As we rapped up another long day of negotiating with people who are in no mood to negotiate with us, we received a shot across our bow from the Company hatchet man. He gave Jay Churchill instructions to tell us that the Company intended to give us a final offer on the entire contract package on Tuesday, February 5th. To say that your Committee is a little disappointed would be a huge big understatement. We haven’t even negotiated on several of the items on the table. This would include Company Proposals #2 (Zipper Clause), #13 (Company Rights) and #15 (Substance Abuse Policy).
The Company would have you believe that your Committee has drug its heels on Company Proposal #2, saying that we have had ample time to discuss this issue. Can someone who has been paying attention please ask them when we were supposed to get around to discussing this proposal? We have been completely and totally buried in what amounts to a major rewrite of the Contract! Hardly a day passed that we didn’t sit down to a steady diet of Company Proposals #5, #8 and #9. Day in and day out we talked almost exclusively about issues important only to the Company. Virtually every time we would approach issues important to the membership of this Union, the Company would immediately trivialize our issues and get us bogged down in their agenda again. The apparent reason they didn’t get us bogged down discussing their Proposal #2 seems to be that they didn’t intend to include anything in the Zipper Clause. It’s kind of like saying, “We want a Zipper Clause, but we want to start fresh. Including fifty years of history and past practices in the clause would only muddy things up.”
Word has it that the Plant Manager reads this web site. We wonder if he reads the guest book.
Also, you all need to start preparing your spouses for the barrage of letters about to start showing up in your home mailboxes. This is about the time the Company will start pleading their case to you and your spouse on a more personal basis. They will be telling you that they only have your best interest in mind. Even though you will be seeing new (proposed) contract language that gives the boss control over the quality time you can spend with your family, the letters you will get at home will tell you the intent is different than the language. You will read words like engaged, empowered and mindset change until you think you are going to puke! Your Committee has spent the last month sitting across the table from seven people who have made it very clear what their intent is. What we wonder is how they intend to sleep when this is all over. They should be ashamed!
Stay tuned for much bigger updates over the next few days. It’s about to get interesting. |
