On Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:06:06 -0600, Bill
wrote:
snip
I got sick of hearing .. you cant do that, thats a union job and they
will file a grievance.
snip
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This is also a wonderful management excuse when they don't want
to do something. 2 examples:

Many years ago, I worked for a company w/o a union that purchased
a company with a union. The suits from the new company soon
parachuted in to tell us how we were doing things wrong.

Several times when something came up that required a change,
their standard excuse was "but the union won't let us," until we
started prefercing each suggestion with "because we don't have a
union we can..." 99 cases out of a hundred they still would not
act, but at least it stopped that BS. FWIW -- the second company
is now out of business, even though it was non-union.

Second Example

Many many years ago I worked in a mjor supplier of automotive
fuel systems as a methods engineer, and management uniformly
denied all suggestions for improvements on the grounds that the
union would not allow it.

Some time later I became friends with one of the UAW Local 819
Committeemen, and asked him why the union was so dead set against
any changes. He asked for specific details, and checked.

None of the suggestions I had made were even mentioned to the
Union, and in many cases the Union had made the same suggestions,
particurarly where this involved unnecessary lifting or awkward
positions.

Several years later when I was working in product design, I
discovered that some of the suggestions had been implimented, but
with the suits claiming credit, either for increased productivity
and in many cases for reducing workman's compensation claims.


In too many organizations, if a union does not exist, management
will invent one.


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
============
Merchants have no country.
The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment
as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.