“It is my understanding through talking to a former Kendall employee, that the greater issue at hand for this unionization was not necessarily wages…”
the issue always boils down to power. without a union contract you do not have due process for discplining and firing, your wages & benefits are arbitrarily determined by the boss and not collectively bargained, you do not have a grievance procedure, etc. the list goes on and on. above all the employer can change the rules at any point in time. take a look at an employee handbook in a non-union workplace and it will say “this is not a contract”, “you are an at-will employee” and will state that they can change any policy at any point in time. the kendall, just like the somerville theatre, isn’t going to take a big hit by paying better wages. rather, it’s the thought of giving up power to their workers that sends them into a frenzy, hiring consultants and putting the pressure on middle management to break the union.
“My own theater (Somerville Theatre) was subject to a strike when 3 self-proclaimed anarchists infiltrated the projection staff and tried to unionize;”
make “did unionize” not “tried to unionize”. that strike ended with a victory for the 4 (not 3) striking projectionists. a 2 year contract with 40% increase in wages, and benefits and vacation time that weren’t offered before. all future projectionists will reap the benefits of the hard work put into that strike.
initially, 6 out 7 projectionists signed union cards, but the owner refused to voluntarily recognize the union. that’s why there was a strike, which is actually a more common tactic than you seem to think. the community and labor support was huge and when the owner caved in and signed the contract the nrlb vote was still caught up in litigation.
“In the end, we gladly took on experienced union projectionists and signed a contract with the union and they agreed that the 3 strikers would not be allowed to work there anymore.”
yep, in order to expedite the contract negotiations the strikers allowed other union members to take their spots at the somerville theatre and take work at other theatres the union represented. no big deal.
“The 3 punks were more interested in holding signs and chanting, and spreading false information than actually working for a living at a better wage,”
um, wait a second didn’t the strike end with better wages, amongst other important clauses in the contract? speaking of the contract, there’s a no slander clause in there which you are currently violating, Ian.
“so now we have replaced them with some of the best projection staff in the city, some union booth veterans who used to work the ‘big’ theaters are now in our booth.”
yes, union workers are often better trained due to the apprenticeship programs.
“Our floorstaff, however, thought that the strike was crazy, many of them pointing out that their jobs were so easy that they didn’t justify inflated wages.”
i’d like to think that all the worker perform important roles in keeping a theatre running and that’s not very nice of you to demean the work of your floor staff like that.
anyway. congrats to the kendall workers! you all rock!
“It is my understanding through talking to a former Kendall employee, that the greater issue at hand for this unionization was not necessarily wages…”
the issue always boils down to power. without a union contract you do not have due process for discplining and firing, your wages & benefits are arbitrarily determined by the boss and not collectively bargained, you do not have a grievance procedure, etc. the list goes on and on. above all the employer can change the rules at any point in time. take a look at an employee handbook in a non-union workplace and it will say “this is not a contract”, “you are an at-will employee” and will state that they can change any policy at any point in time. the kendall, just like the somerville theatre, isn’t going to take a big hit by paying better wages. rather, it’s the thought of giving up power to their workers that sends them into a frenzy, hiring consultants and putting the pressure on middle management to break the union.
“My own theater (Somerville Theatre) was subject to a strike when 3 self-proclaimed anarchists infiltrated the projection staff and tried to unionize;”
make “did unionize” not “tried to unionize”. that strike ended with a victory for the 4 (not 3) striking projectionists. a 2 year contract with 40% increase in wages, and benefits and vacation time that weren’t offered before. all future projectionists will reap the benefits of the hard work put into that strike.
initially, 6 out 7 projectionists signed union cards, but the owner refused to voluntarily recognize the union. that’s why there was a strike, which is actually a more common tactic than you seem to think. the community and labor support was huge and when the owner caved in and signed the contract the nrlb vote was still caught up in litigation.
“In the end, we gladly took on experienced union projectionists and signed a contract with the union and they agreed that the 3 strikers would not be allowed to work there anymore.”
yep, in order to expedite the contract negotiations the strikers allowed other union members to take their spots at the somerville theatre and take work at other theatres the union represented. no big deal.
“The 3 punks were more interested in holding signs and chanting, and spreading false information than actually working for a living at a better wage,”
um, wait a second didn’t the strike end with better wages, amongst other important clauses in the contract? speaking of the contract, there’s a no slander clause in there which you are currently violating, Ian.
“so now we have replaced them with some of the best projection staff in the city, some union booth veterans who used to work the ‘big’ theaters are now in our booth.”
yes, union workers are often better trained due to the apprenticeship programs.
“Our floorstaff, however, thought that the strike was crazy, many of them pointing out that their jobs were so easy that they didn’t justify inflated wages.”
i’d like to think that all the worker perform important roles in keeping a theatre running and that’s not very nice of you to demean the work of your floor staff like that.
anyway. congrats to the kendall workers! you all rock!