Preception Is Reality

As Labor Day Weekend approaches I am reminded of the years I spent negotiating contracts and the importance of our economy and industrial relationships of employee and employer.  Relationships are important.   We forget that the Bible is a book of relationships.  It instructs us on our relationship to God and to our neighbor.  If we do not have a good relationship with our neighbor we cannot have a good one with God.

In 1994, I had a personal friend, and co-worker, who police arrested for assault. 

The arrest came while he walked the picket line as Local 50537 United Paper Workers International Union negotiated a contract with Blue Circle Cement.  My friend had no idea what was taking place.  One of the replacement workers identified my friend for Norred Security Systems and the Shelby County police as the man who assaulted him at a Calera filling station.  My friend had no idea what they were talking about and for a moment resisted arrest.  He protested that on the night of the alleged incident that he was at home watching Monday Night Football with his son-in-law. 

With the aid of modern technology and sophisticated surveillance equipment, Norred Security and the replacement worker made a positive identification.  My friend was handcuffed, finger printed, and put into a cell for the first time in his life.  He was embarrassed, humiliated, and devastated.

He called me.  I knew him, worked with him, prayed with him, and witnessed along with him.  He said that he was at home with his son-in-law watching the game.  His concern was as a Christian his testimony was destroyed.  The men of the plant rallied around him with full support.  The objective of Norred was to destroy the credibility of the striking employees. 

It did not take long to find the truth.  Another striking employee had had words with the replacement worker and they exchanged blows.  The common dress for most of us on the picket line was blue jeans, tee shirts, and baseball caps.  My friend and the employee who actually hit the replacement worker had beards, were the same build, and the same height.  In negotiations we tried to get Blue Circle, Norred, and the Shelby County police to admit their error.  They were relentless.  During the hearings, my friend’s key witness, his son in law, was accidentally killed in a car accident. 

Finally, someone revealed to the company who the real culprit was.  The company never apologized; neither did the local police nor Norred.  The company maintained that Norred was at fault.  My friend won the case and a settlement from Norred.  The thing he wanted most he never regained.  His name and reputation were destroyed by the false arrest. 

Several years later I had the opportunity to preach at his deacon ordination.  He mentioned that he still felt the humiliated.

The Book of James has some strong words for gossip.  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? (James 4:11-12 KJV)  

Most of us do not have criminal intentions when we gossip, but it can be very malicious.  Gossip can cause more harm in five minutes than can be repaired in years, not to mention one’s emotional stability. 

Many find delight in spicy gossip.  It is our duty to obey the law of God, not to judge it.  Scripture calls it the worst of sins, because it is a breach of the Royal Law and it is an infringement of the rights of God. The sin of character assassination should not be condoned.  We must learn to improve human relationships and to get along better with people.  This Labor Day, remember we are co-labors together.

Counting the Cost

I remember the last day I worked for Blue Circle Cement Incorporated at Calera.  As I left the electrical department, Truman Hughes stopped me.  He asked, “How long do you think we will be out?”  He was referring to a strike planned for the next morning, August 3, 1994.

I responded with, “Truman I have worked my last day.” 

With eyes of disbelief, he said, “No, really how long do you think we will be out?”

Once again, I said, “Truman, if we go on strike the company is going to replace us.  I have worked my last day.”

Still not believing me, he said, “Do you really mean it?”

With my electrical tool pouch on my shoulder, I said, “Truman, if we are not back to work in two weeks it is over.  I, like some others, will never be back.  I have been in negotiations since February and the company is ready to replace us.  They have told me that if we strike, I will not have a job.  Look, I have all my personal tools with me.  I have a few in my locker, but I have most of my hand tools in this pouch.”

Negotiations had been tough.  Chicago lawyers have disdain for Alabama rednecks.  Sitting across from an educated know-it-all who twists every article of a contract is deplorable.  Sometimes times we had to remind the lawyers that just because we talked slow does not mean that we were stupid.

Negotiations were long and frustrating with trips to Atlanta, Birmingham, and Anniston.  Every time the negotiating committee returned to the plant, the men had hundreds of questions.  We tried to give them as much information as we could without doing any damage to the negotiations.  Hearsay among employees ran rampant throughout the plant.

The men wanted to strike immediately when the contract expired in May.  The negotiating committee tried to hold them together as long as we could without hitting the highway.  Many of the men thought that we were not trying hard enough in negotiations.  They would remind us what they would do if they were on the negotiation committee.  I offered to let them have my position.  I never had any takers.

The anxiety was building with each meeting.  Co-workers would heckle members of the negotiating committee.  I remember an incident one morning while buying a coke in the canteen.  Some of my friends, I use the term friend loosely, sounded like laying hens in the hen house.  They were clucking as a hen does when laying an egg.  I will let your imagination take you were they were going with that one.

Another time a co-worker cussed me from the time I got out of my truck, punched my time card, and entered the plant.  He told me that I was not a man, had no guts, and that I was probably on the take by the company.  As a footnote, when we went on strike, that same man was the first to cross the picket line.

The president of the union and good friend on the negotiating committee was worried sick about the situation.  I remember riding back from Atlanta with him.  I told him that the situation was bigger than we were.  We knew that men wanted to strike and that the company was prepared this time.  There had been two successful strikes previously.  One was a twenty-four-hour wildcat strike over a dismissed employee.  The other was a two-day strike resulting from three years of implementation, which involved pay cuts, holiday and vacation losses, and benefit reductions.  The employees of the plant were confident, but the company had the workers and the money to outlast them.

On another occasion, he and I were standing outside the bathhouse.  He said, “Hopper, what are we going to do.”  I reminded him that we would make it.   As we talked, Eddie, another employee, walked by us.  I said, “I worry for Eddie.  He cannot get another job making $40,000-$50,000.  He has no education and his age is a factor.”

Billy, an older machinist, walked past us.  I said, “Billy is too old to get another job.”  Then, there was Jerry.  I said, “Jerry is in the same boat as Eddie, but you and I are young enough and have enough education to start over.”

The men voted to strike.  True to their word, the company bussed in enough strike busters to run the plant.  The men were strong until they missed their first payday.  After a month of negotiations, the negotiating committee convinced the employees to return to work.  Of 157 employees on strike, only fifty returned.  Some of us, especially the negotiating committee, never did.  I learned that although the majority rules, it is not necessarily right.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV).