Negotiations

So we're negotiating a new employee agreement at work right now. Although we're not unionized it's kinda run as if we were. Every three years we get a new employee agreement, and they ask for our input for it. We get together in a series of meetings where we brainstorm everything we might want to ask for, and then, trying to represent our people, narrow that list down to our top ten requests. Actually, the more I take part in these negotiations, the less value I see in them - the big guys are only going to consider the top ten most popular requests from across the country, so if we have a really great novel idea, it won't even get considered unless everyone else has the same idea (making it less novel). It always ends up being the same things. And just because we ask doesn't mean they give us our request. "Considered" doesn't mean "granted." Still, I participate to show that I care about this, to demonstrate involvement instead of apathy, and to say thanks for the opportunity to do so. In some ways it feels like voting.

These meetings are always a conflict in values. The greatest point of strife generally seems to be between new staff and old staff. We want to keep our new staff, but we also want to reward our long-term people. If we focus too much on one end, the other people feel resentful. Who wants to start at a company that ignores you until you've been there for ten years? But on the other hand, if we try to make things cushier for the new staff so that they might become long-term employees, those who have been already been here for a long time feel undervalued. "We had to earn that with years of service!" they complain. "They can too."

With the way the economy is right now, it kinda feels greedy to ask for too much. Should we even ask for raises, increased bonuses, and more pension? I found myself thinking, though, that it's about fairness. We don't need to be afraid to ask for what is fair. We can't have everything, especially with how things are looking these days. And we need to realize that gaining one thing may cost us another. But the company is still growing. They're not afraid. We need not be either.