Yes it's our movement in the transportation industry the time is now for better future for all don't settle for less after all Conway does settle with their employees for less so put in a contract then they can't take it away like they always do just look at their record
THIS RIGHT HERE SHOWS WHAT PEOPLE WITH SMARTS AND BALLS CAN DO.... Last year, a group of maintenance employees at the Ben & Jerry’s plant in St. Albans, Vermont, found out. These workers wanted time and a half for work on weekends and for any work that exceeded the standard eight-hour day. Company policy was to pay the federal minimum: time and a half only after forty hours have been worked in a week. (This means, for example, that maintenance workers might be scheduled for ten-hour shifts on the four days following Labor Day or Memorial Day, but collect no overtime.) In early November, after months of frustrating discussions with management, some of the maintenance workers, who earn, on average, about $17 an hour, approached the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Local 300, and launched a campaign for representation.
Ben & Jerry’s fought back. Asked how the company’s anti-union campaign compared to those he’s encountered from other, less “socially responsible” firms, Local 300’s Tim Watkins, who coordinated the drive, called it “very aggressive.” Some of the campaign followed a textbook union-busting formula: management held closed-door meetings with employees who had signed union cards, and told them that if they joined the union, they’d be spending all their time on picket lines, and would be “expected to go on strike at the drop of a hat,” says Watkins. (This is untrue: unionized employees don’t go on strike unless the shop has taken a strike vote.) The union filed no unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), because, as Watkins explains, “they always stopped just short enough of illegality.”
None of this is unusual; employers fight unions every day, and they fight them unscrupulously. According to analyses of NLRB data by Cornell labor researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner, about a third of companies have illegally fired union supporters during elections. In this context, the behavior of Ben & Jerry’s certainly wasn’t as bad as a company’s can get.
But Ben & Jerry’s had a formidable and complicated weapon at its disposal: a “socially responsible” image. Started in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, two longhairs who have been friends since junior high gym class, Ben & Jerry’s is now a multinational corporation with more than 170 stores in the United States, and has been famously socially conscious for over a decade. The company’s mission statement, written in 1988, advertises its dedication to the “new corporate concept of linked prosperity” and declares a “deep respect for individuals inside and outside the company and for the communities of which they are a part.” Through the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, the company redirects 7.5 percent of all pretax profits to nonprofit organizations. The company’s best-known campaign has been “1% For Peace,” a crusade to redirect 1 percent of the U.S. defense budget to “peace-promoting projects.” (A discontinued product called the “Peace Pop” bore a wrapper that explained this, but left many questions unanswered, such as, Why 1 percent? and What is “peace”?) The ice cream is sold in dioxin-free cartons. In February, Ben Cohen brought an eleven-foot ice cream pie to Capitol Hill to protest inadequate social spending and appeared on ABC’s The View calling for cuts in the defense budget.
Ben & Jerry’s argued that its employees didn’t need a union because they had better-than-average benefits (including paid family leave and health club memberships, as well as three pints of ice cream daily). Central to the company’s campaign, too, was the argument that the maintenance employees shouldn’t be trying to organize a bargaining unit that included only themselves; all 150 workers in the plant, Ben & Jerry’s lawyers argued, should be given the chance to vote on union representation. With this objection—the basis of Ben & Jerry’s challenge to the union before the NLRB—Ben & Jerry’s appeared to be promoting democracy in its workplace. But that rhetoric was disingenuous, because the union’s support wasn’t as strong among the production employees in the plant. Furthermore, the electrical workers’ union was a logical choice for the maintenance employees because they are electrical workers. Had the production workers wanted to unionize, another union, one that had some experience in their field, would have been more suitable. In December, the NLRB rejected Ben & Jerry’s challenge and ordered the union to hold an election.
PART#####2 In January, the maintenance workers voted for the union, eleven to eight, becoming the first unionized Ben & Jerry’s employees in the company’s twenty-year history. But Watkins says that the Ben & Jerry’s campaign was so relentless that if the pro-union employees “hadn’t been so solid, we would have lost them.” Bargaining hasn’t been easy, either; by early July, seven months after the election, there had been more than a dozen frustrating negotiation sessions, none lasting longer than three hours, and a satisfactory contract was nowhere on the horizon.
Lee Holden, a Ben & Jerry’s spokesman, told me that the company’s legal counsel had forbidden media interviews about the union during contract negotiations. (Lest this be taken as a lapse in grooviness, Holden was at pains to be super-friendly about it. “Thanks for understanding,” he said, smoother than a sorbet.) The employees involved in the drive were equally circumspect, refusing, via Watkins, to be interviewed for this article, for fear of retaliation from the company. Watkins admits that these fears may not be completely justified, but the workers’ reticence, considering that they have already won a union election, suggests an unusually hostile workplace.
Given that Ben & Jerry’s professes concern for—and even puts some serious money toward helping—the poor and marginal, the company’s anti-unionism seems curious. But in balking at unions in its own workplace, Ben & Jerry’s is far from unique among progressive employers. Businesses with an explicit mission of “social responsibility” (SR)— of which Ben & Jerry’s is probably the most famously liberal—have been proliferating since the late seventies. In addition to Ben & Jerry’s, such companies as Borders Books and Music, Starbucks, Noah’s Bagels, Whole Foods, Newman’s Own, Working Assets, and the Portland, Oregon-based Powell’s Books have recently been mired in acrimonious labor disputes. “It’s business, man!” says Marty Kruse, a used-book buyer and one of the initial Powell’s organizers, who thinks it’s foolish even to make an issue of SR union-busting. “We don’t live in some anarcho-syndicalist utopia. If you’re disappointed that they’re resisting, you’re being naïve
PART###3 Like Ben & Jerry’s, many progressive employers use their SR image against the union. This was certainly the case in the campaigns by booksellers and other employees of Borders Books & Music—efforts that started in 1996 and petered out last year. Founded by two Ann Arbor hippies in the 1970s, Borders is now the second-largest book retailer in the world. But when employees in Philadelphia, Chicago, Bryn Mawr, Ann Arbor, Harrisburg, Evanston, Des Moines, Seattle, New York City, and Stamford, Connecticut, sought union representation, the company skillfully evoked the long-running perception that it was a progressive company. Borders corporate flacks loudly touted the domestic-partner benefits the company offered to gay and lesbian couples (never mind that those benefits included a health plan most employees couldn’t afford
More recently, employees at Powell’s Books, a six-store chain in Portland, Oregon—who, at $7 an hour, were making no more than Portland’s average fast-food worker, and had just been denied an expected wage increase—faced a similar, though more restrained, counterattack when they wanted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 5 (ILWU). Owner Michael Powell is a prominent progressive in Portland who is active in the local Democratic Party and an outspoken free-speech advocate. His bookstore is a favorite meeting-place for the Portland left, and at least appears to celebrate diversity of all sorts. This summer’s in-store readings included lesbian poet Minnie Bruce Pratt and ecofeminist Charlene Spretnak, and the store’s Web site is run in close partnership with the Utne Reader. So last fall, employees and customers alike were surprised that Powell fought the union. He sent out a letter to all his employees’ homes accusing the union of corruption (actually confusing it with a different union); later, he campaigned against the ILWU’s long record as a defendant in discrimination suits. “You say the word ‘union,’ and everyone’s supposed to feel all squishy. I don’t get it,” Powell insists. “I understand if you’re organizing farm workers, or people in Bangladesh. But this is not that kind of situation.”
The union won in April, 161 to 155—a very close margin. Paul Couey, who works in the store’s corporate accounts department, says Michael Powell’s bluster hurt the union. “He [Powell] framed it as a human rights issue,” says Couey. “He said the union would quell free speech. He used all this jargon that sounded progressive—saying that we were a small, organic institution, and could respond more flexibly [without a union].” (There’s a grain of truth to this concern about flexibility. If Powell’s really were committed to workplace democracy, the quirks of U.S. labor law could make it difficult for unionized workers to combine “management” and “non-management” roles. But there’s no evidence that Powell is sincerely engaged with such complexities.) Says Couey, “Most of the flexibility to which he was referring was managerial. We wanted some flexibility in our own finances!” Because Powell was known to be progressive, employees were at first confused when he talked about unions in what Couey calls “such stereotypical” terms. “In early meetings, some of us felt that if we could explain it better maybe he would understand. But as it continued it became clear that he wasn’t misinformed; it was a tactic.”
Asked why he didn’t simply agree to recognize the union after enough employees signed cards, Powell hesitates. “That’s a good question. I thought about it,” he says. “But it just didn’t seem like the right thing.” Powell claims that he didn’t voluntarily recognize the union in part because some employees opposed it, though of course it was also because an organized workforce will make it “harder to compete in the industry.” When I ask Alice Tepper Marlin, a founder of the Council on Economic Priorities, which tracks corporate social responsibility (and has showered Ben & Jerry’s with adulation in the past), if she knows of any company that has voluntarily recognized a union “on principle,” she laughs. “It would be very unusual,” she says. Marlin looked through her files, and was unable to locate a single example of such an occurrence
“Even employers who want to do good end up acting like employers,” Paul Mishler observes. “That’s why you need unions.” As for employers who claim that they already treat their employees so well that a union isn’t necessary, Mishler says, “That’s like asking, would you need democracy if you always had a nice president? It’s a silly question. The fact is that dictators always end up doing bad things, and employers are the same. Without a union [an SR workplace] is a benevolent dictatorship..... As the first group of employees in the ILWU’s new local, Powell’s employees have the opportunity to create a democratic structure; it’s a responsibility they’re taking seriously as they draft their new local’s constitution. The pro-union employees knew that choosing a decent union was crucial, not only because they knew that Michael Powell would play the “unions are corrupt” card, but also because progressive workers, far from being knee-jerk pro-unionists, tend to be skeptical about institutions. “When you’re organizing a progressive business, it’s especially important to have a [union] record you can defend—many unions really don’t have a democratic structure,” says Couey. “We would not have won if we had gone with a less democratic union.”
At this writing, in early July, a contract seemed likely, but Ben & Jerry’s was still refusing to yield to employees’ overtime demands. Since overtime was the primary impetus behind the representation drive in the first place, failure to make any progress on it is a defeat for the union. “They’ve said they’re not going to give in on that. But I’m going to sit down with them one more time,” says the laconic Watkins, “and talk about some fairness issues
Union busting 1 o 1..... Some of the statistics cited by researchers suggest that, historically, trade unions have been the frequent targets of orchestrated campaigns[1] employing labor spies, indicating that such actions against labor organizations are often the result of strategic considerations.
Labor spying is most typically used by companies or their agents, and such activity often complements union busting. In some cases — apparently much less common, according to resources — labor spies have acted in support of union goals, against company interests, or against the company's hired agents. Unions may also utilize labor spies to spy upon other unions, or upon their own members. In at least one case, an employer hired labor spies to spy not only upon strikers, but also upon strikebreakers that he had hired.[2]
Within the field of labor relations, union busters make the largest salaries. In 1993, there were 7,000 attorneys and consultants in the United States who made their living busting unions. The war against unions is a $1 billion-plus industry.[3] Labor spying is one of the most formidable tools of the union busters.
Sidney Howard observed that the labor spy, "often unknown to the very employer who retains him through his agency, is in a position of immense strength. There is no power to hold him to truth-telling."[4] Because the labor spy operates in secret, "all [co-workers] are suspected, and intense bitterness is aroused against employers, the innocent and the guilty alike."[5]
We have faith in you Buffalo! Disregard all this negative talk. Some of the posts on here in the last week are absolutely the company's union busters at work. They are spreading their negativity through us. Ignore it brothers and sisters, stay positive and focused. The Lord is on our side, He has already show us the path out of Conway's evil reign of tyranny, but He will not do the walking for us. Remember Satan's plan for us was to have no free will to choose, no voice to speak against him. Satan has been hard at work for hundreds of years in the corporate world, and he is Damn proud of his results up to this day. Conway is much like this. Do we have a choice for anything that we are instructed to do on a daily basis? Can we speak freely to management? Ask yourself this. Would Jesus want us to be united in a cause to help each other and ourselves, or would he want us to continue on the same path we are on, being unhappy, fearful all of the time of being fired. Last time I checked fear was Satan's favorite tool. Fear is Conway's #1 motivater! These Union busters or "consultants" as they like to be called are some of Satan's top shelf thugs. They make millions off of spreading fear! They feast off of hard working good people. They convince people to abandon choice and lay down to tyranny. The path we are on towards truth and unity will not be easy. We may have to sacrifice and endure temptations and challenges to get where we want to be. We can do it! I urge all of you everywhere to pray about what you should choose to do about your future and the future of your families and your fellow brothers and sisters. I guarantee, if you open your heart and ask in faith, the answer will hit you like a freight train. Much love to all of you! Be good to each other. Help those in need. Stay united in the light, and we will emerge from darkness and fear, victorious.
We have faith in you Miami, Irvine, Harlingen, and Buffalo! We have faith that Manchester, ULA, and UFV will eventually learn from their mistake and vote again!! Disregard all this negative talk. Some of the posts on here in the last week are absolutely the company's union busters at work. They are spreading their negativity through us. Ignore it brothers and sisters, stay positive and focused. The Lord is on our side, He has already show us the path out of Conway's evil reign of tyranny, but He will not do the walking for us. Remember Satan's plan for us was to have no free will to choose, no voice to speak against him. Satan has been hard at work for hundreds of years in the corporate world, and he is Damn proud of his results up to this day. Conway is much like this. Do we have a choice for anything that we are instructed to do on a daily basis? Can we speak freely to management? Ask yourself this. Would Jesus want us to be united in a cause to help each other and ourselves, or would he want us to continue on the same path we are on, being unhappy, fearful all of the time of being fired. Last time I checked fear was Satan's favorite tool. Fear is Conway's #1 motivater! These Union busters or "consultants" as they like to be called are some of Satan's top shelf thugs. They make millions off of spreading fear! They feast off of hard working good people. They convince people to abandon choice and lay down to tyranny. The path we are on towards truth and unity will not be easy. We may have to sacrifice and endure temptations and challenges to get where we want to be. We can do it! I urge all of you everywhere to pray about what you should choose to do about your future and the future of your families and your fellow brothers and sisters. I guarantee, if you open your heart and ask in faith, the answer will hit you like a freight train. Much love to all of you! Be good to each other. Help those in need. Stay united in the light, and we will emerge from darkness and fear, victorious.
All hail king Numbskull!! The king is going to grace us with his presence in Orlando this week. Can't wait to get a taste of his sugar coated shits he will be serving up.
How ironic of Conway to be donating cell phones for soldiers. Now that there being sued by U.S. government for wrongly terminating a veteran who served for his country they have programs for soldiers. If you look at Conway on the NasDaq it lists there good deeds to veterans almost like there trying to persuade investors that there so honest. Well to late Lemkuhl(A.K.A. NUMBSKULL) and Stotler(A.K.A. Stallon) you have created the atmosphere of arrogance and no respect for the men and women of the work place or those who have served this great country. Times up boys either you go or we will keep the drive alive. This is directed to the board of shareholders we want Lemkuhl and Stotler out. Time for a new era here at Conway. Theres no doubt that stock holders should get good return on there money but when you have the wrong people in place profits are easily wasted on union busters, cameras, lean managers, and to many chiefs and not enough Indians. Clearly look at our stock compared to top five ltl freight companys as it has risen but not enough to offset the wasteful spending. Let this be clear to the people who can make a change we employees at Conway are not happy and need change not pizza. THE PEOPLES CHOICE
WE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT..THAT'S TO EVERYONE TO REVIVING THE MOVEMENT AND REMINDING US OF WHAT OUR TRUE PURPOSE IS ALL ABOUT. PEOPLE BE AWARE AND KNOW WHEN THE UNION BUSTERS ARE ON THESE BLOGS, BE READY AND PREPARED FOR THE BATTLE. REMEMBER CON YOUR WAY IS TRYING EVERYTHING TO US DISTRACT. THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR PIGGY BANKS & WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR FUTURE. SO KNOW THE ENEMY AND BE READY TO STOMP ON SATAN'S HEAD. CON YOUR WAY IS LOOKING REALLY FOOLISH IN WALL STREETS EYE RIGHT NOW AND IT WON'T BE LONG FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS CALL FOR NEW LEADERSHIP. THEY CAN'T BE MAXIMIZING PROFITS FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS OR THE COMPANY KEEPING THIS SCARE CAMPAIGN GOING. GUYS CON YOUR WAY HAS A LONG BATTLE IN FRONT OF THEM CAN THEY REALLY AFFORD TO KEEP THIS UP?
I have 22 yrs don't know whats keeping me here now sure isn't the pension and benefits, once is see what direction this is going im either staying to get a pension or im jumping off this sinking ship
Conway has set up so called town hall meetings at all domiciles. We employees keep speaking but there not listening as the real truth is local TMs absorb information but it always reflects on there numbers so its immediately scrapped. These jokers have everything coming that they deserve. Conway has had VVT for years and now they want to hears us. What a joke. VOTE YES
I would sure like to know what happened in Manchester. Anyone from up there sound off please so the rest of us can learn from what happened. Don't get down guys. Many more terminals to come. Remember, UFV only lost by 1 stinking vote, and ULA was close too, they just failed to unite the dock workers. We learn from these failures. Here in NOF we didn't even consider the dock workers until we heard what happened at ULA, now we have the majority of them united with us. We got Lehmkule coming in this week. I'm sure he will have a big bag of lies, scare tactics, and empty promises. Don't fall for it guys. The only way to secure our future is through a contract. Vote Union Yes!
Knowledge and Unity creates power for the working people.If we stand together and stand strong we will have a contract with Conway .We will have a voice in our futures at Conway and Not just have Conway give us empty promises.
Lehmkule is the reason why ULA fail to vote yes .it wasn't the union buster he fail Lemhkule did a better job than lupe cruz he should change jobs he should be a buster with all those empty promises. Those promises and those words . (Please give us one more chance to change .) I think that he was knew that if we go union he's job and all the management jobs are on the line. At ULA more than half of the voters believe him and they vote NO. He is the reason why ULA is not union.
Conway put up or shut up put in a contract Greg if your serious I want a contract you can't be trusted after all you took back 26 cents on the first raise blame it on type O serious!!
Its great to see some Conway vets supporting the Union cause.You guys who been working for Conway for so many years and have put up with the lies,and Cons that Conway has done to its workers need to have a voice and be respected for what you guys have done to make this company one of the best....I for one say thanks for backing us up to bring the Union into Conway.We need to Change Conway for the benefit of all of us.Lets unite together and Vote YES.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CHARLOTTE (CLT) for their victorious effort to Bring The Teamsters to FedEx Freight. This is a monumental victory as CLT is a major hub consisting of 223 combined road and city drivers. This is a sign of great things to come for so many other terminals who are standing by at the ready. Get those petitions filed! It is time to show your support and let FedEx know that we are not persuaded by empty promises and apologies.
WAY TO GO FEDEX YOU DIDNT FALL FOR SOME EMPTY PROMISES AND BULL SHIT STORY ABOUT HOW THE COMPANY IS GOIN TO CHANGE.I FOR ONE THINK YOU'VE SHOWN GREAT COURAGE IN VOTING TO JOIN THE UNION..YOU GUYS AND GIRLS ARE AWSOME FOR STANDING UP AND UNITING AGAINST THE GREEDY LIARS..I HAVE ALOT OF RESPECT FOR YOU..THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME HOPE.
lets get a list of fed ex terminals that are hiring, see how many Conway employees can jump ship, from one that has been here at Conway 18 yrs, I used to be proud to say I worked here Now it plan sucks
SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME???????????????WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO??????????
Wal-Mart Asks Workers To Donate Food To Its Needy Employees. The group Making Change At Wal-Mart posted a photo of the food drive to its Facebook page on Thursday and commented, "Rather than agree to pay a decent wage or provide full-time hours, Walmart and its owners (the Waltons) continue to earn massive profits while too many of the workers who make the company a success go hungry." The photo shows a cardboard bin with a sign attached that reads: "Let's succeed by donating to employees in need!!! Thanks for your support!"
The average hourly wage for Wal-Mart's full and part-time employees is $11.83, according to the company. OUR Wal-Mart, a group that's fighting for higher wages at Wal-Mart, claims that most workers make under $9, based on data from IBISWorld and Glassdoor.com. The minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 an hour.......... Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart: $257.4 billion.... HE CANT SPARE ANY OF IT TO GIVE WORKERS A BETTER LIVING THO.
THAT WILL BE US AT CONWAY AND FEDEX IF WE DONT STAND UNITED AND FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS FOR ALL TO HAVE A GOOD LIVING.....
What is this?
ReplyDeleteThat's the truth
ReplyDeleteYes it's our movement in the transportation industry the time is now for better future for all don't settle for less after all Conway does settle with their employees for less so put in a contract then they can't take it away like they always do just look at their record
ReplyDeletehow happy abes family must be of him to make his 15 minutes of fame debut. I sure hope his children have more guts and glory than he does.
ReplyDeleteWhat Abe said sucked,but leave people's families out of these posts!!!!
DeleteTHIS RIGHT HERE SHOWS WHAT PEOPLE WITH SMARTS AND BALLS CAN DO....
ReplyDeleteLast year, a group of maintenance employees at the Ben & Jerry’s plant in St. Albans, Vermont, found out. These workers wanted time and a half for work on weekends and for any work that exceeded the standard eight-hour day. Company policy was to pay the federal minimum: time and a half only after forty hours have been worked in a week. (This means, for example, that maintenance workers might be scheduled for ten-hour shifts on the four days following Labor Day or Memorial Day, but collect no overtime.) In early November, after months of frustrating discussions with management, some of the maintenance workers, who earn, on average, about $17 an hour, approached the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Local 300, and launched a campaign for representation.
Ben & Jerry’s fought back. Asked how the company’s anti-union campaign compared to those he’s encountered from other, less “socially responsible” firms, Local 300’s Tim Watkins, who coordinated the drive, called it “very aggressive.” Some of the campaign followed a textbook union-busting formula: management held closed-door meetings with employees who had signed union cards, and told them that if they joined the union, they’d be spending all their time on picket lines, and would be “expected to go on strike at the drop of a hat,” says Watkins. (This is untrue: unionized employees don’t go on strike unless the shop has taken a strike vote.) The union filed no unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), because, as Watkins explains, “they always stopped just short enough of illegality.”
None of this is unusual; employers fight unions every day, and they fight them unscrupulously. According to analyses of NLRB data by Cornell labor researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner, about a third of companies have illegally fired union supporters during elections. In this context, the behavior of Ben & Jerry’s certainly wasn’t as bad as a company’s can get.
But Ben & Jerry’s had a formidable and complicated weapon at its disposal: a “socially responsible” image. Started in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, two longhairs who have been friends since junior high gym class, Ben & Jerry’s is now a multinational corporation with more than 170 stores in the United States, and has been famously socially conscious for over a decade. The company’s mission statement, written in 1988, advertises its dedication to the “new corporate concept of linked prosperity” and declares a “deep respect for individuals inside and outside the company and for the communities of which they are a part.” Through the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, the company redirects 7.5 percent of all pretax profits to nonprofit organizations. The company’s best-known campaign has been “1% For Peace,” a crusade to redirect 1 percent of the U.S. defense budget to “peace-promoting projects.” (A discontinued product called the “Peace Pop” bore a wrapper that explained this, but left many questions unanswered, such as, Why 1 percent? and What is “peace”?) The ice cream is sold in dioxin-free cartons. In February, Ben Cohen brought an eleven-foot ice cream pie to Capitol Hill to protest inadequate social spending and appeared on ABC’s The View calling for cuts in the defense budget.
Ben & Jerry’s argued that its employees didn’t need a union because they had better-than-average benefits (including paid family leave and health club memberships, as well as three pints of ice cream daily). Central to the company’s campaign, too, was the argument that the maintenance employees shouldn’t be trying to organize a bargaining unit that included only themselves; all 150 workers in the plant, Ben & Jerry’s lawyers argued, should be given the chance to vote on union representation. With this objection—the basis of Ben & Jerry’s challenge to the union before the NLRB—Ben & Jerry’s appeared to be promoting democracy in its workplace. But that rhetoric was disingenuous, because the union’s support wasn’t as strong among the production employees in the plant. Furthermore, the electrical workers’ union was a logical choice for the maintenance employees because they are electrical workers. Had the production workers wanted to unionize, another union, one that had some experience in their field, would have been more suitable. In December, the NLRB rejected Ben & Jerry’s challenge and ordered the union to hold an election.
ReplyDeletePART#####2
ReplyDeleteIn January, the maintenance workers voted for the union, eleven to eight, becoming the first unionized Ben & Jerry’s employees in the company’s twenty-year history. But Watkins says that the Ben & Jerry’s campaign was so relentless that if the pro-union employees “hadn’t been so solid, we would have lost them.” Bargaining hasn’t been easy, either; by early July, seven months after the election, there had been more than a dozen frustrating negotiation sessions, none lasting longer than three hours, and a satisfactory contract was nowhere on the horizon.
Lee Holden, a Ben & Jerry’s spokesman, told me that the company’s legal counsel had forbidden media interviews about the union during contract negotiations. (Lest this be taken as a lapse in grooviness, Holden was at pains to be super-friendly about it. “Thanks for understanding,” he said, smoother than a sorbet.) The employees involved in the drive were equally circumspect, refusing, via Watkins, to be interviewed for this article, for fear of retaliation from the company. Watkins admits that these fears may not be completely justified, but the workers’ reticence, considering that they have already won a union election, suggests an unusually hostile workplace.
Given that Ben & Jerry’s professes concern for—and even puts some serious money toward helping—the poor and marginal, the company’s anti-unionism seems curious. But in balking at unions in its own workplace, Ben & Jerry’s is far from unique among progressive employers. Businesses with an explicit mission of “social responsibility” (SR)— of which Ben & Jerry’s is probably the most famously liberal—have been proliferating since the late seventies. In addition to Ben & Jerry’s, such companies as Borders Books and Music, Starbucks, Noah’s Bagels, Whole Foods, Newman’s Own, Working Assets, and the Portland, Oregon-based Powell’s Books have recently been mired in acrimonious labor disputes. “It’s business, man!” says Marty Kruse, a used-book buyer and one of the initial Powell’s organizers, who thinks it’s foolish even to make an issue of SR union-busting. “We don’t live in some anarcho-syndicalist utopia. If you’re disappointed that they’re resisting, you’re being naïve
PART###3
ReplyDeleteLike Ben & Jerry’s, many progressive employers use their SR image against the union. This was certainly the case in the campaigns by booksellers and other employees of Borders Books & Music—efforts that started in 1996 and petered out last year. Founded by two Ann Arbor hippies in the 1970s, Borders is now the second-largest book retailer in the world. But when employees in Philadelphia, Chicago, Bryn Mawr, Ann Arbor, Harrisburg, Evanston, Des Moines, Seattle, New York City, and Stamford, Connecticut, sought union representation, the company skillfully evoked the long-running perception that it was a progressive company. Borders corporate flacks loudly touted the domestic-partner benefits the company offered to gay and lesbian couples (never mind that those benefits included a health plan most employees couldn’t afford
More recently, employees at Powell’s Books, a six-store chain in Portland, Oregon—who, at $7 an hour, were making no more than Portland’s average fast-food worker, and had just been denied an expected wage increase—faced a similar, though more restrained, counterattack when they wanted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 5 (ILWU). Owner Michael Powell is a prominent progressive in Portland who is active in the local Democratic Party and an outspoken free-speech advocate. His bookstore is a favorite meeting-place for the Portland left, and at least appears to celebrate diversity of all sorts. This summer’s in-store readings included lesbian poet Minnie Bruce Pratt and ecofeminist Charlene Spretnak, and the store’s Web site is run in close partnership with the Utne Reader. So last fall, employees and customers alike were surprised that Powell fought the union. He sent out a letter to all his employees’ homes accusing the union of corruption (actually confusing it with a different union); later, he campaigned against the ILWU’s long record as a defendant in discrimination suits. “You say the word ‘union,’ and everyone’s supposed to feel all squishy. I don’t get it,” Powell insists. “I understand if you’re organizing farm workers, or people in Bangladesh. But this is not that kind of situation.”
ReplyDeleteThe union won in April, 161 to 155—a very close margin. Paul Couey, who works in the store’s corporate accounts department, says Michael Powell’s bluster hurt the union. “He [Powell] framed it as a human rights issue,” says Couey. “He said the union would quell free speech. He used all this jargon that sounded progressive—saying that we were a small, organic institution, and could respond more flexibly [without a union].” (There’s a grain of truth to this concern about flexibility. If Powell’s really were committed to workplace democracy, the quirks of U.S. labor law could make it difficult for unionized workers to combine “management” and “non-management” roles. But there’s no evidence that Powell is sincerely engaged with such complexities.) Says Couey, “Most of the flexibility to which he was referring was managerial. We wanted some flexibility in our own finances!” Because Powell was known to be progressive, employees were at first confused when he talked about unions in what Couey calls “such stereotypical” terms. “In early meetings, some of us felt that if we could explain it better maybe he would understand. But as it continued it became clear that he wasn’t misinformed; it was a tactic.”
Asked why he didn’t simply agree to recognize the union after enough employees signed cards, Powell hesitates. “That’s a good question. I thought about it,” he says. “But it just didn’t seem like the right thing.” Powell claims that he didn’t voluntarily recognize the union in part because some employees opposed it, though of course it was also because an organized workforce will make it “harder to compete in the industry.” When I ask Alice Tepper Marlin, a founder of the Council on Economic Priorities, which tracks corporate social responsibility (and has showered Ben & Jerry’s with adulation in the past), if she knows of any company that has voluntarily recognized a union “on principle,” she laughs. “It would be very unusual,” she says. Marlin looked through her files, and was unable to locate a single example of such an occurrence
“Even employers who want to do good end up acting like employers,” Paul Mishler observes. “That’s why you need unions.” As for employers who claim that they already treat their employees so well that a union isn’t necessary, Mishler says, “That’s like asking, would you need democracy if you always had a nice president? It’s a silly question. The fact is that dictators always end up doing bad things, and employers are the same. Without a union [an SR workplace] is a benevolent dictatorship.....
ReplyDeleteAs the first group of employees in the ILWU’s new local, Powell’s employees have the opportunity to create a democratic structure; it’s a responsibility they’re taking seriously as they draft their new local’s constitution. The pro-union employees knew that choosing a decent union was crucial, not only because they knew that Michael Powell would play the “unions are corrupt” card, but also because progressive workers, far from being knee-jerk pro-unionists, tend to be skeptical about institutions. “When you’re organizing a progressive business, it’s especially important to have a [union] record you can defend—many unions really don’t have a democratic structure,” says Couey. “We would not have won if we had gone with a less democratic union.”
At this writing, in early July, a contract seemed likely, but Ben & Jerry’s was still refusing to yield to employees’ overtime demands. Since overtime was the primary impetus behind the representation drive in the first place, failure to make any progress on it is a defeat for the union. “They’ve said they’re not going to give in on that. But I’m going to sit down with them one more time,” says the laconic Watkins, “and talk about some fairness issues
Union busting 1 o 1.....
ReplyDeleteSome of the statistics cited by researchers suggest that, historically, trade unions have been the frequent targets of orchestrated campaigns[1] employing labor spies, indicating that such actions against labor organizations are often the result of strategic considerations.
Labor spying is most typically used by companies or their agents, and such activity often complements union busting. In some cases — apparently much less common, according to resources — labor spies have acted in support of union goals, against company interests, or against the company's hired agents. Unions may also utilize labor spies to spy upon other unions, or upon their own members. In at least one case, an employer hired labor spies to spy not only upon strikers, but also upon strikebreakers that he had hired.[2]
Within the field of labor relations, union busters make the largest salaries. In 1993, there were 7,000 attorneys and consultants in the United States who made their living busting unions. The war against unions is a $1 billion-plus industry.[3] Labor spying is one of the most formidable tools of the union busters.
Sidney Howard observed that the labor spy, "often unknown to the very employer who retains him through his agency, is in a position of immense strength. There is no power to hold him to truth-telling."[4] Because the labor spy operates in secret, "all [co-workers] are suspected, and intense bitterness is aroused against employers, the innocent and the guilty alike."[5]
We have faith in you Buffalo! Disregard all this negative talk. Some of the posts on here in the last week are absolutely the company's union busters at work. They are spreading their negativity through us. Ignore it brothers and sisters, stay positive and focused. The Lord is on our side, He has already show us the path out of Conway's evil reign of tyranny, but He will not do the walking for us. Remember Satan's plan for us was to have no free will to choose, no voice to speak against him. Satan has been hard at work for hundreds of years in the corporate world, and he is Damn proud of his results up to this day. Conway is much like this. Do we have a choice for anything that we are instructed to do on a daily basis? Can we speak freely to management? Ask yourself this. Would Jesus want us to be united in a cause to help each other and ourselves, or would he want us to continue on the same path we are on, being unhappy, fearful all of the time of being fired. Last time I checked fear was Satan's favorite tool. Fear is Conway's #1 motivater! These Union busters or "consultants" as they like to be called are some of Satan's top shelf thugs. They make millions off of spreading fear! They feast off of hard working good people. They convince people to abandon choice and lay down to tyranny. The path we are on towards truth and unity will not be easy. We may have to sacrifice and endure temptations and challenges to get where we want to be. We can do it! I urge all of you everywhere to pray about what you should choose to do about your future and the future of your families and your fellow brothers and sisters. I guarantee, if you open your heart and ask in faith, the answer will hit you like a freight train. Much love to all of you! Be good to each other. Help those in need. Stay united in the light, and we will emerge from darkness and fear, victorious.
ReplyDeleteWe have faith in you Miami, Irvine, Harlingen, and Buffalo! We have faith that Manchester, ULA, and UFV will eventually learn from their mistake and vote again!! Disregard all this negative talk. Some of the posts on here in the last week are absolutely the company's union busters at work. They are spreading their negativity through us. Ignore it brothers and sisters, stay positive and focused. The Lord is on our side, He has already show us the path out of Conway's evil reign of tyranny, but He will not do the walking for us. Remember Satan's plan for us was to have no free will to choose, no voice to speak against him. Satan has been hard at work for hundreds of years in the corporate world, and he is Damn proud of his results up to this day. Conway is much like this. Do we have a choice for anything that we are instructed to do on a daily basis? Can we speak freely to management? Ask yourself this. Would Jesus want us to be united in a cause to help each other and ourselves, or would he want us to continue on the same path we are on, being unhappy, fearful all of the time of being fired. Last time I checked fear was Satan's favorite tool. Fear is Conway's #1 motivater! These Union busters or "consultants" as they like to be called are some of Satan's top shelf thugs. They make millions off of spreading fear! They feast off of hard working good people. They convince people to abandon choice and lay down to tyranny. The path we are on towards truth and unity will not be easy. We may have to sacrifice and endure temptations and challenges to get where we want to be. We can do it! I urge all of you everywhere to pray about what you should choose to do about your future and the future of your families and your fellow brothers and sisters. I guarantee, if you open your heart and ask in faith, the answer will hit you like a freight train. Much love to all of you! Be good to each other. Help those in need. Stay united in the light, and we will emerge from darkness and fear, victorious.
ReplyDeleteAll hail king Numbskull!! The king is going to grace us with his presence in Orlando this week. Can't wait to get a taste of his sugar coated shits he will be serving up.
ReplyDeleteHow ironic of Conway to be donating cell phones for soldiers. Now that there being sued by U.S. government for wrongly terminating a veteran who served for his country they have programs for soldiers. If you look at Conway on the NasDaq it lists there good deeds to veterans almost like there trying to persuade investors that there so honest. Well to late Lemkuhl(A.K.A. NUMBSKULL) and Stotler(A.K.A. Stallon) you have created the atmosphere of arrogance and no respect for the men and women of the work place or those who have served this great country. Times up boys either you go or we will keep the drive alive. This is directed to the board of shareholders we want Lemkuhl and Stotler out. Time for a new era here at Conway. Theres no doubt that stock holders should get good return on there money but when you have the wrong people in place profits are easily wasted on union busters, cameras, lean managers, and to many chiefs and not enough Indians. Clearly look at our stock compared to top five ltl freight companys as it has risen but not enough to offset the wasteful spending. Let this be clear to the people who can make a change we employees at Conway are not happy and need change not pizza. THE PEOPLES CHOICE
ReplyDeleteWell put,15 years in.If this fails I'm out of this LTL hellhole!!!!
DeleteWell said I agree I'm 30 yrs with co and I'm voting YES ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
ReplyDeleteWere taking it down block by block conways going union one by one no stopping it now
ReplyDeleteWE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT..THAT'S TO EVERYONE TO REVIVING THE MOVEMENT AND REMINDING US OF WHAT OUR TRUE PURPOSE IS ALL ABOUT. PEOPLE BE AWARE AND KNOW WHEN THE UNION BUSTERS ARE ON THESE BLOGS, BE READY AND PREPARED FOR THE BATTLE. REMEMBER CON YOUR WAY IS TRYING EVERYTHING TO US DISTRACT. THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR PIGGY BANKS & WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR FUTURE. SO KNOW THE ENEMY AND BE READY TO STOMP ON SATAN'S HEAD. CON YOUR WAY IS LOOKING REALLY FOOLISH IN WALL STREETS EYE RIGHT NOW AND IT WON'T BE LONG FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS CALL FOR NEW LEADERSHIP. THEY CAN'T BE MAXIMIZING PROFITS FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS OR THE COMPANY KEEPING THIS SCARE CAMPAIGN GOING. GUYS CON YOUR WAY HAS A LONG BATTLE IN FRONT OF THEM CAN THEY REALLY AFFORD TO KEEP THIS UP?
DeleteI have 22 yrs don't know whats keeping me here now sure isn't the pension and benefits, once is see what direction this is going im either staying to get a pension or im jumping off this sinking ship
ReplyDeleteConway has set up so called town hall meetings at all domiciles. We employees keep speaking but there not listening as the real truth is local TMs absorb information but it always reflects on there numbers so its immediately scrapped. These jokers have everything coming that they deserve. Conway has had VVT for years and now they want to hears us. What a joke. VOTE YES
ReplyDeleteI would sure like to know what happened in Manchester. Anyone from up there sound off please so the rest of us can learn from what happened. Don't get down guys. Many more terminals to come. Remember, UFV only lost by 1 stinking vote, and ULA was close too, they just failed to unite the dock workers. We learn from these failures. Here in NOF we didn't even consider the dock workers until we heard what happened at ULA, now we have the majority of them united with us. We got Lehmkule coming in this week. I'm sure he will have a big bag of lies, scare tactics, and empty promises. Don't fall for it guys. The only way to secure our future is through a contract. Vote Union Yes!
ReplyDeleteKnowledge and Unity creates power for the working people.If we stand together and stand strong we will have a contract with Conway .We will have a voice in our futures at Conway and Not just have Conway give us empty promises.
DeleteLehmkule is the reason why ULA fail to vote yes .it wasn't the union buster he fail Lemhkule did a better job than lupe cruz he should change jobs he should be a buster with all those empty promises. Those promises and those words . (Please give us one more chance to change .) I think that he was knew that if we go union he's job and all the management jobs are on the line. At ULA more than half of the voters believe him and they vote NO. He is the reason why ULA is not union.
DeleteConway put up or shut up put in a contract Greg if your serious I want a contract you can't be trusted after all you took back 26 cents on the first raise blame it on type O serious!!
ReplyDeleteIts great to see some Conway vets supporting the Union cause.You guys who been working for Conway for so many years and have put up with the lies,and Cons that Conway has done to its workers need to have a voice and be respected for what you guys have done to make this company one of the best....I for one say thanks for backing us up to bring the Union into Conway.We need to Change Conway for the benefit of all of us.Lets unite together and Vote YES.
ReplyDeleteJust in case no one noticed..FedEx is Going Strong.....GOOO FEDEX join THE POWER OF THE UNION.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you mention FedEx on a Conway blog.
ReplyDeleteI hope FedEx freight win their election Today at Charlotte, nc
DeleteTeamsters health insurance pay 100%… Conways health-insurance good luck
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ZT71DxLuM#t=65
ReplyDeletenice music "The union town".
Dallas Tx. Stand up⬆️ Don't be afraid of the Union busters
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS TO CHARLOTTE (CLT) for their victorious effort to Bring The Teamsters to FedEx Freight. This is a monumental victory as CLT is a major hub consisting of 223 combined road and city drivers. This is a sign of great things to come for so many other terminals who are standing by at the ready. Get those petitions filed! It is time to show your support and let FedEx know that we are not persuaded by empty promises and apologies.
ReplyDeleteFedEx in Charlotte,NC now union. Great job men and women. Conway totally on board in this fight. VOTE YES TEAMSTERS
ReplyDeleteWAY TO GO FEDEX YOU DIDNT FALL FOR SOME EMPTY PROMISES AND BULL SHIT STORY ABOUT HOW THE COMPANY IS GOIN TO CHANGE.I FOR ONE THINK YOU'VE SHOWN GREAT COURAGE IN VOTING TO JOIN THE UNION..YOU GUYS AND GIRLS ARE AWSOME FOR STANDING UP AND UNITING AGAINST THE GREEDY LIARS..I HAVE ALOT OF RESPECT FOR YOU..THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME HOPE.
ReplyDeleteREAD ALL ABOUT UNION NEWS.......
ReplyDeletehttp://teamster.org
lets get a list of fed ex terminals
ReplyDeletethat are hiring, see how many Conway employees can jump ship,
from one that has been here at Conway 18 yrs, I used to be proud to say I worked here
Now it plan sucks
SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME???????????????WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO??????????
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart Asks Workers To Donate Food To Its Needy Employees.
The group Making Change At Wal-Mart posted a photo of the food drive to its Facebook page on Thursday and commented, "Rather than agree to pay a decent wage or provide full-time hours, Walmart and its owners (the Waltons) continue to earn massive profits while too many of the workers who make the company a success go hungry."
The photo shows a cardboard bin with a sign attached that reads: "Let's succeed by donating to employees in need!!! Thanks for your support!"
The average hourly wage for Wal-Mart's full and part-time employees is $11.83, according to the company.
OUR Wal-Mart, a group that's fighting for higher wages at Wal-Mart, claims that most workers make under $9, based on data from IBISWorld and Glassdoor.com. The minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 an hour..........
Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart: $257.4 billion....
HE CANT SPARE ANY OF IT TO GIVE WORKERS A BETTER LIVING THO.
THAT WILL BE US AT CONWAY AND FEDEX IF WE DONT STAND UNITED AND FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS FOR ALL TO HAVE A GOOD LIVING.....