Back in the day of the assembly line, it was called "the speedup." Management would increase the speed on the line, making everyone work harder and harder. If you didn't keep up, management said it was YOUR fault.

Most of us don't work on an assembly line but we're feeling The Great Speedup just the same. This is a tactic as old as employers but we don't call it what it is anymore. We call it "doing more with less" or "a lean workplace" and it comes in response to a bad economy or perhaps just because management wants to declare a "crisis" and lay off workers and freeze hiring.

So we work harder to make up for all the people who are no longer with us. We work nights and weekends. We work even though we've called in sick or taken a hard-earned vacation day. All that work takes a toll on us and our families, but hey. We have to "do more with less" right?

We all feel the pressure from the increasing amount work that needs to be done. But we aren't the ones who decided to let go of good, productive workers and we're not the ones who refuse to hire replacements.

If you feel the pressure to work all those hours coming from within, what it means is that you're a conscientious employee who wants to do good work. You want the Company to succeed. You want to help pitch in and get everyone through the crisis, or more recently, the "crisis" that management has declared.

But those extra hours are actually NOT helping. In order to run the Company well, management needs to have accurate data. How many people does it take to get the job done? If you work through lunches and put in a few hours in the evening or weekend, you are skewing the information that management needs to do their job. If you do the work of two people, then management won't know that they need two people to do the job. What happens when you get tired of never talking to your kids or seeing the latest movie? Management will be caught flat-footed when you stop putting in those extra hours -- or worse, they'll think that now you're slacking off!

If you feel the pressure to work all those hours coming from your management, then they are out of line. They are trying to get you to play into the "speedup" and they are stealing from you. They are stealing your time off, your time with your family, and time for yourself.

We've heard from members who work nearly every weekend, who feel the pressure to "get the job done" and so put in hours even when they are on vacation. This is wrong and it needs to stop. Management has made the decision to get rid of people or not hire the workers needed to do the work properly. It is on them to face what that means: uncompleted work. It is on them -- not us -- to make up for the decisions of the executives. It is up to us to do good work during our scheduled work hours AND THEN STOP. We help no one -- not management and not ourselves -- if we succumb to pressure from management to give up our precious time off.

"But I'll get written up!" I hear you saying. If you are threatened with disciplinary actions because you refuse to go along with the "speedup" contact the Union immediately. The Company can not ask you to routinely work beyond your negotiated hours or refuse to allow you to take off your negotiated vacation or sick days. If they threaten it, contact your Chief Steward or our Business Agent. We'll ensure that the Company doesn't get away with "turning up the assembly line."