08/29/99

Greetings;

My recollection is a bit cloudy, but about eighteen years ago when I worked in another facility, with a very large local union, management fired a fellow maintenance employee. The employee was refusing to attend training in Norman OK because of a multitude of problems. Management was refusing to reschedule his course or even let him trade with someone else. He decided to take a stand and flat out refused to go. Management took a stand as well and flat out fired him. He was a well liked individual and was an excellent technician as well. The rest of us were shocked when he was removed and it appeared to us at the time that the Union wasn’t doing enough to support him. We had no first hand knowledge of any real facts in the case, as we weren’t entitled to know the particulars. We only knew that one of our own had been fired for something that anyone of us might do in the future, (and we didn’t want to be next). We rallied together and petitioned the Local to provide more support the individual. We sent some individual letters as well. We did receive written responses from the Local president who assured us that they were doing everything in their power to properly support the individual and the Maintenance Craft director spoke with us as well. As it turns out the guy ended up getting a better job offer and ended up resigning. While we were initially frustrated by what we thought was a non-supportive Union, we were eventually relieved to know that our voices were in fact being heard. We learned that, at the very least, we had an opinion and that opinion was being considered. The Union officers had listened to our concerns and did in fact wholeheartedly support the employee, (until he got a better job offer). The Union was only respecting the employees wish for privacy, thus the appearance of neglect. In reality when we needed the Union it was there. We did feel a little foolish for protesting as vocally as we did, but as proud Union members, we had a right to express our opinions and to have our voices heard.

The lessons learned from this event are two fold. The first lesson was that no matter how frustrated we felt, we never considered quitting the Union. We knew that if we wanted to evoke a change or present a position we could only accomplish this by being a member. How frustrating it must be to have an opinion and not have the right to express it or to see something that needs changing but not have the tools to implement the change. Being a Union member give us all the same ability to implement improvements and changes in our own organization and within the Postal Service. If there is something the Union is doing that you don’t agree with, as a member you have the tools to attempt to change the situation. Non-members only have the ability to make noise, but the sad fact is, nobody is listening to them.

The second lesson learned was that sometimes we tend to support a position before we know all the facts. We should all consider this when we suspect that we have been mistreated in some way. In order to understand certain situations that involve ourselves we should practice looking at the situation from a different perspective. Visualize that you’re a judge and it is your job to determine the correct outcome of the situation. You must weigh the rights of different individuals and interpret contract language to find its’ true intent. We all tend to twist language to fit our own situations and this action only sets us up for disappointment down the road. If we feel aggrieved then we should investigate the issue without getting upset. We should try to ‘judge’ each situation to find if we do in fact have a justifiable grievance. We should work with our local stewards to help us dig up the facts and to help us with the proper procedures. Using these techniques’ keep us from getting agitated and lets us work through problems with clear minds. We end up better prepare to defend our position, and the result will be a grievance that will be easily presentable with an increased chance of a successful outcome.

Later, Tim Doughty