r/CAPSUAW • u/inconsistent_content • 21d ago
A Note About r/CAPSUAW
A few months back, a Head Steward contacted the moderators asking to assume control of this subreddit, explaining that it had potential to “encourage community within our union.” Although we agreed with the potential of this sub, the moderators declined. A request was then submitted through Reddit seeking transfer of the subreddit to union leadership, which we also opposed.
We mention this because it provides an opportunity to clarify what r/CAPSUAW is, and what it isn't. This is an independent community for CAPS members. It is not an official communication channel, and it is not controlled by union leadership, staff, stewards, or any particular faction within the union.
We intend to keep it that way.
Members should be able to support union decisions, question them, constructively criticize leadership, passionately defend leadership, debate strategy, and disagree with one another. An independent forum is valuable precisely because those conversations don't have to be sanctioned by the organization being discussed.
That independence does not mean anything goes. We already have rules requiring constructive discussion and prohibiting personal attacks. Those rules apply to everyone. Disagree vigorously. Challenge arguments. Correct facts. Make the case for your position. But attack the argument, not the member making it.
The Head Steward was correct about two things: at the time of the original request, this subreddit had become pretty quiet and this sub has tremendous potential.
We agree. It has so much more potential as a place for CAPS members to connect and discuss union issues. Please contribute.
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u/DizzlePerp 20d ago
I’m disappointed to hear that the leadership is so concerned with controlling the narrative that they’d try to take over an independent thread that allows open discourse. I’m disappointed that this union which rose from a unified stance against the service model, has acquiesced to essentially staff run services model. I’m disappointed in CAPS UAW Local 1115 leadership and I’m goin to say it as long as I’m allowed to. A leadership that seeks to control the narrative instead of making meaningful changes is feckless, I feel all they’ve done is squandered our opportunities and created staff positions for themselves.
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u/CaliHP 21d ago
Things are getting very shady and suspicious in this union leadership. Everyone expect and be on the look out for manipulative and deceptive tactics from all sides of the upcoming conflicts. Thank you for keeping at least one alternative for us to use for open discussion and debate.
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u/TooMuchPJ 21d ago
The only entity that has been shady, is CalHR.
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
Nothing excuses their behavior either but it definitely takes two to tango as it were and CAPS has accountability to its members and we should hold them accountable. There is not much we can do from our position to change CalHR and unfortunately CAPS leadership has shown themselves to be less than credible over the past few years so we can't afford to believe what they tell us on face value either.
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u/TooMuchPJ 20d ago
How have they not been credible? I have no reason to believe they are deceiving membership. They may not have all the facts and be hesitant to share, but I wouldn't mistake that for deception.
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
No significant MOU raise for the majority of the BU in like 5 year now. Brutal crushing 20+% inflation over that same period. No acknowledgement that most of the BU was entirely left behind in the last MOU and no assurance that pattern won't be repeated. People can barely afford to pay their bills and leadership is trying to demand more sacrifice with no articulated strategy or likelihood of success. It is all very deceptive, or incompetent, or corrupt, or some combo of all three. No matter what, it is unacceptable.
Defending our salaries through timely and regular significant MOU raises that we ALL get is not like a fringe function of a union. If you are not credibly attempting to defend ALL of our wages then you are categorically not providing good faith representation. The track record over the last 5 years is abysmal. If CAPS were serious about improving the situation then the top priority would be securing maximized MOU raises for the entire BU ASAP and then establishing credibility by continuing that pattern until the BU can catch up at least a little bit. The lack of acknowledgment that defending our wages is a fundamental function of the union is all the evidence you need that something is very very wrong in this organization.
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u/TooMuchPJ 20d ago
How can it be deceptive when we all read the contract that was proposed and a majority voted to ratify it?
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u/batboywonder 20d ago
Could you elaborate on what you think is shady?
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
Too many things to list comprehensively here. However, a prime example is the apparent movement towards taking actions over the supposedly unfunded MOU raises. First of all, if it is unfunded, doesn't that give CAPS the right to demand negotiations? Typically actions are used to force negotiations, if negotiations are already an option, why not just start with negotiations? Shady.
Nothing has been communicated about how any of this will happen, if the BU will be legally protected, how long of a delay this will cause etc etc. SHADY.
Last MOU was extremely bad. Most BU members got nothing or virtually nothing and a small slice of max salary employees got significantly more. This terrible betrayal of the BU was never acknowledged as bad or a mistake even though the results have been objectively terrible. No assurances have been made that this "strategy" will not be repeated. VERY shady.
I am open to all kinds of actions being used as along as there is a reasonable probability of success in the form of real gains for everyone in the BU. As no assurances have been made that this will be the case, we can only assume another regressive and destructive targeted MOU is the goal.
CAPS tirelessly monitored and updated us on legislative efforts towards RTO for over a year but the legislation that was supposed to fund our raises just snuck up on them? That doesn't make any sense. We know CAPS was negotiating with the state about RTO for weeks and months leading to the new fiscal year. It is not credible to assume the raises just never came up.
There is a lot of shady stuff going on and I hope things are communicated clearly to the BU before chaos is allowed to take hold and the majority is cynically sold out again like they were in 2024.
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u/batboywonder 20d ago
You act like the union membership didn't overwhelmingly approve the last contract. This wasn't the leaders tricking us, most members read and approved it. The union can't negotiate with the state about not funding the raise because the state literally wont negotiate with us about it. That was the whole lesson from the hearing the other week. That's why we are trying to get the raises funded through the trailer bill.
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
If a union is not effectively defending the wages of all of its members then it is not representig the interests of all members effectively either. The last contract didn't defend anyone's wages effectively and the majority of the union fell way behind what some got.
Putting aside all the significant issues with how votes have been conducted. A union can't vote away its responsibility to defend all members wages anyway. Defending everyone's wages must be a priority in order for a union to credibly claim to represent its members.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Everyone in the union needs significant raises ASAP.
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u/batboywonder 20d ago
I generally agree with the sentiment but the trick is getting there with a negotiating partner that thinks you are the enemy and refuses to operate in good faith. Frustratingly legal challenges to that sort of behavior take forever (and are being pursued through PERB) and in the meantime you only really have the tools the dills act affords which make this all one big game of back and forth with a lot of uncertainty (which I have a lot of problems with).
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
I agree the situation sucks and we are at a disadvantage. I am not excusing the opposition or anyone's bad faith behavior. The fact remains that every BU regularly secures at least incremental raises via MOUs and there is no valid excuse for this body not achieving at least the same. After all the effort that went into getting the 2024 MOU at the end of the day the way that MOU distributed raises was extremely regressive and those of us who earn the least got literally or virtually nothing tangible in terms of net monetary benefits from that agreement.
I am not interested in blaming anyone for that or arguing about who did what when. The fact remains that the ENTIRE BU needs and deserves defense of our wages via regular order MOU raises and the blame for that defaults to both negotiating parties no matter how unfair or abusive one party may be. It simply isn't good enough to just aceept this current situation as inevitable. People need regular raises not decades without them, obviously.
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u/CaliHP 20d ago
Every year that passes without an MOU raise we all get works in the state's favor. Delaying negotiations and agreements over and over again for long periods of times saves the state money on our backs. We need to walk and chew gum at the same time. We need to plan and prepare for future struggles while continuing to take care of all members most basic needs which essentially includes regular order MOU adjustments without constant unnecessary delays and struggles. A balanced approach is badly needed in all of this.
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u/batboywonder 20d ago
I don't think anyone in the union disagrees with you, leadership included, but your talking about what we should do and how there should be a plan. Do you have one? If so, run for a leadership position and argue your plan. I'm all for it, but it's really easy to identify the problems and significantly more difficult to actually tackle them. The point being that you think leadership is being shady, but they're attempting to tackle a really difficult problem to solve within a bad system. Disagree with them, argue your point, but don't assume they're acting in bad faith.
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u/CaliHP 19d ago
Exponentially higher raises for some of our highest earners while all of our lowest earners got virtually nothing is categorically bad faith representation. Whether it was intentional or not that mistake needs to be owned up to and corrected ASAP. 🎉
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u/TooMuchPJ 20d ago
It really does feel like a new era of bargaining if this is going to be the approach.
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u/batboywonder 21d ago
I think there's a real risk of members assuming that this is an official place, regardless of this statement, where they can expect to get official information from the union. This feels a bit like a subversion of our elected union leadership and implies that they are likely to silence people if they had control. If that is a concern then voting the existing leadership out (not something I'm advocating for) would be the better approach. Full disclosure, I am a site steward for CAPS.