As I write this you fellow workers, I am thinking of the powers of the forces of an anti-democratic workplace. Oh by the way this new picture of me was taken a few weeks before I was executed by the powers of the bosses. (sorry the Blog does not support pictures)
Yes, I am sure many of you know that I, Joe Hill was killed by the copper bosses in 1915 in what was supposed to be a legal execution. The bullets only hurt for a little while because the spirit of solidarity has carried me further to the union movement everywhere. Many called me a martyr. But I have said and I mean it... Don't mourn me. ORGANIZE!
But you say we are organized. We have a union, the ATU, one of the biggest and most powerful unions in America. Yes, this is true BUT organize means what we do in the union also. If you are not working to support the union bargaining effort you are not organizing. On July 14, 2004 not one worker showed up at the Hilton in support of our bargaining team. NO ONE! I wish I could be a fly on the wall of these negotiations, because LTD appears to be holding the line hard and fast. Yesterday the Service Employees conducted an informational picket at McKenzie Willamette Hospital a day ahead of their federal mediation. There action is what we call internal organizing. Well my friends the next bargaining will be July 28. Will you be there?
How better to support our team and illustrate to the bosses that we will not go silently into the night. LTD has the money. They have however many bad ideas for the money and none for investment into their employees. They are wrong. LTD is wrong. Their motives are purely intended to destroy our union. They intend to force their position. We can see this from the message from our Great Leader, Herr Hamm. He wrote to us on July 16, 2004 as follows:
To All LTD Employees:
I feel compelled to share some information and a different perception related to the current negotiation efforts between the Amalgamated Transit Union Division 757 and the Lane Transit District. There is a lot of misinformation circulating.
LTD has clearly communicated to all employees for several years that it has a goal of responsibly managing District resources. LTD has a responsibility to our taxpayers and the community to manage the District's resources effectively. Cutting service in response to rising operating costs every year means paying more and getting less. Our stakeholders expect and deserve as much fixed-route stability from year to year as we can provide.
Cutting service is not necessary because of increasing operational costs. This is disingenuous. The budget clearly shows a transfer to the capital budget of over $1,400,000. This cost is more than enough to fund our a renewal of existing agreement for two years. By the way did you know that inflation has recently increased to 4.95%. And why is it that Tri-Met can enter into a 6 year agreement with scheduled increases and maintenance of benefits. SIX YEARS! Mr. Hamm we are not stupid but we can see your intent is clear. You appear on a course to bust us.
Identifying and maintaining a sustainable level of service was one of the themes in the last budget development process. During hard times, as some of us know from the early eighties, managing resources can mean belt tightening.
Belt tightening does not mean proceeding full speed ahead with capital projects and NOT investing in your human capital. Training has been cut. Safety has been compromised. And the bus choices you have made have not been burning successes just burning. We the workers make it happen and we deserve as much attention as the capital budget. Or maybe is your plan for us is the same, just to burn us.
As we all know, the economy in this valley declined significantly in 2001 and it has not appreciably come back to date. Add that reality to the fact that health insurance is accelerating at a rate of 17-22 percent every year and you can see why we have a difficult situation. The health insurance crisis is not unique to LTD. Many employers are facing similar issues. It is a national problem of huge proportion.
You are right Mr. Hamm, health insurance is a national problem. But you will contribute to it by forcing employees to pay these spiraling costs, cutting benefits or hurting our coverage. You are the problem along with thousands of other heartless employers. If you really believe it is a national problem of huge proportion then don't make it worse here at our home! Be the leader that you claim to be and don't attack our benefits. By the way, you can make the cost of increased benefits go away in the budget by cutting the 6% retirement benefit for managers to zero, making your retirement benefits more comparable to the union. This reduction would be a savings to the budget enough to pay the cost of the union contract renewal offer. But then fairness is not part of your vocabulary. In case you don't know the word here is the definition;
Main Entry: fair
Marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism b (1) : conforming with the established rules :
fair·ness nounsynonyms FAIR, JUST, EQUITABLE, IMPARTIAL, UNBIASED, DISPASSIONATE, OBJECTIVE mean free from favor toward either or any side. FAIR implies an elimination of one's own feelings, prejudices, and desires so as to achieve a proper balance of conflicting interests . JUST implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper . EQUITABLE implies a less rigorous standard than JUST and usually suggests equal treatment of all concerned.
Sorry Mr. Hamm but we will call it anything we wish, but we will not call it a team. A team shares in the consequences. The team concept is exclusively in your own mind I am afraid. You know Albert Schweitzer said that doing the same thing and expecting different results is the classic definition for insanity. You keep calling us a team but do everything you can to hurt your team, not support your team and destroy our morale.
So there you have the Joe Hill take on Ken Hamm's letter to us. Joe has also learned that you all need to watch your mouths or things that you write. One of our fellow union members was dragged before the inquisition about sending personal critical notes about LTD policies to fellow workers. They were not threatening in any way or hostile. They were personal opinions. But Kommisar Johnson cancelled the first amendment got red in the face and screamed at our hapless communicator. The only hostility in the workplace appeared to be created by the Kommisar Johnson. Someone please tell him that we are in a free society where personal communication is permitted under the highest laws of the land.
In Solidarity,
Joe Hill
PS Please organize and show up at the bargaining on July 28, 2004. Be there at 11:15 at the Hilton. Bring your spouse, your children and your own self if you can get the time to be there. SUPPORT THE UNION.
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