I work. I know, big surprise. You probably thought this was all I did.
I have a job and it pays the bills, case closed.
Well, not really. I’m going through the process now of being represented by a union, other than my current membership in the Freelancers Union (Hey All You Freelancers!! Love ya!!). I’m looking to be represented because I changed positions in my agency and it looks as if now, I may be eligible to be in the bargaining unit. And I am THRILLED!
This past summer, I tried to find out the same information, but didn’t know who to contact within my agency to determine if I was in the bargaining unit or not. So, I went the route a lot of folks do, I asked management.
I’ve viewed management as a resource, not necessarily as management. I’ve believed that they wear many hats and one of the main hats is that of serving as a resource to employees, including being a resource to find information out about union representation.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
I have since requested union assistance in being represented. In a matter of weeks, they have pushed for me and others like me to be represented in my agency. They’ve provided me information on legal rulings and have included me in information they send out to members, and I’m still not a member yet. They are doing all of this work, in hopes that I might be able to be represented by them, to the tune of $299 a year.
That’s it. $299. That’s the membership fee. That’s $11.50 per pay. I can’t think of anything I pay for that’s so small and which I can receive so much for, by just being a member.
And now, this brings me to the Employee Free Choice Act. 
Welcome to the world that has become the United States Labor market.
It’s filled with companies that pay CEO’s hundreds of thousands of dollars and into the multimillions of dollars.
From the American Red Cross’ Multi-Billion dollar Blood Business to Wal-Mart’s sticking it to folks like Debbie Shank (and yes, they were well within their legal right to do so), but what Dick E Dauch did and continues to do, well, it just kind of makes me ill, to the nth degree.
Why you might ask, well, I think the Detroit News kind of figured that one out:
Since American Axle was spun off from General Motors and reconstituted in 1994, the union negotiates with American Axle, not GM, and does not get the sweetheart deal other UAW workers will get. In fact, Local 235 went on strike for three months last year and lost. It was a cold, bitter dispute, complete with fires in the oil drums. The unionized workers, numbering nearly 2,000 at the time, gave in to deep wage cuts, in some cases from $28 an hour to $14, in exchange for keeping their jobs. Apparently it was not enough. Fewer than 300 union members were working in the plant Monday.
In the meantime, Dick Dauch, the CEO and chairman of American Axle, was given an $8.5 million bonus by his board of directors after the strike and gave assurances to the workers and the city of Hamtramck that he would keep production here.
Yes, emphasis is mine.
I followed the strike. I was a bit obsessive about it.
I posted pictures like that of a 60 year old woman in an officer’s chokehold. Or how Republican staffers who were meeting with UAW members about the bridge loans to the auto industry had NEVER heard of American Axle or their 11 week strike.
I followed one of my favorite workers Jerd0708, and cross referenced worker pay and executive pay, an issue that resinates with workers from Wal-Mart to the American Red Cross to the guys and gals on the docks. It’s the Entitlement Mentality of the highest levels of executives that seals the fate of so many of us who simply want to work. Folks who just want to put in an honest day of work for an honest day of pay.
More than ever, I believe in the power of unions, but we need stronger labor laws to make it possible for union workers to rebuild the middle class. We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to make it possible for more workers to sign a union card and join a union. Together, maybe we can start holding boards of directors, CEOs and other executives accountable for their actions when they give an $8.5 million bonus to Dick E Dauch (I said BONUS here) just for the hell of it.
One other thing:
We as a nation need to do a better job of ensuring that companies can’t just flee one jurisdiction to go to another because somewhere, down the road, doing so might be cheaper (think of what American Axle is doing in moving jobs to Mexico or Kongsberg Automotive moving production into Poland) in terms of labor costs and environmental costs. Again, from the Detroit News:
Chris Son, the director of communications at American Axle, called late Wednesday to say that the layoffs are “fallout from the GM and Chrysler shutdowns.” He also confirmed that the Mexicans will continue to work as the Americans are out on the street.
“For logistical reasons, a level of production will continue in Mexico,” said Son. “At the same time, there will be lower production requirements in Detroit. Other than that, I have no further comment on that matter.”
Logistical reasons, right.
Chris and Dick, if American workers can’t buy cars produced with your parts, what’s the point in moving to Brazil, Poland or continuing operations in Mexico? If we can’t buy these cars, who will? Oh wait, I know the answer, guys like you, right?
Tags: union
45% of the US blood supply comes from the American Red Cross. 45%, that’s a huge amount from a single source.
Blood is collected through donor blood drives. And the blood is then handled or transported by phlebotomists, drivers, RNs, LPNs, technicians (in the lab, product management, and apheresis departments), and one mechanic.
These are front line workers for the collection and processing of blood.
These front line workers set up blood drives all over the country.
When you think of a blood drive, think of the work as equivalent to the set up and break down of an event like a small circus, carnival or maybe a convention.
And these are safe events, or at least intended to be safe events through the regulation of blood as a “drug” but the FDA. Yep, these events are FDA regulated.
Front line American Red Cross workers follow FDA guidelines, yet since 1993, the FDA has fined the American Red Cross more than $21 million for violation of blood safety laws and regulations. In fact, the American Red Cross has been under a Consent Decree
The 2003 consent decree settled charges that the Red Cross had committed “persistent and serious violations” of federal blood safety rules dating back 17 years.
So, what does all of this mean?
What all of this means is that BLOOD is BIG BUSINESS. Blood is, as the New York Times noted after the FDA announcement of a $5+million fine:
The Red Cross has struggled for years to get its multi-billion dollar blood business, by far its biggest money-maker, into compliance with federal rules.
The American Red Cross makes MULTI-BILLIONS of dollars on donated blood.
Let me repeat that
They make Billions of dollars based on all of our volunteer blood donations.
So, the Red Cross makes billions and billions on supplying 45% of the nation’s blood, but is now fighting unions representing front line blood drive event workers. These are the same workers who put on these blood drive events, make them safe and then do it all over again at another location. These workers provide reading material, documentation throughout the blood drive, ask health history questions of donors, perform mini physical exams for donors, take blood, care for the donor afterward donation, pack up the blood, break down the event, and bring it back to the lab for processing and testing, only to do it again the next day or week, depending on their schedule.
And the fines? Are they based on the work of the front line workers? The ones primarily handling the blood, well, according to NPR’s All Things Considered, not so much, it is a “management problem”.
So, we have a multi-billion dollar business, management problems, FDA fines, and now, they’re crying broke as they sit at bargaining tables with 9 different unions as they negotiate front line worker agreements.
Tags: unions
