Qx: This is getting much better if I say so myself.TD: Or maybe Rap Sessions are a relatively new phenomenon, and didn't happen when the book was written ? I don't know when they were introduced, but even calling them "Rap Sessions" has an eighties naffness about it !
Qx: Actually, I think "rap sessions" started up in the late Sixties and the term "rap" is most likely a slang term for rapport that black folks in the USA used. There was even a personality by the name of H. Rap Brown who was a black radical and very glib in the old newsreel footage that I've viewed.
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TD: I can se your point. Maybe the differentiation should be hourly paid / salaried. No hourly paid manager has hire/fire authority, yet in my opinion, they are really no better off than crew - they just get paid slightly more to take on some responsibility.
Qx: It seems like the term "manager" can mean more than one thing at McDoanld's. At times it seems to be designed to confuse outside observers who might investigate McDonald's. At any rate it's a rather unique differentiation that may make even some hourly paid managers wonder why their job title includes the word "manager."
TD: However, once you are promoted to management, you become ineligible to attend a rap session. I have never attended one myself, because I was promoted through quickly. A similar avenue exists for managers, and it is called a "communication day".
Qx: Can you tell us more about this "communication day"? In my posting "Rap session is a rather loose term" I used a URL hyperlink to highlight Siamak's posting about rap sessions in which he stated along the lines that rap sessions were also detrimental to managers because if certain managers were too well-liked by the employees they were in danger of being demoted or worse. Is your experience in any way similar to what Siamak posted about his? Also, could "communication day" be handled like this at all?
TD: The thing is, when you reach the level I'm at in the organisation, the complaints are not about the fact that the TV in the crew room might not be working, or that the meal policy is unfair. So I suppose, in theory, managers have different grievances to crew. But we still have 'em !
Qx: Point taken. Very good!
TD: I think they are a waste of time, especially if, at management level, the complaints are about the way the corp and it's representatives operate. I refer you to Donna's post at the top of this page. What is the point of complaining about the people you are complaining to ?
Qx: Yes. Donna's post is really something else. McDonald's should have known better than to treat her like they did.
Criticism is perhaps the citizen's primary weapon in the exercise of her legitimacy. That is why, in this corporatist society, conformism, loyalty, and silence are so admired and rewarded; why criticism is so punished or marginalized.- John Ralston Saul- THE UNCONSCIOUS CIVILIZATION.
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TD: Is the IWW supportive of managers wishing to form a union ?
Qx: I think they would be understanding even though I could imagine some "hard-liners" taking a hostile position with "the working class and the employing class have nothing in common" stance which would simply undermine their own position due to the inflammatory (not to mention messianic, 19th century) rhetoric. I'm certainly not against the idea. Hey, if the United Mine Workers (UMW) can organize doctors why can't the IWW at least see that even the white colllar sector has it's back against the wall?
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TD: I actually know of a situation where some shareholders caused quite a flurry of activity amongst the top people in USA. I will tell all Qx, but not JUST yet. My reasons will become apparent at the end of this post. Although I understand your point.
Qx: That's really interesting. Some activists disparage shareholder activism but at time I see it as an outgrowth that can have its effects.
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TD: Corporations are more than people, but people make them grow, evolve, and survive. I mean the corporate culture - a shared set of philosophies and ideals. These only exist in peoples minds.
Qx: Yes and sometimes they can say one thing and do absolutely the opposite. What I mean is that I'm not saying that the corporate elites are comprised of people who have long, gnarly fangs and plot evil day and night and neither do I say that they are complete morons. Their plans are oftentimes very well thought out and especially so in the case of the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI).
I've been given the impression that many who spend their entire careers in the corporate culture are absolutely cocooned from the everyday realities that a part-time truckdriver/ woodsman/ mineral prospector like me or someone in your position face each day. I've known a few very wealthy people (in financial terms, not spiritually) and they can afford the lifestyles that perpetuate that while we're in the race to the bottom in this age of free markets and free trade. None of which is really fair.
TD: One of my managers is a law student. I'll ask him if he knows anything, but I doubt he'll know much about American law !
Qx: If you can show him that website about corporate governance he might be really challenged and delighted at the same time. There's a huge amount of reading material in there and I've spent more than a little time going through it myself. I consider it to be more than a light summer reading myself.
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: : Qx: Long story but also in constant 90F to 100F temperatures with lots of Pakistanis and Iranians who feared that their false IDs would be found out and that McD's would rat them out if they organized.
TD: Little did they know eh, Qx ?
Qx: Yeah, it was really a busy location on the westside of Houston. Just thinking about it gets me sweating.
TD: Back to my little teaser further up the page. Like I said, I will post some more, but right now, I'm off to negotiate salary, terms and conditions with a NEW employer ! Now even you can't fail to be pleased about that piece of news !
Qx: Well, good luck with it and don't fret about working at McD's too much either! We all have to make a living and I'm luckier than most because I've been able to choose my line of work over the past few years. I'm simply lucky not smarter or wiser than anyone else.
TD: You heard it here first.
Qx: It should be interesting!
