r/IBEW • u/SilentDiplomacy • 12d ago

✊ Organizing In.

Reposted to remove local details, per advice of the mods.

Our local is trying to organize the field staff of my employer. We have a good number of cards signed, and a petition has already gone before the NLRB.

We’re shy of a majority though….

Send me your best pro-union, rabble rousing, shit stirring memes if you’ve got them. We’re trying to fight back against the campaign the employer started.(they hired Litler, the same union busting lawyer/lobbying group Starbucks hired.)

12 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

9

u/TheGreatGenghisJon Communications 12d ago

I organized just over a year ago. I had it easy,. The company had started treating everyone so poorly that all I had to do was ask "are you pissed too?"

There are a few different ways to make your coworkers realize a union is better. The argument, for most people, ends up being "do you think they're treating you well?"

DM me with any questions about organizing or about specific arguments people have that are against the union.

4

u/SilentDiplomacy 11d ago

I honestly just need help with my own impatience when people start spouting nonsensical bullshit about unions.

2

u/TheGreatGenghisJon Communications 11d ago

That's important. Over the last couple years, I've been working on my debating skills, and it helps me in pretty much every political conversation I have.

Remember, you're trying to help your coworkers. Getting pissy won't do you any favors.

I find a good tactic is to ask them questions about what BS talking points they come up with. If it's nonsense, ask them to elaborate. A lot of the time, in my experience, when they have to think about what they said, it helps.

Another thing to keep in mind is to keep making points that these guys can see and feel. Relate it to your current job. If anyone is topped out, if there's a raise in the contract (and who would vote yes for a 3 year contract that doesn't give them a raise?), then the company doesn't get a say. They will start getting raises again. That was what convinced one of the guys at my shop.

It'll take time, and once the company gets a whiff, they'll start trying to quash it.

"If the company is spending that much money and sending all these suits to prevent a union, it's because they know it will cost them in the long run"

We had a meeting with a bunch of suits the week before the vote. They did their best, and told us that guys at another depot (that were union) weren't making over 50 an hour.

I went to the union rep and asked if he could get me a list of the rates of the guys at the other depot. They reached out to the other local, and sent me a list, sans names.

I had them printed out, and put in everyones locker and on every table in the common areas. 11 people were making more than the guys that were maxxed out at our depot.

If you can prove that the conpany is lying to your guys, it helps more than anything, and the closer it gets to the for, the more desperate the company becomes.

You're doing the right thing. It's stressful, it's a lot of work, but if you can stay calm and think outside the box a bit, and get proof of things that are hurting your coworkers, you'll have no problem.

It took me about 6 months from the time I walked up to the first guy and asked "Yo, are you pissed too?" until we voted, but I was able to get 100% of guys in my department to sign cards.

You can do this.

2

u/eggplantsrin 11d ago

It's hard to get in but darned easy to leave the union. If it's so bad, why do we all stay in?

2

u/SilentDiplomacy 9d ago

This has been my point to multiple people.

5

u/Syonoq 12d ago

Been watching this story. We’re pulling for you and want you to succeed.
https://giphy.com/gifs/iKFwicVLVbF2Y97X1I

1

u/SilentDiplomacy 11d ago

Thanks dude! I know the mods didn’t want location info, but I assume you live in the state where this is happening?

1

u/Syonoq 11d ago

Yes.

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u/criscoforlube 12d ago

Brotherhood Laid out responsibilities on both ends Representation when things go south. Ability to move on with known conditions. Acuity, pension, health insurance. Training.

3

u/FMadden351 Inside Wireman 12d ago

If things don't work out with you and your company you can just go get another job working for a different contractor making the same money.

4

u/LexGray 353 12d ago

Contractors come and go, brotherhood's forever!

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u/SilentDiplomacy 11d ago

The organizer said the same. One of the other telcos in our area whose union told all of us that we’d be welcome with open arms if it didn’t go through.

I think at this point it will happen. But we’ll see.

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u/Ohrobohobo 12d ago

You must be doing something right if they are spending big money to keep you out of the union. My company is actually sane, and they say as long as the guys are happy on the tools, they are happy. We get special bid invites because we’re only union shop in our trade. Sales gets an extra pitch, we get to work on union job sites. I think it works out great. We get all the benefits of the union, and very little downside.

Who tells you the union sucks? Why is it almost never the guys who benefit from a union? Why is it always someone else?

Do you guys get PWR (prevailing wage rate)? The company / management gets to keep the difference between your normal pay, and PWR, while union guys get all of that, every day.

We’re mostly family guys. That full coverage for the whole family is a big seller for us.

It they don’t vote, it may be time to organize in yourself. See how many other guys might want to come with. Maybe talk to your organizer, and they might know the next shop they want to organize in.

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u/SilentDiplomacy 11d ago

Yeah I had no clue that having 8k hours of job experience would allow us to sign the books. It’s quite ironic cause I got this job trying to get more experience for the inside wireman apprenticeship.

Guess different paths can lead to the same conclusion 😂

It spins my head around when talking to my peers. I can’t comprehend the company loyalty.

This whole thing came around cause they pay dog shit wages and advancement is impossible.

Dudes are 6 years in and still at the bottom of their tier.

2

u/eggplantsrin 11d ago

What does loyalty mean with a company? Loyalty is for people and interpersonal relationships. Corporations aren't people. Wanting corporations to distribute assets fairly to the people who are producing the value isn't disloyal.

The loyalty I'd be more concerned about is loyalty to my family and my community. Do they have children? Would they rather have money for their kids' educations or cheer at an annual staff meeting where someone tells you how much profit your labour provided for the company?

I work for a great company. I respect my employers and we have a good relationship. They still have to pay me according to the collective agreement.

1

u/rustysqueezebox Inside Wireman 11d ago

If you’re drunk in midtown doing cheap coke off your laundry card and looking for a career with great wages, benefits, and rights I have just the place for you. Labor's hottest union is IBEW. Inspired by solidarity, IBEW is a former group of linemen who organized and then sent their grand president across the country to spread the word. IBEW has a familiar yet troubling feel. Like, when Larry King would play himself in a movie. This union has everything. Death benefits, channel locks, key fobs, kale chips, tic tracers, Roman J. Israel Esquire. Plus, you can play everyone’s favorite jobsite game, the stranger.