A good diary entry can be wonderfully cathartic. One can get all the nooks and crannies out of one's full mind after a long and exhausting day, and perhaps ... PERHAPS get some rest. Wouldn't it be rewarding if he woke up to tons of people on Daily Kos who can totally identify ... enough to even consider being union activists themselves?
I got really pissed off tonight. I had to contact my cell phone carrier to pay the bill and get a few simple questions answered. It was almost midnight then, it is just after midnight now -- but the disgust of talking to outsourced, exploited workers really irks me. So I logged on to Union Reivew and went into a ranting off-the-cuff blog entry about my un-American customer service representatives at Sprint.
It was only a few minutes after posting the rant that I began to think about this guy I work with at the Teamsters. He and I meet up from time to time to have a smoke and talk shop. He is probably about 10 or 15 years my senior, and knows labor like it ain't nobody's business. When I get to chat with him, I sometimes feel like I am back at school. He always leaves with a few nuggets to help me in my career. This guy, who is one of the leads in our Construction Division, told me once, "When there is a union organizing campaign that goes wrong and is lost, the best remedy is to go out there and organize a victory."
I think about that a lot and apply to all kind of stuff. It helps, especially these days with the uphill FedEx Express campaign that I work on. It also helps when I think about some hardcore shit taking place with our School Bus and Transit Workers Campaign..
It is helping again tonight. Why? Because as I got frustrated at the outsourced Sprint workers -- enough to write the rant from Union Review, I began to think of a recent union victory ... and admitedly, I am feeling better.
So, the rest of my sleepy diary is on a group of very tenacious, hardcore, determined, fantastically driven hard working people up in New Jersey.
There is a group of 22 workers in the Trump owned Taj Mahal in Atlantic City who, among a handfull of other duties, carry out the tasks of setting up and breaking downing any conventions that happen at the resort and casino. The workers' tenure range from 2 years on the job to (I think) 22 years ...
(I think ... because I am sleepy and cannot remember and too lazy in the moment to go look up the actual number of years the most senior worker in the unit has, but alas, I digress ... if you really want to know, let me know, I will tell you tomorrow).
These brilliant workers came together earlier this year and discussed a few work issues, among themselves. They bitched and moaned about how the health care is unaffordable. They discussed how they are sick and tired of not having any concrete work rules. They complained that their wages really sucked compared to what their counterparts are making up and down Atlantic City. They had enough and needed something to change; and for the better.
That was when one of the workers said, "Let's form a union." They sat with that idea for a while and wrote up what they had in mind -- and then they SHOPPED FOR THE PERFECT UNION.
Can you imagine the balls, the gall, the absolute determination of these workers? They talked to one union, an obvious fit for them -- and were given a cold shoulder. They called on another union, more of the same. Then they got to talking with the dock workers at the Trump Plaza.
Rumor has it that they began asking the dockers various questions about their union and contract. The dock workers, very proudly organized Teamsters, told them what they could before suggesting that they call a particular person at the local. They did.
The Trustee of the local, a fiercely experienced union organizer himself, took the call and agreed to meet with the workers. He told me the other day that when he met up with them he brought a copy of a Teamster contract. He told the workers to look it over and ask any questions they might have.
The workers had a lot of questions ... they had a lot of concerns. They wanted to be sure that whichever union they organized with were going to stand by their side, be a voice for them in the work place, and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with Trump that got them what they deserved.
When all of the questions were answered -- and then some, a decision was made. They chose, among themselves, they were ready to be Teamsters. The next step was a vote for representation ... from what I hear, a couple actually voted against the union out of fear, the rest voted yes!
So, overwhelmingly they vote for the union and we celebrate that victory. Soon, by the end of Septemeber hopefully, we will then celebrate again when they announce that they carved out their first contract.
One worker from the group told me that this has not been an easy campaign by any means. He shared with me how the resort hired anti-union consultants to have a little talk with the workers. He told me that it was a very scary place for a while there ... but that, in the end, the group was determined and sick of being shat on.
They won!
So ... I am getting more and more sleepy and feeling a whole lot better about my anger in regard to outsourcing at Sprint ... why? Because with every defeat there is a victory to focus on; which is far more important.
If you are still here reading ... thanks, and good night.