WEBVTT - The UAW Staff Purge 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:06.000 All Zone Media. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.320 It could happen here. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.280 It's the podcast where things happen and you do something 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.960 about it. I'm your host, Via Wong, and we have 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.640 done you know, okay, over the course of this, we 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.759 have done so many union episodes that I lost count 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:20.800 a year ago, two years ago, I don't even know. 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:22.720 I lost count at the dawn of time of how 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.920 many of these we've done. But something I think some 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.040 of you probably know this, but a lot of you don't, 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.559 is that many unions have their own unions for the 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:34.760 people who to do staff work and to do sort 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.280 of a number of other things, and sometimes unions bust 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.360 their own unions and this unbelievably sucks. And to talk 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.560 about an instance of this happening that is happening right now, 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.360 I am talking with Alex Chan, who is an organizer 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.400 for the UAW, who is I don't know what. 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:52.040 Technical term is. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.920 I'm going to describe it non legally bindingly as being 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.280 purged for doing organizing. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.840 But yeah, Alex, welcome to the show. 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.800 Hi, it's nice to be here. I think being purged 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.280 is a great way to describe it. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.399 Yeah, the tentative title for this is the UAW Staff purge. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.720 So it's not great. So why don't we start off. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.200 I've given a very very brief sort of description of 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.480 what a staff union is, but can you talk a 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.880 bit more broadly about what a staff union is, what 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.280 it does, and why you all are sort of trying 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:26.080 to organize one. 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.400 Of course, So in terms of staff unions, yeah, it's 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.520 definitely an interesting phenomenon for people who are less familiar 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.640 with the labor movement. But when unions have a lot 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.200 of staff, sometimes those staff also need a union to 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.600 make sure that they are treated fairly in the workplace. Coincidentally, 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.160 this year there have been a lot of incidents that 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:51.000 have shown why staff unions are happening in the first place. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:56.240 And so with my union, we are called UAW Staff United. 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.000 We are part of Region nine A of the us 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.000 UAW is split into a lot of geographic regions, and 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:10.760 nine A covers New York and New England, including Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.840 New Hampshire, Vermont, not New York State. New York State 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.840 is covered by Region nine. So we are a bunch 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.960 of temporary organizers and local staff that are organizing for 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:32.160 a lot of things, among them wages, workload, job security, healthcare, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:34.880 and so on so forth, very normal things that you 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:36.919 would actually see in a lot of the contracts that 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.280 we helped fight for in the shops that we work 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.920 for and organize and the units that we help support. 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.280 So uaw Staff United otherwise known as Yuzoo like the fruit. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.359 Oh that's fun, No, it's cute, right. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.160 We really love the USU imagery a lot. We were 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.600 formed in twenty twenty three, first went public in the spring. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.600 I joined the unit in the summer, but I was 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.120 just kind of peripherally around and organizing with a lot 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.520 of these folks before they went public in the spring. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.640 God recognized slowly and then slowly came to the bargaining 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.639 table in August. And so at this point we have 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.520 been at the bargaining table for over a year and 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.480 we still do not have a contract. Normally, in most 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.880 shops that you would see organizing, that would be cause 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.880 for escalation, and so that is actually part of what 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.240 we are doing here. After hitting one full year bargaining, 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.560 we are still very stuck on items such as wages, 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.560 job security, yep, all the very normal things that we 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.320 can see in units that we help support and bargain 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.880 for and so the situation that we're facing is slightly 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:51.760 more complicated because of many other internal things that For example, 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.560 UAW has another staff union. It is called Staff Council, 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.840 and that covers more regions of UAW rather than nine A. 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:07.080 It also includes people who are our direct supervisors. On paper, 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.040 those people are called lead organizers and they do make 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:15.400 low six figures. Yeah, and yes they are our direct supervisors. 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.039 So they are a managerial union, and they are what 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:22.159 some people may call a business union, you know, works 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.320 closely with management to secure a good deal, that kind 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.640 of thing. It's never really been known to agitate in 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.080 a contract, and that is partially one reason why Yuzu 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.359 was formed, because we knew that some agitation needed to 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.599 happen in order to secure actually good treatment for people 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.599 in our position. Our position meaning temp and local staff. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.840 Now I keep saying temp staff, right, is that the 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:47.800 next question? 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:48.599 Yeah? 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:49.719 Yeah, I am so good. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:50.640 I'm one step ahead. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:51.360 Yeah. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.760 I want to talk about both a the way your 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.159 contracts work and be what the thing you're actually doing is, 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.240 because I'm not sure, I'm not sure people are one 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:05.159 familiar with what specifically you do and what a what 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.359 a sort of like staff union organizer does, and the 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.360 difference between you and the. 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.480 People that are sort of the organizer layer above you is. 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.279 Yeah, absolutely, So that has to go a little bit 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.520 into how we are hired, and that's why I kept 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.000 seeing temp staff and local staff. Our unit is formed 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.280 somewhat on our pay structure, and so temp organizers are 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.719 hired by the international or the region, and local staff 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.800 are hired by the locals, which is kind of a 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.400 sub unit of the regions and how different unions are organized. 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.719 There could be multiple units in one local, a local 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.000 may hire a staffer, but that staffer could be subsidized 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.960 by the international, and that is kind of what our 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.839 unitformation is like, where funding comes from the international, and 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:01.440 this layer of people does the most in new organizing, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:06.320 so supporting new shops that form new campaigns, that are 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:10.080 organizing new unions that are just forming and need to 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.800 secure an election or a first contract. Some of our 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.599 colleagues go a little bit further into the stage because 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:22.760 of their local staff status where they're supporting contract renewals 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.000 or bargaining around the second stage. But a lot of 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.320 these has to do with on the ground, worker to worker, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.480 peer to peer organizing, supporting them and many different ways, 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:38.440 including data work, including just resources. Like when you think 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:43.760 of how the parent union might be supporting a new shop, 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.200 we are kind of the resources that are supporting the 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.320 new shop that can help direct institutional knowledge, that can 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.840 help direct logistical or legal information like how or what 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.640 is necessary for an election or a petition, that kind 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.919 of stuff. And yeah, it's a lot of different tasks, 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:03.440 and that's why for a lot of us, our job 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.920 description is I'm doing air quotes here a flexible forty. 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.280 Hour work week, Jess Christ. 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.200 And of course that usually means a lot more than 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:17.920 that when campaigns ramp up, and so you know, there 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:19.960 are a lot of different models on how to combat that. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.760 But I'll get into that a bit later. So going 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:28.080 back to the difference between us and perhaps our direct supervisors, 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:32.320 our direct supervisors may be tasked with monitoring the status 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.400 of a lot of different campaigns at the same time, 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.600 and we might be assigned to one or two or 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.480 three at a time to work very very directly with 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.800 the organizers and the new workers. Of course, this looks 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.760 slightly different across different locals. Our different campaigns can be 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.960 adjusted depending on the shop's needs, but our supervisors who 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.960 are the leads will be handling a lot of different 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.920 campaigns at the same time, and just like kind of 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.960 overseeing that progress and giving the okay for the next 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:10.080 stage or or whats whatsoever. So I wanted to go 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.000 back a little bit to why we are called temp organizers. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.800 Yeah, this is nuts. Well, I was so angry when 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:20.040 I forgat about this. 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:23.640 So do you know what a temp organizer is? 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.520 Yeah, this is actually weird. So I have friends who 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.160 are staff organizers for other unions that it doesn't work 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.760 like this. So yeah, I'm going to let you explain it, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:33.560 because I. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.840 Mean, do let me know about those in another Yeah, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:41.360 but for temp organizers in UAW, this is a holdover 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.560 from the kind of older model of organizing, where theoretically 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:49.400 a worker might come off the shop floor for six 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.920 months nine months to do union work and then go 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.920 back to the shop floor when that concludes, so that 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.320 the job would remain open for them. So temporary, like 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.800 the nature is temporary. Someone is coming off to do 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.679 union work and then you know, sometimes it's even part time, right, 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.080 sometimes it's even part time, and the worker never stops 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.559 working at their original job. But nowadays the model doesn't 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.160 look like that anymore, right because, especially in say higher 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:18.240 ed shops, people graduate out of their graduate union jobs. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.360 People may not have their reappointment if they are an 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.560 adjunct or contract faculty. And then a lot of our 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.240 unit members u zoom, meaning a lot of our uzoom 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.559 members come out of a shop that is UAW whether 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.679 that means they're legal services or museum workers or higher ed, 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.520 but it is less common nowadays to have a job 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:44.800 to return to. However, the model remains the same in 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.920 that the temper organizer job has three month renewals and 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.600 a three year cap. Every three months our contract is renewed, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.920 and if we hit three years on this job, we 0:09:55.960 --> 0:10:01.360 are no longer hired. Theoretically, you be hired to another 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:06.880 job internally, but there's no pipeline, there is no internal 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.440 movement that way. You would have to apply to the 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.040 job like a regular other job that is a more 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:17.000 full term job, or you just kind of like quote 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.920 unquote like age out the system and you're just no 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.120 longer an organizer. You no longer have a job. And 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.920 so this has manifested in a lot of different ways. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.120 There are a lot of my colleagues that have gotten 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.000 tired or burnt out and have decided to leave before 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.000 their three years or leave at their three years of 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:40.200 their own will. There are folks that have left way 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.359 earlier than their three years as well to pursue other opportunities. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.960 Yuzu at any given time has about forty to fifty 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:52.280 members and that is our nine a unit. Again, one 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.840 thing that we have come to find out is that 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.480 in the last five years of this temp organizer model, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.360 only three people who have hit their three year cap 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:10.480 have managed to attain full term jobs in the UAW 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:15.840 afterward Geese. And then there is me, who, again within 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.360 the last five years, is the only person to have 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.280 been not renewed before their three year term, very unceremoniously 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.600 as well as in the middle of very active campaigns. 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:32.080 That brings us to another piece of context, and the 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.120 reason why I keep saying five years is because in 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.120 twenty eighteen there was a first iteration of the Yuzoo. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.400 There was a first attempt to forming this staff union 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.360 of temp and local staff. Of course it was created 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:49.440 by different people. But what happened then, especially under the 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.920 Administrative Caucus when it was before the reform leadership septed 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.679 in is that everyone was just fired Jesus. Yeah, everyone 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.480 was just let go. And there are people still around 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.679 organizing these days in other positions or in other workplaces 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.800 that you have talked to us about it. And there 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.800 are people that are working in user now that had 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.040 friends or were peripheral to that happening. So we are 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.760 all very familiar with how non renewal is a very 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:20.760 retaliatory practice used in UAW in the past, or we 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.960 thought was in the past, because we were so excited 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.720 to have this reform leadership come in and now we 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.520 are finding out that it is still a tool that 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:34.640 is consistent. And so when we are excited that there 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.680 is democratic reform, especially with one member, one vote, which 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:44.319 was extremely extremely exciting to see, we also need to 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.520 point out that there are a lot of different places 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.880 here that still need to change, especially in how the 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.360 union treats its own staff. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.400 Yeah, and unfortunately we need to go to ads. We'll 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.400 we come back. I want to circle back around and 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.840 talk a bit more about the ways of the UAW 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:04.960 is acting like a fairly conventional boss trying to break 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:05.400 a union. 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:18.600 And we are back. 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.839 So there's something really interesting, I mean I say interesting, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.560 it's something sort of terrible about the way that the 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:30.720 UAW is relying on effectively a casualized workforce, because because 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.840 you're dealing with these constant renewals, which are an incredible 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.000 sort of pressure leverage because it means you don't have 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.839 job security. It honestly feels like the way Amazon works, 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.280 where they're just like trying intentionally instead of trying to 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.120 retain people, they're just trying to churn through as many 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.200 organized as possible because like the more seniority people have 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.679 and the more experience they have, the harder it is 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.000 to like just completely underpay them. 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.200 Yeah, the keyword in here is flexibility. 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.880 Yeah, And it seems like, also on an institutional level, 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.400 a terrible idea because you know, you're training a bunch 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.720 of organizers and then the moment that they're you know, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.640 the moment they have a bunch of experience, you're just 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.680 casting it into the wind and then hiring the less 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.000 experienced person. It's like, you bring up a great point. Actually, 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:15.920 something that I want to touch on is end bargaining. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.280 We have asked for training and we have not been 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:21.480 met with a satisfactory answer. People are not trained. 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:21.960 Oh my god. 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.560 Before they take on this position. But yes, you're absolutely 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.800 correct with the institutional knowledge aspect. The campaigns that I'm 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.640 working on, the organizing committees are real pissed that I 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.160 have been suddenly disappeared. And I want to highlight something 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.560 that one organizer brought up is that for all the 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.520 talk of us being one big union, how we are 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.280 the union, how we have a democratic saying this process, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.920 it's very weird that someone higher up in the union 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.880 can just make one of our members disappear. Yeah, and 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.840 that is in reference to my unceremonious departure, of course. 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.560 And the points that we, as you you really want 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.840 to highlight and emphasize is that we really want to 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.320 just hold UAW to the values that it has espoused, 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:08.480 ending tiers, job security for workers, fair wages. Like I said, 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.680 in bargaining, we had asked for training, and that has 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.080 not gone very well. UW is refusing to bargain over 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:19.359 free speech and continuity representation, which refers to the hypothetical 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.200 scenario if Region nine A were to be absorbed somewhere 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.000 else the right for user to still exist, and they've 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:29.239 refused to bargain over that we are stuck in wages 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:35.000 at somewhere around three percent per year of four years. Yeah, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:39.680 it's not great, and there's been a lot of chaos 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.400 behind the scenes that it is implied to be a 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.680 bad thing to let the members know about the members 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.560 that we work with and organize with. But to a 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.840 certain point things boil over, and especially in the case 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:56.400 where I am suddenly not renewed, it is really important 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.920 in our view that our members know what is happening. Yeah, 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:03.640 that the members know what this is about, because they 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.760 get the news landed on them after our social media 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.440 posts come out, because I am told not to inform 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:16.000 the organizers myself, and so the organizers had to hear 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.480 about it from my supervisors about a week later with 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:23.640 no details. Mine non renewal was without cause, without justification, 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:25.840 without reason. They did not give me an answer to 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.160 my face. And then as Yuzu kept pushing higher ups 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.800 kept flip flopping on who to blame and what the 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.200 actual cause was. And what I'm getting is a sense 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.960 of surprise that people are angry about this in the 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.760 first place, as if this was a normal situation, that 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.760 people were just getting fired any other day with a 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.040 month's notice, and they're like, we gave her a month's notice. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.200 Which also like I feel like, like, what was the last 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:55.560 a bit of these people were on a shop floor? 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.480 Like do you know how disruptive it Like if someone 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.240 had pulled like so we had when we we were 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.680 organizing our union, we had we've had a number of great, writer, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.720 skilled staffers, and it's like if someone had just pulled 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:07.840 our staffer out in the middle of the drive, like 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:09.720 all of use would have been unbelievably pissed and it 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.080 would have done incredible about it damage to the organizing 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.200 because union organizing, as you are well aware, and I 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.920 think as the audience should be increasingly aware, is built 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.959 on personal relations. You can't just yank someone out and 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.080 then not allow them to even know what's happening. Like, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.840 that's incredibly disruptive. It pisces people off. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.160 Yeah, it's been very enraging for a lot of our members, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.320 and so I've been extremely grateful for the support that 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.280 I received, whether it be on social media or by 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.920 our email campaign to management. And what I've seen from 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.600 this is that management was really taken by surprise that 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.640 there was a reaction at all, kind of unfortunately for them. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.439 There are a lot of shops and a lot of 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.960 units that I have supported and organized with and have 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:59.160 relationships with, and even for the shops that I don't 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:03.000 have relationships with, Yuzu members are working in those shops, 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.240 and there is a common understanding that it'd be really 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.520 weird for a stafford to be randomly pulled out during 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:14.800 a very active campaign. I've had a rough couple months 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.320 of going at it because I think there have been 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:22.159 some really unhealthy dynamics in the workplace with supervision that 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:29.240 was unjust and punishment that was unjust for my attempt 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.960 to advocate for different units and attempt to advocate for organizing, 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.320 and I think that is why we have reached the 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:41.800 conclusion that retaliation retribution must be involved somehow. On paper, 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:47.000 this was a very oddly handled situation. I was notified 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:49.560 by email on three thirty PM on a Friday before 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:50.359 Labor Day weekend. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:51.400 Jesus Christ. 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:53.960 I was not informed by a meeting, not informed by 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.639 a call. My supervisor didn't pick up my calls until 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:57.760 two and a half hours later. 0:18:57.960 --> 0:18:59.119 Oh my God. 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.879 In the meantime and where they were actually informing my 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.080 co workers that I had been terminated and then came 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.440 back to me saying that they were busy Jesus, which 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.200 no firing happens like that. I'm sorry, but there was 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.560 no conceivable way where the HR email happens. And then 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:20.640 my supervisor is busy telling my co workers that I've 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.600 been let go, which you know, we are interpreting as 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:28.120 intimidation because why else would this be happening. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.040 Yeah, even corporate best layoffs don't work like that, Like 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:32.000 you at least get a meeting. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.359 No, I didn't get a meeting until the Tuesday after 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.080 to talk about transitioning my work, and they had no 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:45.199 plan to transition my work. So currently no one is 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.920 handling the work that I was responsible for, which is they. 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:49.840 Just screw your units. 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.359 That's quite dangerous for campaign and higher ed as the 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:55.600 semester ramps up. 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.600 Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.200 And of course the HR email was signed in solidarity 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:06.919 and had no name. I didn't want to bring up 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:13.400 that point. There is evidence. Yes, it's extraordinarily funny if 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.439 you actually look at it. But yeah, just even if 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.119 we didn't have the context of what has happened to 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.119 me in the workplace in the last six months, even 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:27.160 just on paper, looking at how this non renewal was handled, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.359 it was handled atrociously. Yeah, and so there is not 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.600 much else we can draw from it other than the 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.520 fact that I was someone they wanted to get rid 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.960 of expeditiously, but just didn't anticipate that people would be 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.080 mad about it, which is, you know, to me a 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.200 sense that people up there handling it are a little 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.960 out of touch, like they haven't experienced what it's like 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.120 to have this happen, to have a staff a randomly 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.600 yanked out during the middle of a really active campaign. 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.880 Yeah, we need to go to ads again, but we will. 0:20:58.880 --> 0:20:59.879 We will be back soon. 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.840 And what our product services, we're about to have unionize 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:05.679 them and then also ugnize your staff. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:17.800 We are back. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.600 So it's something we've been talking about in terms of 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.080 sort of your specific situation and how it's the terrible 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.919 impact and it's had on both you personally and the 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:31.359 organizing that's going on. And I wanted to come around 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.639 to talking a bit about the impact that this structure 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.880 and the impact that getting denied benefits and stuff like that, 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.240 the impact that this has in general on the way 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.880 that organizing new shops works. 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.960 Yeah, I think that the impact this has very concretely 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.840 is that it does not let us do good work. 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.440 It makes us as organizers scared every three months that 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.439 we have to have another plan. It makes us have 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.679 to prepare a plan every time that rolls around, and 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:05.399 then you know that takes our focus off of the 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.880 organizing that we could be doing. I mentioned earlier about workload. 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:12.600 Organizers get burnt out extremely easily because there are no 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:17.719 guardrails in place. And then there are plenty plenty of 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.840 other circumstances that make it very difficult within this workplace too. 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.080 For example, we don't have just cause we don't have 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:30.720 grievance procedures Jesus Christ. And it makes a very damaging environment, 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.960 especially when you consider that the members have to bargain 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.080 for their own contracts, and then they look at us 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:39.080 and they're like, wait a minute, why are your contracts 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.800 that bad? Yeah, it doesn't inspire trust. It doesn't inspire 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:47.480 faith in how this union would organize for its workers 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.800 if the staff are insecure constantly. And we are not 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:55.160 asking for the moon and the stars in Mars, which 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:57.880 is unfortunately what the UW lawyer accused us of doing 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.080 so in a bargaining session. We're asking for very simple 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:07.000 guardrails on job security, on workload, on healthcare that could 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:11.399 help cover our dependence on wages that are not stagnant. 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.800 You know, they're not even giving us COLA, which is 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:18.960