There’s a movie called Which Way Is Up? with Richard Pryor. Go back and watch that movie and you’ll see exactly how the whole system works. Because you don’t always know which way is up. It’s hard. People got shit on the line. They got families. But it’s needed. So you’ve got to keep pushing.
You talk to one person, and the next person talks to somebody else they trust. And so on, until you have a nice little core. And of course you’ve got to have some clowns like me, who ain’t got no sense so they talk loud and talk hella shit and get everybody fired up.Were you scared? Excited? Both? How did it all feel?
It’s a really good feeling. When people actually realize that they are worth more, it’s nice.
But once we went public with the union, and started negotiating our contract, it was difficult. That process was new for me. I had never sat down at a negotiating table before or read a contract.How long did negotiations take?
A long time. It was painstaking.What were the main things you were negotiating over?
For different people it was different things. But for me … I like to talk shit. I like to run my mouth. So I wanted the chance to just be like, “Yeah, man, fuck y’all!” Also, I needed a raise. I needed the benefits.
But it’s hard, because you can’t go on in there and ask for everything. You want to act like you can. You want to act hella hard-core and whatnot. But then management responds, and you start seeing your people fall back. So you have to make choices about which demands are more important.
It caused a bit of bickering, of course. “We should get this much.” “Nah, we should get this much.” “This is more important than that.” “No, we need this.” People disagree. Then at the next meeting, some people aren’t there because they can’t get what they want. You can’t please everybody.You weren’t negotiating directly with the tech company, because you’re contractors. But obviously the tech company has a lot of influence over the contracting company. During the negotiations, did you encounter full-time tech workers who were supportive of your unionization effort?
Yes. They were a big help. I think they’re really cool people. Like, weird cool. Like, computer techie hacker cool. They came through and stood up and put the word out. They showed up at meetings and some of them even came to negotiations. They just went above and beyond. Hella cool-ass people.
The Tech Workers Coalition1 is forming these groups now that reach out and understand that everybody working for a tech company should be part of that company, in one sense or another. You see, these companies don’t want to hire the help themselves. They’d rather hire the help to get the help, so to speak. Above all, they don’t want to be responsible for the help.
Service workers like us are at the bottom of the list. And since we’re at the bottom, we didn’t have any say. They could just treat us however.Did that change after you unionized? I know that you negotiated for better wages and better benefits, but did the workplace feel different after you formed a union? In terms of how you were treated?
It definitely felt different. Even before we got our contract, when management first found out we were organizing, it changed the workplace. In our kitchens, the chefs are the bosses and the cooks are the workers. Right away, the chefs started showing a little more class. They started treating us nicer. Before, most of them treated us like peasants. Honestly. Most of the time they didn’t talk to us. They were just there to discipline us and keep us in line. But when they found out we were going to organize, their bosses were like, “Hey, y’all better get y’all shit together. Because we don’t need this kind of tension.”Who are the chefs? Did they used to be cooks? Or do they come in as supervisors?
Just like any other company, some of them get hired into that position and some of them come in as a cook and work their way up—the ones who kiss ass.
You ever watch The Office? That’s pretty much how every workplace is. It’s definitely like that in the kitchen. You got your boss that’s the idiot. Then you got the one dude who just don’t give a fuck. Then you got your nice normal people. Then you got all the ass-kissers—there’s a bunch of wannabe Dwights running around. They know what you’re going through because they went through it, but once they get their assistant regional manager title, they just start going hard-core on you.
But when our organizing went public, and that tone shift happened, it was nice. My coworkers and I laughed about it, actually: “He just asked me how my day was!” “He just said, ‘Thank you’!” Simple shit like that. They started treating us like people. That was a good feeling. That was a really, really good feeling.
Happy Bill Gates Day!Now that you’ve won your union, what’s next?
You gotta keep organizing after you organize. That’s the most crucial part. It was hard work getting the union, but it’s even harder work keeping it.
When we first ratified our contract, a lot of people were happy: “Cool, I got a raise!” But then when they actually got that first raise, and it ain’t really what they thought, then they’re like, “Man, y’all could’ve got more.” Like, what? You weren’t even coming to the meetings!
It’s hard. We started out with a small group of organizers. Then we became a big group—and if you stay big like that, you can really run shit. They’re really going to feel it.
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