So Much for "Meet and Confer"

AFSCME just sent this letter to state employees.

An open letter to Arizona State Employees on the state budget crisis
and union representation

State employees and the citizens of Arizona face the biggest financial and budget crisis of any state in America.  The American Federation of State County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has been an advocate of Arizona state employees for decades.  We have been standing up for public services and those who rely on those services, even when it wasn't politically popular.  Over this time period, we were the only organization advocating for state employees in the legislature.

Governor Janet Napolitano has issued an Executive Order establishing a process of "meet and confer" for state employees.  Her order provides for elections among state employees to select a labor union to consult with the Governor's representatives.

While we applaud Governor Napolitano's action, we are deeply disappointed that she and her executive team won't be around to implement any meaningful change.  On January 20, 2009, President-Elect Barack Obama will be sworn in and, shortly thereafter, Governor Napolitano will become the new Homeland Security Secretary.  While we certainly hope incoming Republican Governor Jan Brewer will re-issue a meet-and-confer Executive Order when she takes office, the Republican leadership has already gone on record opposing it and it's unlikely the intent of the order will ever be realized. 

It is apparent that the Governor's action will be extremely short in duration, will require a large investment from the State and the participating unions, and will distract from the larger goal of protecting state employees and public services during the current budget crisis. 

As a result, AFSCME has decided not to waste our members' resources and not to ask state employees to devote precious time to participate in a meaningless election process.  Instead, we will focus our resources on mounting a strong and effective campaign to seek fair solutions to the budget crisis that protect state employees.  We are asking state employees like you to join together in this fight to protect your jobs and your future.

From the men and women of AFSCME

Comments

[Gretchen]

Are you against "meet-and-confer"?

[Kim]

Meet and Confer doesn't work and is an antiquated model. All it accomplishes is to shuts out the voice of most employees and guarantee a divisive outcome. It is the tool of union leaders to secure their relevance to the membership and build fear of imposition by management.

[jainphx]

Unions are no longer needed or wanted, lets not make it easy for Union Thugs to force Unions on the public.

[Randy Graf]

So AFSCME says it has been an advocate of Arizona state employees for decades.

In 2001 and 2002, State Representative Carmine Cardamone and I worked on legislation together to improve whistle blower protections for state employees who spoke up about fraud, waste or abuse in state government.

This bill passed the House but failed in a Senate Committee because the union boss would not endorse it. I later found out he never read it and it was told to me by the union lobbyist that they didn't trust the legislation (without reading it) because I was a Republican.

That's who I want "advocating for state employees in the legislature".

Randy Graf

[Jean McGrath]

Union organizers are showing up at state employee's homes in the evening trying to armtwist them into joining their union.

[Gretchen]

JEAN MCGRATH--
In Arizona? SEIU has been organizing at the state building in Tucson and, at least my experience when talking with their organizers, is that they were not aggressive.

KIM--
What voice do the employees have now? What other mechanism is available???

NOTE: Given that SEIU has been engaging in organizing activism with state employees for at least several months--that I've seen them at the state building in Tucson--and I don't remember seeing AFSCME there--AFSCME might have its work cut out for itself if there were an election.

[Kim]

Gretchen,

The authentic voice of employees is seldom expressed by union leadership. While there is no denying the unions of the early 20th century did improve working conditions for many laborers, the corruption than ensued with power and manipulation of emotion ensuring dependency has bastardized the purpose. There are many models of employee or labor and management relations that have proven to work much better with more efficiency and with far better outcomes; providing results that are both sustainable and serve the mutual interests of both sides of the table. The company stays in business and the employee keeps their job. UAW has negotiated American cars into insolvency and risked countless jobs in the process. But boy, they lived high while it lasted. The obsolescence of America models is not the issue, there are American models that are the very same car as some foreign models but sold under different labels. The foreign label carries a better public image and the American version costs more due to the inflated UAW benefits, making it a bad investment.

Collective bargaining is demeaning and as antiquated as the early labor techniques of those who first benefitted from such a form of “negotiations”. The solvency of the employer is never the main interests; which in effect cripples the employee by placing their employment in a tenuous position at best. The goal of the union boss is to do the best by their membership, therefore making the union stronger but making the employer weaker; who is that really serving? It is like the farmer who eats his entire harvest leaving nothing to go to seed for the next planting season. Take it all while you can and don’t worry about tomorrow... worrying about tomorrow is for management.

[Arzonia]

Meet and confer is the ability to talk, face to face, about the issues that both the employees and management consider important. Since when is talking a bad thing? Meeting on a more level playing field -- each with a vested interest in improving the quality of service, improving working conditions and maintaining jobs as far as possible (that's our tax base!)-- makes sense all around. And Jan Brewer does not need to re-issue anything. The executive order is now law and will be unless she says issues her own executive order to revoke meet and confer. She's smart enough to know that's not a very good way to start her relationship with her employees!

[todd]

Kim,
The current and past US auto industry is at fault for its current troubles not unions. The unions negotiated the wages and benefits after many hard won battles, to turn around and voluntarily cut benefits and wage growth when the industry was in trouble, directly countering you claims. In the end the unions didn't make the decision for the automakers to make cars people don't want.

[Kim]

Hogwash! The threat of strikes and near extortion style techniques...hardly an altruistic face to face, kumbaya, let's all get along scenario.

Meet and confer is not about vested interests but unilateral positions with the only interest being superiority of final result. Management is not immune from the same failures of the model.

There is nothing wrong with talking; there is everything wrong with a façade that is falsely propped up as the real thing when there are better ways with better results.

[Gretchen]

KIM/TODD/ARZONIA--Thanks for your feedback on this. One thing is certain, in any organization--business, union, church, government, any entity; if the stockholders, members, and voters do not vigorously oversee what the leaders are doing, corruption of purpose and plain corruption can result.

[Time]

Southwest Airlines, UPS, Federal Express are all completely unionized and they are the most ferocious competitors to walk the land. Toyota is completely unionized and no one is more efficient.

Unions can destroy you or they can be an asset that helps drive you to the top. You have to know how to design and lead an organization to determine which will be your outcome.

[Steve F.]

"Toyota is completely unionized and no one is more efficient."

Incorrect.

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/

"Plants: 12, three unionized in Long Beach, Calif., Fremont, Calif., and Tijuana, Mexico."

[jordan 1]

Saying and doing are two different things.