A picture speaks 1000 words

Fellow RMS workers, I write tonight to illustrate what I’ve been talking about for a long time. Our pay at RMS is way out of line with what our union should be doing with wages. I got this e-mail attachment a few hours ago. I was told to expect something big on Saturday, but this is great! When I wrote “Just the Facts” on Sept 13th, I wrote about unfair wages and I added a simple chart showing big difference in pay. This paints a much better picture of what I was talking about.
As you have seen over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a conciliatory position with the Union, in an effort to help them get the best bargain possible. Echoes abound with invites to the Rally for those Ousties who feel the desire to join forces with the Union in a demonstration of loyal opposition to the Company’s perceived tight fist over the coin box. Are we really welcome out there IAM933?

This picture illustrates my conviction that many of us have been short changed over the years. I’m not placing blame this time. It is what it is. Just look at the picture and decide for yourselves. Word has it that this same picture, together with others was sent to a union steward. The desire to help is balanced with the reality that our union has its goals different from ours. But if they take these charts and make adjustments to the negotiations necessary, they could earn a lot of members. Time will tell.

So I ask that steward to act promptly and get the charts moving upward today while the money is on the table in the negotiations. I don't think these charts do enough. There is not enough pay directed where I want it to go. But it is moving in the right direction. The biggest impact is for all those jobs that sucked with 46% raises over 16 years.
The other list I read has 34 of 38 classes getting at least a 65% pay increase over 1993 by 2012. That is, IF the Company will give the average sum amount listed in the chart to correct the pay problems. Some workers won’t like it if they are the ones who have enjoyed generous wage increases in the past, at the expense of the rest of labor.

I ask both the Union and the Company to look these charts over well, and come up with a solution to the basic problem that has demoralized RMS workers for many contracts. Lets raise the pay of those fields that we can’t fill because of under pay. And lets raise the pay of the workers who have taken it in the shorts all these years. Technical fields need a boost. We need to recapture the incentive to promote ourselves within Raytheon by making higher skill jobs attractive again.