knifeintheheart,
Mind if I pick apart your comments?
If one were to look up the word negotiate in the dictionary, one would find that it is a series of give and take on both parties. IMHO, that is how EVERY negotiation has always been. Not too many years ago, the company wanted over $5.00/hr in concessions. They settled by giving us a substantial raise at the last minute.
The union agreed to every idea the company asked them to try to help save themselves, including a four day work week, lean manufacturing, turning the heat down to 60 degrees in the winter (most Monday mornings it was barely 50) where most workers had their coats on all day, extending the contract unchanged for 2 or 3 years. These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more if I gave it some more thought. We went from one M.D. who would listen to ideas and then say no to another M.D. who just said no. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about.
The rest I have to say, in all honesty, I pretty much agree with. Looking back, there are a number of things that should have been done differently on everyone's part but you can't change the past.
Knifeworker,
let me clarify something. I totally agree about what the workers did to help the company. And let's not forget the special sale staffed by the workers on their own time. The workers are what made Camillus Cutlery what it was. When I talk about UNION, I really mean the regional and national people...the UNION management, sort of speak. The ones that do not work in the plant. The ones that take over the negotiations at the expense of the workers, and then leave in their new, union paid cars. There is a definite difference between plant representatives and the other fools with a track record for killing companies. The strike was not an economic strike, but an UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE strike. The NLRB found it to be without merit, but it had to wait 45 days for the determination. In other words, the employees went on strike for nothing. I read in the paper that the company asked for a 40% concession in wages. Not true. The only one that was getting that type of cut was the union president, who was getting paid almost $20/hr doing a job that pays $10.50.
A potential buyer put in an offer in March before the strike, and the UPPER UNION (Jimmy V.) sued the company for Unfair Labor Practices by naming the potential buyer an agent of management, hired to coherce and intimidate employees against the union. The potential buyer was only doing due diligence required to make the purchase. This forced the buyer to stay out of the facility, then the strike, and the deal crashed. The Union (Jimmy V.) killed the only opportunity Camillus had to change owners without skipping a beat. Now, the NLRB found no merit on the charges, but really there is no business left to buy. Again, I want to make sure that it is understood that the PLANT union members wanted to do the right thing, but the OUTSIDE union leadership busted right in with their 1947 mentality, thus killing the business. What they did was criminal. They went into negotiation with wage increases, more vacation and time off, and even demanded weekly gas allowance. There never was any negotiation. The union negotiation leader (Jimmy V.) never even attempted to negotiate the companies request for concession. All he did was push his demands, and then accused management with unwillingness to negotiate. Irresponsible. The employees, the community, the customers, suppliers, the whole knife business and America in general lost a lot by this irresponsible behavior.
Granted, management drove the company into the quicksand, but the union leadership bit the hand that would have pulled the company to safety, and set up roadblocks preventing anyone else from doing so.
When the NLRB, who is pro-union, finds that there was no merit to the union charges, one needs to start asking questions about what was the union thinking to behave this way at this critical time. The people were Camillus, and now they are gone. Goodbye Camillus.
