Need a Question Answered re: The Union Thing with Custodial Workers

[Madonna3]

So, Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the union is currently losing the battle and the union's most argued point is that senior members in the janitorial department will lose their ability to choose their own job assignments and this is where I am confused. What are the choices? Cleaning the toilet or cleaning the garbage can? Because I don't understand the variation of job assignments and how one janitorial job is more desirable over the other I was wondering if someone here had some inside information that they could share to explain why the union is fighting to retain this benefit for senior staff?

 

[sachilles]

So, Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the union is currently losing the battle and the union's most argued point is that senior members in the janitorial department will lose their ability to choose their own job assignments and this is where I am confused. What are the choices? Cleaning the toilet or cleaning the garbage can? Because I don't understand the variation of job assignments and how one janitorial job is more desirable over the other I was wondering if someone here had some inside information that they could share to explain why the union is fighting to retain this benefit for senior staff?

I would think location is everything.
Some places may very well be a non stop slog, while others hardly see use. Maybe its as easy as the distance from employee parking to the work site is worse.

 

[rteetz]

I would think location is everything.
Some places may very well be a non stop slog, while others hardly see use. Maybe its as easy as the distance from employee parking to the work site is worse.

Yeah my guess is some places are better to clean than others. I would probably rather be a janitor at GF than All-Star Music or something.

 

[mcjaco]

Location, shifts, etc.

 

[Madonna3]

Yeah my guess is some places are better to clean than others. I would probably rather be a janitor at GF than All-Star Music or something.

Well, I worked in a system like this back in my days at Six Flags as an operations supervisor. This department included rides and grounds. So, I had a dedicated team to each area and then I moved people around in that area. I can't imagine they'd pull janitors from GF to go clean over at All-Stars and then send them back.

There has to be more to it.

 

[wilkeliza]

They aren't going to pull them around all over WDW to do it. What will happen is that custodial won't be able to ignore their duties any more. So if there is a protein spill at Peter Pan and they are working the Tangled Bathrooms, PP, and Its a Small World area they can't claim they didn't hear the page any more or that they didn't see the protein spill. They can't go chat up guests at the Tangled seating area any more and say the bathrooms are okay when they are really over flowing.

I am kind of shocked that the custodial union gets to pick assignments. The attractions union only lets you bid for schedules and days off (most senior picks first and then everyone else picks going down the line). I don't see this taking away their seniority for scheduling or their general area. Custodial is usually assigned a location. They couldn't on demand schedule (i.e. oh you work in an hour you are needed at DAK not GF today) so I can't see it being must more then what location at your home spot being affected. I.E. you usually work Main Street West but you are being paged to Main Street East to help with a clean up or whatever.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yeah my guess is some places are better to clean than others. I would probably rather be a janitor at GF than All-Star Music or something.

I think you have that backwards. Whenever we have gone for dinner at the Grand Floridian their bathrooms are disgusting.

 

[Disneylover99]

I think you have that backwards. Whenever we have gone for dinner at the Grand Floridian their bathrooms are disgusting.

I was thinking the same thing. The AllStar music washrooms were always well maintained, but the washrooms near 1900 Park Faire?

 

[rteetz]

I was thinking the same thing. The AllStar music washrooms were always well maintained, but the washrooms near 1900 Park Faire?

Well its been a while since I have been to the all-stars but I didn't find the bathrooms at 1900 Park Fare that bad in January.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The variation would primarily be locations and preferable hours...i would think.

 

[Disneylover99]

Well its been a while since I have been to the all-stars but I didn't find the bathrooms at 1900 Park Fare that bad in January.

My thinking is that not too many people visit the AllStar resorts, but the GF has tons of people visiting and using the public washrooms daily, especially the ones near the restaurants. It must be much more work to maintain.

 

[HopperFan]

It is tied to the new custodial tracking system Disney is testing. The union is claiming among other things this could lead to CMs with seniority losing choices in preferred locations and big brother mentality.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...ing-employees-geolocation-20161104-story.html

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/11/gps-tracking-disney-world-causing-employee-angst/

Think about it, right now custodial are kinda free-range in the parks, with no one looking over their shoulder to insure they are doing their job.

Many on here complain about the poor cleanliness and many report it to Disney. Aside from hiring more people to watch the people who are to be doing their job, what are they to do? Sounds like this tracking system may be the next step.

DD worked three jobs at Disney, the last at Soarin’. Because she was hired to be a flex worker, she was cross trained in different areas and “certified” for custodial. She never worked in custodial. At Soarin’ they are tucked away and they had a huge problem with custodial working their area or coming when they called. Since Soarin’ does make some people sick …. calling and calling to get someone to clean up spills holds up the entire ride. DD started “suiting” up and doing the custodial protocols – shocking to other CMs who didn't realize she was cross-trained. She said either she did it herself or the entire ride was held up while they begged for someone to come clean. She said it was a huge problem – so I certainly see Disney being proactive.

Maybe the senior CMs are upset they may lose cushy locations if the tracking determines they are not doing their job and therefore get bumped?

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Hopper, honestly you need some perspective.

There's a difference between "hard work" and having your employer put a GPS tag on you that is tied in to an unqualified "manager" to look at on their corporate issue tablet to extract cost savings ...and that is what this is.

Even if the intention is noble...the reality is too big brother. I don't support any worker being tagged like an animal for stock gain. Life is too short.

 

[HopperFan]

Hopper, honestly you need some perspective.

There's a difference between "hard work" and having your employer put a GPS tag on you that is tied in to an unqualified "manager" to look at on their corporate issue tablet to extract cost savings ...and that is what this is.

Even if the intention is noble...the reality is too big brother. I don't support any worker being tagged like an animal for stock gain. Life is too short.

This has nothing to do with my perspective. The OP did not understand what is happening, I shared some past articles that explain it better ... along with example of why Disney wants to use a tech system in this department. And since Disney seems to be winning the battle so far ... I don't think the Unions complaints are holding ground.

This has to do with Disney's perspective that they have a problem with some of their CMs who are in a position where they are not directly supervised ....... an area that not only are other CMs noticing/reporting but the guests are noticing/complaining. This is happening because of all the complaints they get regarding the lower standard of cleanliness these days.

If you read the article, this is not just knowing what areas a CM are servicing but it is part of an automated system to notify them when garbage cans are full, reminders of locations to check and the ability to notify the closest CM when an urgent need comes up. So when someone pukes on Soarin' and shuts the ride down, Soarin' CMs call custodial who then use the GPS system to notify the closest CM to go clean it up. At this point that person is accountable to perform the duty instead of everyone wandering in the opposite direction to avoid doing it - leaving the ride in limbo. CMs will only have their phone during their shift so there would be no invasion in their personal life.

MANY industries "big brother" their employees or tag as you say. Almost every mode of transportation from big rigs, to buses, to delivery trucks, are GPS tracked. Add in to your cable guy, public works employees, school buses etc. Most stores have cameras right on their employees as well as their customers. Salesman and anyone with company phones; yup they are tracking you and everything you do on your phone, as well as tracking everything in your company paid for laptop. Your laptop has built in software to watch what you do on it. Big brother is alive and well and tracking all over the place.

 

[wilkeliza]

I'm big brothered at my desk job and starting in 2017 it'll be even more. Right now they only know exactly what I'm doing on my computer but have no clue what I do if I'm not at my desk or how long I may be away for lunch or whatever. I'm pretty sure in 2017 we are going to be swiping in and out of our office building so they'll know when we leave and come back for lunch. Right now we have a do your job and no one looks at the data policy but as cuts are going to happen soon I'm sure anyone who is slacking will have their internet usage pulled up and have that used against them in the firing process (not that have to in NYC since you can be fired with no explanation here).

 

[HopperFan]

I'm big brothers at my desk job and starting in 2017 it'll be even more. Right now they only know exactly what I'm doing on my computer but have no clue what I do if I'm not at my desk or how long I may be away for lunch or whatever. I'm pretty sure in 2017 we are going to be swiping in and out of our office building so they'll know when we leave and come back for lunch. Right now we have a do your job and no one looks at the data policy but as cuts are going to happen soon I'm sure anyone who is slacking will have their internet usage pulled up and have that used against them in the firing process (not that have to in NYC since you can be fired with no explanation here).

I do believe we are a naive nation when it comes to how much we are being watched, tracked, followed even though sometimes it is right there in front of us - google. And we are far behind many other countries in this respect where cameras watch every move. It is only going to become more prevalent for many reasons.

 

[wilkeliza]

I do believe we are a naive nation when it comes to how much we are being watched, tracked, followed even though sometimes it is right there in front of us - google. And we are far behind many other countries in this respect where cameras watch every move. It is only going to become more prevalent for many reasons.

I'm not naive at all. I use to be until I saw the google map pattern that was taken by default from my phone. Not even a google phone but it does it. I now try to have separate accounts and not use anything else to log in like Google, Facebook, twitter etc.

Living in NYC I had an officer tell me that they can see the number of your credit cards if you open your wallet in Times Square. I'm shocked we don't have CCV (or whatever it is U.K./Europe has) that pretty much records everyone at all times and isn't a privatized thing. Here in the US we gave up a lot the day we didn't fight the patriot act. Of course it started before that. Every day we get a little closer to a Fahrenheit 451 type world (looking at you Apple buds).

 

[writerguyfl]

The notion that employers knowing where and what their employees are doing is somehow "Big Brother" seems silly to me. But, perhaps that's because I used to work in a call center (at Disney).

In that work environment, everything is tracked down to the minute. You manager can listen to your calls at any time. Your calls are recorded. Individual performance metrics are tracked by the hour. If you're not meeting your goals, your manager will know. Every week, you get a detailed report on what you did well and what needs improvement.

Guess what? Lots of people do just fine working in that environment.

Here in the US we gave up a lot the day we didn't fight the patriot act. Of course it started before that. Every day we get a little closer to a Fahrenheit 451 type world (looking at you Apple buds).

Government surveillance and employers tracking the people they employ are two drastically different things.

 

[wilkeliza]

Government surveillance and employers tracking the people they employ are two drastically different things.

Of course they are drastically different. However like you said employers tracking their employees is not anything new and many people work successfully in companies that do it.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This has nothing to do with my perspective. The OP did not understand what is happening, I shared some past articles that explain it better ... along with example of why Disney wants to use a tech system in this department. And since Disney seems to be winning the battle so far ... I don't think the Unions complaints are holding ground.

This has to do with Disney's perspective that they have a problem with some of their CMs who are in a position where they are not directly supervised ....... an area that not only are other CMs noticing/reporting but the guests are noticing/complaining. This is happening because of all the complaints they get regarding the lower standard of cleanliness these days.

If you read the article, this is not just knowing what areas a CM are servicing but it is part of an automated system to notify them when garbage cans are full, reminders of locations to check and the ability to notify the closest CM when an urgent need comes up. So when someone pukes on Soarin' and shuts the ride down, Soarin' CMs call custodial who then use the GPS system to notify the closest CM to go clean it up. At this point that person is accountable to perform the duty instead of everyone wandering in the opposite direction to avoid doing it - leaving the ride in limbo. CMs will only have their phone during their shift so there would be no invasion in their personal life.

MANY industries "big brother" their employees or tag as you say. Almost every mode of transportation from big rigs, to buses, to delivery trucks, are GPS tracked. Add in to your cable guy, public works employees, school buses etc. Most stores have cameras right on their employees as well as their customers. Salesman and anyone with company phones; yup they are tracking you and everything you do on your phone, as well as tracking everything in your company paid for laptop. Your laptop has built in software to watch what you do on it. Big brother is alive and well and tracking all over the place.

I rescind my pinning this on you...my bad

However it's still an automoton type system that no one should support.

It's indicative of the corporate sickness of wanting "more" with no defined limits as to what the culture should be.

That's just me though.