Past Two Weeks

A lot has been going on but haven’t had enough time to blog here.  But some of the stuff that has been happening is:

1. Bob, the new Building A supervisor has been really pushing buttons and is pissing off the workers as well as the supervisors below him.
2. Gram hasn’t responded to well to the pre-grievance on a supervisor abusing the workers (”Things are better.” He stated * I roll my eyes *)
3. Some of the workers have been stating that Gram has been acting a little kooky and is worrying so much about money and small things that he is driving himself crazy.
4. Two good pro-union guys beat out the anti-union guys in the Health and Safety elections and we’re going to be meeting soon to change the atmosphere surrounding the safety committee.
5. Had a pre-panel grievance meeting with management and resolved some of my grievances which resulted in around 23 hours of penalty pay at twice my normal pay rate.

Latest from Mahalla Textile Workers

Cross-posted from The Mustard Seed.

Hossam blogs:

The following statement has been distributed few hours ago by the Textile Workers’ League activists inside Ghazl el-Mahalla factories, during the (Saturday) third night shift… The statement, written in a satirical form, denounces corruption and the deterioration of medical services in the company’s hospital, and was signed by “The Mahalla Textile Morgue Workers’ League”…

Image by:
Gaber

“There is no disciplinary action being taken.”

So this morning during break one of my fellow workers, A., came up to me telling me that his supervisor threatened him by stating that he was working hard enough and that she would change his start time for that night from 11:00 pm to 11:15 pm.

Obviously this is completely off the wall and a supervisor can get fired for actually messing with an employees time card (well, not really a card, a name in an electronic database, but any-who).  A. wanted me to talk to the supervisor and tell her that was not cool, which I said I would once my building supervisor allowed me to.

A little bit latter on my building supervisor, told me I was needed in re-wrap and that it involved A. and his supervisor.  Once arriving to re-wrap Gram, my manager, told us to come into his office and we would sort this out.

Once in the office the “fun” began.  The supervisor said that she confronted A. because he wasn’t working and wasn’t sorting and that all he was doing was talking to J.  A. told her that PD-6 was down and that was why he obviously wasn’t going fast (he was working, just not “fast enough”) because when a belt is shut down you have no where to sort the packages.  The supervisor than said that A. said “Fuck you” to her and walked back to Sort-1 (multiple witnesses told me he was told by her to go to Sort-1).

This got Gram “angry” and he proceeded to say in a fake and condescending manner. “Oh reeeeaaaallly? He said that?”

“Uh-huh.” She answered back.

“Listen, you can not tell my supervisors to go F themselves or say F you.” I raised my hand to break in. “Hold on Jack!”

“OK.”

“You cannot tell yell at my supervisor and swear at them.” He continued.

“But I didn’t!” A. shot back.  “All I said was that’s fucked up.”

“OK, OK, it’s your word against hers.  I’m just saying that if you do do that or if any other employee does that I will consider it gross-insubordination and you will be fired.”

I was able to break in. “OK, OK, hold on a second.  First of all, she cannot mess with his time and threaten to change his time at all.  She has no authority to do this and his start time tonight better state 11:00 pm and not 11:15.”

They both capitulated and said of course and that that should never happen.  But the supervisor said she never said that (despite one witness stating he heard her talk about his start time), all she said was that his start time should be moved (rolling my eyes).

“Secondly,” I stated, (and this is important, “just because a worker says fuck you or that’s bullshit or something is not ground for gross insubordination.  The National Labor Relations Board and the NLRB court system has repeatedly stated that salty language can be used on the job and is essentially expected when things are at the heat of the moment.”

“Ummm,” Gram said butting in, “in the heat of the moment, that’s fine.  But if an employee says fuck you to one of my supervisors he’s going to be given a warning and fired on the spot for gross insubordination.”

Did he just say in the heat of the moment that’s fine and at the same time state that he would fire an employee for saying that?

…

Never mind.

“If,” I stated, “an employee says, ‘Fuck you I’m not doing that!’ then it’s gross insubordination but if the employee is just saying ‘fuck you’ or whatever that is not ground for gross insubordination.”

“Ummm.  I’d beg to differ on that one and I would like to see someone try that.” Gram stated in a machoistic way.

“Sure, fine.” I said.

After we where done meeting I went to the employees who had been there at the time of the incident, J., S. and T. and got nearly identical stories from all of them saying that the supervisor came in with a pissy attitude, was yelling, was yelling at A. about his time, had waved him down to call him over and scold him, and that A. was working and that A. at no point ever swore at her.

Once I confronted Gram with all this evidence he said. “Well, that wasn’t really the issue at hand and we know that she can’t change his time and that we shouldn’t swear at each other.  So, you know, it’s OK.  There is no disciplinary action being taken.”

And like that all of the hubris and pomp and circumstance of management vanished into thin air and this highly tense meeting with veiled threats was down graded to no big deal.

Lessons:

1. In the heat of the moment salty language can be used as long as it is not used in conjunction with disobeying an order that must be followed and that it is not used in a manner that is discriminatory on race, sex, or orientation and that is not a treat to a person.

2. Management cannot in any circumstance alter the time clock of an employee.

3. Gross insubordination is only when a supervisor orders an employee to do something, there is a shop steward present explaining the order must be followed and the order must be relayed to the employee and refused by the employee three times.

Capital, Vol. 1: Ch. 7-9

Here is a short excerpt from my post on chapters seven through nine of Capital, Vol. 1:

And this brings me to what I found the most interesting and most important point of chapters 7 through 9 (being that I am apart of the proletarian class myself and have argued back and forth with management over this issue a lot).  The capitalist always talks about the rate of profit it makes in relation to her or his workers but the capitalist never talks about the rate of exploitation, S/V.

Harvey states that between the equations of S/V and S/C + V the rate of exploitation by the capitalist over the worker is always higher than the rate of profit.  While the capitalist loves to talk about S/C + V (the rate of profit) the worker is always being exploited at a higher rate with S/V; and in fact, the capitalist can have a low rate of profit while still maintaining a high rate of exploitation over the worker.  What Marx is trying to do here, Harvey explains, is trying to set up an accounting system which the bourgeois economists typically don’t take into account when they calculate for their accounting system.  Harvey then states:

So when you go to management and say, “Hey, I’m being highly exploited and I don’t like this!” (1)

And the management says, “Just look at my rate of profit! It’s very very low!”

And if you’re naive you’ll say, “Oh yeah, I see.  You’re not making much out of this are you, so poor you.  I’ll work even harder, you know.”

Well, Marx is saying you better watch out because you should be really looking at the rate of exploitation.  Which is the amount of labor time, socially necessary labor time which you are giving to the capitalist without remuneration.

I didn’t know what remuneration was and looked it up, it’s “money paid for work or a service.”

“He’s a bad guy, a union guy.”

As I was talking to my co-worker, R, on Friday night (well, technically Saturday morning) he told me that my previous supervisor was actively underminig my credibility with my fellow workers.  He was telling him and others on my PD that I was a selfish person who was bad and was some sort of greedy union guy who just files grievances for money (I get paid for that!?  Since when!? Damnit!  All this time I’ve been doing in for free!).

This isn’t a surprise of course as management tells their supervisors to actively discredit me.  But it was heartening to hear R say. “But, then, ya know.  I got to knowing you and I was like. Wait a minute, Jack ain’t a bad guy.  I’ve been getting played.”

Not only that but a remember a few months ago a fellow steward and a few workers giving me the heads up that management was holding meetings about me and actively planning their shift around me.

Oh well.

Social Class and White Privilege

Cross-posted from Double Consciousness.

I just got the book by Chip Smith. The Cost of Privilege: Taking On the System of White Supremacy and Racism. Once I finish it (which might take a while as I’m reading Capital, Vol. I by Marx) I’m gonna write a review.

While flipping through the book though I found this great paragraph from Chapter 16: The Reality of White Privilege that I’d like to share:

We are trying to get a sense of white racial privileges - distinct from the surplus taken by the white ruling class through exploitation. To do so, we want to focus as much as possible on differences within the broad working class. As described in earlier chapters, the white owning class in the United States exploits both white workers and workers of color. At the same time, the system affords white workers certain racial privileges that they have often jealously defended despite their exploitation. The white ruling class exploits both white workers and workers of color - and uses racial privileges to sustain their rule. White workers benefit - in comparison to workers of color - while at the same time being exploited for their labor power. This distinction is crucial. It points to the fact that ending exploitation - and the system of racial privileges that support it - is in the interests of white working class people as well as people of color. (italics are Smith’s, bold mine)

In order to truly take up true class consciousness, in order to shed the oppressive bourgeois mindset paralyzes many workers (especially many workers at my job who would rather support management than the union), a white worker must shed her or his whiteness and all privileges that come with it (or, perhaps, a more appropriate term would be reject).

Which reminds me. If any of you can find it out there (out of print) the book Settlers: The Myth of the White Proletariat by J. Sakai would be a good complementary read along with The Cost of Privilege. (Some Marxists and anti-racists take issue with Sakai’s analysis, some even call Sakai slightly mad, but hey, good read and informative).

Eight Workers Dead in Greece

WFTU reports:

Yesterday afternoon, a labor accident took place in the shipyards in Perama where eight workers died and four are seriously wounded.

The labor accident happened in the ship “FRENSHIP GAS” that belongs to a Greek capitalist. Fifty five people were working in the ship when the stores took fire with tragic consequences: eight workers dead. Two of them are immigrants and six are Greeks.

From the first moment, the leadership of PAME and the General Secretary of the WFTU went in the shipyards where they spent the whole night with the workers.

The Greek Metal Trade Union called for a 3-day strike in the shipyard demanding the punishement of those who are guilty and effective measures of protecting shipyard workers to be immediately adopted.

“How come I’m not on the list?”

I normally write about confronting management but this was too good to pass up.  As my readers should know (all ten of them!) we are having elections coming up to see which workers will represent the union for the San Bruno Night Sort Health and Safety Committee.  You can read the previously linked post for more details (and check out are new, but still under construction, website) but one of the main issues is that management, in violation of Article 18 Section 20.4, has appointed D as the non-management, or union, co-chair to co-chair the Health and Safety Committee.  Not only that but management has been repeatidly been apointing other union members to the board as union safety representatives.  I’ve told management numerous times (and have written a grievance) that they must cease and dissist in doing this and that they need to get rid of all non-union elected from the committee.

The reason why they appointed D, who is a worker with very low seniority on the shift, is that he essentially eats up all the shit (with a giant novelty oversized spoon) that management feeds him and they can get away with murder in violating all of the safety provisions in the contract and local agreements.  There have been numerous ocassions where I’ve had to essentially, ala covert agent style, find out about injuries myself and fight to make sure that the injured employees actually get the union representation they deserve and get the proper care they need; all the while D is twiddeling his thumbs…oops, I mean, filing paper work (oh yeah!).  So with that little background, lets get to the situation.

After passing out the fliers (see first link) I went to my PD to start picking off and sorting through packages when all of a sudden I see D come out of no where and climbs up the ladder and says. “Hey, there.”

“Hey.” I say, smiling.

“So, ummm…On these fliers how come my name isn’t on there?” He asks indignitly.

“Ummmm…huh?” I say while continuing to sort through packages.

“You just have four names on there but not like me or V.” D states through gritted grinning teeth.

“Your name isn’t on there because your name isn’t on there.” I answer dryly.

“Uh, huh, uh huh.  Yeah, well, if that’s how it is.  How come there is an official union letterhead on there as well?” He asks smiling, as if he just handed me a “gotchya” moment.

“Letterhead?  There’s no union letterhead on the flyer.”

“Uh, I think you should look at it again.” He answers back confidently.

It is at this moment that I realize that this is not really D speaking but Gram, my manager.  Because every argument he’s brought up so far is essentially arguments Gram would bring up, it’s classic Gram, its as if he’s speaking through D’s mouth and pulling his strings like a puppet.

“You mean the Teamster logo?” I ask.

“Uh, yeah.”

“That’s not the 278 letterhead.  That’s just a logo.  A letterhead is an official 278 Teamster logo with the address on it.  Those only appear in union documents.  This is just a flyer with a simple design.”

He doesn’t really know what to say to that and changes the subject. “Yeah, well, whatever.  I mean, if you’ve decided that’s who should be in safety than I guess that’s that huh?”

“No, there still needs to be elections man.” I answer.

“Yeah well, if that’s what you decide man.  I mean, you wanna be co-chair and all.”

I turn to him. “Co-chair? I don’t wanna be co-chair.  I want P to be co-chair, or D.”

I remember talking to a fellow worker months ago when he asked me about or “co-chair” D and why he was being such an idiot and a lap dog to management.  I told him that he was brainwashed and that management is probably feeding him all sorts of bull shit that he’s eating up like that I’m “jealous” of him for being co-chair and that I “don’t care” about safety only the union.

There was some more back and forth.  D told me I didn’t care about safety, only the union.

Ha!

And he gave me an example (a very poor and misguided one at that) of how I don’t care about safety.

It then ended with this.

“Yeah, whatever,” D stated as he began walking off, “you’ve already decided.”

What am I? Fucking king of UPS? Decided?

“See ya latter lap dog.” I shoot back.

Teamsters United For a Better Safety Committee

Teamsters United
For a Better Safety Committee

For the past 17 months management has continually been neglecting its duties when it comes to the safety of us Teamsters and to its obligations to the Safety and Health Committee for the San Bruno Night Sort.  Management has been notified numerous times that it is in violation of Article 18 Section 20.4 of the National Master United Parcel Service Agreement.  Management has been infringing our contractual rights by appointing non-approved and non-elected union members to the Health and Safety Committee, including the position of non-management co-chair (which is an elected position by union members on the committee, NOT APOINTED BY MANAGEMENT!).  Management has been flagrantly violating our contractual rights when it comes to the Temporary Alternate Work Agreement (also known as Light Duty) by forcing and intimidating workers to stay beyond their obligated four calendar days on the job; instead of resting up at home!

Teamsters United for a Better Safety Committee want to change all of this by standing up for the rights of All UPS employees, by making sure all injured employees get the treatment and respect they deserve, and by standing up to management so as to make sure our contractual rights are not trampled on!

PLEASE VOTE FOR
TEAMSTERS UNITED FOR A BETTER SAFETY COMMITTEE!

Please Mark Your Ballots For

Building A Building C
Dan Castino                          Daniel Esparza
Steve Yip                                  Andy Philips

Unite and Stand Up for Your Rights!

Local 705 Authorize Strike

TDU reports:

More than three thousand Local 705 members turned out to the union hall on Sunday to participate in a vote to authorize a strike against UPS.

Five hundred members were lined up at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday when the doors opened to start the voting. Balloting continued until 5 p.m. Members voted to authorize a strike should one be necessary by an overwhelming margin of 2,993 to 232.

Bargaining will resume on Tuesday and Thursday this week. The Local 705 UPS contract is independent of the national agreement and covers more than 10,000 UPS Teamsters in the Chicago area. The contract expires at midnight on July 31.

There is also a short video on the views of the Teamsters from Local 705