
Yesterday I got a nice letter from our union DBR, Mr. Watson. "As you know, we will be entering negotiations very soon with Raytheon, and I wanted to contact you and ask you to be a part of the IAM team, to gain a voice and a vote on your future."
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Whew! What a line! Let me see if I got that right. You want me to pay three hours a month of my labor to get a voice? A Vote? Regarding MY future? I invite all of you to read the letter for content. Does it make sense? He wants to protect our jobs, pay & benefits. It goes on and on…yea...OK, that's why the skilled trades at RMS have pay below par. It sounds like he is protecting his job, pay and benefits. IAM is an extremely profitable company. Did any of you know about the
IAM Golf Course they own and operate at the Wipisinger Center that is paid for by your union dues? There is more. Since most Americans have tired of union games, it leaves fewer and fewer of you to carry the increasing burden of their luxurious jet-setter lifestyle.
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Jimbo, we understand the game. You make more than double the average pay of the RMS Worker. And as you go up the IAM rank and file, you'll get even more than that! To fund this increase, the union is raising the dues again this year. What was two hours of pay per month in December of 2008 will be three hours a month this January. BOHICA! *
Jimbo, drop the Medical Coverage rants. We've heard that all before. That's why you guys caused the strike last time. You should have asked for a pay raise and let it get eaten up by medical costs back in 2003. If you had done that, the 3+3+3 you got in 2006 would have been 6% ahead of what you gave your workers. You're going to get pass-through language now, just like salary. You just postponed the inevitable, and it cost you 6% in wages forever. Take the medical coverage that salary gets, and shut the hell up! That leaves you in a better position to get wages for the workers. Up until now, you failed us miserably.
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Your ability to bargain is hampered by workers who aren't part of the union. They aren't part of the union, because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of membership. You caused us to rise up against you. Not only must you face the Company across the negotiating table, but also now you will battle for your right to those negotiations. Some of you claim that if we thought we were so smart, why don't we join forces with you? Some of us have in the past. And we collectively discovered that you are not what you claim you are. It's not that we are so smart. It's that your union is so DUMB!
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Nobody will forget the feeding frenzy the union had on the night of 5 November of 2006. We want no part of that. Your performance falls way short of "protecting our jobs, pay, & benefits."
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"If we stand together we can do better." BOHICA! *
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The union has systematically ripped us all off. If you had not, you would have more loyalty from us. But since before I joined the Company, you guys have fought to reduce the wages of skilled labor in exchange for increasing unskilled labor.
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You violate union ethics to forget the trades that gave you your beginnings. Since the early 90's, wages for all skilled trades have suffered, while a select group got a huge boost. You lie when you blame the company. YOUR union did it. You negotiated it away, just like you did RONA and everything else. The cold wolf makes cute videos of a couple of our supporters, but it still doesn’t change the facts. Your members know this to be true.
Soon the Company is going to drop a nuke on the union when it begins to fill Tester slots with salaried workers this fall. Go ahead and strike. Since your selfish union has seen to keep the Tester Profession pay low, there is a cost to you. The Company can't hire enough to do the work, so they are going to roll you over the log and "give it to ya". You better get generous with the Company and let RMS pay the technical trades what they are worth. I'm really going to enjoy the show when the union goes bezerk over this!
Quote: "And as someone said earlier I have not seen anyone trying to stand up for wips, custodians, material handlers. All these occupations are subject to outsourcing if you lose the union."
BOLSHEVIC! There are quite a few WIPS & Material Handlers who signed the petition. They too have been given the shaft by this union. We know this, and are fighting for them too. Once upon a time, an Assembler could find a better paying job by training up to be a WIP. Thanks to this union, that hasn't been the case for many years. How many red circles did the union cause, and then it lies to cover up deals so they wouldn't complain? The union loves to say, "We'll try to help you, but the Company is greedy". So convenient to say, and so easy to fool the unsuspecting client of the machine that consumes your wealth. Outsourcing won't happen as they claim. There are not enough WIPS & Material Handlers to push the union honchos around. Just like the other skilled jobs, the union has seen fit to screw us. Our movement brings balance to the pay grades here at RMS either by forcing the union to recognize they have to represent, or by removing their right to represent. ALL THE GRADES, not just a couple, deserve fighting representation.
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This means that they will painfully have to undo what they have done, or it will be painful when we undo them. You will put all the wages proportionally back where they were back then, across the entire Plant. Sad to say, you guys are too stupid to understand "proportionally" because you can't figure out "median", so I doubt you guys can fix this problem you created over successive contracts. Separate the skills again! Testers are not EETs! Inspectors are not Assemblers! Bring pride back to your work force again! I'll volunteer to teach you guys what I mean, if you have the fortitude to attempt such an endeavor. Then maybe I for one would lay off your case...a little.
I don't accept the phrase "we will try to do better" from the union. That is a cheap way out. When RMS spends close to 72 Million Dollars a year on labor wages, not including benefits, then you have quite a big pie with which to slice up different ways. It's the union's job to represent skilled labor, the same kind of workers that originally started trade unions so long ago. You guys have forgotten your charter. We're here to help you remember. Because if you won't do your job, other unions are lining up to do it for you. BOHICA! ( Bend over, here it comes again)
If you want to change the union, fight it!