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When employee communication really breaks down
I just finished up my 'Strategic Employee Communication Vehicles' seminar in San Francisco. It was a fantastic group.
(Of course, since I told everyone there to check out this blog, which means they are probably reading this, I would say they were a fantastic group even if they were a bunch of bed wetters and dunderheads; but they really were a great group: lively, interactive and not easily offended—which is always sort of a necessary trait at my seminars).
But, that said, it was a weird seminar—because all the hotel workers were on strike. And it wasn't one of those timid sort of strikes, where two or three people sit on folding chairs and occasionally hoist a sign up into the air without even getting their asses out of the chairs.
This was a real strike. These people had an organized picket line, megaphones, lots of cool chants (don't check in . . . check OUT . . . don't check in . . . check OUT), tons of signs ('Scabs are the Devil's best friend') . . . and they were pissed. It was a little nerve-wracking, because you literally had to cross the picket line every time you entered the hotel.
And there was something very surreal and wrong about crossing a picket line to teach a seminar on employee communications. I felt lousy. I felt like a scab. I felt a bit like a phony and a hypocrite, talking about how important the employee audience is, while contributing to the revenue of a hotel that obviously didn't agree with me.
I know . . . I know . . .labor issues are complicated. For all I know, the strikers were dead wrong. Maybe they were asking for too much. Maybe the hotel did everything they possibly could to avert a strike.
But still . . . employee communication seminars, as a rule, should probably not take place at hotels where the employees are striking.
The saddest part of the whole thing for me was when I left, Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. The main picket line in front of the hotel was still going strong even at that early hour, doing their best to whack their signs together and make loud noises and keep the hotel guests awake throughout the night.
But the cab line to the airport was out a different door, a side door, so that's where I went. And at that entrance, there was only one striker, an older Latino man, sitting on a bucket, with his sign leaning on the ground.
When I came out, he looked up at me, and our eyes locked. I thought he was going to stand, but he didn't bother. He just looked at me for a couple of seconds, and then hung his head back down and looked at the ground again.
The bellman who whistled for a cab said to me:
'Sorry about all the inconvenience, sir.'
'Don't worry about it,' I said. 'How's it going to be resolved?'
'It's not,' said the bellman. 'They're just not going to get what they want. This may drag into next year, but there's no way they can win.'
My last memory of San Francisco was that older Latino man, sitting on his strike bucket, staring at the ground, at 5:30 in the morning, the entire day ahead of him.
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Feels like Total Recall. Er, Philip K Dick?
Actually, with Steve's example it's a bit scary --- standing at the urinal...
Comments (6)
I had to chuckle at the irony, as you said, of this seminar about employee communication being held at a hotel where you had to step over a seething strike line just to check in, but there you go! Underneath that, though, I really felt for the situation you described. Regardless if the picketing is "justified" or not, these lives are in turmoil. That's sad.
Reminded me of my own encounter with a strike line at the Congress Hotel in Chicago several years ago. (Looking back, I see now that the deeply discounted room rate I found on the Internet should have been cause for concern!) The housekeeping and maintenance staff, mostly Latino, were outside the front entrance raising a ruckus to beat the band about unsanitary working conditions and the like. I nearly hoisted a sign myself and started to march with them after I checked in (then promptly checked OUT) and saw the condition the place was in. Better days were obviously far in the past.
Admittedly, the bullhorns and the drums and the sports whistles were a bit ear wrenching, but they sure did get your attention.
Posted by Angela Holton | October 22, 2004 11:56 AM
Posted on October 22, 2004 11:56
And why is the union making a two-year contract a stike-worthy issue? Because if they don't have a issue for everybody to get pissed off over, there's no reason for members to pay dues. They fabricate issues to make it look like it's worth having a union.
Before everybody gets their panties in a bunch over this, I know I know I know that unions have done and continue to do a lot of good for a lot of workers, particularly in industries that wouldn't hesitate to exploit workers. This instance just isn't one of those times.
And there is NEVER one of those times in the baseball player's union.
Posted by Shel Holtz | October 24, 2004 12:41 PM
Posted on October 24, 2004 12:41
DATE: 10/22/2004 31:50:0P PM
There are some deeper communications issues in this strike. Here you have the hospitality industry just on the brink of a comeback after three post-9/11 years in the doldrums, and the union says, "Strike." When the strike ends, the hotel owners say, "Screw you; lock-out." (That's what it is right now, a lock-out, not a strike.) The whole thing is over the fact that the union wants a two-year contract and the hotel owners want a five-year contract. The owners say they're willing to negotiate, but something other than two years. The union has dug in its heels. And now tourism in San Francisco is right back where it was post-9/11. You'd think that with some sincerity and effective communication, they could have pulled together for the good of the city. But this "we're gonna get everythiing we can and the city be damned" attitude sucks.
But then again, I don't have any real feelings about it one way or the other.
Posted by Shel Holtz | October 16, 2006 4:30 PM
Posted on October 16, 2006 16:30
DATE: 10/22/2004 33:65:0P PM
Shel,
If you're going to contribute to this blog, you're going to have to stop pulling your punches and tell us how you really feel.
That does suck. You know what really sucks? The guy I saw in the morning probably isn't even that educated and aware of all the political machinations that the union leaders are doing. He was told to strike, and he struck.
In fact, in thinking back, 95 percent of the people in the picket line on most days were Latinos or other nationalities . . . . people who probably came here to work, joined the union because that's what you do, and now are out of work.
For good.
Posted by Steve Crescenzo | October 16, 2006 4:30 PM
Posted on October 16, 2006 16:30
DATE: 10/25/2004 30:33:1P PM
Shel,
I couldn't agree more.
Posted by Steve Crescenzo | October 16, 2006 4:30 PM
Posted on October 16, 2006 16:30
Today there are numerous independently owned and operated concierge companies. Many of these companies provide errand services, as well as informational services for their members. Services include informational requests, setting dinner reservations, making telephone calls, researching travel arrangements and more. Typically, concierge companies will bill on an hourly rate, and depending upon the type of task at hand fees can fluctuate drastically. Other companies have reinvented the business model by billing a flat monthly fee based upon the number of requests a member is allowed to place each month. The number of independently owned concierge companies has skyrocketed as the start up costs and barriers of entry are quite feasible for many entrepreneurs. Concierges also entertain their clients.
Posted by Concierge | August 22, 2008 11:55 PM
Posted on August 22, 2008 23:55