June 29, 2000
Stop scaring employees and start informing them
To draw attention to management deficiencies does not mean that employees want to get rid of the University of California. In fact, this UC contract scare tactic is wearing a little thin. If the UC contract were in any danger -- and who among us can assert with certainty that it is or is not -- it is management's own errors that are to blame.
The paternalistic view that Lab management can be trusted to
take care of us is simply out-moded, as well as untrue. Witness
the latest display of management cowardice. When the pressure
is really on management what happens? Management fingerpoints
and deserts loyal and highly skilled employees who followed practices
put in place by management and approved by the Department of Energy
but which proved insufficient to protect important nuclear secrets.
This is just plain abuse of power.
It is not incumbent upon us to turn a blind-eye to abuses of power
at UC and the Laboratory, however. Instead of the one-sided view
of the Lab presented by management, airing other views of Lab
and UC management serve to empower employees to make informed
decisions and choices. That is the essence of democracy. Let's
stop scaring employees and start informing them.
--Theresa Connaughton