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Subject:Re: What am I worth? From:"Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 2 Mar 1999 09:18:43 -0600
> And we should have more of it! Unions are arguably the only reason that
> wor=
> kers today have decent wages and benefits, why big corporations respect
> the=
> worker. Sure, unions are not good when they are unreasonable, when they
> ch=
> oke off industry by demanding more pay and benifits than profits warrant.
> H=
> owever, when a union works as it should, workers are insured their fair
> sha=
> re of the fruits of their labors, and employers are guranteed high quality
> =
> work. Without unions, most of us would still be working 12 hour days, six
> d=
> ays a week at starvation wages.
>
> Unionizing technical writing is arguably one of the best things we could
> do=
> for ourselves, better even than certification. But how do we do it?
>
> Leonard Porrello
>
>
I'm going to risk getting one of my own Standard List Abuse Forms by
responding to this blatant troll.
Please, we don't need to joins the ranks of the 'deez, dem, and doze' guys.
I've been in three unions. I once left a higher paying job for a lesser
paying job so I could get out of one union.
Warning: The following is a parody.
Let's apply union mentality to Technical Writing. It goes as follows:
-> Don't write faster or more accurately than your union brother. The key
is to work as slow as possible. If you do show up your brothers, a
confrontation near the loading dock will be imminent.
-> Don't strive to get better. Only seniority counts. There is always
someone named Dicky or Big Ed who has been with the company for 30 years.
They both are ranked ahead of you.
-> Layoffs are in reverse order of hiring date. You may have two degrees,
15 years experience with another company, and a proven track record, but
when layoffs happen, Dicky and Big Ed stay, you leave.
-> Promotions go to the person with the most seniority. Even if that person
was a document-coordinator last year and only recently the union got him a
writing job.
-> Formatting text is the job of a Text Formatter (union job level 5). As a
Writer (Union job level 2), you could be severely disciplined for formatting
your own text. Plus, the Text Formatter with the least amount of overtime
automatically gets 4 hours OT pay if you are caught.
-> Occasionally, you will have to participate in a work slow-down. In this
situation, you must add unnecessary punctuation or type one-handed.
-> Blame every mistake you make on management. If you made a typo, it was
management's fault.
-> Be prepared to strike the minute that management requires that you use
two spaces after a period. Well, at least the signs you carry in the picket
line will be grammatically correct!
