Happy Friday Oppo!

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo)
09/07/2018 at 09:50 • Filed to: None

I am in a good mood today, Oppo. Yesterday’s grievance meeting went well, better than I could have imagined. It was actually quite remarkable, and my cynicism was not rewarded.

The union rep, who negotiated the CBA from their side, opened by explaining a couple of issues. One was a male worker who was upset that a female co-worker breast fed in his presence. Under California law, women have the right to breast feed in public, and the workplace laws protect the woman’s privacy, not weird men. The other part were things we were aware of, and as I posted previously were not violations of the contract. But they were things we were willing to collaborate with the workers to see if we could fix.

I explained that the grievance process is inherently adversarial, as it starts with an accusation. It is like when an employer initiates the disciplinary process. We negotiated into the contract a “Labor Management Committee” to create a forum where management and workers can voice concerns without the accusatory nature of grievance or discipline procedures. The workers had never bothered to choose their members for the committee.

Remarkably, the union rep agreed. He agreed that there was no violation of the contract, and the grievance process was the wrong venue for the conversation. The workers agreed to form the committee, and we all shook hands, the grievance was withdrawn and everyone behaved like adults. Sad that this was a surprise, but happy for a good outcome. I criticize unions a lot, but my hat is off to this guy for doing his job the right way. I respect that.

I am looking forward to t he weekend. I am off work today, and playing housemaid to clean up while the wife is off to work. My younger son will be rewarded with a free night of video games (Overwatch) and money to order pizza. He is starting high school with straight As so far, and is doing well in marching band. So he gets a night without his normal time limits on gaming.

My friend Dave is coming up from Santa Clarita late tonight, and we will be finishing the closet project, as the doors we ordered have come in. For my day off today, I will be attempting the variator, belt, and clutch upgrade for my Vespa. Stay tuned, it could go either way. If all goes well, I could be riding a spunky Vespa to cardiac rehab today. Speaking of which, I graduate Monday. They have a maintenance program that insurance does not cover, so I am going to join it. I already have a treadmill at home. I plan to add a small bench and adjustable dumbells so I can do a little more at home.

Sorry about the long post. Too much coffee. Toby at sunrise for your time.

DISCUSSION (5)

random001 > ImmoralMinority
09/07/2018 at 10:00

Yay! You deserve pancakes! And bacon. Might be turkey bacon, but it’s bacon!

Wacko > ImmoralMinority
09/07/2018 at 10:07

How much of an asshole do you have to be to file a complaint against someone breastfeeding????

What the fuck does it change in your life.

bob and john > ImmoralMinority
09/07/2018 at 10:10

All 5 of my bikes are now running (well, kinda)

Z1000: running, just did new tires on it, freshie freshie Q3s. turn in is so much nicer now.
bmw: was running fine, dad just hasnt used it a lot recently. going up for sale soon
honda CBF1000: replaced the fuel pump. Bike fired right up. Need to grab new tires for it. But it is running
vfr: threw in a battery and it basicly cranked right up. Run and purrs like a whiney kitten (hmmmm gear driven cams) waiting on body panels to make it ridable. then its re do the brakes, re do suspension (i think fork oil is leaking) get the thing painted, and then ride the shit out of it.
sv track bike: I stole the battery out of this one to put in the VFR to amke it run. so it DOES run. technically.

Ash78, voting early and often > Wacko
09/07/2018 at 11:36

Agreed. That said, there are a ton of special products that you can use (they’re like little tents or aprons) to protect your own privacy from creeps while still breastfeeding in public. Breastfeeding isn’t gross, but cleaning up your baby’s spit up while your boob continues to shoot milk all over the place is definitely a little awkward.

Wacko > Ash78, voting early and often
09/07/2018 at 12:21

My wife has breastfeeding bras and shirts

Normaly if in public, like in a walmart she will just use a baby blanket to cover since many pervs there for some reason