Oct. 28, 1999
Excellent points made about unions
David Waters [Oct. 27 letter to the editor] brings up some excellent points about unions and how they negatively effect the relationship between management and nonmanagement employees. He further points out how one of the strengths of the Laboratory (for example, everyone pitching in to get the job done) could be destroyed by unions and their very strict interpretation of exactly who can do what.
Having unions would allow someone you probably don't know, and maybe didn't vote for, to negotiate for your terms and conditions of employment, including pay and benefits. Remember that negotiation often means compromise between one's desires and those of others. This "someone" may be offering to trade some of your pay for more vacation, or less pay now for more retirement later, or less vacation and sick for more pay, etc., etc., etc. We could have people working side-by-side but with entirely different benefits packages and pay structures. Some unions have their own retirement programs. Are you willing to be torn out of the University of California Retirement System in order to be in a union?
You think you never will have to go on strike? A no-strike clause would be in effect only as long as a contract between the union and UC is in force. When the contract expires, so does the no-strike clause, and you could find yourself on the end of a picket line, without pay, until contract issues are resolved. Could you continue to live your current lifestyle if you didn't get paid for, maybe, 30 days?
The idea of unions at the Laboratory is sickening, and a reminder of the earlier days in Los Alamos when the Zia Co. (with it's many unions) went on strike regularly. The workers would have to scramble to find other work, often well away from Los Alamos, in order to survive the strike.
Are you favorably impressed when one of the airlines goes on strike and screws up your travel plans for a major holiday? Do you really want to become part of that mentality?
Unions would bring major changes to the Laboratory, and the culture we have come to value. What we have is not perfect, but unions will not change that. In my opinion, they would make work environments and relationships intolerable.
If you don't really understand what unionization would mean, you need to find out real soon.
Less than one out of three employees (30 percent) of an identified bargaining class can decide to bring unionization to a vote, and then 51 percent of those voting can decide the unionization issue.
Be careful, you just might get what you ask for.
--James F. Van Hecke Jr.