WHY UNIONS MATTER
Robert Reich, is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator, who worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton.
HOW CHRIS SMALLS INDEPENDENTLY ORGANIZED OVER 8000 EMPLOYEES
The Amazon Labor Union victory was especially unusual because it’s a small, independent union, far different from the large, powerful unions that have historically succeeded at big companies, and collected dues from hundreds of thousands of workers. If it's been done before, it can be done again.
WE ARE THE UNION
UNIONIZING TAKES A TEAM. GET INVOLVED TODAY.
MOST GEICO EMPLOYEES ARE UNHAPPY. THE QUESTION IS, HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE BEFORE WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?
Since GEICO is an at-will employer, it frequently takes away benefits, breaks promises and changes important aspects of our employment with little regard for how it impacts or disrupts our lives. Individually, we employees do not have the power to stand up for ourselves, but collectively we can bargain for a better workplace.
- Our raises at GEICO, adjusted for inflation and changes in costs of living, are actually pay cuts. Over the pandemic, GEICO offered new line-agents, starting salaries higher than tenured agents, but did not adjust existing employees' salaries accordingly. After years of loyalty to GEICO, we employees have nothing to show for it.
- GEICO used to offer a pension plan but they took it away in 2004. GEICO used to offer its own, company-paid disability benefit, but they took it away in 2022. GEICO used to deposit the first 10% of profit-sharing into our 401(k) tax-free, but they took that away too. GEICO has not contributed anything to our retirement accounts since January 2021 and may eliminate profit sharing as they did the pension. If we don't act now WFH will be next.
- GEICO offers little room for advancement and frequently shows favoritism when making hiring decisions. GEICO quietly posts positions for a very limited time, so the person who was already chosen for the position can apply, without anyone else being aware of the openings. Instead of recognizing and developing internal talent, GEICO hires external candidates with little to no experience and transitions them into supervisory and management roles within a few months, while tenured agents with years of experience and their seasoned supervisors are often overlooked.
- GEICO treats employees with disrespect and creates stressful and unsatisfying work environments, while micromanaging and treating us like we are sub-human. GEICO runs its call centers like early 20th century sweatshops and has no desire to keep tenured employees. GEICO doesn't even allow its employees to use their earned PTO as they wish.
- GEICO usually builds its profit centers in poor cities with large working populations, so it can pay as little as possible for unreasonable workloads since we employees have no other place to go. How are 2600 employees going to find other employment in Western New York?
- GEICO is automating our jobs and we have little to no job security. Region 8 had 3500 employees in 2020 but today down to 2600. GEICO's turnover rate in region 8 in some departments is 56%-69%. GEICO has recently closed down all GFRs in California, laid off large numbers of attorneys and IT professionals, stopped selling insurance over the phone in 16 states, is trying to eliminate entire underwriting departments and repurposed large groups of auto sales agents into other positions without their consent (because laying them off with severance pay or even unemployment would be more expensive than forcing them to perform work they never agreed to). GEICO only cares about its bottom-line, not us.
- If we employees can put our differences aside, come together and unionize, GEICO will be legally required to negotiate a contract with us. This is the only way we can ensure that we receive a legally enforceable contract that protects our rights and cannot be changed on a GEICO executive's whim. When you vote "yes" to a union, you are voting "yes" to yourself. Your vote gets the executives to the negotiation tables.
- You pay zero union dues until GEICO and the union agree to a contract and then you get to vote on passing the contract. No one will vote yes on a contract that is not worth the cost of the dues. So by voting yes to the union, you are giving yourself and everyone else the opportunity to improve their workplace. Turnover at GEICO is so high that if we want to make this a reality we need to vote quickly. So please vote today.
- NOW IS THE TIME TO RAISE OUR VOICES, RAISE OUR WAGES AND SHAPE GEICO INTO THE COMPANY WE ALWAYS WISHED IT WAS.
- A union can improve our workplace. SIGN THE CARD TODAY.
ECONOMIST ADAM SMITH NOTED THE IMBALANCE IN THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS IN REGARDS TO OWNERS OR "MASTERS"
"We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combination of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate."
The Wealth of Nations, Book 1, Chapter 8
JOIN THE FIGHT
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