I Guess We're Going To Disagree

Late 1980's

Our company was introducing an employee assistance program. These things were kind of new back then and this one would cover all employees, union and non union. It was to be initially introduced at a company conference that was held once a year.

Only management people attended that conference.

I was a production manager, reporting to the plant manager but also had a role as company safety coordinator and in that role I reported to the VP of HR, sort of. It never really got discussed.

So I asked the VP of HR if I could invite a few union people from my plant to this conference to hear about the EAP. He said sure. I didn't ask my plant manager.

It was kind of a big deal to have them there. Some eyebrows were raised. They asked some tough questions, good questions about the program. They appreciated the direct answers from the EAP provider and were comfortable with them. We all felt pretty good about the whole experience.

My plant manager was not a happy camper. He called me into his office and told me I shouldn't have asked them and that it was not the right thing to do. That's the nice version of his rant.

I just said, 'Well I guess we're going to disagree on this'. There was some awkward silence, then I left his office. It was never mentioned again.

It wasn't that gutsy or brave. I knew and he knew I had the powers that be on my side. I'm pretty sure at some level he probably knew having those people at the conference was the right thing to do as well. But you run a plant with a good dose of coercive power. I suppose he thought that might be compromised by this.

Power is a funny thing; we don't talk enough about it in our day to day work lives.