Have you witnessed this behavior?

There was an interesting article that someone forwarded me from MSNBC.com.

Hubristic Group Pride May Indicate Insecurity

This was very interesting because this union makes a lot of boastful statements that are pretty empty. Remember the flyers they put up all over the place extolling the way they secured about $70,000 for roughly 50 employees? What about the other 1800 hourly employees? Or how about how they took big, bad Rayteon to task over health care for retirees? Something that they had very little to do with other than send a few representatives to the courthouse to make an appearance. What about during the strike? Holy cow!!! There were too many claims made to post them all here.

These all show that they are insecure, scared, and know that they have an organization that does not deserve the respect of the workers it claims to represent, the company it fights against, or the public in general. These are claims that a schoolyard bully tries to make to drum up respect for himself once he realizes that no one takes him seriously. It doesn't work there, and it won't work here. How many heard during the last negotiation cycle about how great and grand the union was? They had over 75% representation of the bargaining unit. Yeah, but how many of those were "free" memberships? Put all the facts out and let the validity of your organization speak for itself.

This type of behavior is so deeply ingrained within this organization, that they don't even realize the doubletalk that comes out of their mouths. I, as well as several other workers that I know, have been told by numerous agents of this union (i.e. elected officials such as stewards and officers) that the efforts to collect enough votes through a petition will fail and they give their various reasons why they believe that. Then, in the next breath, they tell us that if it comes to a vote, they will win. Um, wait. A vote only comes after a successful petition. If the petition is doomed to fail, why worry about a vote? I know the boy scouts motto, but if they are so confident that the petition will fail, then why do they need a back-up plan?

Speaking of back-up plans, the secretary/treasurer has made it known to certain individuals that should a vote come to pass and it not be at an easily accessible location such as the airport plantsite, the union would be providing bus service for union members so they can vote. No such option for non-dues paying members of the bargaining unit will be provided. Are these the actions of a truly confident organization? Was the elected official making grandiose statements not yet approved by the organization? Is my source lying? All or any one of these could be the case, but I have confidence in the person relating this information and if the secretary/treasurer would like to dispute this, he is more than welcome to. I've been asking for someone to deliver their side for some time.

Please do not take my comments to mean that the company is completely innocent and pure. Quite the contrary. The company performs so many surveys to prove that the employees are happy, upbeat, and dedicated to their jobs, but if they spent time actually talking to the employees, they would find that the picture isn't as rosy as they think it is. Maybe that is why these two groups have such a difficult time reaching an agreement on ANYTHING. Each one thinks the other is beneath them. Meanwhile, the hourly employees are trapped in the middle. Well, soon we will have an option to correct that. In the meantime, IAMNOT933!