Brothers and Sisters, do you ever get the feeling that your dues money is
being mis-spent?

(JS) Absolutely. I'm deducting that damned $5 I contributed in "good faith" when I first was hired. I'd take the union dues away to if it wouldn't make me a sitting duck to management.

That the level of service we once had is gone? That the
people manning the call center, don't know what's going on? That something
very wrong has happened to our union?

JS - This doesn't surprise me in the least. I got into it with my rep recently after having to notify two of his bosses just to get an phone call after trying for almost two weeks. I candidly asked about the call center and what you say confirms me bias and suspicions about that. It's impersonal and they haven't the slightest clue what they're doing. I fortunately haven't had the unfortunate displeasure of having to contact them nor I hope never to, but I've never liked the idea of a call center, I remember how much I hated it when the DMV went automated back in the early 90s. To this day, nothing good ever seems to come or "automated call centers." I asked my rep if he was indirectly being "absolved" of his grievance representation duties to which of course, he gave the typical political answer, "well you can talk to me if you have any concerns/issues, but you should contact the call center if you need anything formally done" which is basically, "sorry bro, ain't got your back, only from an advisory standpoint." Bullshit. Plain and simple.

That they have taken away our Business Reps and now expect Stewards to do
the work, for free? That we are being left to fend for ourselves, without
the support or backing that we once had. Without the worksite presence, that
we once enjoyed.

JS - I seemed to notice this. It's probably practically impossible to get a union rep to come to address our roll calls anymore since the creation of this "call center" and even though many of my fellow officers booed and hissed when the union rep walked through the door, I took solace in the fact that there's at least the presence of a "live person" to which accountability could be assumed rather than some elusive panel of semi-trained grievance counselors who may or may not know how to deal with your issues within your occupational field.

Did you know that within the last two years we have gone
through 5 reps? How do you get consistency with such a high turnover?

JS - Hear! Hear! I brought this up to you and Art before, which is one of my primary reasons for being dissillusioned with 347 and even more with 721. But I gotta hand to 721, divide and conquer! And if there's any semblance of genuine interest in worker's rights, they'll squash it either by "relocation of duties" or even more sinister, establishing an impersonal "call center" to get you further lost in they myre of bureaucracy.

How does a "bigger and stronger union" help us at the worksites?
Brothers and Sisters, I have a bad feeling about the direction that we're
being taken in. At this point, it just doesn't look good.


--- On Wed, 6/25/08, Richard Irwin <tarzapopohead@...> wrote:

From: Richard Irwin <tarzapopohead@...>
Subject: Re: [fightfor347] A Taste of 721
To: fightfor347@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 1:02 AM

What I told you came from a report from the Mayor on Meet the Press about a month
and a half ago at about 7am on a Sunday morning. Somebody called in and asked the
Mayor, " What are you going to do about these City workers that retire with full medical
and go out and start a new career with another company ?" and the Mayor said he is
going to see about making the medical on a buy program for city employees that retire
soon he said he can't touch the already retired personnel that he could only do it to the new
retirees, He said by doing that the city could save millions of dollars. The Mayor was taking
questions from the general public about ways of saving money for the city. Keep me posted.
Jim

On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 4:38 PM, Dan Mariscal <dmariscal1@sbcgloba l.net> wrote:

Thanks for your info, Jim. I'm going to go into inquiry mode on this. I don't think that the mayor can accomplish this without the backing of the coalition of unions and city council. That sounds to me like it would be one hell of a fight, because the supervisors and management unions would also fight this. Although, at this point, it sounds like the mayor is thinking out loud. If the LA Times or Daily News picks it up, we should get the coalition to shoot back quickly. We've got to let the mayor know, this could cost him a re-election, or worse..... a Governorship. Keep me posted.

-----Original Message-----
From: fightfor347@ yahoogroups. com [mailto:fightfor347@ yahoogroups. com]On Behalf Of Richard Irwin
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 9:25 AM
To: fightfor347@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: Re: [fightfor347] A Taste of 721

 You know Dan, I'm getting ready to Retire in Jan.  I heard on TV the Mayor talking about
taking away our Medical package for the Retirees he wants us to purchase our own medical
package out of our take home pay. In which I think is wrong. We have been working for the City for
15, 20 25, & 30+ years and the just take it away. He says it will save the City money. I talked to the
retirement board about this and was told that that's between the Mayor and the Union's, so if he's going
to talk to 721 were screwed. I'm hoping to get out before that. If it happens I can't retire cause I can't
afford $700.00 a MONTH for medical for me and my wife on a truck oper.'s pay. I thought I'd let you
know what's happening.
                                     Jim

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 10:41 PM, Dan Mariscal <dmariscal1@sbcgloba l.net> wrote:

I had an interesting experience with a Ms. Francis Gonzales of SEIU Local
721. She apparently works at 721 but is not a business rep. She asked if I
was a steward and if I could help a Cement Finisher. The converstaion went
something like this:
DM:"First of all", I said, "Cement Finishers have their own union".
721: "Are you sure?".
DM; "Yes", I replied.
721: "Well, I think we represent this one. He says that we represented him
before".
DM: "Are you talking about a Cement Finisher, or a Cement Finisher Worker?"
721: "What's the difference? Can you help this person?"
DM: "Who's the rep for MOU 4?"
721: "I'm asking if you could help this person".
DM: "What is the name of the person who gets paid to represent Street
Services?"
721: "I just want to know if you could help this person."
DM: "Doesn't somebody get paid to represent MOU 4?
721: "Are you a steward, or not?"
DM: "Are you an advocate from the call center?"
721: "I'm associated with the call center".
DM: "Didn't you notify the rep who handles our MOU 4?"
721: "Just tell me if you can help this person. We would like to help him
informally, without filing a grievance"
DM: "An informal IS part of our grievance procedure. Why didn't you give
this to reps who gets paid to do this?"
721: "We just won't call you anymore...have a nice day".

Brothers and Sisters, do you ever get the feeling that your dues money is
being mis-spent? That the level of service we once had is gone? That the
people manning the call center, don't know what's going on? That something
very wrong has happened to our union?
That they have taken away our Business Reps and now expect Stewards to do
the work, for free? That we are being left to fend for ourselves, without
the support or backing that we once had. Without the worksite presence, that
we once enjoyed. Did you know that within the last two years we have gone
through 5 reps? How do you get consistency with such a high turnover?
How does a "bigger and stronger union" help us at the worksites?
Brothers and Sisters, I have a bad feeling about the direction that we're
being taken in. At this point, it just doesn't look good.