The AZ Daily Star recently published a couple articles showing how the union at Raytheon is dropping five years straight. Too bad reporter Becky Pallack didn't look deeper into the LM-2 form. She would have noticed the union has less clout than reported. I give her a 'B' for effort. She did contact President Jimbo Watson, and he confirmed the union is holding strong at Raytheon, even increasing in numbers! *chuckle*
What keeps her reports from being an 'A' is the simple fact that she could have dug deeper into the form and asked questions like "where are these active members employed?" "How many work where?"
IAM-933 represent Boeing, HE Microwave, CAE Reflectone, RMS Rescue & Fire, and L-3 Communications in addition to Raytheon Missile Systems. How many members does that leave at RMS?
Here are the facts, as reported by President Harry Anthros using the LM-2 for 2007. Also the two previous annual statements of representation. It shows total membership, the number of active members who have a vote, and the others with no voice.
Year -- Total members -- Active Members -- retired/other
2007 -- 1671 ----------------- 1165 ----------------- 506
2006 -- 1699 ----------------- 1258 ----------------- 441
2005 -- 1765 ----------------- 1392 ----------------- 373
The union has 1671 total members. But only 1165 of them count. The rest are retired members, or unemployed. Notice the "Other" category is growing, padding the numbers to make it look like strength.
With only 1165 active members across all the companies they represent, and aproximately 1730 laborers at Raytheon, it appears they fall below the 50% representation mark at RMS.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
IAM 933 strength falls 5 years straight
It looks like the Arizona Daily Star has discovered that our Local 933 is loosing membership faster than it can be replaced. For five years in a row they have seen a decline. At this pace, it won't be long before they are officially recognised as a minority at Raytheon Missile Systems. That day will be their last at our factory. The azstarnet has this article on the subject. http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/allheadlines/238771.php
Bring our factory into the 21st century, Vote to Decertify IAMAW 933!
Bring our factory into the 21st century, Vote to Decertify IAMAW 933!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Raytheon is a Greedy Company! (Not)
It's been a while since something stirred me to blog as much as the things I saw this week. Raytheon has debunked another of the IAMAW 933's claim to be our protector.
Wednesday I saw Raytheon hourly workers painting and beautifying the plant. Their normal jobs? Assemblers and Testers. But we are going through a short period of work slowdown. The thing any greedy evil company would do is to lay those workers off and save the high labor cost, right? So what in Louise's cold heart let these workers continue on the payroll and do totally unrelated work that adds no profit to the corporate monsters?
It's simple folks. This company is looking out for the well being of its people and the long-term moral of its workforce. The company will profit from happy workers. The lies and propaganda from the union about how greedy Raytheon is just doesn't fit the picture. This company has gotten with the program long ago, and that's why it's one of the best places to work in the USA, period. (I can't wait to read the miscreant messages about this comment)
Help us remove this unfit labor representative at Raytheon. We will all be in a much happier workplace if we do.
Wednesday I saw Raytheon hourly workers painting and beautifying the plant. Their normal jobs? Assemblers and Testers. But we are going through a short period of work slowdown. The thing any greedy evil company would do is to lay those workers off and save the high labor cost, right? So what in Louise's cold heart let these workers continue on the payroll and do totally unrelated work that adds no profit to the corporate monsters?
It's simple folks. This company is looking out for the well being of its people and the long-term moral of its workforce. The company will profit from happy workers. The lies and propaganda from the union about how greedy Raytheon is just doesn't fit the picture. This company has gotten with the program long ago, and that's why it's one of the best places to work in the USA, period. (I can't wait to read the miscreant messages about this comment)
Help us remove this unfit labor representative at Raytheon. We will all be in a much happier workplace if we do.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Raytheon Hourly!
What's in it for you?
What does the IAMAW Lodge 933 do for you? Presently, the union has less than 50% membership in the hourly ranks. What do you risk if they go away? What do you stand to gain when they disappear? What beliefs do you hold dear because of those old stories you always heard from old union guys? Who has challenged those beliefs? What is the source of their "truth"? Who is telling you the truth? Why do union guys discourage talk to non-union guys? What are they afraid you will learn? Who is http://www.iam933.net/ ? Are they the Company? Or are they hourly workers like you and I? If they are hourly, what motivates them to fight so hard to free you from the union's grips? Why do they hide their identities? Do they risk union retribution? Is the union just big business tapping your wages? What product does the union sell that's worth two hours a month for eternity? What's the return on your investment? Questions like this and more, you will answer in the coming months as you consider whether or not to vote FOR or AGAINST the continued right of IAMAW Lodge 933 to determine your worth to RMS.
What does the IAMAW Lodge 933 do for you? Presently, the union has less than 50% membership in the hourly ranks. What do you risk if they go away? What do you stand to gain when they disappear? What beliefs do you hold dear because of those old stories you always heard from old union guys? Who has challenged those beliefs? What is the source of their "truth"? Who is telling you the truth? Why do union guys discourage talk to non-union guys? What are they afraid you will learn? Who is http://www.iam933.net/ ? Are they the Company? Or are they hourly workers like you and I? If they are hourly, what motivates them to fight so hard to free you from the union's grips? Why do they hide their identities? Do they risk union retribution? Is the union just big business tapping your wages? What product does the union sell that's worth two hours a month for eternity? What's the return on your investment? Questions like this and more, you will answer in the coming months as you consider whether or not to vote FOR or AGAINST the continued right of IAMAW Lodge 933 to determine your worth to RMS.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Orange Shirts ... Solidarity in the Real World
I want to send out a warm thank you to everyone supporting our cause by wearing orange shirts on Thursdays. It sends out a nice warm hug to us for all our hard work keeping this blog going and for the other teams out there working so hard keeping their websites going. Two months before the big vote we can all pull together and show this union just how much they are in the minority. Last Thursday was a big deal for us when we got the reports back about just how many of you support this cause and proved it by wearing your orange shirts. Thanks again!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Smoke Up Your ...
Okay, the union boys are obviously getting very nervous. We've exposed their backsides and they don't like it. We've told you where your dues go. We told you that they lie by telling you that it is against company rules to discuss getting rid of the union. Chat away have a good time, buy our tee-shirts, and wear them.Just be sure to chat during your breaks and in non-work areas to prevent any impression of a conflict of interest. Put our web address iam933.net on business cards and pass them out to your co-workers to invite them to visit our sites. Spread the word, especially to your neighbors, friends and anyone you know represented by IAM933 at Boeing, HE Microwave, CAE Reflectone, RMS Rescue & Fire and L-3 Communications. Enjoy the revolution.
The union is ashamed to admit that they are the minority. The truth is they have lost over 4% of their membership every year. There are more of us than them. So don't allow them to intimidate you. It's time to push, back and push back hard. We need to tie them up in lawsuits and National Labor Relations Board grievances. We need to get their stewards FIRED! They sure deserve it. They've been mean and stupid. They don't play by the rules. It's time to shut them up.
Tell your supervisors to make them remove their offensive stickers and posters from company property. Educate yourself about NLRB laws so you will know when they violate a law, then report each violation to the NLRB. If they ask anyone to join the union while on the shop floor or if they talk about union stuff on the floor, guess what? DING!!! That's an offense! They should get FIRED! We need your eyes and ears to report, report, report. Let's keep H.R. really busy dealing with union infractions.
The company can and should call for a vote to decertify this worthless union since less than 50% of the workers are actually in the union, but they won't because they don't want to look like the bad boys. But with enough complaints against the union it may become impossible to do business by consistently accommodating these sluggards. Let's make our majority voices heard. Wear orange, or green tee-shirts on Thursday to show your solidarity against the union, buy and wear our tee-shirts.The time is now to push back. Let them have a taste of our smoke for a change. I'm tired of living under all their threats. 5+ years in a hostile workplace is FREAKIN' enough! Smoke 'em if you catch 'em! ~rr
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Flash Forward
I just love the comments we get asking us to work "within" the union. We have done that, have the tee-shirt and it still hasn't worked, that's why we are goin' to all this trouble, duh! Here we have people ADMIT that the union is broke and don't work good, well Hee Haw, good buddy at least one spark in your distributor is firing! Bless God, and pass the bucket of pork rinds! You are the very folks that should be canceling your union dues!
Now if you weren't getting cable t.v. would you keep paying for it every month? I don't think so. But your union is broke and you take the wise old Democrat point of view, "if it don't work throw more money at it"! As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that workin' for you"?
We are not your six toed cousins from the hills! And nope we ain't mad at ya'. We are done tryin' to fix the broke tractor. There's work that needs to be done and we aren't goin' backwards and git us an old mule. Daddy tried that and nearly killed his fool self. Now when you've actually plowed with a mule before and wanna come talk about how hard it is workin' for Raytheon then You I will listen to, but not all those other panty waisted girly men out there.
I have worked in restaurants, and retail. Yes, I have worked at Wal-Mart, and you know what? Those jobs are fine for unskilled labor. If you don't want to go to school and work hard at getting a skill then Wal-Mart is what you deserve. Yes, Wal-Mart would need a union if people didn't have a choice in who to work for. Wal-Mart isn't such a great place to work. I was a manager there and thought the hourly folks needed a union. It was so bad I thought the managers needed a union. But I did Wal-Mart the favor of quitting and living without the joy of my presence. There are plenty of retailers out there, if you find one that treats its workers well then that is the one you should shop at. Please send me a comment and let me know which retailer treats its people well so I can shop there too.
And stop trying to tell us that if we don't like being hourly then we can just become salaried. Really? Do you mean if I go ask H.R. to make me salaried that they will just do it? If I could I would, and I hate working a salaried job! If Raytheon did that then the union would slap them with a big old grievance, so guess what that's never going to happen. Don't think of us as black sheep of your little family. We don't want your representation, nor do we want your permission to exist. We only want the union to go away. We do not want to co-exist. We are the majority. We will not make the same mistake we did during the last contract. We are better organized, and do not cave in to your fear tactics. There are more of us than there are union members and we will decertify this union. We just want to help you to feel better about the transition when it happens.
There was a day and time when people were loyal to companies and worked there their whole lives, but today people are smarter and just quit! Companies that don't take care of their people need to spend a lot of money constantly training new workers. Those companies can't compete as well as companies that retain good workers. Wal-Mart can stay in business because it doesn't take any special skill to keep them going, so they can afford to fire all their Christmas new hires every year, and they usually do. The really good workers they keep and make certain to give them 39 hours a week or less so they don't get any benefits. Welcome to the savvy low life scum of retail! When those good workers quit there are over 400 applications waiting in personnel for a phone call from folks who don't understand retail. In 6 months they will get the best education of their life and go back to college, get an MBA and probably treat their employees like Wal-Mart treated them because they didn't learn the 'real life lesson'. Take care of people and that is how you are a success. You aren't successful by having an inflated bottom line, a big bottom means you need to go to the gym more and push yourself away from the dinner table.
A lot of my co-workers are scared and rightfully so. What will happen to me in two years when the union is decertified and they won't be there to save my slacker butt from the unemployment line? Well, if you are a slacker, you deserve the unemployment line, since somebody else has been doing your work for you. Good workers get rewarded, and if they don't pay you well enough then guess what? There are other places to work for like Boeing and Lockheed. If you haven't stuck your head out the hole you're in for awhile then guess what? There is an EXTREME shortage of aerospace workers. Read the article for yourself, and rejoice! We are dinosaurs that need to be highly compensated or the aerospace industry will crumble. The industry is learning the hard lesson of how much harder they need to work to keep people. The millennial generation tells employers to give them more or they will leave and work somewhere else. Well good for them and better for us. I think Raytheon needs to give me the massages and the lattes to keep on working until I'm 70 so they don't have to put up with the millennial kids coming to work these days (about noon - if the employer is so lucky)
Okay let's flash forward to two years from now when the union is decertified. For die-hard union supporters it will suck. It won't suck because Raytheon will be a worse place to work, but it will suck because of the mental stronghold of union folks. They will be grieving that their little "family" is dead. It's the same syndrome that gang members go through when they wake up and realize that they have to figure things out on their own and think for a change. There won't be someone holding their hand telling them who they should hate. Now they will have to figure out who the enemy is and hopefully they won't look in the mirror, because they will come to realize all too soon that they are their own worst enemy. I got a pretty good taste of how pleasant it was to work at Raytheon during the strike. There weren't a bunch of bitter old slackers standing around complaining about how horrible it is working under the torturous conditions at Raytheon.
Those whiners never worked in retail.
Some folks complain that their 401K will go away. Well good riddance, a 401K is a sucker investment anyway. Folks that bother to educate themselves know that 401K plans only offer extremely safe venues which do not pay very well. During your working lifetime you can lose over $1 million by investing in a 401K instead of having that same money work for you in a multitude of better mutual funds available outside of a 401K plan.
There is fear that people will lose their job when the union is decertified. That just will not happen with the shortage of aerospace workers today. Only the extreme slackers will go away and the union shouldn't be protecting those folks anyway, since it just makes the union look stupid. There are very few people willing to move to our lovely oasis here in Tucson. It is the desert and they just won't come here because it seems formidable. A lot of folks have worked in awful factories and will never allow themselves to take on an assembly job ever again. Raytheon can not legally lower your pay either. They can pay new hires less money, but they won't do that for long since aerospace workers are retiring faster than they are being trained. Millenials won't work at Raytheon, ohhh PuhLeeezze! We make bombs and your hands may get dirty and you can't wear flip flops, oooohh like No way, dude!
Now when Raytheon can figure out how to serve lattes on the production floor and will let you wear pajamas and flip flops then you might have to worry about the millenial generation competing for your job, but that won't be until they've worked at Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Hooters for a out 10 years and realize, omg I need more $$$ or I can't text my bff Jill and hang out in Boca 4ever!
Life will be great without the union. People can only take so much negative us against them propaganda. Especially after this election year. The only thing we hear from talking heads is blah blah blah. We tune out the rhetoric and look around and realize, I don't have it so bad. I could be existing in China, or some other God forsaken communist regime instead of the best country on earth where you have the freedom to choose where to work instead of having it mandated to you by the bureaucrats in your government. Some union supporters don't even get that. There are a bunch of whacked out union folks that think communism is far better than freedom. They are so used to being told what to think that they truly want the government telling them what to think, do and how to live. Stop smoking your rope, crawl out of your sweat lodge and see what life is like outside in the real world. It's like beautiful out here baby!
Now if you weren't getting cable t.v. would you keep paying for it every month? I don't think so. But your union is broke and you take the wise old Democrat point of view, "if it don't work throw more money at it"! As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that workin' for you"?
We are not your six toed cousins from the hills! And nope we ain't mad at ya'. We are done tryin' to fix the broke tractor. There's work that needs to be done and we aren't goin' backwards and git us an old mule. Daddy tried that and nearly killed his fool self. Now when you've actually plowed with a mule before and wanna come talk about how hard it is workin' for Raytheon then You I will listen to, but not all those other panty waisted girly men out there.
I have worked in restaurants, and retail. Yes, I have worked at Wal-Mart, and you know what? Those jobs are fine for unskilled labor. If you don't want to go to school and work hard at getting a skill then Wal-Mart is what you deserve. Yes, Wal-Mart would need a union if people didn't have a choice in who to work for. Wal-Mart isn't such a great place to work. I was a manager there and thought the hourly folks needed a union. It was so bad I thought the managers needed a union. But I did Wal-Mart the favor of quitting and living without the joy of my presence. There are plenty of retailers out there, if you find one that treats its workers well then that is the one you should shop at. Please send me a comment and let me know which retailer treats its people well so I can shop there too.
And stop trying to tell us that if we don't like being hourly then we can just become salaried. Really? Do you mean if I go ask H.R. to make me salaried that they will just do it? If I could I would, and I hate working a salaried job! If Raytheon did that then the union would slap them with a big old grievance, so guess what that's never going to happen. Don't think of us as black sheep of your little family. We don't want your representation, nor do we want your permission to exist. We only want the union to go away. We do not want to co-exist. We are the majority. We will not make the same mistake we did during the last contract. We are better organized, and do not cave in to your fear tactics. There are more of us than there are union members and we will decertify this union. We just want to help you to feel better about the transition when it happens.
There was a day and time when people were loyal to companies and worked there their whole lives, but today people are smarter and just quit! Companies that don't take care of their people need to spend a lot of money constantly training new workers. Those companies can't compete as well as companies that retain good workers. Wal-Mart can stay in business because it doesn't take any special skill to keep them going, so they can afford to fire all their Christmas new hires every year, and they usually do. The really good workers they keep and make certain to give them 39 hours a week or less so they don't get any benefits. Welcome to the savvy low life scum of retail! When those good workers quit there are over 400 applications waiting in personnel for a phone call from folks who don't understand retail. In 6 months they will get the best education of their life and go back to college, get an MBA and probably treat their employees like Wal-Mart treated them because they didn't learn the 'real life lesson'. Take care of people and that is how you are a success. You aren't successful by having an inflated bottom line, a big bottom means you need to go to the gym more and push yourself away from the dinner table.
A lot of my co-workers are scared and rightfully so. What will happen to me in two years when the union is decertified and they won't be there to save my slacker butt from the unemployment line? Well, if you are a slacker, you deserve the unemployment line, since somebody else has been doing your work for you. Good workers get rewarded, and if they don't pay you well enough then guess what? There are other places to work for like Boeing and Lockheed. If you haven't stuck your head out the hole you're in for awhile then guess what? There is an EXTREME shortage of aerospace workers. Read the article for yourself, and rejoice! We are dinosaurs that need to be highly compensated or the aerospace industry will crumble. The industry is learning the hard lesson of how much harder they need to work to keep people. The millennial generation tells employers to give them more or they will leave and work somewhere else. Well good for them and better for us. I think Raytheon needs to give me the massages and the lattes to keep on working until I'm 70 so they don't have to put up with the millennial kids coming to work these days (about noon - if the employer is so lucky)
Okay let's flash forward to two years from now when the union is decertified. For die-hard union supporters it will suck. It won't suck because Raytheon will be a worse place to work, but it will suck because of the mental stronghold of union folks. They will be grieving that their little "family" is dead. It's the same syndrome that gang members go through when they wake up and realize that they have to figure things out on their own and think for a change. There won't be someone holding their hand telling them who they should hate. Now they will have to figure out who the enemy is and hopefully they won't look in the mirror, because they will come to realize all too soon that they are their own worst enemy. I got a pretty good taste of how pleasant it was to work at Raytheon during the strike. There weren't a bunch of bitter old slackers standing around complaining about how horrible it is working under the torturous conditions at Raytheon.
Those whiners never worked in retail.
Some folks complain that their 401K will go away. Well good riddance, a 401K is a sucker investment anyway. Folks that bother to educate themselves know that 401K plans only offer extremely safe venues which do not pay very well. During your working lifetime you can lose over $1 million by investing in a 401K instead of having that same money work for you in a multitude of better mutual funds available outside of a 401K plan.
There is fear that people will lose their job when the union is decertified. That just will not happen with the shortage of aerospace workers today. Only the extreme slackers will go away and the union shouldn't be protecting those folks anyway, since it just makes the union look stupid. There are very few people willing to move to our lovely oasis here in Tucson. It is the desert and they just won't come here because it seems formidable. A lot of folks have worked in awful factories and will never allow themselves to take on an assembly job ever again. Raytheon can not legally lower your pay either. They can pay new hires less money, but they won't do that for long since aerospace workers are retiring faster than they are being trained. Millenials won't work at Raytheon, ohhh PuhLeeezze! We make bombs and your hands may get dirty and you can't wear flip flops, oooohh like No way, dude!
Now when Raytheon can figure out how to serve lattes on the production floor and will let you wear pajamas and flip flops then you might have to worry about the millenial generation competing for your job, but that won't be until they've worked at Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Hooters for a out 10 years and realize, omg I need more $$$ or I can't text my bff Jill and hang out in Boca 4ever!
Life will be great without the union. People can only take so much negative us against them propaganda. Especially after this election year. The only thing we hear from talking heads is blah blah blah. We tune out the rhetoric and look around and realize, I don't have it so bad. I could be existing in China, or some other God forsaken communist regime instead of the best country on earth where you have the freedom to choose where to work instead of having it mandated to you by the bureaucrats in your government. Some union supporters don't even get that. There are a bunch of whacked out union folks that think communism is far better than freedom. They are so used to being told what to think that they truly want the government telling them what to think, do and how to live. Stop smoking your rope, crawl out of your sweat lodge and see what life is like outside in the real world. It's like beautiful out here baby!
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