Employed by Northwestel, I found myself in the midst of a contract dispute between the union and the company. The union was asking for a 17% raise over three years. The company was willing to give 11% over three years, an offer I thought quite generous in context of recent events in the North American telecommunications industry. A strike vote was initiated.
Bottom line, as I view myself as a short term employee, the difference in union/company contract proposals was not important enough to strike over. I started with the company in May of 2001. I knew I would be leaving sometime in the spring of 2003. From a strike I stood more to lose in one week than I could gain even if the union eventually locked in that full 17%. Desiring to work, I voted against the strike. Unfortunately, 87% thought differently.
So after work on Friday, May 24, I packed up my belongings and exited Northwestel premises. "A strike will not last more than a week or two", "the company cannot not make due without us," was the union sentiment of the time. Typical socialist-brotherhood mentality crap.
I didn't hang around to find out. I put my resume in with the temp agency I had worked for in the early months of 2001, Office Compliments. They had me working on Monday, May 27. And from May 27th to the end of June, I worked a few days here and there for them, doing various office duties.
Summer
Looking through the bottom of a Beaujolais red wine bottle is pretty much how I remember June, tearing up dance floors in front of gawking Indians & Inuit. After a month of binge and purge, with Office Compliments offering me full time work come July, I took my exit from Yellowknife's bar scene.
First I did a two week receptionist stint. Then I was contracted out to a sister company of Office Compliments, Arctic West Adjusters.
Arctic West Adjusters had won a contract to inspect engines and then calculate compensation for a Government of Nunavut (GN) program. In September of 2001, the GN had shipped subsidized gasoline to approximately 20 northern communities. This gasoline lacked an additive to control deposit buildup in engines. After prolonged high-intensity use, the pistons, cylinders and sometimes the crankshafts of two-stroke engines (snowmobiles, outboard engines) were catastrophically damaged.
The Northwestel labor dispute continued on. Finally, some eight weeks after it began, a settlement was reached. The company would increase wages by 12% over three years. Union members voted 74% in favor of returning to work. In other words, minus the 13% who originally voted against the strike, 61% of union employees voted to go on strike for eight weeks for a whopping 1% increase from the original company offer. *%#@~ #+`>/%*& *bleeeeeeep* $*@"^* ! (censored)
On July 24, I returned to my desk at Northwestel. One hour and forty-three minutes into my day, the very first day I'm back, I get this email from a payroll clerk: "It has been brought to our attention that when you started work with Northwestel you were being paid for 80 hours per pay instead of 75 hours per pay. When calculated the overpayment comes to $1902.81."
Carrying forward the debt of purchasing additional equities earlier this year, during the contract dispute I fell behind in my debt reduction plan, then was slapped with a $1900 bill on my first day of work.
I couldn't believe it. I was choked.
Autumn
In June I saw little improvement in my finances. Come late July, just before I would shift all gears into overdrive, I hit an unenthusiastic low.
Since then, all the energy I had no constructive outlet for during the summer, I have poured out in spades to reconcile the shortcomings and imbalances.
It's kind of funny. Arctic West Adjusters is supposed to be the part time job, Northwestel the full time job. However, in the span of four months, after two pay increases amounting to 33% more than my starting wage, I make more money on an hourly basis, and on a net basis, at my 'part-time' job than I do at my 'full-time' job.
Come late 2002 I find I am ahead of my own expectations. The nasty low I scraped in June & July is transformed into an efficiency high in October & November.
Partly from this extra work experience, one of the more recent thoughts I have had lately is about business/corporate culture. I am surprised at how much I enjoy the efficiency of a small business. It is streamlined and rational. Things get done! In a larger, more mature company like Northwestel, spread out over 4,000,000 square km, which has its every step monitored by a socialist government, the ongoing soap opera within and between departments / union / executive, the bureaucratic molasses can be quite disheartening over time. I term the latter "corporate grindage."
Before I was of the impression that I had to work for a large company to make a good paycheck. As a result of my experience with small business, looking toward Calgary I think there are more doors open to me in terms of employment. Doors that will meet my financial expectations as well as enhance peace of mind, instead of earning a paycheck at the expense of one's (mental) health.
I view this development as an extension of events in 1997, when I strongly rejected the irrational goo of Federal government employment and resigned. Now, as an employee of -- and an investor in -- private enterprise, I'm filtering through its ranks, becoming more focused on identifying healthy corporate cultures to aid me in the achievement of my long term goals.
Also, while I expect the financial volatility to continue to subside as I structure and sort things, I am learning to how deal with the volatility better, to minimize its disruptive effects, indeed, in some instances, even use it to my advantage.
Thus, through experience on two fronts, my professional and investment strategies are integrating and being refined.
As you can tell from the content of my letter, most of what I have to write about is professional & financial in nature. To date, I have kept personal relationships to a minimum. I find it is easier to navigate a successful path with a few select allies who share my values rather than being socially polite to all I meet and greet. Side-stepping many individuals who do not have a defined value system, I can utilize my energy and capital more efficiently, with less friction, by keeping my social life to a minimum.
In sum, as boring as it may be to many, my story continues to be one primarily of finance and investment. In the second half of this decade, when college/university will be the priority, I want my finances sound and investments in place while I attend school. Throw in a jig, a dance, and a twirl every now and then to spice up life, to make the locals gawk, voila! you have my recipe for Canadian success. Mmmmm, mmmmmmm, good n tasty, nutritious and wholesome ...