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Another Union Story
Captplaid
Member Posts: 20,298 ✭✭✭
Azex told this story recently. I now know what it means.
There's a famous allegory regarding your situation.
Suppose there's a cage with 10 monkeys in it. In the middle of the cage is a ladder. The ladder leads up to a platform with a fresh banana hanging from the roof of the cage.
The first week, all of the monkeys would try, individually, to run up the ladder to snatch the banana. When any of them did, the entire cage would be blasted with ice cold water. Leaving all the monkeys wet, cold and pissed off. Soon, none of them would dare try to go up the ladder for that banana.
The second week one of the monkeys in the cage was replaced with a new monkey. Of course, the first thing the new monkey did was try to head up that ladder. This would cause all the other monkeys to beat the snot out of him. Thus none of them would attempt to go get the banana, nor would they allow any others to try.
Week after week this goes on. A fresh monkey being placed in the cage and an older one taken out, until all the older monkeys have been replaced by new ones. Each trying once, and being beaten down by the other monkeys for doing what came naturally to them.
Soon. None of the monkeys dare try to get the banana, lest he receive a beating by the other monkeys. Yet, none of them have a clue WHY.
And THAT'S how Policy and Seniority work.
D.
I know now what it means. T-giving holiday we were running with limited production. Half the lines were poop down and we were running a much smaller shift. The palletizer on one of the lines jammed and stopped. We have no backup for this line. When this happens our alternative is to start stacking ware in boxes and piling it down until the mechanics get it running again. Unfortunately, with the smaller crew, wedidn't have the people to pile down. So I asked an extra guy in the ither department to help out. (He's also in another union.)
We did this for about 20 minutes until the mechanics got the palletizer running.It could have gone on for 30-45 minutes. I know 2 people to pile down is not enough. 4-5 people can slowly gain ground. 2 people will be slowly losing ground, and we didn't have much room left. The other option is to dump good ware down the hole where it is trashed and recycled.
Monday, I'llprobably here about this mistake and how important it is to keep the peace with the unions with an approaching contract negotiation. I guess I'drather be reprimanded for this than finding myself in the position where we had to trash good ware.
I also understand the monkey story better. Some of the older guys know there us rule, but I don't know if anyone really knows why. Yes, there should have been one extra person on the shift in case of emergency, but would the mgmt of mosr any companies do that? No.
I'll take the reprimand if necessary.
There's a famous allegory regarding your situation.
Suppose there's a cage with 10 monkeys in it. In the middle of the cage is a ladder. The ladder leads up to a platform with a fresh banana hanging from the roof of the cage.
The first week, all of the monkeys would try, individually, to run up the ladder to snatch the banana. When any of them did, the entire cage would be blasted with ice cold water. Leaving all the monkeys wet, cold and pissed off. Soon, none of them would dare try to go up the ladder for that banana.
The second week one of the monkeys in the cage was replaced with a new monkey. Of course, the first thing the new monkey did was try to head up that ladder. This would cause all the other monkeys to beat the snot out of him. Thus none of them would attempt to go get the banana, nor would they allow any others to try.
Week after week this goes on. A fresh monkey being placed in the cage and an older one taken out, until all the older monkeys have been replaced by new ones. Each trying once, and being beaten down by the other monkeys for doing what came naturally to them.
Soon. None of the monkeys dare try to get the banana, lest he receive a beating by the other monkeys. Yet, none of them have a clue WHY.
And THAT'S how Policy and Seniority work.
D.
I know now what it means. T-giving holiday we were running with limited production. Half the lines were poop down and we were running a much smaller shift. The palletizer on one of the lines jammed and stopped. We have no backup for this line. When this happens our alternative is to start stacking ware in boxes and piling it down until the mechanics get it running again. Unfortunately, with the smaller crew, wedidn't have the people to pile down. So I asked an extra guy in the ither department to help out. (He's also in another union.)
We did this for about 20 minutes until the mechanics got the palletizer running.It could have gone on for 30-45 minutes. I know 2 people to pile down is not enough. 4-5 people can slowly gain ground. 2 people will be slowly losing ground, and we didn't have much room left. The other option is to dump good ware down the hole where it is trashed and recycled.
Monday, I'llprobably here about this mistake and how important it is to keep the peace with the unions with an approaching contract negotiation. I guess I'drather be reprimanded for this than finding myself in the position where we had to trash good ware.
I also understand the monkey story better. Some of the older guys know there us rule, but I don't know if anyone really knows why. Yes, there should have been one extra person on the shift in case of emergency, but would the mgmt of mosr any companies do that? No.
I'll take the reprimand if necessary.
Comments
Corporate America resembles a tree full of monkeys.
Monkeys on top look down and see a buch of smiling faces looking up at them.
Monkeys on bottom look up and see a bunch of butt holes above them.
D.