Monday, February 16, 2009

Los Angeles Times Kicks a Man when he's Down


Richard Carrillo is yet another long term employee of the Los Angeles Times, which will become another former employee before long. Richard, whom is called Ricky by his colleagues in the pressroom, spent seven years pushing the large rolls of newsprint before transferring into the pressroom in 1990.

Ricky is a very quiet man that always keeps a positive sense of life, and is an ideal employee that never questions any task is he requested to perform in the pressroom. I worked with Ricky yesterday, and even though he’s about to be displaced, he was quick with a smile.

Ironically Ricky was given his gold watch for twenty-five years of service with the Los Angeles Times, and his layoff notice on the same day!

Last week Ricky sent an email to me that was rather disturbing, but not much of a shocker when dealing with the anti-union Tribune Boss’ within the Operations Department.


Here’s his message:

"I am looking for a job description to help me put together my
resume. When I asked Dan Lippiatt for a copy, his
response was "you have to the Union for a job description."

Is there a copy somewhere that I can get a copy of?"

Seems some pressroom supervisors have a moral compass that has lost it’s direction, when a man that is losing his livelihood asks for assistance, the right thing to do is offer to help him. Not rub salt into his wound.

Needless to say Nubia and I wrote a job description for Ricky, and if anyone else needs any assistance please feel free to ask, because we will not say no to you, union member or not.

8 comments:

RegularJoeOC said...

What a "Classy" organization this has become.

very sad

Old OC said...

"a moral compass that has lost it’s direction"

Give me a break!

The "rules" are the new "moral compass" since the union was invited in!

Edward Padgett said...

Let me get this straight Old OC, if a colleague that’s soon to be laid off comes to you for help you’ll tell him or her to take a hike?

Secondly, all the events occurring within the two pressrooms is a direct result of the union being welcomed into the workplace?

grandspud said...

Come on Ed. Why would you think an agent of the company would have the latitude to independently produce a job description?

The very purpose of voting in a union is to insure a third party is always between you and the company's agents. Don't fault Dan; he is a very fine, compassionate person. However, all supervisors are bound by the contractual relationship.

The majority of pressmen voted for a strict, business relationship. So, don't take it personally. It's strictly business, Ed. It's strictly business.

Rudy Hernandez said...

Ed,

Ricky situation was a personal request that Dan could of help him with without breaking any so called rules. If any of my union Bothers or Sister need a request, we still go to our supervisor before heading to our rep. If I recall,didn't Dan have a personal request with his son and his Illegal wife? I don't recall a outrage on that request.

Rudy

Unknown said...

Rudy,
Crawl back in the bottle, buddy. Do you even know which "Dan" Ed is referring to? Dan and all the other supervisors are limited by the terms of the contract and state law on what they can and can't do. Do you think it's worth their job to overstep their authority?

Ed,
And yes, old oc and grandspud are correct, we voted for the union, and in doing so brought in a whole new set of rules. The game has changed, those of you who will still be working there had better learn the new rules.

Did we not understand what working under a contract meant? It doesn't seem like very many of us even understand what a contract is. This is something many pressmen are having a hard time understanding, you negotiate the terms of a contract, then you're expected to live under those same terms, end of story.

Negotiate a fair contract and life is good, negotiate a bad contract and you're screwed. We are so screwed.

Secondly, I believe lay offs would have occured with or without the union, but I sure as hell would be walking out the door in March or April with a lot more money if we didn't have a union!

RegularJoeOC said...

Old OC is an embarrassment to all of us in OC
He has his lips firmly attached to Russ's butt and still believes that Russ is going to take care of him

Old OC said...

RegularJoeOC...

The only embarrassment is that you didn't understand or couldn't comprehend what you were voting for and that's.... "very sad".