Boomers, Revolutionary, Sisters in the Brotherhoods!
                              That's My Generation Baby!

Born between 1946-1964 this generation was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Sexual Revolution, Cold War/Russia, Space Travel and Rock & Roll.



Boomers believed in power to the people, and they have maintained that power. Their sheer number made them a force to be reckoned with when they settled into the work force.

Note: Grouping people based on their year of birth may be reliable for a large population and the
characteristics for that group may be interesting and informative; however, the general characteristics will not fit every person born during the same span of time.

1946 The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is formed.
1947 Taft-Hartley Act passed by U.S. Congress. The Act restricted union practices and permitted states to ban union security agreements.
1950 The Salt of the Earth Strike was the first major strike conducted by women and children.
1952 George Meany is elected president of the American Federation of Labor.
Walter Reuther is elected president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
1955 The two largest labor organizations in the U.S. merged to form the AFL-CIO, with a membership estimated at 15 million.
1957 - A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was elected as the AFL-CIO's first black vice president.
1958 100,000 striking ILGWU members in eight states win the required use of the union label to identify union-made textiles.
1959 U.S. Congress passed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
The Landrum-Griffin Act passes, restricting union activity.
1960 - Black labor activists organized the Negro American Labor Council to promote civil rights in the American labor movement.
1961 On the suggestion of Esther Peterson, director of the Women’s Bureau of the
Department of Labor, President John F. Kennedy establishes the first national
Commission on the Status of Women. In 1963 the commission issued a report
detailing employment discrimination, unequal pay, legal inequality, and
Insufficient support services for working women.
1961 Eleanor Roosevelt chairs the First Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
The Commission on the Status of Women report led directly to the passage of
the Equal Pay Act.
1962 President John F Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988 establishing limited collective bargaining rights for federal employees and widely regarded as the impetus for the expansion of public sector bargaining rights at state and local levels in the years to come.
1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act mandating equal pay to women
A. Philip Randolph and the Negro American Labor Council initiated the famous March on  
Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King, Jr, gave his famous "I    
Have a Dream" speech Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King, Jr,
gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech
 

As you read more about the characteristics of the Boomers think about and identify what unites us? What divides us? How can we build bridges across the generational divide?

Generational Characteristics of Baby Boomers
• Pursues personal gratification at expense to others
• Self-enlightenment—search for spirituality and meaning of life
• Believe in growth and expansion
• More liberal and idealistic
• Make the world a better place
• Competitive
• Celebrate individualism
• Internally motivated
• Optimistic—see the world in terms of infinite possibilities
• Team orientation
• Personal growth
• Involvement
• Work defines who they are

View of Authority
• Question rules and traditions of previous generation and either push for change or ignore irrelevant ones
• Challenge the establishment (divorce, living together, illegal drugs, radical rule breaking)
• Have tendency toward a collegial and consensual leadership style
• Although advocates of participative style management—find it difficult to practice it
• Brought up in a work environment that began to question authority and hierarchy approach to
business and are eager to shed command-and-control style
• Made profound changes in the 80s, such as participative management, flattened pyramids,
employee involvement

Technology
• Rise of television (from 172,000 in 1948 to 15 million in 1952) transformed social habits
• Were in the forefront of creating digital revolution;  70s technological revolution was beginning to
replace manufacturing as center of our economy
• Technology is important to current lifestyle at work and home, but is a challenge to learn

 Relationships
• Like to work for a manager who cares for them personally, treats them as equals, provides
opportunities to pursue new endeavors, and empowers them
• Equality is important; want to be treated as equals
• Value teamwork and participative leadership
• Competitive and like standing out in the crowd
• Interpersonal communication is important
• Relationships are important
• Good at delivering service—want to please
• Uncomfortable with conflict
• Reluctant to go against peers
• Personal gratification is important

　
Diversity & Change
 •Spearheaded cultural wars of 60s, i.e., equal rights movements—for example, racial
integration and women’s rights
• Preference for democratic, humane, and casual work environment
• Worked for equality in the system, although women and minorities reached glass ceiling
• Tend to be judgmental of those who see things differently
• Try to be sensitive to others’ differences (background and lifestyles) but prefer to be
separate and with people who are similar

Job/Career; Retirement
• 14% have lifetime careers
• Many started out wanting to build stellar career
• Chose few job changes—too many didn’t look good on resume
• Key factors in job choices include opportunity, glamour, and security
• Are questioning their careers and want work that is satisfying and fulfilling
• Those over 50 are now beginning to start own businesses; many want to make a difference for
people around them—not just for personal fulfillment
• Have redefined retirement—more than 2/3 plan to work after retiring out of necessity or because they want to
• Due to erosion of corporate retirement programs and Social Security uncertainty, many feel insecure about future
• Are the sandwich generation—helping kids through college and caring for elderly parents


Work Ethic/ Work- Life Balance
• Competitive and like standing out in the crowd
• Are aspiring to the freedom to work that is closer to their passions, to their heart, and gives sense
of satisfaction
• Insecure about their jobs due to downsizing, layoffs, restructuring in workplace and distressed
about early retirement
• Generation of workaholics that increased workweek from 40 hours to 70–80 hours per
week—now showing signs of stress and burnout
• Feel they have paid their dues—long hours, years of experience and waiting in line—and want more
work-life balance
• Tremendous pride in career accomplishments, persistent and unwavering work ethic
• Define themselves through their work

　
Motivations, Rewards & Recognition
• Deep identification of who they are by what they achieve at work
• Want to do great things—work on exciting projects
• Value time off as they are getting older
• Like to be rewarded with money, title, better shift, seniority, office parking spot perks
• Find satisfaction and meaning in work
• Paid their dues and want to slow down


Boomers Sing Solidarity Forever the Union Makes Us Strong!


 Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_labor_issues_and_events

http://www.dol.gov/100/timeline/#9

http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_Next_Generation_of_Workers.pdf

Next week we will take a deeper look into the lives of the Gen X..

                                             ~MORE~

http://www.bergermarks.org/resources/SteppingUpSteppingBack.pdf


Batgirl Teaches Batman a Lesson about Equal Payhttp://youtu.be/n00xZ_mKQgk

AFL & CIO MERGER VIDEO:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpmHbH522Y0&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLC3D2D56C50548B19

SALT OF THE EARTH (1954) FULL MOVIE
http://youtu.be/i9oY4rmDaWw

   

 

   

Today in Labor History: November 22

20,000 female garment workers are on strike in New York; Judge tells arrested pickets: "You are on strike against God" – 1909


The population of New York City was more than half immigrant in the early 1900s, many of the shirtwaist workers were immigrants. These immigrants came from a wide variety of backgrounds(such as Jews and Italian), and crowded into immigrant neighborhoods like the Lower East Side of Manhattan Island, which at the time had one of the highest population densities in the world. Many of these immigrants, men, women, and children alike, worked for low pay in factories with terrible working conditions to help support themselves and their families. But they were also exposed to a bustling new world, and to the political and union organizers therein. Immigrant women especially often came from conservative social backgrounds which limited their interaction with men and people outside the family. But New York in the early 1900s provided the opportunity for these women to explore such social interactions, and exhibit a new level of independence.

Many of these women immigrants toiled in the garment industry, which was New York's best known industry at the time. They worked not for a single, large conglomerate but many smaller companies spread across lower Manhattan, among the largest of which were the Triangle and Leiserson shirtwaist factories. This workforce was more than 70% women, about half of whom were not yet twenty years old, and about half of whom were Jewish and a third Italian. In the production of shirtwaists in particular, the workforce was nearly all Jewish women. Some of them had belonged to labor unions in Europe before their immigration; many of the Jewish women in particular had been members of the Bund. Thus, they were no strangers to organized labor or to its tactics. Indeed, Jewish women who worked in the garment industry were among the most vocal and active supporters of women's suffrage in New York.

Garment industry workers often worked in small sweatshops, with the men doing the higher-paid work of cutting and pressing while women were paid less for assembling and finishing garments. Work weeks of 65 hours were normal, and in season they might expand to as many as 75 hours. Despite their meager wages, workers were often required to supply their own basic materials, including needles, thread, and sewing machines. Workers could be fined for being late for work or for damaging a garment they were working on. At some worksites, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, steel doors were used to lock in workers so as to prevent workers from taking breaks, and as a result women had to ask permission from supervisors to use the restroom.
A sign in the elevator at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company warned, "If you don’t come in Sunday, don’t come in Monday." Workers who arrived to work five minutes late would be docked half a day’s pay.
  
On November 22, 1909, 19 year old Clara Lemlich had been listening to men speak about the disadvantages and cautions about the shirtwaist workers going on a general strike. After listening to these men speak four or more hours at a local 25 union meeting, she rose and declared in Yiddish that she wanted to say a few words of her own.

"[The bosses] yell at the girls and "call them down" even worse than I imagine the Negro slaves were in the South. There are no dressing rooms for the girls in the shops, no place to hang a hat where it will not be spoiled by the end of the day. We're human, all of us girls, and we're young. We like new hats as well as any other young women. Why shouldn't we? And if one of us gets a new one, even if it hasn't cost more than 50 cents, that means that we have gone for weeks on two-cent lunches--dry cake and nothing else."

"I am one of those who suffers from the abuses described here, and I move that we go on a general strike."

She declared that the shirtwaist workers would go on a general strike. Her declaration received a standing ovation and the audience went wild. Clara then took an oath.


"If I turn traitor to the cause I now pledge, may this hand wither from the arm I now raise."
-- Jewish oath taken by the shirtwaist makers after deciding to stage a general strike 

From the outset, the young strikers faced three-way opposition from the manufacturers, the police, and the courts. Triangle and Leiserson hired thugs and prostitutes to abuse strikers, often with aid from policemen who then arrested strikers on trumped-up charges of assault. In court, strikers faced hostile magistrates who upbraided the young women ("You are striking against God and nature," scolded one enraged judge), fined them, and, in some cases, sentenced them to the workhouse. In an attempt to curb abuses, the fledgling Local 25 of the ILGWU, which represented shirtwaist makers, asked the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) (established by upper-class suffragists in 1904 to promote the welfare of working women) to monitor the picket lines. After police arrested Mary Dreier, head of the WTUL, for allegedly harassing a scab, strikers won the sympathy of a previously indifferent public. The WTUL proved a valuable ally; its members walked the picket lines, raised funds, and pleaded the strikers’ case to the general public. The Forverts, the United Hebrew Trades, the Arbeter-ring (Workmen’s Circle), and the Socialist Party and its weekly The Call also provided important logistical and financial support.

　

Nonetheless, by early November, Local 25 had almost depleted its strike fund, and many strikers chose to return to work rather than suffer arrest, harassment, and personal injury. Furthermore, Triangle and Leiserson partially circumvented the strike by subcontracting work to smaller shops (though, on at least one occasion, subcontracted workers went on a sympathy strike). Instead of conceding defeat, Local 25’s fifteen-member executive committee (six of whom were women and all socialists) called for a general strike to shut down production entirely in the shirtwaist industry. On November 22, thousands of young women packed into Cooper Union to discuss Local 25’s recommendations. Samuel Gompers and Mary Dreier spoke, along with a number of luminaries of the Jewish labor movement, including Meyer London, labor lawyer and future Socialist Party congressman; Benjamin Feigenbaum, the meeting’s chair and popular Forverts writer; and Bernard Weinstein, head of the United Hebrew Trades. In speech after speech, speakers offered support, but urged caution. Frustrated after two hours, Clara Lemlich Shavelson—a leader of the Leiserson strike and a member of Local 25’s executive committee—demanded the floor and delivered what the press termed a "Yiddish philippic." In words now legendary, the impassioned twenty-three-year-old declared, "I am a working girl, one of those who are on strike against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here to decide is whether we shall or shall not strike. I offer a resolution that a general strike be declared—now." Lemlich ignited the audience. In unison, the crowd pledged support for the general strike by reciting a secularly adapted Hebrew oath chanted by Feigenbaum.

　

The following morning, approximately fifteen thousand shirtwaist workers took to the streets. By evening, the number swelled to more than twenty thousand. According to some estimates, almost thirty thousand workers participated in the strike during its eleven-week duration, 90 percent of whom were Jewish and 70 percent women. "Learners" and "operators" made up the bulk of the strikers, but male craftsmen (who themselves employed "learners" and occupied a critical position in the production process) also marched on the picket line, thereby guaranteeing a complete work stoppage. Pandemonium reigned during the uprising’s initial days as thousands of workers rushed to meetings, swarmed union locals, and milled the streets. In the confusion, some workers returned to their jobs, demoralized. At the same time, a number of small shops quickly negotiated with the union to gain an edge on their larger competitors. Thus, hundreds of workers returned to their shops, even as hundreds of others joined the picket lines.

Throughout the uprising, arrests and harassment continued unabated. In one month, 723 people were arrested and 19 sentenced to the workhouse. Bail averaged $2,500 per day, and court fines totaled $5,000. Overall, the strike cost $100,000. Clara Lemlich suffered six broken ribs and was arrested a total of seventeen times. In one egregious miscarriage of justice, a ten-year-old girl was tried without testimony and sentenced to five days in the workhouse for allegedly assaulting a scab. In response to such outrages, the WTUL organized mass rallies at the Hippodrome, Carnegie Hall, and City Hall in which the strikers’ plight was connected to the suffragist cause. Although a degree of mutual suspicion existed behind the scenes, this alliance produced a new perspective that merged class consciousness with feminism (later named "industrial feminism").

"Learners" and "operators" conducted much of the uprising’s daily legwork. These bold young women—malnourished and poorly clad in the bitter winter cold—handed out leaflets, raised funds, distributed strike benefits, scheduled meetings, and maintained the crowd’s morale. Some of the outstanding organizers, such as Clara Lemlich, Pauline Newman, and Rose Schneiderman, had been active in radical politics even before their emigration from Russia. Hundreds of other women assumed leadership roles spontaneously, only to disappear after the strike.

　

For much of the eleven-week strike, workers and manufacturers were locked in a stalemate. The Associated Waist and Dress Manufacturers, representing the large employers, rejected the closed union shop. Exhausted, but determined, workers refused to budge on this point, fearing that an open shop would leave the union powerless to enforce agreements. However, the strikers (represented at the negotiating table by Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit and John Mitchell of the United Mine Workers) could not hold out. The general strike was called off unceremoniously on February 15, 1910, with about a thousand workers still on the picket line.

　

Though not a complete victory, the uprising achieved significant, concrete gains. Out of the Associated Waist and Dress Manufacturers’ 353 firms, 339 signed contracts granting most demands: a fifty-two-hour week, at least four holidays with pay per year, no discrimination against union loyalists, provision of tools and materials without fee, equal division of work during slack seasons, and negotiation of wages with employees. By the end of the strike, 85 percent of all shirtwaist makers in New York had joined the ILGWU. Local 25, which began the strike with a hundred members, now counted ten thousand. Furthermore, the uprising laid the groundwork for industrial unionism in the garment industry. Inspired by the shirtwaist makers, sixty thousand cloak makers—men, this time—launched the Great Revolt in the summer of 1910, and other garment strikes ensued across the country. After five years of unrest, the "needle trades" emerged as one of the best organized in the United States.

Less tangible, but equally important, the general strike convinced conservative veterans to accept women as capable union activists. The young women themselves discovered their own self-worth through the ideological ferment and economic struggles of 1909–1910. Many of them remembered the Uprising of the 20,000 as the formative event of their adult lives.

 

 

REMEMBER THE LADIES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~MORE~

 

SLIDESHARE

http://www.slideshare.net/slavena22/the-uprising-of-20000


FOR MORE ON THE TRIANGLE FIRE VISIT OUR WEBSITE

WE WERE NOT BORN TO FOLLOW


SOURCES

www.unionists.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_shirtwaist_strike_of_1909

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/uprising-of-20000-1909

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/mediamosaic/thepriceoffashion/pdf/frank-miriam.pdf

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/kane/strikers/moving.htm

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1700-1914/Socialism/America/ILGWU_Strike.shtml?p=1

 

  Traditional, Silent, Veteran, Greatest, Giants!
               That's My Generation Baby!

Born between 1925-1945 this generation was influenced by the Great Depression, WWI & WWII, Korean War and the GI Bill.
Note: Grouping people based on their year of birth may be reliable for a large population and the
characteristics for that group may be interesting and informative; however, the general characteristics
will not fit every person born during the same span of time.


1930Rosina Tucker helped to organize the first Black labor union — the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
1933Frances Perkins is appointed secretary of labor by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, making her the first woman member of a presidential cabinet.
1941A massive government and industry media campaign persuades women to take
jobs during world War II. Seven million women respond becoming industrial
"Rosie the Riveters" and over 400,000 join the military.
1935The National Council of Negro Women is formed to lobby against racism, sexism,
and job discrimination.
1935
National Labor Relations Act  1935
Social Security Act
1938The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), also Federal Wage and Hour Law,
establishes a national minimum wage for men and women alike.

As you read more about the characteristics of the Traditionals think about and identify what unites us? What divides us? How can we build bridges across the generational divide?

 Generational Characteristics of Traditionals
• Worked together toward a common goal
• Delayed gratification
• Self-sacrifice for greater good
• Are patriotic and civic-minded
• Tend to be conservative; risk adverse
• Are dependable, reliable, and self-reliant
• Have obedience and respect for authority
• Have strong work ethic—work is duty
• Value dedication and commitment
• Value tradition, rules, and conformity
• Are considered forerunners, trendsetters, and pacesetters for Baby Boomers
  

View of Authority
• Value loyalty, dedication, and commitment to the organization
• Experienced command-and-control leadership in hierarchical organizations
• Seek clearly defined specialized roles and a strong central authority figure
• Have respect and trust for authority, leaders, and institutions
• Value rules and traditions, uniformity, standardization
• Experienced the power of unions and collective action under strong leadership to protect frontline
• Sacrificed individual needs for the greater good
• Are patriotic and civic-minded
• Are keepers of organization’s history and founding principles
• Have strong beliefs in law and order

Technology
• Grew up in a manufacturing era where physical manpower and assembly line work were more common than knowledge work
• Increasingly common usage of electrical appliances and new technology in transportation provided more mobility
• Developed skills with new technology slowly
• Tend to be uncomfortable with new electronic technology and may find it intimidating and
confusing—but will adapt to it if necessary, e.g., ATM cards, voice mail
• Prefer personal contact or live person on the telephone rather than voice mail message

 Relationships
• Pleasant and at ease with customers
• Personal sacrifice—put aside individual needs for common good
• Respect for authority
• Prefer formal communication that is limited to work issues only—may be uncomfortable
discussing personal life issues
• May get stuck in "we’ve never done it that way" mentality or seek one right answer
• Reticent when they disagree
• Later Silents produced leaders known more for their human relationship skills and their ability to negotiate than for their decisive leadership

 Diversity & Change
• Value conformity, consistency, rules, and duties
• Grew up during shift from agriculture to manufacturing economy
• Experienced racial and gender inequality
• Gender roles stereotypical—dad was breadwinner, women worked as nurses, teachers, secretaries
• Maintained traditional values and history of organization
• Male-dominated workplace—left-brained, rational, with confidence in scientific approach
• Uncomfortable with ambiguity and change
• Uncomfortable being around people with a different backgrounds or lifestyles than theirs

Job/Career; Retirement
• 29% have lifetime careers; not quick on reinventing their careers; waited for employers to create career path
• Strong union loyalty to protect workers, i.e., limit on hours worked and minimum wage
• One income family—dad worked; mom stayed at home
• Retirement is well-earned reward after lifetime service
• Partnered with institutions to get things done
• Work is duty; didn’t take job for granted—were grateful for it
• As senior citizens, many are safeguarding their entitlements (Social Security, Medicare)
• Moved up the ladder through perseverance and hard work
• Do not demand "deep" meaning from jobs—having work is satisfying in and of itself

Work Ethic/ Work- Life Balance
• Intrinsic value of work; it is a duty; sacrifice will pay off over the long term
• Periodic layoffs impacted blue-collar workers but did not last and workers were often called often called back to original employer
• Sacrificed individual needs for the greater good
• Dependable—on time and ready to come to work
• Did not believe in rocking the boat, i.e., do not voice concerns and frustrations or complaints out loud or publicly
• Strong work ethic; work is noble and ennobling
• Work life and family life are separate and distinct

Motivations, Rewards & Recognition
• Delayed rewards; driven by duty before pleasure
• Expect to receive a paycheck for job performed
• Seniority and age correlated
• Move up the ladder through perseverance and hard work
• Satisfaction of doing job well
• Rarely received praise and recognition; were grateful to have a job and did not take it for
granted
• Older workers want to be rewarded with travel time, challenges, money, flexibility
• Want financial gain and security

 Traditionals share widespread loyalty to unions that helped protect workers against unfair labor practices, tyrannical bosses, and unsafe working conditions.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_labor_issues_and_events

http://www.dol.gov/100/timeline/#9

http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_Next_Generation_of_Workers.pdf

Next week we will take a deeper look into the lives of the Baby Boomers.

                                                           ~MORE~
 
http://www.bergermarks.org/resources/SteppingUpSteppingBack.pdf
   
 

 

KAREN GAY SILKWOOD

 

Today in #LaborHistory : November13 -- via -- www.unionist.com

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood is killed in a suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter during a safety investigation of her Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant in Oklahoma. - 1974

Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activist known for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety of workers in a nuclear facility.

She worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. She joined the union and became an activist on behalf of issues of health and safety at the plant as a member of the union's negotiating team, the first woman to have that position at Kerr-McGee. In the summer of 1974, she testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns.

For three days in November, she was found to have high levels of contamination on her person and in her home. While driving to a meeting that month with David Burnham, a New York Times journalist, and Steve Wodka, an official of her union's national office, she died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances.

Her family sued Kerr-McGee on behalf of her estate. In what was the longest trial up until then in Oklahoma history, the jury found Kerr-McGee liable for the plutonium contamination of Silkwood, and awarded substantial damages. These were reduced on appeal, but the case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1979, which upheld the damages verdict. Before another trial took place, Kerr-McGee settled with the estate out of court for US $1.38 million, while not admitting liability.

Her life was featured in Silkwood (1983), an Academy Award-nominated film based on an original screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

 

IT'S MY GENERATION BABY!

 

Giants, Rosies, Sisters in the Brotherhoods & Unionistas all rockin' the boat and learning to swim. Understanding our generational differences and building union power together.

 

Research indicates that people communicate based on their generational backgrounds. Each generation has distinct attitudes, behaviors, expectations, habits and motivational buttons. Learning how to communicate with the different generations can eliminate many major confrontations and misunderstandings in the workplace and in our unions.

This is a listing of recent generations for individuals born in the United States. Dates are approximate, as recognized by demographers.

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1980-2000 - Millennials or Generation Y
1965-1979 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1925-1945 - Silent Generation/Traditional

 

Listen and watch Karen McCullough who in her own entertaining way describes each generation.

TRADITIONALISTS

 

Institutions -Are loyal

Rewards- Satisfaction of a job well done

Feedback-No news is good news

Work/Life Balance- Support me in shifting the balance

Training- I learned it the hard way; you can too

Job Changing- Job changing carries a stigma

Retirement- Pension/Savings

 

BABY BOOMERS
 

 

 

Institutions- Want to put their own stamp on

Rewards- Money, title, recognition, the corner office

Feedback- Formal yearly feedback with lots of documentation

Work/Life Balance- Help me balance everyone else and find meaning myself

Training- Train them too much and they might leave

Job Changing- Job changing puts you behind

Retirement- Retool

 

GEN X

Institutions- Are skeptical

Rewards- Freedom is the ultimate reward

Feedback- Frequent, honest, immediate feedback

Work/Life Balance- Give me balance now, not when I'm 65

Training- The more they learn, the more they stay

Job Changing- Job changing is necessary

Retirement- Renew

GEN Y

 Institutions- Will judge on merit

Rewards- Work that has meaning for "me"

Feedback- Whenever I want it at the push of a button

Work/Life Balance- Work isn't everything; I need flexibility to balance all my activities

Training- Continuous learning is a way of life

Job Changing- Job changing is part of my daily routine

Retirement- Recycle


WHAT WE ALL WANT

Achievement- Pride in one's work

Camaraderie- Positive, inclusive, and productive relationships

Equity- Being treated fairly in matters such as pay, benefits, developmental opportunities etc...

 
Next week we will take a deeper look into the lives of Traditionalists.

                                                     ~MORE~ 

Generational Differences in the Workplace

American Generations A Timeline



  

Union Women Union Power: From the Shop Floor to the Streets

The film was produced by the Coalition of Labor Union Women in Philadelphia and highlights 5 rank and file union women from different sectors across Philadelphia introducing us to their lives and their recent fights for democracy in the workplace. 

Members of the Young Women's Committee conducted the interviews and aimed to use the final product as a tool to introduce particularly younger women to the labor movement with women as role models.


Throughout history, story has been used to teach, to entertain, to express, to advocate. and to organize. It is through the sharing of stories that communities build their identities, pass on traditions, and construct meaning.

Story-telling is one of our most powerful tools as organizers and movement builders.

Storytelling is a practice of leadership
Your story is the "why" of organizing—the art of translating values into action through stories.

Each of us has a compelling story to tell
Each of us has a story that can move others. As you learn this skill of story-telling, you will be able to tell a compelling story that includes elements that identify yourself, your audience and your strategy to others.



The key to this story-telling is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.

  Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express the motivational content of our values to others. In other words, because we experience values emotionally, they are what actually move us to act; it is not just the idea that we ought to act. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others too.


Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action.


Action is inhibited by inertia, fear, self-doubt, isolation, and apathy. Action is facilitated by urgency, hope, YCMAD (you can make a difference), solidarity, and anger. Stories mobilize emotions that urge us to take action and help us overcome emotions that inhibit us from action.


"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." - Ursula K. LeGuin

Learn more about storytelling as an organizing tool at

WE WERE NOT BORN TO FOLLOW

 

OLGA MARIE MADAR

 

　

Olga M. Madar (May 17, 1915-May 16, 1996) was the first woman to serve on the United Auto Workers (UAW) International Executive Board.

 

She was born in Sykesville, Pa., one of 12 children of a coal miner and grocer who moved the family to Detroit in search of work when she was 15. In 1933, she found a summer job on a Chrysler assembly line.

Years later she recalled that the line moved so fast she could "never keep up" and had nightmares about it. She said she was apparently kept on the job because of her citywide reputation as a terror on the women's softball team.

 

"There was no union at the plant then," she said, "and the fact that they would hire me when other workers were being laid off -- just because I could play softball -- was incredible. It was my first indication that a union was badly needed." http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/18/us/olga-marie-madar-80-pioneer-for-women-in-automotive-union.html

 

In 1938, she graduated from Eastern Michigan University (formerly Michigan Norman School) with a degree in physical education. In 1941, she joined the UAW(United Auto Workers) Local 50 while working at Ford’s Willow Run bomber plant.

 

Olga believed that while work was important, that non-work time was just as important. "We’ve got to place more emphasis on non-work time. Contributing to community organizations- that’s important." While Olga was the director of the Recreation Department she eliminated racial bias from organized bowling.

According to Doug Fraser, former UAW president, Madar "was a trailblazer in the struggle for equal rights," fighting to end racial discrimination and a champion of women’s rights. In 1947, Madar led a crusade to end racial discrimination in the men and women’s bowling association. Victory came in 1952 when the white-only membership policy was removed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Madar

Bowling, a highly interactive sport, was by 1945, a billion dollar industry that touched the lives of an estimated 12 to 16 million Americans. It had reached this status in great part due to its promotion by the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII and because unlike football or baseball anyone with a few dollars and the desire could play. But the American Bowling Congress (ABC), bowling's governing body, had in its bylaws a "white males only" clause which it had strictly enforced since its incorporation in 1893. By 1945, at wars end, a number of civil rights and civic organizations and progressive white individuals concluded that segregation in American society was a baleful social malignancy that had to go. From organizations such as the NAACP, National Urban League, B'nai B'rith and others, plans were formulated to end segregation in America's most popular participant sport.

These organizations joined with the United Auto Workers--Congress of Industrial Organizations (UAW-CIO) and other labor unions in the effort to end the whites-only policy of the ABC.

Olga appealed to the natural ties between the two organizations. "Your organization, as well as ours, is constantly confronting situations which threaten our basic democratic philosophy of fair play," she wrote to Walter White, the Executive Secretary of the NAACP, in March 1947. She called the exclusionary policy of the ABC a "challenge which cannot be ignored," and invited White to participate in a one day conference at the Maryland Hotel in Chicago on April 1. The UAW-CIO's vision of a broad-based civil rights campaign was clear from Madar's letter. "We are confident," she wrote, "that religious, fraternal, civic and labor organizations can develop a unified program of sufficient strength to persuade the American Bowling Congress to change its policies.

Madar opened the conference with a discussion of the history of bowling describing its rapid growth in the 1930s. She set the tone for the conference when she attacked the ABC for its hypocrisy. She noted that the American Bowling Congress and other promoters of the sport, emphasized the democratic nature of bowling and its accessibility to low wage workers. She denounced the ABC's claims and asserted that if the ABC practiced democracy, it was the "Georgia variety of democracy." She ended her talk by suggesting that one possible strategy was to attack the ABC indirectly by organizing campaigns against owners of bowling alleys. She believed that by applying financial pressure on proprietors, they might be compelled to seek changes in the ABC's policy.
The conference delegates envisioned the campaign against the ABC as a true-grassroots effort.


Madar gave the history of bowling in the United States, noting that in its present charter it had the following clause:


City associations shall be composed of teams with membership of

three or more individuals of the white male sex who are members

of a league or leagues bowling a game of American ten pins
  weekly or bi-weekly.

This clause, said Madar, was the reason for the organization of the National Committee for Fair Play in Bowling, and that, since within the UAW-CIO labor movement there were lots of people of Chinese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, and Negro ancestry, the UAW-CIO organization was opposed to this clause in the ABC's charter.

The various members of all the organizations who had participated with the National Committee for Fair Play in Bowling in its sterling efforts to integrate the ABC, could congratulate themselves. They had played a pivotal role in the campaign to integrate the ABC, had worked hard in an ecumenical manner, and had set an important example for other cities in the fight to integrate a major American sport.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+integration+of+the+American+Bowling+Congress%3A+the+Buffalo...-a0135210752

She was also active in organizing community recreation programs. Her projects included preservation of Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains, Sleeping Bear Dune Parks, and the clean-up of Lake Erie.

Many labor unions would show their support of Earth Day and become important constituencies in the modern environmental movement. The UAW led the pack.


"Don't be a 'cop-out' or a 'drop-out' in the struggle for survival. Only if you, in the UAW spirit of concern for the community, join with your neighbors in the fight to control pollution, can we insure the quality of our future environment. "- Olga Madar

Madar was named to the UAW International Executive Board in 1966. She was also the first woman elected as the union’s vice president in 1970.

Olga also started the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and was their first national president. The impetus for the formation of CLUW came in June 1973 when women labor union leaders, led by Olga Madar of the United Auto Workers and Addie Wyatt of the United Food and Commercial Workers met to discuss the formation of a new AFL-CIO body to create a more effective voice for women in the labor movement. More than 3,000 women attended the conference.

Olga was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989 because of her many efforts throughout her life time.


She dedicated her life to the betterment of the working class, not only in the work place but also in the community.

 

Frustrated with representaion in a Grievance hearing

There have been many times that I have been disappointed and frustrated during the preparation for and presentation of a grievance during a grievance hearing. I felt that as a representative for my fellow members, as a Teamster, we were ineffective in our attempts to make the necessary arguments to gain the result desired.

It was my B.A.’s fault that the hearings were lacking in fight and luster, right? After all, I had presented my B.A. with all of the information prior to the hearing; he should have been adequately prepared, right? When the grievance was filed, he was full of support and assurances that he was going to fight for the results desired. Although when the time came for the hearing, there was no fight, and he did not express knowledge of the desired resolution. I was expecting fireworks, and I experienced a fizzle. The dynamite failed to detonate!

For quite some time, I held a ton of resentment toward my B.A. Where was the fight that I expected and desired? After all, he is paid by the members to fight the good fight. Where was the bang for the buck? I questioned why he was in this position if he was not going to storm in and make things right. Being prepared for a grievance hearing is critical for membership representation.

In hindsight, I was not prepared. I had not retained copies of the statements, grievance forms, or the disciplinary forms, which allowed for me to be sketchy on the details of the issue. If I would have been more prepared, I would have been able to prevent the appearance of a dysfunctional representative force. Although, I do not shoulder all of the blame; as a steward, I feel I should have taken more responsibility of our fellow members and their issues.

There are a few things that I can recommend to be done in the future; I know I will take on a more active role in the preparation and presentation of a grievance.

1)      Start with the grievance investigation. You can do a lot of it yourself. Remember to use the “Six W's” of a grievance investigation: Who, When, Where, Why, What happened, and Witnesses.

2)      During a grievance investigation, the union has the right to request documents and other information from the company, but your contract may require that all information requests go through the BA. If it does, put together a list of the documents you want to request, and give it to your Business Agent.

3)      Send your request to the BA in writing, and follow up with a phone call. You'll leave a paper trail and make sure that he's crystal-clear about the information you want. Ask the agent to meet with you before the day of the hearing, to go over the results of your investigation, discuss the company’s argument and your argument, and make a plan for the hearing with management. Arrange a signal to stop the meeting and go to a caucus if you don't like the way the hearing is going.

4)      Finally, the more you know about how the grievance procedure works and how to prepare grievances, the stronger you'll be.

It takes all of us to make this Union great. The better we represent our members, the stronger we will grow. I am committed to being the best representative I can. I am resolved to fight until there is no fight left. If the contract can be interpreted to benefit the employer, then I need to figure out how to spin it back to benefit the employee. We may not win them all, but I will be prepared to give it all I have. 

 

IMA UNION MAID

 

 

Dear Ima,

I am a new union steward. The shop floor where I work has it's share of stressors. It's fast paced, high production standards, understaffed, repetitive, monotonous and physically hard work. We work in extreme heat in the summer and can be chilled to the bone in winter. It's warehouse work. We face the typical range of supervisor styles from those who communicate well and appreciate the work we do to those who yell and scream "I'm the BOSS!"

 

There are times when members are frustrated, fed up and totally stressed out. They want help. By the time they come talk to me they are angry and emotionally charged and sometimes blaming the union. I know there's no magic wand that I could wave that could make everything better. I'm writing to find out if you have any advice on how I should communicate during these intense moments?

Sincerely,

I'm Listening


Dear I'm Listening,

What a great opportunity for building solidarity in your union being a steward is! It will be challenging at times but I think you'll find the rewards to be many. You're off to a good start already! Building on your communication skills will help you in your leadership role and build relationships with other members. I've learned that behavior is a form of communicating and when it comes to people sometimes we need to let out a little steam.

Assess the situation,

What’s going on? Is what you always have to be asking yourself.

What is this person’s motivation?

What is driving this person’s behavior?

Is this issue specifically about me or am I bearing the brunt of their bad day?

Do they need to just get this off their chest?

　

Providing that everyone is safe from physical danger, I think you'll find learning these universal principles in de-escalation a skill set that no stewards toolkit should be without.

 De-escalate Anyone,
Anywhere, Anytime:
Unplug the Power Struggle
with Principle-Based De-escalation

  Imagine dealing with any situation. Learn 5 surprises and 3 Guiding Principles, that will allow you to remain in control at all times, support anyone, anywhere, with any issue, and avoid the wrong response which can make the situation worse.

Is it really possible to de-escalate anyone, anywhere, anytime? Yes! Imagine yourself dealing with any scenario with anyone, anywhere, with confidence and long-term foresight. This is possible with a Principle-Based approach to de-escalation.

While no single technique will work on every person, there is a small set of principles that do apply to everyone. These principles are universal so they apply to any age person, any level of ability or disability, and any setting.


                      De-escalate Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime:
                                Unplug the Power Struggle

                                  Download the free 20 page eBook http://rightresponse.org/



　

You can make a difference "I'm Listening" because

Communication leads to understanding, mutual valuing and a community of unity!

Solidarity,


Ima Union Maid  

 

 

Dear Readers you can send in your own questions/comments to Ima at
 imaunionmaid@gmail.com