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More and more we hear the company complain about absence. “How can I run this department when employees are off and I can’t meet the needs of the business?” Well, we’ve been telling them they laid off too many employees as they continue to pile on more work. (It’s hard to make your numbers with so few employees.) We have heard management complain vigorously about employees calling in sick or taking FMLA. Does any ones manager have a medical degree? Of course they don’t. Our managers and supervisors work at the phone factory, not the medical field.
For managers and supervisors to make comments or assertions concerning an employee’s health or FMLA status is ridiculous and outrageous. They have no more medical knowledge than any other employee at the phone company. When an employee reports to management that they will be absent due to illness, disability, or excused FMLA as per Article 20, does their manager or supervisor offer medical advice, diagnosis, or write out a prescription and treatment protocol. Of course not, because they are not DOCTORS. Our members are entitled to respectful treatment under the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement and they should not be stigmatized by management’s bias and innuendo when they report out due to illness. Collectively we should not be tolerating this behavior from management. Brothers and sisters, you have seen the changes in the workplace, but you do not have to silently accept or encourage management’s undercurrent of comments concerning our members absence due to illness, especially when these same managers are the least qualified to make a medical determination of ones health or well being. If you have not been absent due to health reasons, then that is surely a blessing. Due to the many lay offs of the bargaining unit the company is also attempting to treat vacation as a disruption to their business needs. It’s all about control. When was the last time you took a week’s vacation and when you returned on Monday you were given a work list with 7 days of work that was assigned to you while you were on vacation, and by the way, welcome back from vacation? Article 22 covers vacation, there is no language included in that article that demands that an employee give a set amount of days or hours before they can request a vacation day off. And I assure you, your President has not signed any Local Agreement altering the Article 22 language for the vacation selection process. Again, if the company is setting time frames to request a vacation day, it’s all about controlling our members in the workplace. The minimal work force conditions are not caused by our brothers and sisters, but due to the company’s continued lay-offs and short term profit agenda. Do not tolerate the company making unqualified assertions or disparaging remarks regarding your brothers and sisters being out due to illness or being out because of vacation days. There was a time that the company was staffed to accommodate a work force that occasionally was ill or on vacation. Those days may never return, but we can still demand that the company treat our members with respect and dignity. Remember, it is not healthy for anyone in the workplace to have someone come to work when they are ill and everyone deserves a vacation to be with their loved ones away from the phone factory. Don’t ever be ashamed for not coming to work to take care of ones health or taking vacation that you are entitled to. In Unity There is Strength. Roy Hegenbart
President
CWA Local 3250 |
