uswlocal12-6.org Blog

I have been thinking about the new Arizona immigration law and checking out comments related to this law.  Let me say it is a joke that people believe that this is a great way to start a crackdown on illegal immigration.  This law will have a minimal effect on the problem.  By the time these folks are arrested processed and sent back to Mexico Arizona’s financial problems will only get worse and these immigrants will be back in time for their next pay period.  This law is largely symbolic in my opinion.  As usual it is nothing more than a public relations move by the Arizona legislature.  I am sure they have plenty of laws on the books to deal with this situation.  Now if you want to make an issue about states rights vs. federal law I can understand that, but I believe this immigration law will have little  impact on illegal immigration in the state of Arizona. 

The illegal immigration problem will not be legislated out of existence.  The only way to control it is by stopping the disparity between what workers in Mexico can make and what these same workers can make in the USA.  We need to stop pumping up the Mexican economy until their government is prepared to make the opportunities in their country closer to what we have here.   From what I remember NAFTA was suppose to help accomplish this but in reality all that has happened is our wages have come down to compete in this global market.  Our government needs to slow down this competing in the global market nonsense.   We as individuals need to be more aware of what we are buying and what affect buying these goods are having on our economy. 

Another way we can help with the immigration problem is to enforce laws aimed at businesses who use illegal immigrants.  Crackdown on those hiring illegals so they can pay substandard wages.  When people go out and decide to build a block wall for example do they use union scale labor.  I venture to say no.  They find someone who can do it cheaper and get them to do the job.  As usual this Arizona immigration law is focused on the immigrants and lets those that hire the individuals continue to exploit them.  If it is not profitable for business or the immigrants that come here to work,  immigration will become less of a problem plain and simple.

So we as consumers and voters  can protest with our wallets and hopefully we will not get sucked into quick fix laws and rhetoric.  This problem will continue unless we take a look at the real underlying causes and work to mitigate some of the disparities between the American and the Mexican labor market.  Mexican workers need an opportunity to succeed on their on turf then they will be less likely to immigrate to the US.

One last thought, I want to give a shout out to those that were not sucked into the Ken Mettler election strategy business.  I was very glad that voters turned him away in favor of Shannon Grove because to be frank that guy seemed to have a tough time telling the truth.

First and foremost USW Local12-6 sends out their condolences to the families of those who lost their lives on the offshore rig in the Gulf.  We also wish for the speedy recovery of those injured in this tragic oilfield accident.   

Congratulations to West High grad Ryan Mathews who was drafted no. 12 in the first round by the San Diego Chargers.  Winner

Have you been following the saga of Right Wing Conservative and some kind of headcase Ken Mettler/Loser.  Check his resume’, defacing a school board election sign, crossing a main road to get into a physical confrontation with a No on 8 supporter, encouraging  a woman to run in the same race he is running in to confuse the voters since her first name happens to be the same as his opponent Shannon Grove, lying about the fact that he knew this woman – while he is being videotaped, trying to use an email hacking story -allegedly- to take the heat off of his self-confessed political strategy boondoggle and don’t forget his use of money he may or may not have used properly.  And what is even stranger is he was the favorite in the race and may still win even after all of this.  Truth really is stranger than fiction in this case.

Why do people want to become politicians so badly?  Is it the power, the perks, the money, the benefits or a combination of all of the above.  Folks seem to lose their minds and act as if no one can see their desperation. Losers

Goldman Sachs and many others using and abusing mortgage based securities among other questionable financial instruments to make and in some cases lose billions. Losers

Why are average folks getting involved in securities they don’t even understand. Greed

Why do we negotiate MOAs at the  Statewide Committee meetings only to find out the supervisors do not understand how the MOA applies or even care.  And HR seems to have the job of defending the supervisors position no matter what.  

Why is the company so scared to let the union be apart of the new employees training progam. 

Why does America place such a high value on winning no matter what the contest, and then get so angry when somebody gets caught acting questionably.  Remember it ain’t cheatin’ if you don’t get caught.

More on these compelling issues soon.

The Workman’s Committee has been mighty busy lately as the company has definitely gone suspension crazy.  We have also filed many new grievances on everything from unjust discipline to failure of the company to grant the Joint Health and Safety Committee their contractual right to be a part of safety Root Cause Analysis meetings.  It looks as if the company is also trying to blame employees for many of the messes that seem to be caused more by a lack of  heat and clean-up equipment than operator misdeeds. 

The company is not messing around with one to three day suspensions and are going for week-long suspensions.  In fact, one of the suspensions started off at sixty hours.  We were able to get this one back to a more manageable thirty six hours.  I think what is most unfair is that one of the suspensions seems to be based solely on desk file information, which in part has a document that is not only close to one year old, the committee asked for the report from this document if it was going to be used for discipline.  As far as the committee was concerned, this document and the related report (if there is a report we haven’t seen it) failed to meet the muster necessary for discipline. 

Just for your information, desk file info is not to be used for disciplinary action since an employee may or may not know of its existence.  When you have been disciplined the company lets you know what the violation is, which allows the disciplined employee to file a grievance if they disagree with the companies conclusion.

There has been lots of talk concerning discipline in our grievance meetings and in fact some of the new grievances concern the gathering of information to support the companies position of disciplinary action.  There will be more on this as things unfold.  As an employee you can do things to keep you ahead of the game.  Never go to a meeting where there is a chance of disciplinary action without a union steward-in other words invoke your Weingarten rights.  The Weingarten rights allow an employee to have a representative, officer, or steward present at the meeting.  Without representation,  you can choose not to answer any questions.  Request a look at your personnel file from time to time along with all desk files.  You may not be allowed to make copies of the info but you can certainly take notes on what is contained within these files.

I’m not sure if the balance of power the company feels right now is based on high unemployment rates or if there is some other reason for this sudden need for suspensions.  As always,  if you have any questions concerning these or other issues do not hesitate to ask one of your committeemen for the information.

For some reason when it comes to union matters many conservatives feel that their precious free market society shouldn’t apply to workers banding together to get the best working conditions possible.  Many feel that it’s ok to make your best deal one on one but workers should not gather together to wield real power.  I don’t care what union it is, the one thing collective bargaining agreements have in common is they are negotiated by both parties and are ratified by the union’s respective membership.  No harm no foul,  sometimes management ends up with the better deal and other times the members do.  The bottom line is nobody holds a gun to either sides head to sign the agreement, it is an agreed upon contract.  The sooner people quit blaming unions for the ills of our economic downturn the sooner we will get to the real solutions of this mess.  The UAW has been hammered and blamed for the auto industry’s current mess, when in actuality, the UAW has probably given more in concessions over the decades than most unions.  Don’t blame the UAW for the mess corporate greed has sown.  

Along with the improvements to our current wage and benefits package here are a few other things that have been accomplished over the years.  The union was able to negotiate with the company during the Chevron/Texaco merger to allow those that were nearing retirement to separate from the company and partake in Texaco’s Change of Control provision of the Texaco White Book.  These negotiations allowed younger employees to stay with the company.  When Shell wanted to close the Rosedale refinery, the union worked with elected officials to convince Shell to sell the refinery to Flying J thus keeping the employees of the refinery employed.  Unfortunately, Flying J changed to Big West and screwed up a functioning and profitable business, and now the union is trying to keep the door open for a new contract with whoever buys the refinery.  In 2004 Chevron decided to layoff some 39 field employees; however, through intense negotiations that number was lowered to 14.  Even though it was  disappointing it was definately better than what was originally proposed by the company.  Currently the International Longshoreman’s Union is embattled with Rio Tinto in Boron, Ca. over a company lockout.  As Rio Tinto continues to choke the life out of this desert community under the guise of needing the “flexibility to compete globally” the union will do the best job it can to hold onto the dignity and well-being of their members.  Unions will continue to provide workers with the power needed to balance the scales in the management/labor relationship, but always remember the union is only as good as its membership.  Support your union by becoming a member and buying products made in the USA by union labor.

I would like to take this time to thank our retiring USW staff rep Saul McGarity.  Saul did a great job in the difficult economic and social times we are currently experiencing.  He helped negotiate a new contract in 2009 and was involved in many negotiations at the Statewide level.  Saul took great pride in representing USW members and Local 12-6 wishes him a long and happy retirement.

The economy needed a catalyst to help get us out of the doldrums of the derailed internet bubble.  Real estate came to the fore since nothing says, “ wow, we have a great economy” like the availability and affordability of single family dwellings.  It seemed like a good idea.  What was needed for things to get going were financial tools aka new mortgage options.

The options included zero down with interest only loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and we also have to remember interest rates were at historically low levels.  These gave many folks the opportunity to get a home of their own.  The government was on board and pushed financial institutions to help those that wouldn’t normally qualify for a home loan through a number of government backed programs.  The real estate market was catching fire. 

People were taking loans that in years past would seem ludicrous, such as interest only loans.  How did these loans make sense.  The market was feeding on itself.  Because the value of houses were going up so fast that the equity was increasing fast enough to make these loans work, and supply was unable to meet demand.  It was all working so well; people were being told to take the equity out of their homes and many did exactly that.

The credit market was going crazy.   The influx of participants with their pockets full of cash was pumping up most sectors.  The stock market was good, builders, banks, and retailers of all types had hit the mother load.  Flipping houses became the new American past time.  Everyone wanted in on the real estate boom and brokers were taking on new agents as fast as they could pass their exams.  The American Dream was available to more of the population than ever before.

It didn’t stop there.  Others wanted in on the fun as well such as insurance companies and retirement funds for example.  How do we get in there?  Real estate derivitives seemed to be a great way of gaining exposure to this market.  Corporations had to keep pace with the market even if they had little to do with real estate.   If they didn’t their stocks would be sold and investors would buy stocks with better performance.  Capitalism was in full effect.  But in reality the whole country was overleveraged.  The government, corporations, banks, and yes the general public were all overleveraged.

It isn’t clear exactly what happened but the credit market began to teeter.  Somehow there were companies and banks getting cold feet and they may have been ready to take their profits off the table, which could have  started a ripple effect.  It became apparent that the housing values may be a little high.  No problem, a little correction could bring things back in line.  But once things started ”correcting” they just kept going.  Home loan seconds were starting to become a burden as the value of homes were not worth as much as previously thought.  Folks were going upside down with no way to refinance their debts.  Real estate derivitives were becoming almost impossible to value as the housing market was slipping and investors were treating these instruments like a hot potato.

So home loans and their seconds were going into default, derivitives are of an unknown value, 401ks are dropping like a rock, builders are still building to meet the now nonexistent demand and home values continue to drop.  It looked as if we were headed for another full-on depression.  President Bush started to pump money into the economy to try to stabalize the markets.  After President Obama was elected he really cranked up the printing press, but in my opinion, he had no choice.  Although most fiscal conservatives believe that the free market should have been left to sort things out, the aftermath of watching countless American businesses and citizens go down for the count would have been a depression none of us would want to see.  We can argue about the continued support the government is providing the markets, but the economy had to be helped, and like it or not Obama made the right decision.

So what’s next?  Has greed the very heart of capitalism, finally become the ultimate enemy of this country?  Are we going to try to compete with third world nations and risk the very real possibility of becoming a third world nation ourselves?   Or are we all just waiting for the next bubble?

I want to say right off the bat that I generally believe in capitalism; however, I believe that capitalism has been manipulated and we are now digesting what we have sown.  During the internet boom of the ’90’s we saw companies that sold virtually no tangible  products increase in stock value to unprecedented levels.  Suddenly companies were discontinuing pensions in favor of 401k plans, and the public was eating them up.  Unions continued to extol the virtues of pensions while many American workers bought into the 401k mystique.  No longer were young men checking out the ball scores, instead they were reading the Wall Street Journal and business sections of their local papers.   President Bush and many conservatives were working on plans to privatize Social Security.  Can you imagine the anguish if this concept had been accepted and placed into our hands.

As the stock market continued to climb to previously unthought of heights, people bathed in the euphoria of economic bliss.  Along with this  windfall, credit limits and the debt that followed also climbed.   Folks did not increase their savings rate much at all, they continued to live high on the hog even if it meant borrowing to do it.  The stock market climbed on speculation and easy credit.  CEOs smiled and our 401ks made us all feel like we could retire tomorrow.  

Then in the early 2000’s the internet bubble and its unsustainable company values burst.  The stock market began to correct and purge itself of companies selling concepts and not products.  However some of these companies with well thought out ideas did make it through the correction.  Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and many others did make it to profitability and emerged as  economic powers while others fell by the wayside along with the Dow and our beloved 401k plans.

Things were looking mighty grim, but then a new bubble began to appear and with it a credit crisis of epic proportions.  The housing and real estate boom was about to save us temporarily from our economic comeupence.  Again the stock market rose on real estate values previously unseen.  Houses in Bakersfield doubled and tripled in value for reasons most of us did not understand; however, many of us started cashing in our equity values and barrowing on them for everything from vacations, cars, and other niceties.  Stay tuned for part 2 soon.

I was listening to the radio today and I heard how bad the health care bill is for America and how government intervention in our lives needs to be stopped.  Let me say that if we are getting our news and opinions from talk show hosts we are in trouble. People, we cannot possibly be properly informed without doing a little research.  Read a book and take the time to go beyond the 10 minute force-fed information of these radio entertainers.  Many of us are being brainwashed by these so called political experts instead of forming our own opinions based on a variety of different sources. 

Let’s get into the government intervention issue.  Conservatives hear this, America is becoming more liberal.  We have the greatest military and we can’t win a war.  Our wars are political wars based on special interests.  We get into these situations and we don’t seem to have a plan or exit strategy, so many Americans see this and decide most of our wars aren’t worth the human costs.  America becomes a little more liberal. 

The last four or five decades have seen corporate America become more and more powerful.  They acquired and merged with smaller companies turning their corporations into megacompanies.  These companies have gotten bigger and with that weild more political power.  The economic crunch of the last couple of years has turned much of the population against corporate America blaming them for much of this economic calamity.  Many folks are desparate and feel they are being squeezed between a rock and a hard place.  In my opinion, people are ready to take a chance on government vs. corporations.  Let me tell you why I don’t believe this will work.  To put it simply, our government is constantly being fed and manipulated by big business and to expect government to bite the hand that feeds it is doubtful.  

Unions have become villians eventhough  in my opinion it is middle America’s best chance to fight this situation.  Unions have made mistakes and many have not done the best job trying sell their message to the masses, but we have to fight big organizations with a big organization.  I don’t see it happening any other way.  Why do you think corporations are fighting the card check thing so hard.  They don’t want any more competition to take away from what many of them are trying to do, which is make more money without giving more to their employees.  In the fifties slaughterhouse workers unionized and turned a very dangerous and low paying job into a well-paid and respected job.  They made a good wage with benefits, pension, and changes to working conditions which made it much safer.  Unfortunately, many of these gains have been turned back.  Ccompanies have used their governmental influence to weaken these unions and turn back the hands of time to the preunion days.  Now slaughterhouses not only abuse their product (animals), they also abuse their employees with the help of  governmental policies. 

So if we want  better wages, safer working conditions, better benefits not paid by the government, and a bigger voice in what happens in our government we need to get organized, and involved in our unions.  Don’t blame unions like we do the government because as a population many of us have given up our voices by not voting or getting involved in the organizations that have the best chance to help us.  Are unions perfect no, but they are only as good as the people involved in them.

                As with most years, 2009 was a very exciting and sometimes sad year. On a national level, America elected its first black President, Michael Jackson died under mysterious circumstances, and the economy continued to struggle to get back on track after many years of poorly controlled credit.

                As far as the union locals of 2-19 and 12-6 are concerned we were able to negotiate new three year deals with Aera and Chevron. The Big West Refinery continues to be in an idled state, with rumors continuing to swirl around its future. This is an important issue as they contributed many members to local 2-19.

                After the ’09 contract negotiations, we saw Chevron HR rep Kim Mudford transfer out of the area and was replaced by two newer HR reps. after some definite growing pains both of these reps have quit the company and have been replaced by Dave Reed. Chevron also added HR rep Matt Legg to the mix as Mr. Reed’s boss. We have had a better relationship since these changes were made and are hopeful going forward for continued successful negotiations. The years ahead will bring many changes as many members are closing in on retirement and the younger employees will take the lead in field operations. We will see many negotiations between the USW and the oil companies in the future to usher in these changes.

                On a sadder note, Chevron statewide committee member Mr. Steve Audap took an early retirement due to health issues. We also lost members of the 12-6 family in Jim Barraza and Rodney Stigall to failing health and Dan Brockett was killed in a motorcycle accident.

                 I want to say how important it is for the newer employees to take an interest in the union/company relationship, because like it or not it is going to be left in your hands to take care of your future workplace concerns. We do have some newer union reps that have been elected to various committees and positions within both locals and are doing a great job. Any employee wanting to get involved should speak with a current rep or better yet join us at the local 12-6 membership meeting held the second Tuesday of every month at the Taft union hall.

                It is my hope to continue to update the local 12-6 website on a regular basis, as I am burning to get some things off of my chest concerning union, political, health, sports, social, business, and a myriad of other issues and remember the comments written in this blog are not necessarily the views of local 12-6 or the USW. I would like to ask members to watch a movie I saw over the holiday season entitled Foods Inc. I will be burning on some of the topics brought up in this movie. And your comments are always welcome through this website.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author and are not necessarily those of USW Local 12-6 or USW International