Insightful Wednesday
Wednesday, July 31st, 2024 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio |
79F and clear tonight.
So there was finally some concrete information going around today, about the union contract.
I actually saw a copy of the rumored email that went out to custodians yesterday, and it was actually addressed only to Head Custodians, and Building Managers.
It instructed them to be ready to hand in their keys and badges either on Thursday (tomorrow) or their last scheduled day before Thursday, and have all the janitor carts ready to go... for temp workers, though they didn't say that part.
Apparently, the rejection of the contract last Thursday, really could have been the end of it... leading to a strike that would begin tomorrow.
However, Geostaff felt that they were not given a chance to fully explain the new contract last Thursday, to the audience, because a rabble rouser in the crowd interrupted them and got everybody riled up to just throw in their, no-votes, and storm out.
I wasn't there, but I did hear from several sources who were, that that's what went down.
So the meetings tomorrow... at 6:30AM, and 2:30PM, are about GeoStaff presenting their proposed new contract one final time... with no changes... and giving everybody one final chance to avoid a strike, by voting, Yes.
The contract they're proposing... as it pertains to pay... offers a 15% raise to everybody... over the next 3 years.
We'd get a 5% raise immediately, starting Tomorrow, August 1st.
Then on August 1st 2025, we'd get a 2.5% raise, followed six months later, by another 2.5% raise.
Same in 2026... 2.5% that August... and six months later, another 2.5%
That would amount to 15%, between now, and February 1st of 2027.
And then the contract would be renegotiated in August of 2027.
To give you an idea of what that is in dollars... they had been starting new custodians at $13.00 per hour.
So a 5% raise to that only bumps it up to $13.65.
18 months later, in February of 2026, they'd be up to $14.33.
12 more months later, in February of 2027, they'd hit the new cap of $15.05.
And... fifteen bucks an hour is already way below a living wage, here in 2024!
Now, those numbers are bigger, and grow faster, if the wage you start with is higher.
For me, currently making $21.00, tomorrows raise would bring that up to $22.05.
18 months from now, I'd be up to $23.15... and a year later, I'd hit the cap of $24.30.
That's enough for me to hold on to this studio apartment the next three years, but nowhere near enough to buy the house back in October, like I'd been hoping.
People aren't happy about such small raises, spaced out over such a long period, which is why this proposal was rejected.
However, GeoStaff is only a middle man, between our union, and the school district... and they have to compete with other middle man staff management companies for the privilege of being our bosses.
So, if GeoStaff had demanded more money from the school district... so that they could offer us more money... then the school district could say, Fuck you, Geostaff! We're going with Staffo-Planet instead!
We'd all still be working at our same schools, in our same union, but Staffo-Planet would be our new bosses... or employers, or whatever.
It's complicated!
And it's deliberately complicated, to protect the school district from having to ever pay too much money for support staff!
But what it means is... if we strike tomorrow... it could be a long bloody battle, because we'd have to bring not GeoStaff to their knees... but the school district!.. who aren't directly involved right now, in this specific contract negotiation.
They already worked out their contract with GeoStaff months ago.
Also, the school district apparently has the right to hire temps to do our jobs while we're on strike.
They call them temps, we'd be calling them scabs!
And they could entice people to scab, by offering up to $25.00 per hour... because they don't have to pay scabs any health insurance!
This is why there would be picket lines every day... to force the scabs to have to cross the picket lines to get their pay!
But it could drag on for months... which would drain the resources of all the strikers!
OR... we might break them sooner... for various reasons.
Especially for custodians, the work in those schools, in August and September, can be brutal!.. and temps have no loyalty, so it's gonna be a revolving door of inexperienced scabs who don't know those buildings, and are doing a half-assed job.
Also, I think Tom was right to leave the pool empty, because that really would be a nightmare for scab mechanics to get working again!
It's a 50 year old system with a lot of quirks and you can't just go in there and fill'er up, flip a switch, and have it all be nice.
It's a constant headache to keep that pool functional for Tom, and it took him over a decade to really get it all down.
The chillers are another tempermental system that will be failing all the time under the operation of clueless scabs.
Because the day shifters will be voting early in the morning tomorrow... any possibility of a strike could be gone, by the time I get there at 2:30.
Day shifters are the majority, so if they all vote, yes, to the proposal, in the morning... the night shifter's won't be able to overcome that.
However... if enough day shifters vote, no... then the night shifters could very well decide all of our fates!
It's even possible... for it to be close enough... that my single vote could determine the outcome!
That's an unlikely scenario... but possible!
And I have to admit that my vote will depend on how the closing goes tomorrow!
If the closing goes off without a hitch, and I know I have 5K coming to me in a few days... I'll vote, no... and take my chances on strike with everybody else.
However, if the closing is a trainwreck, and I'm not selling the house or getting any money... I'll vote, yes, to the proposed contract.
Or at least I think I will... unless, you know... everybody's counting on me to do the right thing and vote, no!
I mean... it'd definitely be the sketchiest scenario of all, for me personally... because there's no way I'd be able to pay September rent... but I would still have the house, so I could go squat there and pray BMO doesn't foreclose before it's all worked out... but then I'd have to find an apartment all over again, and...
God! I don't even want to think about that scenario, really!
As for that closing, Jim did send me the address today.
And he also sent me a copy of what it looks like we'll all be signing tomorrow... with no commentary about it.
So that tells me;
- He was given access to what's being signed, in advance... which means Mr. Taylor also has seen them.
- Neither of them seem to have any objections to the deal.
Therefore, it does seem like I will be selling the house tomorrow.
So at the end of the night, it looks like I will be selling the house tomorrow, and very soon Prowly will be homeless.
However, it's not looking great for me buying it back in the fall!
If we do strike tomorrow, and I can survive it without any credit strikes... and if I come out the other end making more than 22.50... there's still a ghost of a chance.
BUT... if we don't strike tomorrow, there's still that rumor from last May to think about.
If it was true, then... if the current union accepts tomorrow's proposal... the maintenance staff alone would switch to their own union, later in August, and then strike separately!
A strike like that, coming in September, might be more surviveable... get settled faster... and leave me in better shape by, say, November, to buy the house back.
But now we're back in the realm of rumors and speculation.
So I'd say tonight, that the most likely outcome for all of this is that I will sell the house... but that I won't be in a position to buy it back for several years... as I slowly pay down my debts and get the score back up.
And I'd also be living here in the tower for those years... not likely to upgrade to a 1BR for at least two years.
If that's the case, I will not be getting any new pets, so long as I'm confined to this studio.
And I will also continue to drive past the house to and from work every weekday.
So, Prowly will have plenty of time, if he wishes, to track me down here, and work things out.
Otherwise, I'm sure he'll find a way to survive in the old hood.
He may adopt a new owner, as I think Snoop did... or maybe he'll manage to stay free and feral enough that he re-adopts me... in four years... if the stars aligned for me to get the house back.
The whole Prowly angle of this is still up in the air.
But by tomorrow night, I'll know more about the rest.
°¦}
