I consider myself a leftist. I wanted some insight on my labor union’s internal disagreement. So, I thought asklemmygrad might be a good spot (bad idea).
After mentioning I’m an engineer, this guy explains that shooting highly educated people in the head is actually a good idea. I think its safe to say I’m not welcomed there.
It just feels like an uphill battle. One of the louder members was saying “this is what the bosses decided and we can’t change that. If they told us we have to work 4/10s from now on, we would have to do that too.”
Or “you know the only reason you can work from home was because of covid. And covid is over”.
Absolutely no desire to pushback. Just boot licking. And yes I get this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things but what the fuck.
The bosses drove a wedge in place by saying some employees who WFH wouldn’t answer their phones while on-call. I believe that was blown out of proportion but its clearly worked to get people back in the office. I fully believe this decision will lose employees and productivity, but I’m fairly powerless in changing anything with the union acting like this.
It feels like an uphill battle because it always is. Individuals are fairly powerless in changing anything on their own.
And it will lose employees and productivity. Depending on your sector it may be worth exploring new possible workplaces. If you’re limited to this workplace all you can do is get involved with your coworkers in building a sense of solidarity as a union of workers.
Also FWIW historically the field workers in my office were considered the lazy ones because they could account for hours each day purely in transit time. If your workplace is anything like mine, and your description of some of there people being right leaning, then I’m going to play a lazy card myself: these guys just may be projecting a bit.
I’m definitely not exploring new workplaces over this. Its the utility company that gives power to my house. On top of that, its a non-profit, public owned utility competing against neighboring investor owned utilities. I have good reason to want this workplace to succeed.
And while I may disagree with my coworkers in the field, they sort of earn their asshole mentality. They are hard workers. They work a very dangerous job. Our community would not function without their work. So yeah, nothing but respect for the work they do.
Be that as it may, I’m not sure it entitles an asshole mentality.
Regardless, a strong union is likely the only way these people can secure themselves the pay and benefits they deserve. A strong union knows the demands of its members at least. I wonder if you’d get realistic or honest answers ro what it would take for them to support their coworkers remote work capabilities.