Demonstrating Against The Union is Wrong

From: MM001 1/24/10

It’s doubtful that 3682 signatures were obtained. According to the WARN database, 3764 Nummi workers were sent notices of their impending layoff; yet, Juan Castillo claims these signatures were all from TMs. If the numbers are true, then 98% of TMs signed the petition. Ask around. Did 98% of the folks around you sign that paper?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/09/BUM01BEE3F.DTL

If you have a problem, you can attend the meetings every last Sunday of the month and voice your concerns. Why the staging of an alternative Sunday one week ahead of schedule? The union leadership has already stated that they will have an informational meeting on Jan 30th Saturday.

Demonstrating against the union is anti-solidarity and works against us in favor of the company. This plays right into the company’s hands. Note that during the last meeting Pamela Fong told us to ask the bargaining representatives for details playing up the false allegations that the union is not representing us. The union hasn’t taken the position (to my knowledge) that any proposal is final. Asking the union for details implies that the union already agrees to the proposal. It’s only final when the union agrees to it.

Who is offering this paltry sum of money to us? The union or the company? If the amount of $164 million for severance seems like a lot of money consider that 164,000,000/3764 workers = $43,570 average. That will not last long considering this current job market where many folks are maxing out their unemployment benefits and still looking for work a year and a half later.

Demonstrating against the union is an asinine move. If we demonstrate, we should demonstrate against the company because they are the ones shutting down the plant and they are the ones giving us this meager proposal.