So through a variety of work-related drama that really doesn't matter, my direct manager's position has opened up. I've essentially been doing the job but without the title for a fair bit of time so I decided I might as well try to get the position officially. I later found out that the position I applied for isn't actually a union position and it's kinda made me start rethinking things, as far as I'm aware it shouldn't actually affect the benefits or hours, just a non-union unit manager position.
There is nothing inherently wrong with being in a management position, we need leftists in leadership positions. Be the person you'd want to have as a manager, support your team, and don't sacrifice your convictions. I'm sure they'd much rather have you in charge than some ladder-climbing petty tyrant.
Any time I've moved upwards in my career, it's because I was already doing the job and not getting paid for it. Usually that entails leaving for somewhere else, but you might as well take an internal opportunity if it suits your needs.
Fuck are you on about? There is a really good reason management can't be union members. Your job depends on enforcing the interests of the bosses, if you side with the workers, you get fired and replaced with someone who doesn't. It's literally their job to enforce and maximize exploitation. If someone takes a management position cause it's a way to make a living, I wouldn't call them not a comrade, bi Ut they're on thinner ice. Saying it's necessary to have leftists in leadership positions is silly, the point is to not be led by our bosses or their underlings. If there's already a union, you don't need a manager on your side cause you can instead tell them to take a hike.
Your job depends on enforcing the interests of the bosses
Managers are expected to do this when the time comes, but most parts of most management jobs aren't this. Hiring, training, scheduling, resolving (preferably foreseeing) issues, evaluation -- all of this stuff happens in workplaces in AES states, too. Having a manager who at least tries to do those things competently and fairly can be a huge plus for the day-to-day lives of workers.
As for what one does when the bosses call on you to enforce their will? First, you can use your position to frustrate that will, as @CyberSyndicalist@hexbear.net points out. Second, maybe you have to make them fire you at some point -- everyone should have lines they won't cross.
the point is to not be led by our bosses or their underlings. If there’s already a union, you don’t need a manager on your side cause you can instead tell them to take a hike.
Fully horizontal workplaces can work in some industries, but others (classically, a ship) really do need some people to make decisions and others to follow them. I'd rather look at ideas like democratizing workplaces and electing managers than take the line that managers (even ones chosen by workers) just aren't necessary.
Who benefits from OP staying put? This is a huge meatball right across the plate for everyone in the union to have a sleeper cell in an actual management position. If OP doesn't do it, the union going to get more of the same. If they hire someone from outside the department or company, it will almost certainly be much worse for everyone except upper management.
Also, don't be quick to assume OP would be found out so quickly by the rest of management, I've been doing this for years now - upper management thinks I'm great and one of their buddies, meanwhile I let my team take random days off without using up PTO, arrive late and leave early without question, etc. The work still gets done and no one gives it a second thought. If you're a professional bullshitter and/or your own boss isn't a micromanager, it's very possible to make a lot of good people's lives much less miserable by going this route.
Managers and Supervisors
(1) Demand written orders.
(2) Misunderstand orders. Ask endless questions or engage in long correspondence about such orders. Quibble over them when you can.
(3) Do everything possible to delay the delivery of orders. Even though parts of an order may be ready beforehand, don't deliver it until it is completely ready.
(4) Don't order new working' materials until your current stocks have been virtually exhausted, so that the slightest delay in filling your order will mean a shutdown.
(5) Order high-quality materials which are hard to get. If you don't get them argue about it. Warn that inferior materials will mean inferior work.
(6) In making work assignments always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that the important jobs are assigned to inefficient workers of poor machines.
(7) Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products; send back for refinishing those which have the least flaws. Approve other defective parts whose flaws are not visible to the naked eye
(8) Make mistakes in routing so that parts and materials will be sent to the wrong place in the plant.
(9) When training new workers, give incomplete or misleading instructions.
(10) To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.
(11) Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.
(12) Multiply paper work in plausible ways. Start duplicate files.
(13) Multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, pay checks, and so on. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.
(14) Apply all regulations to the last letter
For more fun facts simply enter "The Simple Sabotage Field Manual" into your search engine of choice.
Depends on how risky the management position is.
I assume the Union doesn't allow its members/represented workers to be fired without cause, so you'll lose that. But if management and the Union aren't constantly at each other's throat and the workers are content with their wages/benefits/work environment you'll probably be fine.
That'll change when upper management starts to be shady and you'll be expected to toe the line but that's a bridge to burn some other day.
Take the position and be an advocate for the workers that report to you.
A manager that sticks up for their team is important, and sometimes tells upper management the things they need to hear (like the word NO) that turn out to be better for the company long term.
