FAIL!!!!1!...

Nate attempts to calculate membership numbers
Apparently, the decert leaders are so desperate for signatures that they’re resorting to just making stuff up. Again, from their self-proclaimed “No Spin Zone” website:

Alleged SPEEA spin: SPEEA claims 27% of the WTPU represented employees pay dues to SPEEA

Decerter’s spin: There are only 275 employees paying dues for WTPU representation / 2426 possible members = 11.34% membership rate. Therefore, SPEEA has no support.

My spin: Your long division is good, kid, but your variables are effed up. You state “the best count available shows less than 275 dues paying WTPU members;” and if you want partial credit for the algebra problem, you need to show all your work as to how you derived that “275” number because your answer here, by itself, fails.


-- Bill, who’d have thought the fact that they couldn’t get enough signatures on the petition by their April 15 deadline would’ve tipped them off to their “no support” miscalculation...

“said Bill Hartig, SPEEA Exectutive Board Secretary” tonight...

(On their alleged “No Spin Zone” webpage, the decerters claim “The [retirement class action suit] attorneys are retained on a contingency basis & will be paid out of any winnings from the lawsuit...”)


“Yes, sir,” SPEEA’s class action lawyer says, pointing to me as the next questioner.

“So,man... how are you getting paid for this lawsuit?”

The lawyer tries to respond, but I roll right over the top of him, continuing the question.

“When we win this thing and get our pension and early medical restored, do you lawyers take half of it as payment?”

Arlus stares, then chuckles as he realizes just who his questioner is, way in the back of Curtis Middle School’s auditorium. Ya see, we had a similar "compensation" conversation not more than two hours prior, in Deb Shepard’s office. And he hammers the softball question outta the park.

“SPEEA’s members don’t pay a thing; this is not a contingency, where we take a third of the settlement. Your union, like the IAM, is paying for its members...”

He then went on talking about ways SPEEA could recover their costs or something, but I really wasn’t paying much attention by then: he had me at “members don’t pay a thing.”


-- Bill, who’d also point out to the decerters that this is his “blogspot,” not SPEEA’s...

The Silent (and Tight-fisted) Majority...

Alleged SPEEA “spin:”
SPEEA claims it has the support of a majority of WTPU represented employees.

The decerters’ “spin” that SPEEA is distorting the truth:
“SPEEA enjoys the dues of only 11% of the WTPU employees.   The other 89% are held hostage”

My “spin:”
While the WTPU’s dues-paying membership has always been a minority of represented employees, it is not, nor has ever been close to “only 11% of the WTPU employees” the decerters claim. Of course, “close” -- like “limited” and “ceiling” -- may not mean the same thing to the decerters as it does to me.

I’d also question their definition of “hostage,” as SPEEA makes no “give us money or else” demands of anyone in WTPU who chooses to not pay dues: the union is required to enforce our contract equally, for dues-payers and non-payers alike. Sure, the union offers benefits over and above “contract enforcement” -- like giving us salary charts to use when we want to ask The Boss for a raise -- but that’s an enticement to pay “insurance premium” dues, not a threat to withhold representation for contract violations.

In any event, regardless of how many WTPU-represented folks pay the thirty bucks a month “premium,” my Spirit coworkers certainly support having the option of union protection, whether they’re willing to pay for it or not.

How else could you explain our 58-42 win last time someone wasted our time with a decertification campaign here at Spirit, save that, yes, SPEEA has the support of a majority of WTPU-represented employees, regardless of how many folks pay dues?



Okay, then... how ‘bout “SPEEA’s support is so low they are bribing recruiters with your hard-earned dues.”?

“Bribing” may be one way to “spin” the recruitment bonuses. Another would be calling it “rewarding” the folks who work to sell our union.

Ya see, unlike where I grew up on the Right Coast, the folks here in the SPEEA’s Midwest Region aren’t as culturally predisposed to support unions. Therefore, getting folks to help pay the cost of maintaining our union “insurance” coverage is a bit more difficult here than elsewhere in SPEEA World. It requires repeated contact with the potential duespayer and alot of research work to address each individual’s issues and concerns.

The union understands this is hard work for our member-recruiters; selling a union here in the Midwest takes time and effort and it doesn’t pay well. So the union offers a reward for their efforts.

Save for the random recruitment contest -- like the $1000 payoff during the 2002 Boeing Engineering negotiations that, for some unfathomable reason, the decerters are trying to sell as current at Spirit -- that reward is a SPEEA “thank you” check for ten bucks. Which, best I can tell, works out to ‘bout $0.0476 an hour for the work they do.

Sure, it’s not the $25 gift card I got for twenty-five years of service to the Company, nor the $25 gift card and t-shirt you get for fifteen minutes of your time at some health fair in the cafeteria, but it’s at least some recognition of the hard work our folks do to make us stronger.


-- Bill, who bets SPEEA still has faaaaar more duespaying WTPU members than the decerters have valid signatures on their petitions...

Have you no sense of decency, sir?...

“Spin” is one thing, but when the Decerters have to resort to outright lies to sell their petition, you know they’re desperate. And this morning they jumped the shark.

Out on their “FAQ” website, they have a list of bullsiht Q&As, but the the most absurd is

Q: Why have non-union employees enjoyed big bonuses, while SPEEA-WTPU workers have been left out in the cold? 

A: Spirit is limited by the SPEEA-WTPU "contract".  The "contract" establishes an effective ceiling.

Now, perhaps they have a different understanding of “ceiling” than do I, but the WTPU contract quite specifically states

2.1(b) The terms and conditions of this Agreement are minimum and the Company shall be free to grant more favorable terms and conditions to any employee at its discretion.

How “minimum” equates to “limited” and “ceiling” escapes me...


-- Bill, who couldn't make this stuff up if he tried...

A Day at the Office...

----- Original Message -----
From: Hartig, Bill G (SN)
To: Rothe, Ron (SN)
Sent: Tue Apr 01 13:28:27 2008
Subject: I hope I didn't step too far into it this time...

Boss,

I've apparently upset a new Tooling supervisor who "would like to talk to your Boss right now!" If you'd be so kind, would you please give Mr Foxx a call at 660-9453 [telephone number for the Sedgwick County Zoo] and tell him you'll make sure his needs are met?

Bill Hartig
IT Relationship Management - Tooling
SPEEA Executive Board - Secretary
Tel 316/526-2360; MC K92-10

"Confidence" is what you have right before you understand the problem - Woody Allen



-----Original Message-----
From: Rothe, Ron (SN)
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 1:42 PM
To: Hartig, Bill G (SN)
Subject: Re: I hope I didn't step too far into it this time...

What are his needs?



----- Original Message -----
From: Hartig, Bill G (SN)
To: Rothe, Ron (SN)
Sent: Tue Apr 01 14:01:09 2008
Subject: RE: I hope I didn't step too far into it this time...

Uhhhhhhh... he's having a bear of a time getting an ad hawk committee set up to discuss the porpoise of having both Green and Blue workstations and is looking for some information straight from the horse's mouth. I tried being on my best bee-hive-ior, but we had a difference of a pinion. He kept badgering me until I had no i-deers left. I have no egrets, however, and salmoned up the courage to tell him I'd push his concerns onto the Big Dog.

He said if the lion was busy, to call back...


Bill Hartig
IT Relationship Management - Tooling
SPEEA Executive Board - Secretary
Tel 316/526-2360; MC K92-10

"Confidence" is what you have right before you understand the problem - Woody Allen



-----Original Message-----
From: Rothe, Ron (SN)
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 3:00 PM
To: Hartig, Bill G (SN)
Subject: Re: I hope I didn't step too far into it this time...

I was in a meeting, presenting to the Lead Team when your note came in. Jan [Ron’s boss, my 2nd-level] was upset that I looked at my Blackberry, but was glad I did when she heard about the issue. She volunteered to go make the call for me, so I could finish my presentation.



-----Original Message-----
From: Rothe, Ron (SN)
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 3:21 PM
To: Hartig, Bill G (SN)
Subject: Re: I hope I didn't step too far into it this time...

She wasn't able to speak to Mr. Foxx, but did talk to Ella Funt. Ella said it was all a misunderstanding and that you could make it up to the group by coming to clean up her area. Sounds like you need to bring a shovel.




-- Bill, who pities the fools who work for some humorless Boss...