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Union organizing

Discussion pertaining to Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, and Michigan's thumb region.
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by sinklair »

Lovin, you’re sounding like a management plant. Criticize the union but offer no solutions (other than leave/quit) to improve pay and work conditions.
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by sinklair »

As someone who has worked at WEYI for sometime (intentionally vague since the Sinclair brass are feverishly looking for who’s posting on the Buzzboard), I can with authority dispute some of Lovin’s claims.

While the union was far from perfect, Sinclair has had a 1.5% maximum wage increase for most workers for nearly five years now. (Management excluded, of course.). In this economy that our President claims in one of the best in history, the rich (especially David Smith) keep getting richer while the rest of us are being left in the dust.

Will the union fix everything? Likely not. But will it be better than the status quo? Absolutely.
lilnut13
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:33 pm

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by lilnut13 »

lovinlife101 wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:47 am
The union shutdown the local?! What is wrong with that place?

UAW: “We know that you’re paying us to represent you, but you suck, so we’re breaking up with you. We’d rather not take your money and never speak to you again than take your money and do a horrible job representing you.”

It’s like an agent firing someone who already paid them.

Agent: “Yeah, you suck so much, I don’t want anything to do with you. That means, I’d just rather not take your money anymore, even when I don’t do anything for you.”
[/quote]

The Union didn't just leave, Sinclair stopped taking the dues out of union employees paychecks and then intern stopped paying the union dues.
That was there way of dissolving the Union knowing no one would fight it coming in to a new environment and not knowing anyone.
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Herm
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:31 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by Herm »

brianp48093 wrote: Wed Dec 25, 2019 12:41 pm FUCK UNIONS. I belonged to one until April of this year...Never again. The Union fat cats get FATTER...just look at the monthly meetings. The top officials get FATTER monthly...their button up shirts get harder and harder to close. I swear on my kids lives, I will put a hollow point through the back of my head before EVER joining a Union again. Without a doubt, the WORST, depressing, miserable time in my adult working life. Being in a coffin would be a better option. Anyone that would like the real behind the scenes info of what the Union really feels about its members, feel free to private message me. I’d be more than happy to fill u in. Proof? It’s called RECORDING the meetings secretly with a “spy pen” gotta love technology! Set it right on the fucking table to record all. Disgusting.

Dirty rat bastard fucks. I’d like to filet those fat fucks one by one.

Oh, and my Union was a SKILLED TRADE union, not the monkeyfuck UAW. My trade, actually requires SKILL. Standing on an assembly line doesn’t require SKILL. Is it dirty, miserable work? Sure is. Would never argue that. Being hard and miserable doesn’t mean it requires any fucking skills
Why should we have to private message you to get the behind the scenes? If you got the goods, put it out there.
I’ve been a member of AFSCME, UAW, and IBEW. I’ve had my ups and downs but at no point would I have felt that death would be better.
Most things are what you make of them.
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by sinklair »

brianp: in your expletive-filled rant you fail to miss the point.

I never said unions were perfect. However the “fat cats” you attack are — at WEYI — the General Manager and corporate suits who make cuts to get their profitability bonuses at the end of the year while making sure employees are kept to a 1.5% maximum pay increase. The station and Sinclair shareholders are making money off the backs of the workers who are doing the real work.

You (and some others) believe unions aren’t the answer. Then I ask again... if not unions, how do you suggest to improve the work conditions and low morale at WEYI? The guy in the corner office comes out of his office to “rub elbows” with the news staff once per day... and even then doesn’t give a rat’s a** about trying to improve things.

We’ve lost some good anchors, reporters and even a news director who cared about doing good journalism. Now there’s no one pushing back against Sinclair’s “must run” biased news reports, lame rebranding campaigns, the lack of diverse staffing in front and behind the camera, staff who are paid well below the market average, and push to do news on two underperforming stations with the least amount of news staff in the market.

If this isn’t a case for a union, I don’t know what is. There needs to be more equity in addressing these issues. And for the past 6+ years that Sinclair has owned WEYI, they have force fed their one-sized fits all approach. The new set and newsroom mean squat if you don’t have a newscast covering real stories. And we don’t. Name the last time WEYI broke any story of consequence that wasn’t previously covered in the newspaper or by one of its TV competitors? You can’t and neither can I. It’s hard to break real news when on many days we may only have one reporter out on the street per shift.

Instead of bashing unions, I’m looking for suggestions on how to improve things on Pierson Road when the (mainly white) men in charge simply don’t care to improve things... unless it directly benefits them in the form of end of year bonuses that are not shared with the rest of us.
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by sinklair »

A lot of gaslighting. Not much substance on how to improve working conditions.

WEYI needs to know I’m not leaving and I’m going to continue the fight to improve pay and working conditions... including shaming on the Buzzboard until things change.

I find it interesting —other than Mr. Feick who left WEYI as soon as he could — no one else has come to the defense of Sinclair’s GM. There are MANY 25-66 who post here. They’re not defending Chad. They’re not defending the low pay, low morale, lack of diversity, stupid branding campaign being pushed by the “Assistant GM”... not a peep to even try to justify the unjustifiable.

We’re not leaving. And we’re not gonna be quiet. Here’s to what will sure be an uncomfortable 2020 with Conklin and company..,

(Cheers!)
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by sinklair »

I’m not alone in my dissatisfaction with how management is running WEYI.

If calling out bad behavior in private was working, I wouldn’t be resorting to airing my concerns in the Buzzboard.

And if you want to call out someone for posting the same content over and over and over again... may I refer you to your posts on your views on police. That was hammered to death years ago. At least my posts are about the TV industry.
km1125
Posts: 3789
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:09 pm

Re: Union organizing

Unread post by km1125 »

The best union for employees is them banding together and going to ownership about real issues. Not hiring out that job to some third-party organization that has no real stake in the outcome.

If your concerns are real and important then ownership will listen and you will see action. If they are petty they will be ignored and your jobs will be at risk (as if they aren't now anyways). If there truly are others in the majority that feel the same way, then you (as a collective) should go to ownership and articulate the concerns and what options you think the station has to succeed.
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