Thats pretty much what our senior told the hoardes of screaming employees in the station meeting.
Boy how the times have changed.
We are sh** to them
Well, its time to figure out if those noises coming out of the stations today were the bleating of sheep, or the howls of wolves...
I'm going to give the best method I had of getting out cards to as many Couriers as possible while remaining anonymous (with plausible deniability). It will be funny if station phone rosters become a controlled item (manager view only) in the coming days... (you'll see why...)
1. Get your station's personnel roster with the listing of home phone numbers. Make a photo copy of it or take a photo of it if your phone's camera is of high enough resolution to enable easy reading of the numbers. The CSA's will have the roster, come up with some excuse to look at it. If it is posted on the office wall, try to make a copy of it or just take a high resolution photo of it. (Don't panic, you're NOT going to call anyone).
2. Get on the internet and do reverse lookups for all the home phone numbers listed (just land lines, cell phones won't give a physical address in reverse lookup unless you have access to carrier records). You should be able to pull up between half and two-thirds of the addresses of your station's Couriers by this method. For those you don't pull up, you are pretty much out of luck by this method as far as the rest of the 'procedure' goes. Use anywho....
3. Print up enough of the IBT union representation cards (link posted earlier), to mail out one to each of the addresses you have. I'd recommend putting it on heavy stock paper, make it colored paper (people think it is 'official' for some reason), then make sure the cards you produce will fit easily into a standard size business size envelope. This may take some trial and error. A print shop that knows what they are doing will be able to help you. You are going to have some out of pocket expenses doing this, no way around it. It will be between $1.50 and $2 per letter you send out (postage, printing costs, etc.). You may want to pool resources with another Courier or two at your station to help offset this expense to any single person. Make sure you have some degree of trust and sense of common purpose in this endeavor before you try to save yourself some money by having someone help out with expenses. If in doubt, just pay for it yourself.
4. Write up a one page, concise argument as to why you think the Couriers in your station should sign and return the enclosed card. Do so without stating your name. Print up enough to enclose a copy of this argument of yours with each letter you are going to be sending out.
5. Generate computer generated self-adhesive labels that have each of the addresses you came up with, along with the address of the IBT HQ in Washington DC, and a 'diversionary' return address (all US Mail wants return addresses on it now) and use those labels for each letter you are going to be sending out (under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you hand write ANYTHING on these letters that you will mail). You are going to use the US Mail to send out the union representation cards. It is perfectly legal, and there is NOTHING anyone can do to stop you from using this method (this is actually covered under organization procedures of federal law). You are not going to hand write anything to help protect yourself from the inevitable copies of the letters which you send out getting into your station management's hands the day after some suckups receive them.
Place postage on both the letter you send (obviously) AND on the business envelope you enclose within your letter that has the IBT address placed on it with a computer generated self adhesive label.
6. Let the sparks fly.
Recap of what your letter will have:
1. Printed IBT union representation card, preferably heavy stock paper, colored paper.
2. Pre-addressed (self adhesive computer generated label) business sized envelope for the return of potentially signed representation card to be mailed to IBT. Make sure your 'cards' fit easily within this envelope. Make sure you go ahead and pay for return postage (buy a few books of first class postage - you'll use them), to prevent someone from not returning it merely because there is no postage on it.
3. Your one page argument as to why the Couriers in your station should sign and return the card enclosed. Make this argument focused on issues which are seen in YOUR station, so the reader knows that a Courier in the station they work at is responsible for sending out this letter (but you don't want them to know just who did the mailing).
4. All the above will be enclosed within one of the 'larger' business type envelopes (I'll have to look up envelope sizes), which you will use to mail the whole works out to each Courier which you have an address for. Don't place anything in the envelope you enclose with the IBT address on it, you don't want people getting confused. Three (3) separate items will be placed in the envelope YOU mail; 1) IBT return envelope, 2) Union Card, 3) Your one page write up. You will use computer generated labels for both recipient and 'return addresses'. Obviously don't use your home address as the return address. I used the 'station' address, so that the letters looked 'official'. I also put the employee's company ID number right after their name on the address label (it will be on the phone roster). As in...
Joe Blow E# 123456
123. Main St.
Sometown, State, ZIP
You want to make sure your coworker who receives this letter which you went to so much effort to generate actually OPENS it and reads the contents. Yes, it is a bit of a 'bait and switch' - all's fair in love and war. You are declaring war on your employer.
5. Mail them all at the same time, preferably by going into a US Post Office and placing them into their letter drop (to make sure they all go out at the same time).
Once the initial sparks fly, you can have additional union cards and return labels available for those you weren't able to mail them to, but who express interest (all through the station grapevine) in the days after the bomb blows. You can place these in their employee "mail slot" (don't let anyone know), or go around to their trucks in the early AM and slip them into the VIRs (no Courier can pull out before signing the VIR - they'll find your little gift for them).
Your station management will know someone is mounting an organizing campaign real quick. It was fun seeing my station's management reaction when I did it (they couldn't do a damn thing about it, since they couldn't pin me with a direct violation of company policy).
Be forewarned.... They will start trying to develop documentation against you in order to get rid of you. When you declare war on your employer, you also declare war on your local management, they see it that way and will react accordingly.
