Know what your decision means
At SunCoke, our corporate values – Excellence, Innovation, Commitment, Integrity and Stewardship – guide everything we do and, at Middletown, we are building a culture that motivates and rewards performance.
Unions have a very different set of goals and values, which can be seen in how they treat their members and in the contracts that unions negotiate.
Ultimately, this is your choice. Take a moment to compare our team approach with the union way.
Teamwork
SunCoke's view:
We strongly believe that working together toward a common goal creates the most successful and satisfying work environment. We are one team at MTO and take pride in our cooperative work environment.
We also value the contributions that each team member makes at our operation. We know our cokemaking success depends on your expertise and we respect you for it.
Your contributions to our plant performance are critical to our continued success and we believe you should be recognized and rewarded for those contributions.
Unions' view:
Unions view teamwork very differently. U.S. labor law (which originally was written in the 1930s and 1940s) is built on the assumption that “labor” and “management” are “adversaries” – enemies.
Many unions believe, rightly so, that if there’s teamwork between workers and management, there’s no need for a union – so they work to keep the two separate.
The International Association of Machinists' union contract with AK Steel is a good illustration; it says supervisors are not allowed to do the work of unionized employees:
Instead of teamwork where everyone pitches in, unions say workers work and supervisors only supervise.
Participation
SunCoke's view:
We have believed, since opening at MTO in 2011, that your participation has been, and will continue to be, critical to our success. Participation nurtures Innovation and fosters Commitment.
And it just makes sense! Each of you is an expert at the job you were hired to perform. We welcome any ideas you may have that will improve your work life and make our operations more efficient and successful.
The Steering Committees at MTO enable participation and give you a platform to voice your ideas. The “Hawk” award and other forms of recognition, like “Feather in the Cap,” show that we are serious about recognition and continuous improvement at SunCoke. That cannot happen without full participation from each and every team member.
Unions' view:
Unions believe their role is to speak for workers, and not to allow workers to speak for themselves.
This is supported by U.S. labor law, which says unions are the exclusive bargaining representative for workers they've organized, and unionized workers are not allowed to speak for themselves concerning wages, benefits and their conditions of employment.
A statement by one union leader showed how many unions feel about letting workers participate. When an employee of the Machinists’ Union asked Thomas Buffenbarger, who still is President of the International Union, whether staff members could attend weekly meetings to involve them more in the organization, Mr. Buffenbarger answered:
“Matt, wouldn’t that be like letting the monkeys run the zoo?”
To see the full article about this incident, click here.
SunCoke's view:
We strongly believe that “one size does not fit all” at MTO and we back it up with policies and actions that give you flexibility to balance your work and personal lives. That’s how it’s been all along.
When it comes to work schedules, including overtime assignments, we provide a framework and guidelines but understand that different people have different needs.
As a professional at MTO, you have control and we trust that you will develop a schedule with your team leader that benefits the entire operation while also providing you the personal flexibility you need.
Being flexible is “all in a day’s work” at MTO.
Flexibility
Unions' view:
For unions, "collective bargaining" means "collective treatment." Everyone is treated alike, according to the union contract. Unions think flexibility creates the possibility of management favoritism, so the contract must make sure that everyone is treated the same.
Remember, U.S. labor law says individual workers or groups of workers are not allowed to speak directly with management to change schedules, overtime, etc. – the contract must be followed at all times, by everyone.
It was a lack of flexibility that led unionized workers at Chino Mine in New Mexico to vote out the United Steelworkers Union. "I'd like to say the bigger reason why I began the petition to decertify the union was because I wanted the same thing as the workers who were not part of the union," Chino Mine employee Shane Shores said.
His coworker Edward Hooten agreed. "We had no opportunity. We were stuck as a truck driver, for instance, even if we wanted to train on other equipment. We felt like we were in dead-end positions. It wasn't the bosses, it was the union regulations holding us down."
To learn more about this situation, click here.
SunCoke's view:
We have a “pay for performance” culture at MTO, which means annual raises are merit based and quarterly bonuses track to performance metrics. We believe this is fair and our team members agree.
By motivating and rewarding individual performance, we raise the bar for the entire operation. It requires working with your team leader to ensure the goals you set are challenging, yet achievable. Then, you become personally accountable for meeting or exceeding those expectations.
We encourage personal and team accountability because we believe it brings out the best in all of us. And we use programs like “Thanks a Ton!” to recognize the great things our team members do!
Unions' view:
Unions believe the most “fair” system of pay is to give the same rewards to everyone, regardless of how well they do their jobs.
In fact, unions recently defeated a bill in Congress that would have allowed companies to give individual raises to unionized workers.
The RAISE Act (Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees) would have lifted the ceiling on unionized workers’ wages by allowing employers to pay individual workers more — but not less — than the union contract specifies. Unions strongly opposed the RAISE act, and it was defeated in a 45-54 vote along party lines.
Also, since the union’s role is to “protect” workers from management, they often make it much harder to hold poor workers accountable.
When there’s no reward for doing a good job, and people who do a poor job are protected, what do you think will happen to team member performance?
Performance
Problem-solving
SunCoke's view:
We believe in resolving any concerns you may have as quickly as possible, before they have a chance to build up. As a professional member of the MTO team, you are accountable for every aspect of your performance, including problem-solving.
We encourage you to discuss concerns with your team leader in an informal, cooperative way and, together, to find satisfactory resolutions.
Unions' view:
Union contracts have formal grievance procedures that must be followed. Also, unions decide which grievances they want to handle, and they can refuse to take a team member’s grievance forward.
Here's what the Constitution of the United Steelworkers Union says:
The "right to exclusivity" means the union decides how things should be handled, not you.
Know what your decision means.
NEARLY EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN WORKERS BECOME REPRESENTED BY A UNION.
It's important to understand how SunCoke's Middletown facility would be different if team members became unionized.