| Articles On This Page: Les Evans (Local 2108) Failure To Plan Are You Kidding Me Think About This Strike Speech Futures So Bright The Poorest |
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By Ed Osborne My last article got a lot of feedback, mostly positive. The negative feedback was people upset at my divisive tactics and terminology. WHAAAA cry me a river. I made some nonmember upset my mentioning the word SCAB!!! Since this has sparked debate, let’s delve into it further. It was very nice for some one to add the sanitized definitions under the “terms in labor” heading in the issue with my article. The way I see it, a scab starts as a coagulation of blood that forms over a wound. It hardens, gets crusty and protects the injury until it heals. Sounds like a good thing right? Well it is. Scabs are great for the Company! They are stopping the bleeding. They are stopping the pain. They are actually prolonging the strike. If the Company had to deal with an absolute absence of labor, they couldn’t get much done could they? That is the position we want them in. That’s the position we must put them in. Don’t fool yourselves, people; do you honestly think that C.E.O.’s in the ivory tower cares about you? Does he or she care if you can afford a descent standard of living? A descent home, car, college education for your children and a dignified retirement for yourself, NO!! To them you are just a tool, like any other tool the Company buys. Let’s face facts folks. It’s not hard to look around and see that the country is going into hard economic times. Companies love to cut workers to affect the bottom line. It’s the quickest way to do it. That boils down to a lack of security. One of the major things that is going to be a sticking point in the next contract negotiation is Article 14. Article 14 protects our jobs and keeps contractors out of our plant. Job security…Job security…Job security. How much do you want? How much do you need? For yourself? For your family? For your Union Brothers and Sisters? Technically, people aren’t scabs until they cross the picket line. Unfortunately, in our Local’s jurisdiction there are some people who have the opportunity to join the Union but for one reason or another they haven’t done so yet. Some are just anti-union. Some think they got a raw deal and some **** want to save a few bucks. The Company sees non-participation as a “sign of weakness” in our ranks. We cannot afford this. Since they haven’t crossed the picket line yet, technically they aren’t scabs yet. Perhaps they won’t cross, but then not being a member now weakens us NOW! They take the benefits members fight for and give nothing in return. I’ve even heard one non-member had the nerve to ask for information on the Union dentist. This parasitic relationship is an intolerable state of affairs for the local to be in coming up on a contract year. Yes, I said parasite. That’s the best way I can describe it. These non-members really need to think where they would be without the Union. They really need to think about job security and the standard of living the Union has negotiated to get them. If you think you would get a sweet heart deal without the Union, next time you see a Bright House guy talk to him. I know most times when I run into one and I’m in uniform the first thing out of their mouth is, how can I get an AT&T job. Do you think they have more job security than you? Better medical? Better pay? Probably not, or they wouldn’t be asking how to get board with us. In closing, I think every one should take a second and think. They should thank God for being in a country that affords commoners the life this country offers. They should thank the Union and its previous members for their sacrifices and for the benefits we now enjoy, and, they should steadfastly resolve themselves to carry on the fight. Not to go backwards, not to give in, and not to let a middle class become a thing of the past in this country. It is time to man up. Take a gut check and commit yourself to the fight. |
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By Ed Osborne Get your financial house in order now! Contract time is quickly approaching and there are storm clouds on the horizon! Some of you have undoubtedly seen the AT&T memo that discusses their desire to rip 25% of your pay from you. If you have not seen it log on to 3101’s web site, there is a link to view it on our page. This is a wake up call. The biggest bully you have ever dealt with wants a 25% give back, and he wants it from Y-O-U. Prior to the renewal of the previous contract word spread that the Company had temporary workers on salary held up in hotels ready to step in when we went out. What does this tell us? The Company has deep pockets and can afford to purchase some insurance against a walk out. It also tells us that they had a genuine belief that a significant percentage of craft would actively participate in the strike action, there by significantly hampering their operations. The Company figures we fall into 3 groups. The first group is the scabs. They are counting that some scabs don’t strike at all. To these individuals, I can only say, “think long and hard”, a scab is a scab is a scab. Crossing the strike line will follow you for the rest of your career. You will always be the one people will shun and talk about you behind your back. So think about it before you cross, scab. The second group is financially unprepared to resist. Corporate America banks on the fact that Americans are notoriously bad savers. If you don’t have your finances in order, it’s way to easy for the Company to get you in order. The third group, we will call the die hards. This is the group the Company fears and the group that should make up the majority of our ranks. The way the Company hopes to deal with group three is demoralization. Divide and conquer. So don’t let them divide us. Most of us probably have an idea who the scabs will probably be. They need to be encouraged to come in to the fold now. They need to understand the cost of not supporting their union brothers and sisters. No friends, no conversation, no help on the job, no ride home when your car needs to go to the shop, no invite for a beer after work. Ever!! Scab!! For my union brothers and sisters in group two, you may be in a financial hole but you still have the ability to resist. You can start a strike fund now and sock away a few thousand dollars. Unfortunately, that won’t get you through a drawn out fight. It’s a good start but not good enough. What some of the other members and myself have done is use the equity built up in our homes to act as our financial cushions. It’s easy; call several banks and shop for a home line of credit. The bank I went with gave me a 20-year, interest only, prime +0% line of credit. It cost me nothing to set it up. It is big enough to cover me for the 6 months that the financial experts say I should have in reserve. It’s not for frivolous things like a cruise. It is there for emergencies and strikes. Another option is to take a loan from your 401K. You pay yourself back the interest from the loan. You can put the pay back on hold for a year, just another option. If any members have other ideas, please pass them on. We need to empower the troops not to be in group two because of failure to plan. Remember, membership did not get what we have without previous members paying the price. Don’t make it easy for the Company to take it away from you!! Don’t wait; get your financial house in order now! Work on getting 100% union membership, now! Remember, if you sign one of the hold outs, you can collect a recruitment bonus! A little something extra for the strike fund. Imagine, if every member had the ability to resist for 6 months? Could the Company handle 6 months without us? The old saying goes, “If we don’t hang together, we will surely hang separately”! In Unity, |
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We have seen many changes in the two years since AT&T has taken control. Everything from new uniforms, re-branding of the vehicles, re-alignment to the “silo’s” of AT&T – San Antonio. A whole new management theme of S.O.P.’s. A lot of management changes, and so on. The more things change, the more things stay the same. We still do the work that makes this Company a financial juggernaut, and still we get no respect. From upper management. In their eyes we are just a drain on their profit potential. Obviously, it is very difficult to find people that are worthy enough to fill the many supervisory vacancies in Brevard County considering that of the 11 crews, 4 are being handled by relievers! That’s better than 30% of Brevard. Imagine the Company’s situation, if these people didn’t step up to help out? Do you think the Company will show any appreciation to those folks when permanent managers are finally placed in those positions? We’ll see, in the meantime we have brought on term employees to begin “the future” of AT&T with “Project Lightspeed”. PLS, as they like to call it. With relievers handling S.T.’s and F.T.’s (both cable repair and construction) and the issues and problems that come along with any large undertaking such as PLS, Brevard could be in over their heads without this assistance from willing “union” employees. How does the Company show their gratitude? By bringing in contractors for DSL troubles and installation!!!! A few months back the Company “let Slip” their summary plan of cutting $15K from about 80% of OUR union brothers and sisters. I’m sure a lot of folks said, “they can’t cut our pay”, and your right!!!! Here in lies the problem, they can’t cut our pay but using PLS as “non-typical” telephony they can begin to ease contractors into our jobs, at the same time letting our members dwindle through natural attrition. Whether through retirement or transfers to other titles these previous positions are not being back-filled. At least half-a-dozen S.T.’s have taken promotional bids recently and have not yet been back-filled. Yet we have contractors taking work from the S.T.’s!!!! When a DSL trouble or S.O. (S.T.’s complete S.O.’s to the NID and the contractor takes it from there) comes in, it automatically goes to the contractors dispatch system; a whole other support group handles these. NOT Union employees of AT&T. We don’t even get an opportunity to dispatch on these; our load control doesn’t even know these tickets exist!!!! “Our” customers, who are paying top dollar for our services, ARE NOT getting top technicians to handle their requests!!!! That’s like paying to see a doctor but examined by the receptionist!! Let’s give our customers what they pay for…highly trained, professional technicians!! In the next year and-a-half, we have a Presidential election, a contract negotiation, and plenty more curve balls thrown by the Company, and curve balls thrown at us by life itself. We must show our unity in the small battles along with the way to contract time, when the real war starts, and let them know we are together as a union and will strike, if the contract negotiations are not to our liking. With the rising cost of living (gas @ $4/gallon), medical cost skyrocketing, and the introduction of the non-tariffed PLS network, we will accept no less than wage increases reflecting these rising costs. No increase in our benefit premiums, and most importantly the inclusion of all PLS work into Article 14 of our contract as “traditional” telephony!!!! After all higher wages and benefits do us no good without job security. They could promise us the world only to lay us off down the road. We are not a disposable commodity to be chewed up and spit out by a corporate giant that has the means to afford us a good wage and benefits for the great job we do for this same Company every day. We only ask for a return of loyalty shown by highly trained, highly skilled technicians. Stand United, Eric Gosnell |
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On Friday, November 30th, Eric Gosnell, Ed Osborne and I boarded a van sponsored by the Space Coast AFL-CIO to participate in a march and rally in Miami. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Job With Justice organized the action. The march started at the offices of Goldman Sachs and ended at Burger King headquarters. The following is an article from “The New York Times” printed on Thursday, November 29, 2007, by Eric Schlosser who is the author of “Fast Food Nation”. The migrant farm workers who harvest tomatoes in South Florida have one of the nation’s most backbreaking jobs. For 10 to 12 hours a day, they pick tomatoes by hand, earning a piece-rate of about 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket. During a typical day each migrant picks, caries and unloads two ton of tomatoes. For their efforts, this holiday season many of them are about to get a 40 percent pay cut. Florida’s tomato growers have long faced pressure to reduce operating costs; one way to do that is to keep migrant wages as low as possible. Although some of the pressure has come from increased competition with Mexico growers, most of it has been forcefully applied by the largest purchaser of Florida tomatoes: American fast food chains that want millions of pounds of cheap tomatoes as a garnish for their hamburgers, tacos and salads. In 2005, Florida tomato pickers gained their first significant pay raise since the late 1970’s when Taco Bell ended a consumer boycott by agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound for its tomatoes, with the extra cent going directly to the farm workers. Last April, McDonald’s agreed to a similar arrangement, increasing the wages of its tomato pickers to about 77 cents per bucket. But Burger King, whose headquarters are in Florida, has adamantly refused to pay the extra penny – and its refusal has encouraged tomato growers to cancel the deals already struck with Taco Ball and McDonald’s. This month the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, representing 90 percent of the state’s growers, announced that it will not allow any of its members to collect the extra penny for farm workers. Reggie Brown, the executive vice president of the group, described the surcharge for poor migrants as “pretty much near un-American.” Migrant farm workers have long been among America’s most impoverished workers. Per haps 80 percent of the migrants in Florida are illegal immigrants and thus especially vulnerable to abuse. During the past decade, the United State Justice Department has prosecuted half a dozen cases of slavery among farm workers in Florida. Migrants have been driven into debt, forced to work for nothing and kept in chained trailers at night. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers – a farm worker alliance based in Immokalee, Fla. – has done a heroic job improving the lives of migrants in the state, investigating slavery cases and negotiating the penny-per-pound surcharge with fast food chains. Now the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange has threatened a fine of $100,000 for any grower who accepts an extra penny per pound for migrant wages. The organization claims that such a surcharge would violate “federal and state laws related to antitrust, labor and racketeering.” It has not explained how that extra penny would break those laws; nor has it explained why other surcharges routinely imposed by the growers (for things like higher fuel costs) are perfectly legal. The prominent role that Burger King has played in rescinding the pay raise offers a spectacle of yuletide greed worthy of Charles Dickens. Burger King has justified its behavior by claiming that it has no control over the labor practices of its suppliers. “Florida growers have a right to run their businesses how they see fit,” a Burger King spokesman told The St. Petersburg Times. Yet the company has adopted a far more activist approach when the issue is the well-being of livestock. In March, Burger King announced strict new rules on how its meatpacking suppliers should treat chickens and hogs. As for human rights abuses, Burger King has suggested that if the poor farm workers of southern Florida need more money, they should apply for jobs at its restaurants. Three private equity firms – Bain Capital, the Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners – control most of Burger King’s stock. Last year, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd C. Blankfein, earned the largest annual bonus in Wall Street history, and this year he stands to receive an even larger one. Goldman Sachs has served its investors well lately, avoiding the subprime mortgage meltdown and, according to Business Week, doubling the value of its Burger King investment within three years. Telling Burger King to pay an extra penny for tomatoes and provide a decent wage to migrant workers would hardly bankrupt the company. Indeed, it would cost Burger King only $250,000 a year. At Goldman Sachs, that sort of money shouldn’t be too hard to find. In 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million – more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year. Now Mr. Blankfein should find a way to share some of his company’s good fortune with the workers at the bottom of the food chain. There has not been a boycott of Burger King but perhaps the next time you drive through remember the migrant workers and maybe tell them to “Hold The Tomatoes”. Stand Strong and Stand Together! Cheryl Comeau |