Tired

[Caramon]

Caramon gathered his things from his room as he set out. He had been given a task by the Jedi Order, and he needed to leave as soon as possible. Caramon adorned his sandy brown robe as he walked through the Jedi Temple on Dantooine, heading for the starport. Walking into one of the many hangar bays that housed the public starfighters, Caramon jumped into the cockpit and began the initiation sequence for the craft. He reached up and closed the hatch of the small fighter. He activated the repulsor lifts, the ship began to float upwards as the landing gear retracted. Pivoting the ship upwards, in no time he was heading for the stars. Carmaon exited the atmosphere of the planet, space completely surrounding his ship as he put in the coordinates into the nav-computer in preparation for his jump to hyperspace. Within a few minutes he had the ok and he pulled the lever. The small dots outside of his viewport began to streak past him as his ship lauched into hyperspace towards Sullust.

-Later-

Caramon got the "OK" to land as he made his way towards the planet surface. The starfighter began its descent onto the docking bay, the landing gear protruding from underneath this ship as he finally touched down. Opening the hatch, Caramon was glad he had a breathing mask that blocked the smell of this planet. As he exited the ship, he was greeted by one of the companies greeting party.

"Hello Master Jedi. Let me be the first to welcome you to Sullust. My employers are awaiting your arrival. Will there be anyone joining you today?"

"Yes, I think we should wait for his arrival before we head out."

The Sullustan nodded in approval.
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

As Al-Ric brought his interceptor down towards the landing pad, he saw a familiar fighter and came to land next to it. He opened the hatch and a wave of smoggy heat hit his face. Even on the desert world of Jakku, the atmosphere was marginally refreshing in contrast to the stuffy cockpit. Not so here: the combination of the heat, the stillness and the ash were more oppressive even than the recycled air he had brought from Jedha.

Al-Ric mustered up the energy to face the stifling heat and stretched his limbs as he climbed down from the ship. As he came down, he turned and saw his colleague Caramon, with whom he had a growing friendship. He went over to greet him, bowing at the neck: "Hello, friend, a sight for sore eyes."

He turned to the Sullustan: "You will take us to the company's representative? and the union are there already?" The Sullestan hesitated. "We are mediators here, we cannot be seen to offer your employers a preferential hearing."

The Sullustan found his voice: "Unfortunately you will have to wait here then as the union's delegation are late..."

"Cannot be helped"

 

[Caramon]

Caramon watched the star ship come to rest upon the permacrete floor of the docking bay. His newly acquainted friend Al-Ric hoped out of the cockpit, and made his way over to the two beings waiting for his arrival. He looked at the Jedi and slightly nodded his head in respect to not only a fellow Jedi, but also a friend. Al-Ric and the Sullistan exchanged greetings and the two were informed that there would be a slight delay. After a little conversation, the Sullistan received a message over his comm that they were ready. The company representative looked at the two men and motioned for them to follow. The three climbed into a small closed top speeder and headed off towards their destination.

After about ten minutes, they had arrived at a large building made of durasteel and transparasteel. It reached into the sky, a landmark against the ashy red background of the planet. The three beings exited the speeder and entered the door of the building. The three walked into the nearest elevator, the two Jedi stood in the back, the Sullistan nearest the door. The representative pushed the button for the correct floor they were needed at. After a short ride, the doors opened, all of the Union delegates looking at the Jedi as they stepped out of the lift.

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric was struck by the sheer number of Sullustans looking up at them. Of course they were on Sullust and so it was to be expected that there would be a large number of them. He just didn't expect so many of them to be here in this room. He was expecting a select number of representatives of each side to allow effective communication. Instead there were perhaps 80 odd people in a room that wasn't designed for that number to be comfortable. The crowd was dressed in the full range of clothes - from workman's overalls to suits. There was a small group of suited Sallustans in suits cowering in the far end of the room from the lift door.

Al-Ric cleared his throat and said in a loud voice: "Good evening. Who is represented here?"

 

[Caramon]

"Good evening. Who is represented here?"

Al-Ric's voice rang aloud along the long conference room. All of the conversation died down as all eyes were upon the Jedi now. A large Sullistan dressed in overalls, dark burn marks upon his clothes from the weather and terrain stepped forward a bit. He was speaking basic and seemed to be the most diverse of the group.

"I am Tay lon. I am representing the workers here at the factory."

Another Sullistan stood, this one dressed in formal business attire.

"I am Lon Doon. I am representing the Union."

Caramon bowed his head slightly to both beings as they spoke. He looked at his companion.

"This is Al-Ric Fen and I am Caramon Brightblade. We are here representing the Jedi Order. Lets everyone take a seat, and try to keep this meeting as civil as possible."

The one known as Tay Lon took a seat in the middle of the table, eyeing the union delegates as his did. Caramon walked over to where he was sitting across from the worker.
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

"Ah, the company is called the Union, that will get confusing..." Al-Ric muttered to himself as he took his seat, this explained the way the greeter had looked at him weirdly when he was talking about the trade union earlier.

"If the delegation is complete, why the need for all these others?" Al-Ric waved to the assembled throng, for whom there was no space at the table.

Tray Lon replied defiantly: "We wanted to ensure that the Union didn't apply its usual bullying tactics and wanted to ensure there were plenty of witnesses."

"Well we are here now to ensure fair dealing, are they still necessary?" He kept the observation to himself that there only appeared to be one side attempting to bullying from his point of view: he did not want to jump unfairly to conclusions.

The workers' delegate nodded and the room emptied, leaving two representatives sat at each side of the table, with the two Jedi sat one the edge between them.

 

[Caramon]

As the room emptied leaving only the persons responsible for stating their cases, Caramon could feel the tension in the room. The Sullistan that sat across from the Jedi gave a scowled look towards the suited representatives that sat at the end of the table. Caramon looked at the two groups a couple of times, waiting for either one to start the negotiations but neither budged. He decided to 'break the ice' so to say and get the ball rolling on these negotiations.

"Well, lets hear the problems from the your standpoint" Caramon said as he motioned towards the dirty clothed worker sitting across from him.

"There is only one problem here. These guys want as much production out of us as they can get. We are being over worked and as a result there are more and more incidents that have happened in recent months."

"If you would work safer ther-" Caramon held up his hand towards the man in the suit. "Please let him finish, everyone will have a turn to speak in this meeting." The union deligate bowed his head in agreement. He looked back at the one across from the Jedi. "Please continue."

"Well we are working in two twelve hour shifts. We have one supervisor to every eighty workers. That is too much to handle on your own. We need more supervisors, and we need to hire them within the company who know how the job needs to be done, not bring in new people who only have an education. I understand that they know quite a bit of information, but they have no real experience. They dont know what it really takes to make this place run."

"Ok" Caramon said, "What would you suggest for the hours then."

"I think we need to take on another shift, take our shifts down to eight hours, we will be more rested and will be able to stay focused and not become tired and exausted while on the job."

"Ok" Caramon looked at the others in the room. "What do you have to say about this?"

"We need to put more SOP's (Standard Operating Procedure) in place for where we have been having the incidents and more training. The shifts do not need to be changed at all. And as for hireing more supervisors, well the reason we hire outsiders is because the provide a fresh set of eyes and can possibly bring something new to the table, maybe show us how to do a certain job task more efficiently."

Caramon thought both points were valid, and well thought out. Although he did agree with the worker on hireing from within the company, knowledge is good and all, but experience on the job cannot be taught.
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric allowed Caramon to chair the meeting uninterrupted. He made a note of the key issues as they arose:
Time: more shifts -> more workers?
Overseers: numbers & source.

He was glad that this was a mediation rather than adjudication - he was in no position to judge the correct working conditions without seeing the shop floor and the workers in action. Without this, they were relying on a compromise between the two parties.

If discussions came to an impasse, he would suggest meeting separately so they can discuss candidly before returning for further discussion.

 

[Caramon]

Caramon listened to the two parties state their cases as they all sat in the meeting room. Valid points were made on both sides, but Caramon knew he needed more information about the situation. He looked at the supervisor that represented the workers.

"Can you tell me what kind of incidents have been happening, what are the major ones and are there any repeat incidences that keep happening?"

"Well, the incidents that have always been a problem are hand injuries, pinch points and crush points, not paying attention to hand placement. The incidents that have been happening more and more in the passing months are back injuries, soft tissue injuries. Also falling incidents. We are working so much and there is such a high demand that there is no time to clean the work areas."

"Well why can't everyone stop work for the last half hour and clean their work areas."

"Out of the question" the union deligate said. "The last half hour is spent updating the second shift on what work has been done and what needs to be done. This is critical information that needs to be comunicated so that we are not building the wrong material or building too many hulls and not enough wings and such."

Caramon listened before he pondered his response. "Well what about hireing a clean up crew to work alongside everyone, making sure the work areas are hazard free. Also what about implementing a behavior based training process, one in wich workers can observe each others duties and job tasks in order to audit and give feedback on if they are preforming work safely."
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric continued to take his note:
Machinery: pinch points etc.
Clutter: clearing? Last 30mins? Handover. Specialist cleaners? New training process?

A pattern seemed to be emerging here: whichever way they sliced it, they seemed to have too few people. It would not be enough to say hire more workers. A business case was necessary.

"When there's an incident, what happens?"

"The machinery has to be turned off to retrieve whichever appendage the poor fool has got mangled."

The workers' representative shifted angrily at the way the boss spoke about his employees. Al-Ric held up a hand to indicate he should wait.

"And the worker?"

"If they can't get back to it, they're on sick leave."

"For half pay!" Al-Ric ignored this interruption.

"So while the machine is turned off and the worker at home, neither is producing anything, are they?"

"No..."

"So how much does the company lose annually to injury?"

 

[Caramon]

Caramon sat silently, knowing that Al-Ric had a valid point. He looked towards the union delegates as the leader clenched his fist in anger.

"We dont have those numbers here with us right now, we can get them."

The representative for the workers leaned back in his char and crossed his arms in satisfaction. The Jedi looked towards the men in suits again.

"Well we have proposed some improvements, what do you suggest?"

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric was not surprised by the defensive response asking for more time to find details, but this didn't stop him being disappointed.

"Sir, this is not about point scoring and hiding in the minutiae. This is about coming up with a solution that makes this factory work for all involved. You can imagine better than me the glee your competitors will hold at the thought of this dispute not ending today."

As the workers began to recline in satisfaction, Al-Ric was equally disappointed (and equally not surprised). Turning to them he said, "this cuts both ways: if this factory fails, where will you go? You both need each other; you need to start acting like it." Returning to a more neutral position, addressing both sides, "Gentlemen, my colleague has made practical suggestions that will require cooperation and trust, taking responsibility for ourselves and each other. Can we start talking to each other in that spirit?"

 

[Caramon]

"Gentlemen, my colleague has made practical suggestions that will require cooperation and trust, taking responsibilityfor ourselves and each other. Can we start talking to each other in in that spirit?"

Caramon watched as the two representatives bowed respectfully towards the Jedi. He was glad that they were making progress, and were close to finding a solution.

"In the spirit of working together, I think we can come to an agreement. I believe that the suggestions that Jedi Caramon has suggested be implemented immediately. Hopefully that will be a start to fixing the issue. Unless you have any other suggestions?" The Sullistan pointed to the workers representative as he spoke.

"The only thing I suggest is we have monthly meeting to review the data that we collect from the feedback we receive from the shop floor. Does that sound good?"

The union deligates nodded in agreement.
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric looked back over his note. "I believe that answers the safety question, what do you say about promotions and career progression?"

The employers responded: "Graduates bring an intellectual vigour to their duties. Different tasks need different skills: we wouldn't expect them to waltz in to be a machine press operator but, in planning and analysis, it requires a trained mind - not just trained hands."

Al-Ric felt sorry for the workers. You can't tell a person who to hire or not to hire but he couldn't imagine not having any prospect of improving your position. Being a member of the Order gave him many things and one of them was a clear hierarchy within which he could exercise his ambition.

 

[Caramon]

The man in the suit looked over towards the Jedi as they spoke.

"The same as we have always handled it. By showing hard work and dedication, going the extra mile, that is what will get you noticed and promoted."

"What about annual wage increases. Is there any process in place for this?"

"We have reviews at the end of every fiscal year and based on the review is how much we offer."

Caramon knew this needed to be changed.

"Well I suggest that you go off of a percentage of what the individual makes, that way there is no chance of favoritism, and everyone is the same across the board."
@Ulysses

 

[Ulysses]

Al-Ric looked to the Sullustans in turn, who each nodded tentatively.

"Satisfied?"

The nods grew in confidence.

"Unless there is anything further, I believe congratulations are in order: you have negotiated a tricky patch without resorting to direct action. I trust this spirit of cooperation will continue."