Irony Upon Irony: 9 Union Workers Fired by 815, Replaced with Non-Union Workers

Wait…

Aren’t these the same folks who marched in solidarity with the oppressed Disney workers during GC2009 in Anaheim?

*rustle rustle rustle*

Yep! Here it is:

LOS ANGELES: Episcopalians join hotel worker protest

And here it is again, on page 8 of the The Daily Worker(pdf):

Episcopalians attending General Convention linked arms with hotel workers…

Don’t worry. I’ve saved copies of both. I’m sure they’ll be disappearing soon.

(Agitprop ungood malmemory. Unremember Schorispeak all reference Anaheim DisneyPicket doubleplus speedwise.)

*rustle rustle rustle*

great visual…
Can’t wait for the picket line to form around 815.
Intercessor

But according to those on the HoB/D Listerv its okay because:

“But there is a major difference between between “fired” and “let go.” The former is occasioned by incompetence and measured/documented non-performance; the latter had to do with budget limitations—which is
beyond the bosses’s control. No one can pay people with money that they do not have. Unless they rob someone else.”

and

“The controversy about the “firing” of 9 union workers due to a new contract with a new vendor by 815 is just a symptom of a much larger problem that many of you regular writers choose to ignore.  It’s 815.  It’s the location. It’s the overhead.  It’s the cost of living and other expenses that make continue to work from the upper East Coast for a national church truly irrational.”

and his lovely diddy

“I inherited a lovely, early American highboy in the early years of marriage.  The highboy had rich family associations and would bring in enough money if sold to preclude my having to work for the U.S. Census Bureau.
As I moved from Kansas to Missouri to Upstate NY to North Carolina, Wisconsin and California one of the prime considerations in purchasing a house was always how it would accommodate the highboy.  It soon became clear that I did not own the highboy: the highboy owned me. Living in an adobe home in Santa Fe with my early American Highboy.”

lest I forget this one

“The will of GC has been expressed repeatedly that the location in NYC is far too expensive. However, the staff lives in the area and does not want to relocate. Until some means is found to force the will of GC on the staff, no change will occur. It is obvious that the GC does not have power to exercise its authority in this case. We are a toothless tiger. In the meantime, the GC can, by passing resolutions that reduce funding, reduce the size of the staff, even if we can’t make them move. This is not an attack on the character of those on the staff. I would not like for anyone to tell me I have to move to keep my job. I happen to like where I live too.”

HYPOCRITES!

As a person who was “let go” this past summer due to “budgetary constraints” I can report that the amount of unemployment compensation and the cost of COBRA premiums, and the reduction in lifestyle are similar to those resulting from being “laid off” “fired” or having one’s “position eliminated.”  Quite, quite similar.

For myself, I don’t really see the problem in 815 changing cleaning contractors for another with cheaper rates. Sure it would be nice if the other group went Union, but what do you do? It’s America, it happens all the time, it’s a wonderful incentive to keep your rates low.

No what bugs me, is the way they were fired. A note, informing them that yesterday was their last day of work, and a “good luck to you” is not an appropriate means of “letting someone go”. When someone’s livelihood is at stake, and it is for these unhappy folks, the appropriate thing to do is let them know WELL in advance, that they won’t have a job next year, so start looking elsewhere soon. “Well in advance” meaning, as soon as you find out yourself, by the way.

Knowing someone is going to be without work and not telling them until the day of, and giving them a note rather than a face to look at, that’s just horrible.

Yours in Christ,
jacob

The next time I hear the “justice argument” to promote ssm’s etc, I will have to ask for an explanation about the “justice” in this.

Jacob….I agree with you however we are talking about a Church and Church that has been and continues to engage in politics and by their demonstrations such as the one they did at Disney, (how ironic that it is a company that supports their LBGT agenda too) they have proven themselves hypocrites. If they don’t want the mark of hypocrisy on their backs then they should have stuck to just preaching, teaching and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Written Word. The way, the Truth and the Life…. but alas they have not and will not and do not because they are of the world not of the Light.

But, but, but, they’re all for legislation that forces all sorts of businesses to pay “living wages” for the sake of “justice.”  Why can’t the fuzzy headed libs at 815 stand up for their principles voluntarily and show us all how it’s to be done?

Jacob #5, you are so right!  What a weaselly, rotten way to treat your fellow human beings!  In my case, I was fortunate enough to have several months of advance warning, which enabled me to save some money and vacation time (= $$) I would otherwise have used. Has helped a great deal.

Wow…good thing those workers were not Orthodox priests on the side! The pooh would really hit the fan…
Intercessor

Yep!  They’d rather spend millions of dollars on lawsuits instead of paying a company to keep their nice shiny digs clean and shipshape and provide jobs and security to good, honest, and hard-working wage earners with families to support!  Nice going, Schori and Company!

I agree with you #5, but there is an important consideration that is being missed because of this linked article that is a good example of yellow journalism. These folks did not work for TEC. These folks were employees of Paris Maintenance. TEC did not wait until 30 DEC and terminate their employment, Paris Maintenance did. TEC sought bids for a new contract to clean a building that includes its own offices as well as some rented space. TEC legally needed to stay away from the way Paris maintenance handled the termination of its employees. Doubly so I think since they had a union contract with Paris Maintenance.

The Episcopal Church
Office of Public Affairs
[February 5, 2010]
The following information is from Linda Watt, Chief Operating Officer of the Episcopal Church:
Budget constraints have prompted The Episcopal Church to review all contracts and to implement cost-cutting measures where possible.
A major item in our facilities budget is the cleaning/housekeeping service that covers 815 Second Ave. in New York City, including the Ad Council and Episcopal Church associated agencies as well as DFMS offices. This line item was cut substantially in the budget. 

A Request For Proposal (RFP) was issued as part of normal business operations. The RFP was issued to both union and non-union firms, including minority and women-owned businesses.
Following a thorough review of the proposals submitted, Benjamin Enterprises, a minority-owned firm, has been awarded a one-year contract for housekeeping services at The Episcopal Church Center effective January 4, 2010.

Business practices for Benjamin Enterprises are in line with the values, practices and priorities of The Episcopal Church, including a comprehensive compensation package, laudable employee relations practices, and the use of eco-friendly supplies. We look forward to working with their management and staff.
Linda Watt

Chief Operating Officer

The Episcopal Church

TEC legally needed to stay away from the way Paris maintenance handled the termination of its employees.

Whyever so? Doesn’t stop them getting involved in all manner of other affairs. Why the cold feet over this one?

I guess that what it boils down to is:  TEC is losing money like storm water pouring down a drain, and they had to make some cuts….just like the cuts they made by shutting down the missions at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and small parishes in failing dioceses.  The result of this action is the same, though, and people are being hurt.  The blame doesn’t lie solely with Paris Maintenance; it started with TEC.

I do try hard not to confuse God’s agenda with my own biases. And yet…..And yet…...Is there anyone left anywhere in the universe who still believes that God is blessing TEC?

“He who honors me, him also will I honor.” Or something to that effect - I wish I had the exact quote…..I suppose the opposite must also be true.

It is all quite painful to watch. There must be something good, somewhere, that TEC is still true to, but where? Watching TEC’s mostly self-imposed tribulations, one is beyond even Schadenfreude.

I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. 1 Samuel 2:30

Because Mr Ould, the USA is a nation where folks are readily prone to sue. TEC’s contract was with the employer, not the employees, especially an employer bound to a union contract. The staff at 815 have a fiduciary responsibility to keep the denomination’s assets unencumbered from liability.

The blame doesn’t lie solely with Paris Maintenance; it started with TEC.
Of course if Carl is right Cennydd, then it is God’s fault. God brought this on the union employees by punishing TEC.

Because Mr Ould, the USA is a nation where folks are readily prone to sue.

Yes, I’m well aware of that. Being involved in this Anglican blogging lark has led to me observing a good number of frivolous or downright malicious lawsuits.

The staff at 815 have a fiduciary responsibility to keep the denomination’s assets unencumbered from liability.

Of course; both fiduciary and moral liability, surely? If this action on the part of the contractor was so outrageous then I am surprised that TEC did not seek to terminate the relationship as soon a possible. Boycotting Nike because of sweatshops seem to be all the rage, but perhaps that’s because its a trendier social cause and doesn’t actually hurt the pocket.

Oh well.

While we understand contract review, etc., the irony still holds.  But they felt good when they demonstrated at Disney ... in California ... and got their name and picture in the paper.  The difference is the amount of media play TEC received at the time versus the small amount of publicity when they do it themselves.

[17] David |däˈvēd|

Neat little tactic you’ve got going here.  You focus on the shared responsibility for the December firing to distract attention from the fact that TEC decided to contract non-union labor.  It occurs to me that even if TEC wanted to replace its contractor, it could still have stipulated that only union labor would have been engaged.  Funny that it didn’t do so. 

Solidarity!  As long as it isn’t TECs money.  After all, TEC has to pay for those wine-and-cheese parties somehow. 

carl
who is going outside to shovel snow

As usual, DA_VEED, you’re defending TEC again.  Does the possibility that you may be wrong ever enter your mind?

David (#12 & #17),

In view of your sympathies expressed above, I am curious what you might be doing to assist and protect unions and union members in your own country. 

How are the unions and union members faring in the apparently emerging narco-state in which you live?  Are you professing on their behalf in your own back yard?  Are any of your TEC dioceses’ or parish’s employees or contactors trade union members?  Have you considered working with them to organize as trade unionists to protect them in situations like the one at TEC headquarters, of which your (Mexican) diocese and parish appear to be subordinate units?

You disparagingly remark that “… the USA is a nation where folks are readily prone to sue.”  You’ve got that right.  Most of the time, most U. S. citizens prefer using the U. S. and state civil courts rather than physical violence to settle disputes.  And dispute we do.

David,
My question is when did TEC advised the union contractor of the review and then the change in contract status?  Did TEC give the union contractor a chance to bid, requesting such be done with certain employee practices as well as eco-friendly products? In other words, did the union contractor get a chance to compete?  Was that contractor responsible for NOT advising employees, who then showed up to work?  Or was the timing TEC’s fault (not advising until late Jan?)
Logically, the union contractor should have had a better ability to offer fair compensation and practices overall for its employees in line with TEC’s mission etc (and obviously hires minority employees, same as the non-union contractor).

Please let us know, David.  If TEC DID give advance notice of a review, and the contractor was able to bid, and did not bid well, and then failed to notify its employees that the contract had ended, we do owe TEC and apology!

Cennydd, I continue to side with TEC because I happen to agree with the TEC position. Presently the Anglican Church of Mexico is one of the 38 autonomous dioceses of the Anglican Communion. We are no longer a part of TEC and have not been since we became an independent province in 1995.

I work in Human Resources. We (my sister, my cousin and I) are a private consultancy to Mexican companies and we help them establish and manage legal human resource organizations. The majority of Mexican companies are still privately owned family firms. Unions do not pay a large role in Mexico. Mexico has socialized medicine, so health benefits for employees is the law. But getting this benefit involves bringing family firms into compliance with paying their employees legally, instead of under the table, and paying the federal taxes that provide their employees participation in the socialized medical coverage. So we have developed HR in a box, so to speak. Turnkey computerized systems that we implement, train their HR staff to use and constantly monitor to keep them in compliance.

Additionally we provide customized company policies to govern their internal HR program. And we assist them all along the way. A horrible part of my job is visiting my clients and conducting group terminations due to this economic climate. But we do not effect immediate termination. Our clients provide a minimum of a 30 day notice, counseling, job resources information and severance packages. Should they not, they are no longer our clients and then they risk drifting back to paying folks under the table, except now they federal government knows that they exist!

I am sorry that you took that as a derisive remark. It was not intended to be. I tried to state the truth matter-of-factly. Unfortunately we still have a corrupt legal system. And it is different from yours because we have different inheritances; yours is from English common law, ours from the european civil law dating back to Rome and Greece. There is no trial by jury here, and many legal decisions are in favor of the highest bidder. I am well aware that I live in a 3rd world nation. We try to do our part to effect change.

But this is a side issue. The topic is the cleaning crew who worked at 815. I think that you lot in your enjoyment of attacking ever move TEC makes are missing the point here. TEC did not do this. TEC found it necessary to renegotiate a cleaning contract do to the limits of their budget, regardless of why the budget is restricted. In the process the folks who used to clean their buiding no longer have jobs, but that is the fault of their employer, not TEC.

Please let us know, David.  If TEC DID give advance notice of a review, and the contractor was able to bid, and did not bid well, and then failed to notify its employees that the contract had ended, we do owe TEC and apology!

How can I possibly let you know. I live in Monterrey, Mexico. I am not a member of TEC. I am a member of the Anglican Church of Mexico. But that is my point entirely. With this one slanted newspaper article there is not enough information to make the criticism of TEC found here. Not to mention that these folks were fired in DEC of last year. The new contract, per the press release I offered, started 4 JAN 2010.

Question is, has TEC contracted with the same contractor for the last 42 years, or did TEC hire the contractor in the first place with the stipulation of taking on the people currently working in the building at whatever time they “privatized” building maintenance?  Strikes me as quite unusual for a private contractor to have the same people in one building for 42 years.

It is quite unusual for a company to maintain an outside contractor for 42 years, which is what leads me to think this might be the case, but I have no knowledge one way or the other.  Does anybody know?  When the longest term employees we originally hired in 1968 or thereabouts, were they employees of the contractor, or TEC, or the DFMS or some real estate trust set up to manage the building for TEC?

David (#24),

We are no longer a part of TEC and have not been since we became an independent province in 1995. Empahsis added.

Do you know how much financial support your independent province received directly, or indirectly, from or through, TEC in 2009 and what percentage that was of your total provincial budget?

With your answer to those questions, I will be in a better position to assess the validity of your claim that you are independent.

Thanks, David. I assumed you were in the know because you accessed the memo from Linda Watt. 

The contract change happened Dec/Jan just past, not “last year” (ie it did not take a year to change contractors).

I also assume you would like the answers to my questions. Correct?  Your point that this article is slanted may be a good one, but without more facts to substantiate that TEC conducted itself according to its own principles, any “slanting” cannot be verified.  The facts as we have them look pretty clear.

Bob, we are not financially independent. I do not know the sum, but it amounts to millions of dollars over the years. We had two corrupt bishops, now deposed, who siphoned off about $1M each before we were aware what was happening. But as far as the AC is concerned, we are an autonomous member of the ACC and our primate is an autonomous member of the Primates Meeting, etc.

But Bob, your questions seem to be red herrings which are attempts to nit pik at my country and my church as if to embarrass me or somehow make my opinion less valuable because I am from Mexico. We are a poor nation in your shadow. We are a poor church. We face human corruption on a daily basis. And violence. Because of the combined assets of the agricultural co-operative which is my home village, we are all at risk of kidnap for ransom by gangs and narcotraficantes. My family members here in Monterrey live on the same secured floor of a nondescript apartment building. We try not to draw attention to ourselves. I carry two weapons at all times. Every trip we make outside has a plan and an armed escort. My intention is to shoot to stop, but if necessary I am capable in both ability and will of mind to shoot to kill. Thanks be to God that has never been the case.

But none of that has to do with my point that there is not enough information in either the linked news article or the TEC press release that I nipped from the Lead, to make judgement of the behavior of the folks at 815.

Whoever would have guessed 815 has no heart?  Oh yeah, all the persecuted churches.  Nevermind.

cityonahill, perhaps cultural differences about time and dates. DEC 2009, for us, last year. JAN 2010, this year. But the newspaper says the folks arrived to work New Years Eve and were told by their employer that the evening before was their last day of employment. Cold and heartless. But common business practice in many 1st world nations. Especially one with so many guns available. Where “going postal” was coined. Where folks are terminated and walked by security to their cubicle or office and are allowed to quickly gather their personal possessions and then escorted to the entrance.

Unbelievable hypocrisy from David.  As David Ould points out, ECUSA has no problem piously telling the world, “thank God we are not like other men” when it comes to all manner of business, social and legislative happenings that are even further out of its lane than Christianity, but when it comes to the poor working man, all Neva Rae Fox can manage is, “It needs to be clear that looking for a new contract is a normal business procedure.”  Imagine the leaflet inserts from Schori or the holier-than-thou resolutions coming out of General Convention if that kind of line came from Enron or George Bush.

BTW, should we gain information regarding bad behavior on the part of the TEC staff at 815, I would gladly join in their criticism.

Imagine the leaflet inserts from Schori or the holier-than-thou resolutions coming out of General Convention if that kind of line came from Enron or George Bush.

Or the Walt Disney Corporation.

“… your questions seem to be red herrings which are attempts … to embarrass me or somehow make my opinion less valuable because I am from Mexico.”

Absolutely not!

Most of your comments on SF have appeared to be supportive of TEC and at least a bit critical of the U. S. systems of government.  That may not be your intent but that is how I have perceived them.

Let me relate this to my real life.  I am involved in providing equity funding early to early-stage and pre-revenue entrepreneurial companies.  I have developed over time a seven-point outline for a presentation to us.  It starts with “Give us a reason to listen to you, put your presentation in perspective before you start!”

All I am trying to do is put your comments in perspective.  I don’t think that is too much to ask.  You have provided some of that perspective.

When you represent that you are in an independent Anglican province, I think it is reasonable to inquire about the degree of your province’s financial dependence upon TEC, especially if you are going to be a consistent advocate for TEC and its actions.

As to your observations about the way the government of the United States functions, I think it is reasonable to ask what country you live in.  I think it quite reasonable to interpret remarks about the United States differently if they come from a supporter of President Ahmadinejad or President Chavez on the one hand or a U. S. citizen who generally supports and is loyal to the United States – I am not suggesting you are either, these are simply examples to illustrate a point.

I do not think that any information you have provided should either embarrass you or make your opinion less valuable.  I do think the information affords those of us reading it the opportunity to better interpret it and more appropriately put it in perspective.  That is and has been my sole objective.

[29] David |däˈvēd|,

I was not previously aware that you lived in Monterrey. I spent two weeks there, working on an IT contract, about 7 or 8 years ago (for CEMTEC, the IT division of CEMEX, which, oddly enough has a plant in Kenmore, Washington, not 4 miles from my present home). It was described to me, not inaptly, as the “Silicon Valley of Mexico.” So, I have seen some of the best of what Mexico has to offer, unfortunately including the hillside community above the paved riverbed—filled cheek by jowel with huts made from whatever materials might be pressed into service, and supplied with electricity by “chained” extension cords running up the hillside.

I find it troublingly incongruous that you would refer, albeit in separate comments on this thread, to the U.S., as a first world country which you characterize as

one with so many guns available…

which appears to be intended as a criticsm, having previously stated with respect to yourself and your family, respectively, that you

carry two weapons at all times. Every trip we make outside has a plan and an armed escort.

Has it not occurred to you that there might be a causal relationship between the inability of the general populace to obtain effective means of exercising their God-given right of self-defense and their being viewed, correctly, as prey by the corrupt?

The other thing I would point out is that there seems to be in your comments, and I freely admit that I may be mistaking your intent, a vague suggestion that you don’t recognize the correlation between corruption and crime, between the fact that only the rich, the corrupt and the policía have reasonably ready access to effective personal means of protection. And that the two latter groups constitute an intersecting set (to put it in mathematical terms).

I am afraid that Mexico, like most of Latin America remains the product of the conquistador economy imposed by Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries. Praise God for Alvaro Vargas Llosa. And I also pray that more and more of the leadership in Latin America will read, mark and inwardly digest Llosa’s analysis and ideas.

Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
___________________
P.S. If the restaurante Bacchus is still in business, it was lovely establishment and served superb food. My American colleague and I took two or three dinners there each week.

One province’s financial dependence upon another….and especially another province of which the dependent province was once a part….indicates that even though it is an autonomous province, it is not actually independent at all.  As long as TEC is calling the shots via their financial largesse, that province will do as TEC commands.

Getting back to the original thread, this idea that TEC would express solidarity with union workers makes me wonder about the future.

I can see it now, a resolution that all church sextons be part of a union.

Or worse yet Undergroundpewster….the priests/clergy. TEc makes it own union…..I need to go paint…...

Or worse yet Undergroundpewster….the priests/clergy.

Not to worry, before long all TEC clergy will be mutual ministry volunteers.  However, the thurifers will get hazardous duty pay and be required to wear OSHA approved respirators, and choir directors will get extra pay for every flight of stairs climbed to the choir loft.  Churches will bells will be required to employ 1 bell ringer per bell, even if the whole system is operated mechanically.

...many legal decisions are in favor of the highest bidder.

and that is different from California courts how??
Intercessor

David |däˈvēd| at #24 and #29,

Thank you for your comments, which I found illuminating. Although you and I come from very different doctrinal backgrounds, I am always interested to hear first-hand accounts about another province in the communion.

Getting back to the thread, I have no idea what the rights and wrongs are of this particular matter. It is definitely heart-breaking for the sacked workers. And, I also suspect that TEC is running out of money, but this doesn’t really seem to shed much light on that issue either - its the sort of decision that any bean-counter could make.

I have read this thread with great interest. My gut reaction is that TEC is a bunch of hypocrites. Of course, I have been wrong before.

MichaelA is right, any bean counter could and would make this decision without regard to higher levels of management. Our Lady of the Oven Mitt was probably not involved. Still, it scream of hypocrisy to march for union workers rights one day and then let a union contract go the next (as it were)

This is just another example of do as I say, not as I do…

Did I just write that? GADS! I sound like my father!