September 12, 2005

BE WARY IN EVALUATING YOURSELF

           Your Guild representatives had hoped, and expected, to meet with top Scholastic managers at least once again in advance of the company’s promulgation of the lengthy and confusing self-evaluation form that it is insisting that all of you fill out.

           Unfortunately, through no fault of the union, that didn’t happen.

           At a meeting more than a month ago, Scholastic Guild Unit Chairperson Peter Jones and our Local Representative Dona Fowler told Scholastic that the union had serious objections to the entire new process, in its current form.  Peter pointed out that, when it was first broached to him and Dona, they were told that the new system would differ from the usual evaluation process only in that it would be done via computer.

           Obviously, that description was inaccurate.

           Dona said that the new system, which instructs our members to find fault with their own work and set goals for improving it, sounded like self-incrimination.

           Management said that it would again meet with the union on the issue.

           But Scholastic promulgated the new form without further input from your representatives, and we have learned that some members have already processed the evaluation and sent it to management.

           These are matters of deep concern to the Guild.

           For those who have already completed the self-evaluation, we hope that you did the following:

1.     made certain that you fully understood the instructions and the process before complying (Some members have told us that they found the instructions hopelessly confusing.);

2.     kept a hard copy of your entire response;

3.     were extremely careful in finding any fault with your work and were prudent in “setting goals.”

Management has not told the union what discipline, if any, it intends to impose on workers who fail to meet their “self-improvement” goals.

For that reason, especially, we urge you to exercise extreme caution in evaluating yourselves.  Indeed, the Guild recommends a response of the following nature: “I believe that I am an outstanding employee and, at this time, an unable to identify any area of my job performance in need of significant improvement.”

Labor law requires you to comply with the company’s instructions to conduct the self-evaluation.  It does not require that you incriminate yourself.

The union is seeking to meet again with management, as soon as possible, to address this matter further.

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09/12/05