![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Work... not so much fun
I have been nothing but positive during this whole "only two more months of my job left" craziness. I've whined here -- but only twice. I've talked about the general insanity of it all at work and how a combination of management and union idiocy is creating a royal FUBAR. In fact, I've championed keeping my position even if I won't be the person in the position because my department is a damn fine department and the cuts in services the loss of my position will cause is untenable.
However, I've found a limit to my empathy. I really don't care that this is making life hell for others. In fact, I think that as screwed up as all of this is, it should make life miserable for everyone else.
The union has a one trump hand of "seniority" and it plays it above competence and skills, so the fact that unqualified, under-skilled people will get a positions solely based on seniority is hardly surprising. And since anyone of higher seniority who is losing their position can keep their county job by bumping into the position of anyone of lower seniority, it should be expected that there will be a rash of untrained and unqualified people in new positions.
Management tried to do an end run around these union rules by eliminating the positions of the people it was laying off. They were hoping that doing it this way there would be no bumping and they could limit union influence by merely shifting any necessary work to other departments and have it fall under the "any other assigned work" part of everyones job description. This meant that the necessity of the job, the value of the services offered or even the amount of actual work the position completed was not of importance. All that mattered was that the person who held that position was lowest on the union totem pole. Brilliant managerial strategy, people! (I don't know this for sure, but at least this way there was some reasoning to it, albeit devious reasoning.) But it seems the problems with the best laid plans of mice and men, also apply to the poorly thought out machinations of management -- and the bumping is starting.
So today, anytime someone complained about any and all of the above and expressed their frustrations on it all... I felt like shouting "Welcome to the Club!". I understand what they are going through and how hard it is, but, damn it, they ought to be going through it. It should be miserable. It should be painful. I'm sorry that it is, but anything else would be a lie. This whole mess couldn't have been handled any worse. Now you have departments sniping at each other. People closing ranks in order to preserve their jobs. People bumping to new positions not because they want the job or can do the job but because they are afraid their positions will be eliminated. Management says nothing except "you're good, but you're out of here." The union just nods and says "It's all fine as long as it's seniority". The County Board is meeting in closed sessions and seems content to let non-elected officials write the script.
So, yeah, I'm not all that upset watching this turn into a giant train wreck. Because that's what it is. Right now, I'm tempted to make popcorn and sell tickets.
However, I've found a limit to my empathy. I really don't care that this is making life hell for others. In fact, I think that as screwed up as all of this is, it should make life miserable for everyone else.
The union has a one trump hand of "seniority" and it plays it above competence and skills, so the fact that unqualified, under-skilled people will get a positions solely based on seniority is hardly surprising. And since anyone of higher seniority who is losing their position can keep their county job by bumping into the position of anyone of lower seniority, it should be expected that there will be a rash of untrained and unqualified people in new positions.
Management tried to do an end run around these union rules by eliminating the positions of the people it was laying off. They were hoping that doing it this way there would be no bumping and they could limit union influence by merely shifting any necessary work to other departments and have it fall under the "any other assigned work" part of everyones job description. This meant that the necessity of the job, the value of the services offered or even the amount of actual work the position completed was not of importance. All that mattered was that the person who held that position was lowest on the union totem pole. Brilliant managerial strategy, people! (I don't know this for sure, but at least this way there was some reasoning to it, albeit devious reasoning.) But it seems the problems with the best laid plans of mice and men, also apply to the poorly thought out machinations of management -- and the bumping is starting.
So today, anytime someone complained about any and all of the above and expressed their frustrations on it all... I felt like shouting "Welcome to the Club!". I understand what they are going through and how hard it is, but, damn it, they ought to be going through it. It should be miserable. It should be painful. I'm sorry that it is, but anything else would be a lie. This whole mess couldn't have been handled any worse. Now you have departments sniping at each other. People closing ranks in order to preserve their jobs. People bumping to new positions not because they want the job or can do the job but because they are afraid their positions will be eliminated. Management says nothing except "you're good, but you're out of here." The union just nods and says "It's all fine as long as it's seniority". The County Board is meeting in closed sessions and seems content to let non-elected officials write the script.
So, yeah, I'm not all that upset watching this turn into a giant train wreck. Because that's what it is. Right now, I'm tempted to make popcorn and sell tickets.