From the February 26, 1997 edition of "Down in Front", the Bryn Mawr employees' newsletter.
I know what Bob means about the loving environment here. I do believe that the people in this store would go pretty far out of their way to help and support each other during times of need; I see this kind of mutual concern even during routine activities. And, as Bob said, I do not think these characteristics come from BINC (progressive though the company may be), but from us. They are a result simply and entirely of the trust, compassion, and respect we feel for each other as individuals; a commitment that we have made, consciously or unconsciously, to have a genuine, caring relationship with our co- workers, be they staff or management. This is a choice we make, and it is nothing that BINC can mandate. Similarly, I don't think that it is something that a union can take away. However, the union can help us make an impact on the facets of the job that BINC does control.
Every day, we deal with working conditions that can seem, and may be, irrational and arbitrary. Depending on our personalities, we cope with this in different ways: some people take everything in stride, some people complain, some people accept or agree with the premise behind the conditions, some people go to management and argue about why certain conditions aren't good or appropriate. But the bottom line is, as individuals at the lowest step on the corporate ladder, we have a limited impact on the direction of this company and its effect on the store. I know this from my own experience; I have also seen count less numbers of employees come and go, and most whom I have taIked to have had strong feelings of disillusionment about the increasing contradiction between Borders' presentatlon of itself as an employer and the reality of working here; of sadness about the increasingly "corporate" nature of the company; and, quite frankly, of anger about the degree to which they feel exploited, both as college graduates and as workers.
Given my sense that these feelings are, to some degree, common among the staff, I find it surprising that more people aren't enthusiastic about the idea of unionizing. Then again, I think for many people (and I include myself in this, not being a natural-born political radical), the idea of a union is extremely danger ous. when I first started hearing about the union, I was suspicious; it seemed to threaten my sense of autonomy, my ability to define and control my identity. Of course, the reality is that my ideal of a completely self-sufficient personality is an iIlusion ; am always reacting to people and events external to myself, and my "identity" develops as a result of the interaction of these events with my innate being. If I am to be completely honest with myself, and as much as I don't like to admit it, I have to face the fact that I have been influenced by Borders, Inc. as I have been inflenenced by , all of the institutions that I have encountered in my Iife. Including, now, the union. But what makes the union more threatening is that it forces me to explicitly acknowledge and confront the forces that are contributing to my development as a person, when it is much easier to pretend that they don't exist, or hope that if they do, they will continue to "ignore" me, as they generally seem to (providing I behave acceptably).
Indeed, if I truly believe that I have any power to form myself, I would have to believe that I could continue to be myself and follow the good in myself regardless of the environment in which I existed. If I thought that the union could come in and dictate my behavior at work, my ability to make decisions and do the right thing, I wouldn't vote for it. But I don't think this will happen, because I trust my co-workers, who will form the bargaining committee, and I trust the union (as least as much as I trust Borders. Also, having taken a step towards a more activist work environment, I trust my own ability to stand up and question any clauses in the contract of which I don't understand the purpose. And if regulations that I don't like get passed, well, then I guess I'll have to continue with the minor civil disobedience that I occasionally engage in currently; or else quit.
The point is that nothing the union comes up with will be any more arbitrary than what BINC comes up with. Take the issue of shelving, which caused so much conflict during negotiations in Chicago, and is representative of the type of division of labor which we are told the union will be promoting. Let us imagine for one moment that it suddenIy becomes advantageous to BINC for managers not to be involved in the shelving of books. A communication comes down from headquarters outlining the change, and, as a non-union store, we comply, despite the inconvenience. Everyone would agree that, regardless of the negative impact on us, it is completely within the rights of BINC to make decisions of this sort; some people would be frustrated, and might send complaints up to Ann Arbor; but most would simply shrug, and accommodate. In this case, increased division of labor and the resulting stratification between management and staff would be promoted by BINC as beneficial, even though the disadvantage to the store's employees would be just as great.
There is no doubt that changes which are either inconvenient, inefficient (for us, hot for BINC), or a betrayel of the employees' sense of the store have happened over the four years that I have been here. However, when the idea of change is linked to a union, it seems to becomes much more menacing. The reality is that any change that is initiated by the union is negotiated change, not unilateral change that comes from above; and if we don't like what the union brings to the table, we have an opportunity to negotiate with them as well. If anything, I find this reassuring, although I recognize that it will take a great deal more effort on our part to make it work. I think that Local 1776 has significant benefits to offer us; benefits which I would ideally like to see extended to managers, who, in my opinion, are even more overworked and exploited than the rest of us. Even if we all act out of love for the store and for each other, as Bob does, those who benefit from our acts (in this case, BINC) should feel a moral compulsion to honor our commitment appropriately, instead of siniply seeing what additional duties they can compel our sense of love to feel responsible for.
The bottom line is that, if we vote to go union, I hope and expect that I will put as much effort into being a fair and compassionate unionized employee as I try to put into being a fair and compassionate non-unionized employee. If I don't, if my behavior changes, then it will be because I, and no one else, have decided to let it change.
-Jessica Booth