Sadness reigns, as the final session for the Labor Studies Winter Semester comes to a close. This has been an incredible journey emanating from the beginnings of civilization and progressing through the annals of time and landing April 20,2016. Frankie the K, is an awesome professor with a wealth of knowledge, and the class learned a plethora of new information that covered all disciplines of education. We were honored with two guests representing the Teamster Union, Marian Novak, and Neil Pettit, both gave excellent presentations on union organizing and the laws governing such actions. Marian handed out literature, “34 Things Your Employer Can Not Do,” “Organizing for Power,” “What to Expect from Your Employer During Union Organizing,” and a RC-Certification of Representative Petition, all of the material were valuable information sources on the organizing process, the tactics employers use to diffuse organizing attempts, and the workers’ rights pertaining to the process. Marian who gave information on her employment and organizing background, working at Sears, being discriminated against because of her gender, and the ties with the union, who supported her efforts to break barriers.
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Marian expressed why she is so passionate working for employee rights and detailed successes that She was involved in. Also, examples of how far employers will go to suppress organizing efforts was very interesting, and being a union member for over forty years, I could relate to the information. The exorbitant cost to bring in corporate teams who are “Union Busters,” was estimated to be $600.00 to $1,0000.00 per day, showing how important it is to eliminate collective bargaining and union representation in the workplace. Employer tactics to divert union organizing efforts sometimes work, when they begin to acquiesce to some workers concerns, and give the appearance of making changes in the workplace. Frank denotes that this is similar to the Hawthorne Effect that we read about in Richard Donkin’s book on work, where employees just want to feel appreciated, and in turn productivity increases, and discontentment is minimized. Neil Pettit, a Wayne State University alumnus and former Labor Studies major, under the tutelage of a professor to go unnamed at this time, took his turn at the podium. Youthful and energetic, Neil, who is twenty-three years old (yikes!), is a 4th generation Teamsters, whose ancestors were steelworkers and truck drivers. Neil is a business agent for Local243 and explained one of his latest organizing efforts. Durham School Services a transportation company that supplies bus service for Ypsilanti, Mi. schools and used non-union employees. Chicago, Ill. Based, the company used many of the tactics that Marian described in her presentation, and some even more innovative than can be imagined. Marian had mentioned that in an organization drive there is a need to have at least 67-70% of the employees to sign authorization cards requesting a vote on union certification. Neil, stated that he garnered 70%, and need every bit of …show more content…
Frankie the K is an awesome instructor, historian, musician, comedian, philosopher, and seer, who has an immense cache of information, even surpassing mine (WOW!). Both textbooks were very informative, and add to my knowledge of labor which leads me to have to reformat my hard drive, as my brain needs to be partitioned. I will use this new information to pass on to my brothers and sisters in the movement, to help future causes in the struggle of the working class. In the end we will all live happily ever
Marian expressed why she is so passionate working for employee rights and detailed successes that She was involved in. Also, examples of how far employers will go to suppress organizing efforts was very interesting, and being a union member for over forty years, I could relate to the information. The exorbitant cost to bring in corporate teams who are “Union Busters,” was estimated to be $600.00 to $1,0000.00 per day, showing how important it is to eliminate collective bargaining and union representation in the workplace. Employer tactics to divert union organizing efforts sometimes work, when they begin to acquiesce to some workers concerns, and give the appearance of making changes in the workplace. Frank denotes that this is similar to the Hawthorne Effect that we read about in Richard Donkin’s book on work, where employees just want to feel appreciated, and in turn productivity increases, and discontentment is minimized. Neil Pettit, a Wayne State University alumnus and former Labor Studies major, under the tutelage of a professor to go unnamed at this time, took his turn at the podium. Youthful and energetic, Neil, who is twenty-three years old (yikes!), is a 4th generation Teamsters, whose ancestors were steelworkers and truck drivers. Neil is a business agent for Local243 and explained one of his latest organizing efforts. Durham School Services a transportation company that supplies bus service for Ypsilanti, Mi. schools and used non-union employees. Chicago, Ill. Based, the company used many of the tactics that Marian described in her presentation, and some even more innovative than can be imagined. Marian had mentioned that in an organization drive there is a need to have at least 67-70% of the employees to sign authorization cards requesting a vote on union certification. Neil, stated that he garnered 70%, and need every bit of …show more content…
Frankie the K is an awesome instructor, historian, musician, comedian, philosopher, and seer, who has an immense cache of information, even surpassing mine (WOW!). Both textbooks were very informative, and add to my knowledge of labor which leads me to have to reformat my hard drive, as my brain needs to be partitioned. I will use this new information to pass on to my brothers and sisters in the movement, to help future causes in the struggle of the working class. In the end we will all live happily ever