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| Rebecca Smith |
Rebecca Smith is the author of the political Union
Hypocrisy. Writing Daze caught up with Rebecca recently and asked her some
questions On Writing and Self-Publishing. I think you will be pleasantly
surprised by her answers.
About
Rebecca Smith
Rebecca Smith had been a member of the Teamsters
Union for 16 years. Her final three
years with the Teamsters was as the Director of their Training Program in
Nevada. She has always had a love for
books and a desire to be a writer. After
attempting to write several fiction books that never would see the light of
day, she finally decided to write about what she knows best – labor
unions.
Her next book will be based on the true events that
occurred when Chicago met head on with what some would say is the most
dysfunctional Teamster Local in the country.
UNION HYPOCRISY will be available on Amazon.com as
an e-book or can be ordered in hardcopy.
About
Union Hypocrisy
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| Union Hypocrisy |
Union Hypocrisy looks at multiple facets of Unions
in today’s world. It explores how
unions’ react to their own staff trying to form a union in Book One. In Book Two the book looks at a variety of circumstances
where different unions go against what would be best for their membership. Books Three and Four touch on the unions’
history and their interaction with the political parties as well as what
happened to bring the unions from the day of George Meaney, the avid
anti-communist AFL-CIO leader of the fifties to Richard Trumka, the current
president, whose selection was praised by the Communist Party of the United
States. It also introduces those who
promote themselves in public as working class defenders, but lacks such
commitment behind closed doors.
Book
Excerpt
If the UNION'S are NOBLE in their Campaign Cause and
unionization really is the best choice, what possibly could I or anyone else do
to override their proclaimed status?
—Anonymous
Prologue
April
2008
The corporation distributed the following documents
to its employees in their sales division offices across the United States.
These documents were given to employees regardless of their seniority or sales
experience. Without the benefit of negotiations or a contractual bargaining
agreement, they were being informed for the first time that they could be
terminated at will. The salespeople were now to be considered temporary field
employees.
The forms that came out closely resembled the
following:
1. Affirmation Page. "By my signature below, I
acknowledge that I have read the Corporation's Code of Conduct
("Code"), and that I understand my responsibilities written within
the Code. I understand that the Code has been issued for informational purposes
only and that it is not intended to create, nor does it represent, a contract
of employment for any definite period of time." Note: Failure to read
and/or sign this Affirmation will in no way relieve you of your
responsibilities under the Code.
2. Candidate Release Authorization. This
authorization gives the corporation written permission to obtain virtually all
the salesperson's personal records, including, but not limited to, Workers
Compensation Claims, statements about personal character, mode of living, court
records, education, consumer credit history, driving record, past employment
references, past employment reasons for termination, and much more.
3. Temporary Field Employee Handbook Acknowledgment
Form. "I acknowledge that I have received, read, and understand the
policies outlined in the Corporation's Temporary Field Employee Handbook, which
is intended as a guide to policies and procedures. I understand that the
Corporation has the right to change the Handbook without notice. It is
understood that future changes in the policies and procedures will supersede or
eliminate those found in the book, and that employees will be notified of such
changes through normal communication channels. The Handbook was prepared to
acquaint all temporary employees of the Corporation with its core employment
policies and ethical standards of conduct.
"I also understand and agree that the
information contained in these materials does not constitute an employment
contract between the Corporation and me, and that either the Corporation or I
may terminate our employment relationship at any time, with or without cause. I
understand that no manager or representative of the Corporation, other than the
CEO, the CFO, or their designees, has any authority to enter into any agreement
for employment for any specified period of time, or to make any agreement
contrary to the foregoing."
4. A Letter from the Director of the Human Resources
Department of the Corporation. In the letter the HR director instructs the
salespeople that the corporation has developed a new employment handbook
setting out the employment policies and procedures that cover the corporation's
salespeople. The employees are also informed that, in the future, they will be
referred to as "Temporary Field Employees." Some instructions similar
to the following are included in the letter:
• Employees
are instructed that they will be required to "remain in compliance with
its requirements."
• Employees
will be required to divulge personal information, including the Social Security
numbers of spouses and children.
All of this information, the letter reassures the
reader, is for informational purposes only. (What else would it be for?)
5. Medical Information Form. This form requires the
employee to provide the corporation with the name, address, Social Security
number, gender, and marital status of their spouse and children. The following
note is at the bottom of the page: "This information is requested for
informational purposes only and will not be used to make decisions with respect
to your temporary employment status.
6. Memorandum.
TO: Sales Campaign Coordinators
FROM: Operations Manager
DATE: September 17, 2008
RE: Employment Paper Work
This memorandum instructs the field employees to
return all the required forms as a "part of the conditions of
employment." The operations manager also acknowledges that many have not
yet returned the forms, despite the department making follow-up calls and
mailing letters to them in attempts to get them to sign.
7. Release Form for Consumer Reports Temporary Field
Employees. This form gives the corporation permission to search additional
sources for personal information about their employees in the sale department.
This corporation provided its employees with a stark
example of corporate invasion of privacy. The vast majority of the employees in
the sales department did not sign the forms. Instead, they discussed and
rallied toward organizing into a recognized bargaining unit. A union.
As the employees talked among themselves and other
employees, they found that they were not the only department affected by this new
handbook it also applied to staff working in the political relations
department. The corporation had brought in outside consultants and concocted
these new employee standards, which made unilateral changes to the terms of
employment for just about all corporate staffers. Corporate counsel and his
wrecking crew would make more changes without bothering to negotiate them with
employees. Some of the employees saw the warning signs of bad things to come
when the corporate counsel fired the head of HR and replaced her with someone
coming from outside the corporation—not in-house, as had been the tradition for
over a hundred years. Maybe he could not find a qualified in-house applicant to
fill the position. Some felt that their closely knit "family" was
being corporatized. However, maybe they just never realized that had been a
corporation for many years now.
Out of all the staff affected, it was the brash and
bold members of the sales department who really created a scene—because most of
the salespeople were passionate about their jobs, which is what made them good.
Originally, the department had two types of salespeople: those who were
considered permanent full-time employees and those who were hired to work on a
particular project—hence the term project salesperson. The project salespeople
were hired for six months, which could be extended at six-month intervals. Over
time, that became three-month terms with three-month extensions.
With the new handbook, it was down to thirty days,
with the option of a thirty-day extension.
This corporation was quite wily when it came to
reducing their exposure to employing permanent employees, thus limiting their
exposure to unionization and allowing them reprieve from many of those annoying
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules. To further limit the potential for
unionizing, project sales people were actually hired by subsidiaries and then
"lent" to the Corporation. The Corporation would then reimburse the
subsidiary for the cost of their wages. However, the health and welfare
benefits would be covered by the subsidiary.
Now, with the mailing of handbooks to all project
sale people, they will be classified as "temporary field employees"
who are AT-WILL, giving the Corporation a means to terminate those employees
without cause.
The staff sales people are official sales personnel
of the Corporation because they receive their payroll check directly from the
Corporation and fall under Medical & Pension Plans that the Corporation has
in at its corporate headquarters.
Project sales people receive all work assignments
from the Corporation. They are accountable to the Corporation and the
Corporation pays for all expenses while the project salespeople are on the
ground working. Expense reports get turned in to the Corporation. Monthly
activity reports are turned in to the Corporation. A daily debrief sheet and
weekly reports went to the corporation. The corporation provided the cell
phones.
All salespeople, whether project or staff, performed
the same work out in the field on any given day, in any targeted industry,
anywhere in the USA, in both public and private sectors.
It seemed that the corporation had a complete grasp
of the legal definition of subcontracting. Since the employees came from a
multitude of subsidiaries from around the country, the corporation could, of
course, claim that they did not employ them; after all, they never cut a
payroll check to any of the project salespeople. These people all worked for
separate, subordinate bodies.
Out of anger and rage against this abuse of their
employment, salespeople could be heard voicing sentiments such as the
"employee handbook"—as they called it—"is a piece of s**t!"
Ever since I started working for this b.s.
corporation, I realized I had walked into a monument to corporate greed! I was
tired of the empty promises, and sick of all the smoke being blown up my ass!
My dream job was nothing but a horrible nightmare: no money, no respect, and no
appreciation. To top it off, the people in charge had never worked in this
industry! Are you kidding me? I was just a little upset with these conditions,
as you can tell. We needed a contract! I refused to be considered an
"at-will employee." I had never dreamed this would happen. I was
ready to stand with my coworkers to form a union! Join me and others that know
we need this. Stand up and be heard!
The corporation was another Wal-Mart.
"Temporary field employees" were
"at-will" employees. Approximately 71 percent of the salespeople
refused to sign their rights away. Therefore, the corporation began calling the
project salespeople in attempts to coerce them into signing their rights away.
That did not work. So then they asked the site lead salespeople to ask the
people working on their team to sign the paperwork. When that did not work,
sales campaign coordinators, who are management, were asked to get them to sign
the paperwork. One-on-one meetings took place, and management made it clear:
sign the paperwork or face termination.
On November 6, 2008, the corporation started firing.
Corporate greed and abuse was alive and well,
finding loopholes in labor law. They were abusing their employees and giving
them no voice at all in the terms of employment. Anti-union corporate America.
Which corporation "stuck it" to their
employees? Which corporation insisted on at-will employment for their
employees? Surely, this is an example of why employees need union
representation. A union would insist on just cause; a union would force the
corporation to respect its workers and give them job security. Was it Federal
Express or maybe Wal-Mart? No. A corporation more anti-union than that perhaps?
Go back and replace the words corporation with
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, subsidiary with union local, and
salesperson with organizer.
What is good for corporate America is obviously not
good for the international unions. And there are other unions just as guilty,
such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
In 2008, the Teamsters had been able to stamp down
this dangerous union talk among its employees, but as of 2012, it was back
again. On February 9, 2012, thirty-nine staff organizers filed a petition with
the NLRB in Chicago, 8-RC-73341, for recognition under Teamsters Local 964. On
March 19, 2012, the Federation for Agents and International Representatives
(FAIR) filed a petition to also represent the same organizers.
In many ways, the unions have become hypocrites
about their own mantra, and we will explore many cases in this book. Trade
unionism (unions consisting of those who work in a trade or craft such as
pipefitters or masons) has given way to political ideologue, and unions are
just as guilty, if not more so, of making a buck on the backs of the working
class. After all, corporate America has never hidden its agenda of being in it
for the money, whereas unions promote the cause while marching to a different
tune behind closed doors. There is no better example of how an organization can
remain union-free than the unions themselves. The ultimate hypocrisy.
On
Writing:
Q: What motivated you to write the book?
I had read and heard many comments and theories on
unions by people who had never been in a union.
I thought that should change. I
just wanted to give people a look at what really happens and if it is reported
at all, is reported in some obscure place that most people never see it.
Q: What is the single most useful thing you have
learned and how has it helped you as a writer?
Wow single thing.
That is hard since I have learned so much. I would say that the most useful thing I have
learned is that writing the book is the easy part, getting it out to the public
is very challenging.
Q: What would you say are your main literary
influences?
Oh I love to read.
So I would say that I have a strange mix of real influences in style and
humor. Harper Lee is my all-time
favorite. I could read To Kill a
Mockingbird over and over. As for
nonfiction it would be Ann Coulter. She
has a sharp wit and I like the dry delivery.
It never fails to engage my mind.
On
Self-Publishing:
Q: What are the biggest challenges you have
faced with self-publishing?
Getting my book into the public eye. Many places won’t deal with you if you are
self-published. It is very hard to reach
an audience.
Q: What surprised you about the self-publishing
process?
How much help there is to get you thru the
process. The process is easy and you are
guided thru it step by step. I am
thrilled with the book cover design and how I felt confident in my Createspace
Partners.
Q: Right now there is a stigma attached to self-published
authors, that just because you can pay for the book to be published doesn’t
mean you are a qualified author. Do you think self-publishing will ever become
a respected industry?
Wow, I hope so or I might be out of luck in my
pursuit of a writing career! LOL. Yes I think it will. I have read so many books in my life. Some were really great! Some though were really bad. I mean so bad I felt that the publisher
should refund my money bad. But they
were all thru major publishing houses.
So while having the money to publish your own book doesn’t make you an
author, guess what – neither does being published by a major publisher. I think the evolution of self-publishing has
been a boon for readers as they now can discover a variety of writers with
styles they will enjoy. What I would
really like to see is more accessibility to economical publicity. Ads are very expensive even on the internet.
Q: What is your advice to authors who decide to
self-publish?
The easy part is writing it. Find a good editor. Their insight is invaluable. And when you think your finished…you have
just started.
Thanks Rebecca for stopping
It was my pleasure, thank you.
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