they really are.
For instance:
“These jobs belong, first, to this community! We only hold them temporarily and someday they will be the job opportunities of your children and of their children – if we can preserve them. Stand with us against outsourcing, two-tiered wage structures, and the stripping away of hard-won benefits from future generations.”
The whole community should CARE about what happens at big corporations like ours, because the labor issues we are dealing with today are having a larger (and lasting) impact on the quality of jobs available across the whole country.
Everybody knows we are “On Strike Against Lockheed Martin Corporation.” What we need to carry are signs that say WHY: Labor Unions are defending the economic homeland!
An ethics minute: You’ll probably never find:
…a person charged with trying to eliminate your job – that would speak-up if he figured out a way to eliminate his own. Suddenly, “mum’s the word.”
…a CEO turning down a multi-million dollar “perk” – because of its negative impact on the corporate bottom-line.
While the six-o’clock noise counts the labor casualties – “2,000 jobs lost,” etc. – no one really notices the sound of corporate honchos quietly moving up the (very) golden prosperity ladder. Certain individuals do extremely well for making the “money-saving” decisions and policies that send American working-class jobs down the tubes. Cost-cutting indeed.
This may surprise you - but I do NOT stand against great personal success, or great personal wealth. What I AM against is irresponsible success and runaway wealth, when those at the top dismiss that they are standing on the shoulders of the ones whose jobs they’d like to cut.
7. DECIDE TO ELIMINATE INTERNALLY DIVIDING ISSUES
The quick-settlement-reward/payoff/bonuses (etc.) for accepting things like two-tiered wage structures and double-standard benefit packages, may have looked like easy money “Cash Cows,” but the fact is they’ve been Bulls in our china shop that just won’t leave. ANY deal that divides the membership internally is bad for future Union business – the Company knows this – and we’ve been paying for it (one contract after another) since 1984.
Getting the Bulls back out again is likely to be painful – the Company profits greatly from their resulting discord – but I don’t see any other way to re-galvanize the membership into a truly cohesive bargaining unit.
An ethics minute: At 18, we send our kids off to war pretty young. What kind of jobs will be waiting for them when they return?
8. COORDINATE THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL TO ACTIVELY NETWORK WITH OTHER LOCALS
There are almost 600 Locals in the IAM that, except for their tether to the Grand Lodge, are basically “islands unto themselves.” The potential I foresee here is an opportunity to define and disseminate a singular message of extraordinary importance on a national level: The vital, yet largely unrecognized (or misunderstood) role that American Labor Unions “are fighting to protect and preserve the quality of working-class jobs – and therefore middle-class life in this country.” This is the page every Local should be constantly reading from at contract time and in between, because – IT’S THE TRUTH.
The way I would suggest accomplishing this would be to have a steady flow of brief and interestingly written news updates that support the “Big Picture,” delivered to all the locals uniformly. The information would be designed to keep the memberships informed and the Local halls “on message” in the public eye. Cheap, one page bulletin-style updates could be read at meetings, posted on Union boards and passed out by Shop Stewards.
The other thing I’d encourage is the clustering of “natural allies” among Locals. For instance, a shared main website between Marietta, Ft. Worth, Palmdale, etc., (similar to the Lockheed “InSite – Internal Web Site of LM Aero”) where you’d have shared information on the main page, but also be able to access a specific Local’s information with just a click.
IN CLOSING
Lest I be accused of trying to foment a revolution or something: I see the company itself as separate from its management and its work force. I work for the company, you work for the company, and management works for the company. While I don’t agree with what I see as a self-serving double standard on the part of corporate leaders in general, I still think it’s essential that we each perform our jobs responsibly, and in such a way as to make a positive contribution to the success of the operation.
Then we can ask for the level of consideration we think is right – and feel right in expecting it.
Dennis Braun
Local Lodge 709
April 2005
