Seven Days Without Overtime

(The following letter was originally printed in good faith, in a Machinists local union newspaper. It is reprinted here in the same good faith, since we believe its message is timely and very serious. Please read it thoroughly.)

Dear Former Brother and Sister Union Members:

I am writing to you to hopefully warn you to avoid what has happened to me and my other Machinist's brothers and sisters in this plant.

We were once members of the International Machinist's Union with the usual gripes about union dues, slow grievance procedures, seniority disputes, incentives, overtime arguments, etc. We thought of our stewards and union officials as freeloaders with jobs that commanded no respect and that the company would treat us just as good with or without them, and were in agreement when someone said "The union is selling us out," never the company.

Well, this was in 1978 and now we no longer have these old problems; for in October 1978, we voted to decertify and break away from the International Union. We are now non-union and no more union dues! We no longer have seniority disputes because we are placed by ability, which means whoever is the bosses' pet. And the same with overtime. Our grievance in no longer slow, it is non-existent. We don't have an absentee problem; if you miss a day, you must have a doctor's slip, so most absentee problems were fired long ago with nobody to represent them. Our incentives now are: Do more work or you will be disciplined for refusal to work.

All this for less money, smaller hospitalization benefits; fewer holidays and seven days without overtime, if it's an emergency-which is almost every week. Our ex-stewards and union officers are no longer a problem; most of them have been discharged on one technicality or another, or set up in a discharge situation.

How did it happen? Well one night at a local tavern a supervisor I know got drunk and was laughing and bragging to a friend of his about how they got rid of the union. This is what I overheard from my booth in the tavern. The supervisor said the company hired a union-busting firm out of Chicago at seven hundred dollars an hour to come in and train their supervisors and foremen in the skill of union busting, with the threat that any foreman disclosing this would be fired.

He explained that there are a lot of companies in the business (of union busting) now because they think the time is right with inflation, plant closings, conservative Republicans and Democrats being elected and a general fear of job loss in a lot of plants. He said they held a lot of management classes and were taught the following ten rules (he held a piece of paper that he read them from-I tried to jot them down).

1. Try to confuse the seniority system for lay-offs, move-ups and overtime to get employees jealous of one another. Then when employees complain, send them to the union; thereby, shifting the blame, even if you have to use racial or sexual disputes. Most important, create fear and mistrust.
2. Draw out grievances as long as possible.
3. Threaten employees if they file grievances or safety complaints.
4. Increase discipline for even minor offenses to cause an overload for the union, slowing down their effectiveness on timeliness.
5. Make sure employees get all benefit books or letters on insurance benefits, pensions, etc. that the company gives-not union negotiated.
6. Increase management trainees or substitute foremen.
7. Get your stool pigeon-big mouth employees, every area has them, to criticize union officials and union dues. (You know who these are.)
8. Hold department meetings with employees to convince them you agree with their problems, but that the union has to do something. (Deliberately scheduling improperly is a very good example to use in this step.)
9. Convince them that you are on their side about job class increase or incentives on the job, but that your hands are tied and it's up to the union.
10. Last, but not least, the company must become the Big Brother, the good guy, and the union becomes the enemy by distorting the truth on Agreement. By the time the truth is known they won't trust the union anyway.

I cannot sign this letter, in fear of my job and family. Hopefully some day I will be back with you, without fear. It's a terrible lesson to learn.

Respectfully,
Ex-Union Brother in OK

Submitted by Tom Jones, Member, IBEW Local Union 443, Montgomery, Alabama

Reprinted from IBEW Journal/September 1982