The Astron Road Show

On November 19th, National Director Michael Maciekowich will be at The Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers 2007 Annual Convention and Expo: Living the Promise. If you’ll be in the Boston area, be sure to stop by!

Astron Solutions’ Blog

Sally Field won an Academy Award for her role in the movie, “Norma Rae”, a film which seemed to galvanize and romanticize the idea of a labor strike and standing up against your bosses. On the other extreme of public perception is the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) 1981 strike, which ended in the firing of all strike participants and the disbanding of their union by President Ronald Regan. In addition, the baseball strike of 1994, which cancelled the World Series and caused many fans to move away from the game, further reinforced the idea that strikes are not as glamorous as they may seem. The recent rash of strikes in the US leans more towards the latter, but still lends its hand towards educating the public about issues in those fields.

On September 5th and 6th, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (a union that represents 10,000 members) decided to strike in retaliation of mandatory GPS systems being put into taxi cabs. But this strike lost steam before it ever began, when, according to New York’s CBS affiliate, the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents 7,000 members, decided they were not going to participate in the strike. The strike lost even more steam on the second day when many of the striking drivers decided to go back to work. The public was annoyed more at the taxis than at the city, no demands of the strikers were met, and no real benefit seemed to come from the strike.

One would think a lesson would be learned from this, but quite the opposite: it has seemed to inspire more strikers. First came those same New York Taxi Workers Alliance members who went on strike again on October 22nd, but as reported by the New York Times, this too proved to have little to no effect and to be unsuccessful for those cabbies who did decide to strike. And those who decided to strike, according to the city, reduced even more, to only 5% of drivers. As pointed out by CRN, this was totally unlike the successful 2005 MTA strike which impacted New York City subway and bus transportation: “the cab strikes are partial, voluntary actions which thinned the cab ranks but didn't close them down entirely.”

After two unsuccessful strikes from the New York cabbies, the next union to strike was the Washington, D.C. cabbies. Unlike the New York taxi strike’s focus on advanced GPS/Credit Card systems in the cars, the D.C. cabbies, according to the Washington Post, were striking due to the presence of meters. In 2004, the D.C. cabbies also went on strike, but used an organized system. The problem, though, with the D.C. strikes, as with the New York ones, is that too many cabs remained on the road. “Even if half of the District's drivers [went on] strike, the city would have more cabdrivers working than Boston, with 1,825 licensed drivers; San Francisco, 1,381; or Denver, 842.”

On October 22nd, another New York group decided to authorize its members to go on strike: Members of Local One, the union representing almost all Broadway stagehands. The New York Times reported that although they had declared that they may do this, it is far from inevitable. While many issues are at stake during the union’s talks with management, one topic that made the local news may be of note to those with an interest in labor relations. The union wants to require theaters to have fly crew, who specialize in overhead scenery that drops from the ceiling onto the stage, even if the Broadway show does not utilize such a set. While Phantom of the Opera’s dramatic chandelier scene fits this requirement, Avenue Q’s less elaborate sets do not.

Strike fever has spread from Broadway—all the way across the United States to Hollywood—where the Writers Guild of America just voted this weekend to go on strike. A month ago many thought this was never going to happen in the middle of a television season, but according to Entertainment Weekly, experts could see the strike looming. The effect could be huge for some of these networks with sweeps and television shows just getting their starts for the new season. Some are predicting the effect could be many reruns and reality television programs until this dispute can be resolved. Late night and morning television shows are expected to be hardest hit at the start of the strike. The Hollywood Reporter reports about not only the current negotiations, but also references the Writer’s Guild strike in 1988, when a 22-week work stoppage “effectively shut down the town.”

The key for many is to prevent these work stoppages, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, before they even begin. For instance, the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co. reached an agreement on November 3rd which would keep the workers in the factory, according to the Detroit Free Press. In this way, both sides benefit, as the workers and the employer don’t bring ill will on their company and work continues.

While mutually beneficial solutions sound great, they’re not easy to achieve in reality. There are problems with this approach. For instance, many individuals on both sides do not want to compromise, groups may lack a central message, and many do not get the publicity they seek, ending up alienating many of those who would be there to help them. Many unions are spurred forward with grandiose ideas of staging strikes like the 1934 San Francisco strike, where, after months of trying to unionize the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco's dockworkers launched a multi-industry strike that shut down the city for four days, which the San Francisco Bay Guardian recaps and analyzes.

“Strikes should always be the last resort after all other negotiating options have been exhausted,” explains Jennifer Loftus, National Director of Astron Solutions. “Sometimes a strike is necessary in order to accomplish goals. However, both the union and the employer must be sure to carefully weigh the cost of the strike against the perceived benefits. Those benefits are not only the tangibles – jobs, money, and benefits – but also the intangibles – public sentiment and ill will towards the general public.” Whether the current uptick in strike activity continues will remain to be seen. The events unfolding in recent months, however, make for an interesting study for all Human Resource professionals, especially those who do not work for an organization with organized labor.

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

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Copyright 2007, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467