New Year, New Us (From the Archives, 12-22-2022)

The new year is around the corner, and with it, changes are happening at CIS. CIS is deciding to reduce incentive pay and remove the bonus point system. Additionally, the higher gas reimbursement policy will end in January. For many employees at CIS, these changes will decrease their paychecks. This is happening during a time of economic hardship for many Americans. On top of these changes, our paychecks will be delayed.

The solution is not to simply reverse these specific changes, like bringing back incentive pay and the bonus point system. These “rewards” may appear to be beneficial solutions for us, when in reality, they are not. The heart of the problem is not a lack of incentive hours but a real systemic problem: our employer controls every aspect of the job, and we have no say in our working conditions. Our employer makes decisions that benefit them, and sometimes a decision happens to benefit us. This reality of our job at CIS leads to situations where individuals depend on gaming the system or keeping their heads down. So who will look out for the well-being of CIS workers if the boss won’t? Who will make sure that CIS workers will make it through tough times?

The solution is coming together. Individual workers cannot stand up to unjust working conditions on their own. A union can.

The boss can cut pay, eliminate benefits, change working conditions, or fire employees on a whim. When we struggle alone, it can seem like problems are "personal problems" and not structural problems designed to favor the employer at our expense. Once a union is formed, we can wield our collective and newly gained legal power to balance the scales. We can make the changes needed to create a sustainable workplace!

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