Friday, September 15, 2006

Divide and Conquer

The following message was mailed to the homes of all employees from the Chatsworth Facility, that was closed in January, 2006. Ed

We have heard that union supporters are putting a full court press on co-workers, including and perhaps especially those of you who had worked at the San Fernando Valley plant, to sign cards for the union. A lot of peer pressure is being brought to bear and some of you have been told that you had “better get on board before the train leaves the station.” Before you consider “getting on board” with the union, think carefully about what that means for you personally and your seniority.

As you know, historically each plant had its own seniority list. If you transferred from the Valley to the Olympic plant, for example, you went to the bottom of the seniority list. Although this was the longstanding practice, when it became apparent we would have to close the San Fernando Valley plant, management immediately rejected the use of plant specific seniority.

Given the integrated nature of day-to-day Operations functions, we considered it unfair and unreasonable to only have layoffs occur among the ranks of Valley employees. We also believed that it was unfair and unreasonable to put the remaining Valley employees at the bottom of the seniority list when they were reassigned. So we switched to using departmental seniority, which we believe is the fairest to all employees in the long run.

Although we knew that this was the only fair thing to do, we also knew that this would be extremely unpopular among certain employees, especially at the Olympic plant, where the vast majority of you went. We believed that changing seniority might be one of the things that could start another union organizing campaign; we did it anyway because it was the right thing to do.

However, many employees at the Olympic and Orange County plants have agreed that management did the only thing that was fair, even though they may have been adversely affected. Yet at the Olympic plant, and to a lesser degree at the Orange County plant, some presspersons have complained loudly about what happened and argue that the San Fernando Valley presspersons should have gone to the bottom of the pressroom seniority list.

The union’s strongest supporters, of course, have always come from the Olympic plant. One could easily conclude that if the union is voted in, some of the current, and former Olympic employees reassigned to Orange County, will have the biggest say in what the union will demand in negotiations. And, one of the things that the union could demand would be returning to plant rather than department seniority, which means you would go to the bottom of the seniority list.

It has happened elsewhere. For example, when the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch terminated its joint operating agreement with Scripps, the union put all of the presspersons who printed the Scripps’ newspaper at the bottom of the seniority list even though they were all employees of the Columbus Dispatch.

The union supporters may tell you that changing seniority is not what they want here. Maybe that’s true – or maybe it’s just a way to get you to sign a card or vote for the union. You really can’t know where the union might stand. But you know where we stand: we did what was right even though we believed that might mean another union drive.

If you have any questions about your seniority, this message or any other issue, come to us to talk about it. We’re here. Available and want to give you the facts, not fear, on these issues.

Sincerely,

I take it this was from Mark Kurtich, or Wayne (Russ) Newton?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

All effective propaganda is built on a foundation of facts.

Anonymous said...

Foundation of facts...So true, what I still don't get is how sinic they sound. I have to admit that by doing the transfer using seniority (Fair Way) they were making a lot of people happy. Strategy at it's best. Displacing everyone at Oly. It was not a fair way, it was a tactic. Those chosen few, the ones that have our lives in their hands, how can they live with themselves? Makes you wonder the morals they teach their kids. The future of this country.

Anonymous said...

So what you're saying is if you had it your way all the SFV people would be out on the street without a job, without a means of support for their families? How can you live with yourself? Is this the type of morality we can expect if the union gets in?

Anonymous said...

will someone please get "anonymous" 3# a brain hes having a hard time "thinking " again geez

Anonymous said...

I myself at first felt the old senority shuffle was right.Yet now I have given up my resentment and feel its was the right call. Nine month's since change over I have placed myself in SFV shoes and realize they had no choice in the whole ordeal. It is apparent that Management are trying to make and issue of it to divide us. A very childish game they play. Like my Daddy can whip youre Daddy tactic.

Anonymous said...

seems to me #3 is using his/her brain to think. do you feel threatened by someone voicing their opinion anonymous #4?

Jess Espinoza said...

This is almost too funny, anonymous #1, anonymous #2, or Anonymous #3. Will the real anonymous please stand up? (Sorry, I couldn't stop myself.)

But seriously folks, let's keep it civil, these are all valid points of view.

Jess

Anonymous said...

believe me 6# ..I nor anyone has to feel " threatened " by
someone who makes such a foolish remark

Anonymous said...

Now whos being foolish??

Anonymous said...

Even the webmaster once said, that when he was pro union and voiced his opinion, noticed how doors where closing in on him. How any anonymous writer can feel safe excersicing his/her constitutional right these days? I don't feel the support in voicing my opinion using my name or a any other ID, I all the reader's notice, by using anonymous, a lot of us have been able to keep this blog going.

Jess Espinoza said...

We just feel it would make things a little less confusing. But if you're not comfortable using your real name, or even a nom de plume, then by all means feel free to continue posting as anonymous. We understand some readers may be reluctant to post openly, which is why we leave the option to post anonymously in place.

Anonymous said...

I have been to every union meeting since this all started. The seniority issue has never been brought up in any meetings. We have bigger issues to take care of.
Whether you believe me or not is not important to me. If you were here before me, then you have every right to be here after I’m gone. If your concern is trying to reverse seniority back to what it was. Forget it, its not going to happen.
If this means we will lose some supporters, then so be it.
But I do draw the line at department seniority. And let’s not forget who brought the issue to light in the first place. This is management’s effort to prey on your emotions, and to divide and conquer us. Stay focused

Is there a union buster in the house???

Anonymous said...

I'm just a little confused, the union supporters are trying to say Kurtich's letter to the former SFV pressmen about seniority is a lie, a divide and conquer tactic. But on Ronnie Pineda's SOT site he makes this statement:
"Second, neither myself nor any of the supporters have stated a desire to overhaul the seniority list. I personally gave up 18 years of seniority in the Mailroom to transfer into the pressroom and learn a "TRADE" of which I am very proud to perform! Department seniority was the only fair way to integrate all the Northridge pressmen and presswomen into L.A. and O.C. There are still some errors which we would be able to address once we accomplish our goal. The company has shown no desire to revisit the seniority list and correct the mistakes that effect quite a few of our pressroom peers."
Hmmmm, that's what is confusing me. Which is it? The union supporters have no desire to overhaul the merged seniority list? Or do they......

Anonymous said...

What Ronnie is saying is that there were some errors made between a few employees.
For example, the order in witch you became an apprentice, or the dates of transfer from other departments. We stand in support of the master seniority list. Management should stop trying to drive a wedge between us. Unite

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the explanation. So I guess what Ronnie was really trying to say was overall the master seniority list is fairly accurate, except for a few minor issues that affect very few of our pressroom peers?

Ronnie Pineda said...

That's exactly what I was trying to express. I was told by several people that their individual seniority numbers were incorrect. People from the same plant were placed below someone that they had time on prior to the consolidation. In other cases groups that transfered into the pressroom on the same day used company seniority to determine department seniority, and after the consolidation they were placed below someone that they had originally had time on. That's all. These are the only examples of how there are errors in the seniority list and those individuals effected have a right to their proper seniority number.Sorry for the confusion, I am still saying that department seniority was the only fair way to integrate all the transfers.