The following e-mail concerning Clerical negotiations at PG&E was sent to the union by Bruce Weatherly and is reprinted here with his permission.
Anything that drives wages either up or down has a direct impact on you, me and each and every American. Non-union carpenters earn a very good wage that is high enough to keep them from going union. The wages of our management brothers are in direct relation to the wages of those working for them.
When the wages of the clerical go down so will the wages of the Support Services Supervisors they report to and of course the wages of the Support Services Managers will be next. Since that doesn’t show up during negotiations they can’t see the impact on their wages and since you don’t miss what you don’t see it never sinks in, but it’s real.
Bruce Weatherly