Chances are pretty good I'll be a scab next year.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I work for a multinational corporation. I am classified as management even though the only thing I manage is my own workload.

Next year, some of the unions that have employees at my company may strike. As part of the contingency planning, most management employees have been assigned a job currently held by a union employee. We have to take training to be prepared for this (in my case about 125 hours (some web-based, some classroom), the most extreme case is around 300 hours)). The job I’ve been assigned is in another state, so I’ll have to travel there for both the classroom training and then for the job, should the unions strike. So there a are lot of resources being thrown at the issue by the company. Some think is all just a hammer to hold over the head of the union and others think it’s really going to happen so the company is covering its bases for the inevitable (I fall into the latter camp); either way it seems like an attempt to break the unions.

I don’t really want to do this, for three reasons: I don’t want to be away from home, I don’t want to be a pawn in this game, and I don’t want to be a scab. But I don’t have much choice. It’s either do it or get fired (they will make exceptions for certain reasons (health, caregiver, etc.) but I don’t qualify for those). So, if you are one of those union employees, my apologies. And please be kind to those of us who are filling in for you, most of the people I’ve talked to feel the same way. And I promise to do a lousy job; hopefully the company will realize the value of having experienced and well-trained people back in their jobs.

2

I’ve never heard of managers who are filling in for striking employees being called scabs before. Union members who break the line, yes, but not managers who work while the strike is happening.

Good luck though. Strikes are always a crummy situation for everyone involved.

3

The place where I used to work would subpoena those of us that they felt were essential to public safety during a strike because so many of us were using vacation time so that we didn’t have to cross the general rep union picket line. Not only could they fire us but they could have us arrested for ignoring the subpoena if they wanted to. Short of a true emergency none of us would do any work for the day because we resented being used that way and we donated heavily to the strike fund. It sucked. I used to go in at 6am just to avoid having to wave my subpoena around to justify why I was crossing their line. Like it or not we were undermining their negotiations while our employer reaped the benefits of salary savings that more than offset the cost of wage increases. I’m glad that I don’t have to do that anymore.

4

Or become a member of the union? :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t mind unions if they didn’t go on strike at what seems like every opportunity. A lot of the time, it doesn’t seem like it’s the best option for anyone involved. If employers had the same approach to strikes that governments do to terrorism, maybe the system would work.

5

I’ve always heard it to include anyone who works in the place of a striking worker.

6

That may be so, but I would suggest it is the wrong definition. After all, if one chooses to join the strike without being a member of the striking union, surely that makes one much more vulnerable to negative repercussions (plus one may not get union support). So it’s hardly fair to label such a person a scab. Scabs are those who are members of the union but choose not to support the strike. Of course, IMO the real villains are the unions themselves.

7

uncle squeegee, I wouldn’t call you a scab. To me, that’s someone who’s hired to work in place of striking employees, or a union member who doesn’t participate in the job action. I’ve seen it from both sides, back when I used to work for the phone company. I was a union member and a shop steward (CWA Locals 6310 & 6320); later, while in IT, I was considered ‘management’ much as you are (all I managed was myself). As management, I was a replacement worker during the strike in 1983. None of the union members I knew had any problem with me working. Frankly, we were all amused by the company’s ineptitude in placing managers into jobs that matched their skills. In fact, my old company and union are preparing for a potential strike next year. The company is even trying to hire retirees to come in (I just ignored the letters) and friends in management have gotten their assignments. And from what I hear, the company is looking rather inept in placing managers into jobs that match their skills. Heh.

8

I’ve just gone through all this at my company. I’m management by title only as well. The job that I would have had to fill was one that I absolute zero knowledge about, I never received any information regarding training, would have been on a completely opposite shift from mine and required 12 hour days, 7 days a week. At least it was at my regular work location so my commute would still rock.

Fortunately I don’t have to worry about that again for another four years…

Good luck and hang in there. Being management allows for not being classified as a scab.

9

Does your company’s initials include the letters **A **and T?

If so, we work for the same company. I’m non-union, non-management, so I’ll be working/crossing the line. I don’t have any great love for the company OR the Union. The bottom line that I have bills to pay, and I’m not going to miss a payment for because of them.

As far a doing a lousy job during the strike, I guess it all depends where your loyalties lie and if you care about our customers at all. That’s something everyone has to decide for themselves, I suppose.

10

That’s part of my job requirements, as well (chemical industry). I’ve found that attitude toward the trapped salaried workers will vary quite a bit, depending on how the union at that particular plant is.

The first place I worked (the oldest Monsanto plant), the union was entrenched and militant – they were quite hostile to anyone crossing the picket line. Fortunately, I left before the situation came up.

At my current job, our union workers think the entire idea is rather funny, and the year they almost went out were enjoying the schaudenfreude of all of us salaried folks having to fill in for them. We got locked in the plant that year, which was a boondoggle of a disaster on the part of management because of poor-planning on management’s part. In fact, while the whole situation amused the union, it served to tick off the salaried staff forced to stay overnight (or, several nights) for no reason, without any planning for food, bedding, etc.

I would not worry overmuch about not knowing the job you’d be doing. We generally plan to have the in-plant personnel who know enough to run things be on hand to teach the others. Unfortunately, those people generally also have to do their own job, in addition to the fill-in job. (e.g., process troubleshooting and operator.) Even more unfortunately, that would have been me. :frowning:

For Og’s sake, though! Make sure you take lots of creature comforts along. Especially if you’ll be trapped behind the picket lines for some time. I’d consider a laptop vital. But mostly, comfortable sleeping gear, more extra changes of clothes than you think you’ll need, snacks, and something to do.

Personally, I schlepped in over a dozen novels, many DVD collections, and a small portable fan (or, space heater, depending on location). If you’ll be put up in a hotel, you’ll be a little better off – but still be bored out of your mind. And the laptop is still vital, trust me.

11

I scabbed once, for a week, in pretty much the same situation as the OP: Doing union work in another state. The company took salaried (non-union) employees from several plants and sent us to work on an assembly line at the striking plant.

I’m sure I would have been fired (eventually) if I had refused. I also feel that sending us to scab was as much a power play against us as it was against the striking workers. It’s absolutely demoralizing to scab, and management knows it.

I heard later that all of the units we produced that week had to be reworked. :smiley:

12

I believe my wife works at the same company uncle squeegee. She is also going through what you are describing. Her Strike assignment will be in Georgia if it happens. As she is the one that works locally this is going to be beyond tough on our family. She has worked for the company for a long time now and they went through similar prep every other time though I guess not the web-based training. We are hoping the Union won’t strike under the current economic conditions.

13

A scab is a union member who goes to work on being called to strike.

So you should not use this term for yourself.

A person who is not a union member, but goes to work in the place of a striking worker is called a blackleg.

A manager who fills in for a striking worker is called…a manager. :smiley:

14

Large chunks of the company I work for is represented by one union or another. (I think there’s something like 8 unions covering different segments) My particular area is not union but others on the same office floor are, if they go on strike is there some slur for me if I keep coming to work? Or do I get to be off the hook since I’m neither a union member or management?

15

It’s thinking like that is why we need unions. I just returned to work after a 58 day strike. The company I worked for made 13 billion dollars in 2007 yet offered us a contract full of take-a-ways and it gutted job security we have fought for many other times. All we asked for was a fair contract. As a parting shot, I want to give you something to think about. The next time you are sitting in an airplane at 30,000 feet in the air, do you want to be sitting in an airplane built by a highly skilled people that are happy at their jobs or do you want to be sitting in an airplane that was built by low paid drones that are there because it’s a job. I know what my answer would be.
uncle squeegee, as a union member I would like to thank you for your support. You would not be considered a scab where I work. Our opinion of our managers is well below what we think of the scabs, them working during our strike actually improve our opinion of them.

16

It’s been a busy few days so I haven’t checked into this thread for a while. Thanks for the feedback everybody. I guess it’s semantically it’s better to be a replacement worker than a scab but it doesn’t make me feel much better.

**Dead Cat: **
Of course, IMO the real villains are the unions themselves.
Sometimes I would agree, sometimes not. I haven’t followed the issues so I can’t say in this case.

**3acresandatruck: **
Frankly, we were all amused by the company’s ineptitude in placing managers into jobs that matched their skills.
My assignment is related to a past job, but there are people whose assignments make everyone scratch their heads. We had to fill out skills assessment, but some questions were so broad that I assume a lot of people didn’t think too hard about the answers (like me), so that accounts for much of it.

**blondebear: **
Does your company’s initials include the letters A and T
Yes, it does.

As far a doing a lousy job during the strike, I guess it all depends where your loyalties lie and if you care about our customers at all. That’s something everyone has to decide for themselves, I suppose.
Very good point, thanks for bring that up. My original statement was slightly tongue-in-cheek, because all us replacement workers will be struggling to learn a job after some rushed training that will be months behind by the time we might use it. But I will think about what you said should this all happen.

17

My friend down in San Diego got her strike assignment. She’s been with the company for 30 years doing admin/office jobs and management. They’re assigning her to work outside on a splicing team. We’re talking climbing poles and going down into manholes. Not that she couldn’t do it, but I don’t know what they expect from someone in their 50s with minimal training. :smack:

18

blondebear, that is hilarious! In fact, that’s almost identical to a situation my friend was telling me about. One of his 50-something female coworkers who’s never worked anywhere but an office before has been assigned as a splicer. The reason he told me about it was not just the incongruity of it, but that he knew I used to be a splicer and would find it particularly humorous. I can’t figure out why they’d even bother with putting people into splicing jobs: I’d figure that they’d just halt outside plant construction during any work stoppage. I asked my buddy, and he was quite specific that the woman had been told splicing, not cable repair.

Go figure. Is there some sort of glitch in their system that says a splicer should be a dainty, middle-aged woman with filing experience? The minimal training aspect is really bothersome; there’s stuff in that job that can kill you. I remember one incident that left three men dead in a manhole from asphyxiation. We used to have special safety meetings (in addition to the regular ones) whenever anybody anywhere in the entire Bell System did something in a splicing job that killed them.

19

I hope you aren’t a scab because I remember seeing a sign at a strike in the 70s:

May the Lord above
Send down a dove
With wings as sharp as razors
To cut the throats of bloody scabs
Who keep down poor men’s wages.