Journey with me back to the 1970s, when men were men, women were women, Gerald Ford was in the White House, and time clocks were the norm for unionized employees at Walt Disney Productions.
There was a time shack at each entrance, and you took your rectangular punch card out of a metal rack and pushed it into the top of a gray box with a clock on it. Each time unit was six minutes and there was ten of them in each hour. So if you arrived seven minutes after start time, you'd register as being one unit late. After awhile, I hated the time card and the gray box it went into. I was usually a unit or two late ...
I was in my mid-twenties, brimming with ambition to do great things, and I --as stated above -- despised time clocks. I was always racing out of my house, squealing into the Disney parking lot, sprinting to the cursed time shack, finally shoving the card into the metal slot. As soon as I could find a way to get "off the clock," I did so.
But I'm older now. And in a different place. I've had decades of watching animation employees, with time clocks long gone, falsify time cards and go on toiling without additional compensation after eight hours of studio work.
So in 2010, I no longer hate time clocks. I think they are fine mechanical devices because they help keep everybody honest. They are not a magic bullet, because employees can always "punch out" and go on working, or take the work home. But at this point in my checkered career, I think they would be helpful.
And the reason I'm bringing this up here yet again is because I've been asked to request for an online show of TAG member hands. If you would, scroll down to "comments" and indicate if you think time clocks would be a good idea ("Yes"), or a bad idea ("No.")
Thanks for your time and attention.
* Subject raised due to e-mail requests of members.
Posts
23 comments:
Wasn't the old Disney time clock system based on everyone arriving for work at 8 a.m. and punching out at 5 p.m.?
And a commissary always makes it easy to get food without leaving the lot. You could punch in at 8 a.m., go to the commissary for breakfast, then head off to your desk at 9 a.m.
I'd be okay with time clocks if I didn't have to be at work at 8 a.m.
With today's flex hours, if workers could punch in at, say, 10 a.m. and punch out at 7 p.m. that might work. As long as there's an eight-hour presence from each worker.
But with today's magnetic I.D. cards that you swipe at the door, there must already be some record of arrival time, at least. If workers had to swipe a card to get out, there's be a complete record of arrival and departure, unless workers piggyback in and out with other workers.
If you log onto a computer in the morning and log off at night, there's another way they have of recording your comings and goings.
I think the time clocks are already back, you just don't see them.
Time clocks, to me, are more of a way for the company to control you, not compensate you.
So I say No.
I also come in at 10 and leave at 8 (mandatory 9 hour days, yippee...barf)
No. Timecards denigrate contribution of work to wages and hours. We should be salaried and treated as such. This is a PROFESSION.
If I wanted to be a factory worker, I would move to China or India and pay cheaper rent. Not here. Not in this town. This isn't 1950.
yes to time cards.
Timecards are demeaning.
Before Disney, I had worked in other professional situations, obviously without union representation. I would spend whatever hours were needed to get my job done.
I think the union is a great for setting base wages and providing portable healthcare.
Apart from that, I have always found the union mentality of "i'm not working a minute of unpaid overtime" to be somewhat childish and unprofessional. Its the attitude of a subordinate, not that of a professional. Timecards only reinforce this mentality.
The simple reality of life is that you need to stand out to get ahead. If I choose to work free overtime because I feel I am being paid adequately for my professional contribution, that is my right. If my output is half that of someone else's, I need to look at my process and adjust according. This may mean working twice the hours for some amount of time.
I'm all for the collective as long as it doesn't stifle excellence. Timecards scream "I am a commodity". No thanks.
Anonymous #3 -- come on down to the VFX industry, where it's common for artists to work 14-16 hours a day, often for a nice, flat "salary" rate without hourly overtime.
I swear, someday I'll retrain in Houdini and make the switch to the unionized animation industry. I'm getting too old for the VFX business.
"The simple reality of life is that you need to stand out to get ahead. If I choose to work free overtime because I feel I am being paid adequately for my professional contribution, that is my right. If my output is half that of someone else's, I need to look at my process and adjust according. This may mean working twice the hours for some amount of time."
I'm all for the collective as long as it doesn't stifle excellence"
So your excellent skill is to do other peoples jobs for free in hopes of getting ahead? guess what.. it just sends the message "I will work for free" in addition to pissing off those who get there work done on time and don't appreciate being devalued by desperate slaves.
YES on Timecards!
They will give Producers a more realistic sense of how many hours it REALLY takes to produce one of their projects-and, will have to budget accordingly.
You'll actually be more efficient with YOUR time and you might even have a life outside the studio: You know, go home at night for dinner, be with your family,make love to your spouse/partner,have some free time for yourself, a decent night's sleep...wake up and return to work REFRESHED-dare I say, "human?"
Any arguments to the contrary are borne of fear and ignorance...and maybe a little masochistic. Why don't you consider a career in the VFX Industry (VFX GUY-I AGREE WITH YOU AND FEEL FOR YOU.)
So your excellent skill is to do other peoples jobs for free in hopes of getting ahead?
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I never worked for free. I've always been paid fairly for the work I produced. And I was usually working with non-union production people who weren't being paid overtime - ever.
And I don't gauge my work output by whether or not it makes me look better than you. I only think of my own career and family.
Welcome to the real world.
YES, if people actually WORKED when they punched in. There's waaaaaaay too much ping pong, coffee drinking and loafing around going on at DWA. Myself, I try to get in and get out. Get work done and go home.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for conducting this "informal," "unscientific poll." Based on the responses in the negative, so far, I can't believe that there are this many members who are this ignorant of the Rights granted to them* by their OWN UNION under U.S. LABOR LAW. Maybe a straw poll at the next general meeting is in order.
*Rights that are "granted" were in fact fought for by people long before we were even born or thought of.
Im confused. Are you for the time cards or against them?
Yes, Norma Rae took one for the team when she stood up on all the Wacom tablets in Burbank and with her fist in the air shouted, "TIME CLOCKS, TIME CLOCKS, TIME CLOCKS!"
Time clocks are so archaic. Are we really discussing this?
Just be honest with the time you work, have daily check-ins with your producer/supervisor, and show your work to your peers/sups often.
My "time in" does not equate to output. How organized, efficient, honest and able I am equates to output.
To extrapolate and simplify:
Time clocks benefit those who suck, but hurt those who are good.
"To extrapolate and simplify:
Time clocks benefit those who suck, but hurt those who are good."
There is always an asshole who makes a comment like this. Supervisors are well aware of who is productive and who is not. They count everything.
I'm sorry you have to put up with having to work with all those people who "suck." You'd better pray that it's not contagious. I have an idea: Why don't you quit in protest?
Time clocks are to keep the employers honest, not the artists. Are they a good idea? IMHO, it depends on the nature of the work. With computer work, which has to be done on site with proprietary software, it's a good solution. With something like storyboard work on paper, which is on a monthly deadline and can be taken home after hours, time clocks would be useless.
With computer work with proprietary software, I think employers should have two eyeballs staring back at me while I work, and a little counter in the corner that records how many mouse clicks, wacom strokes, and keystrokes I make. And then pay me a rate for each. The total of my compensation will equal precisely the sum of my contribution to the project! It's simple math. It's that easy.
TAG, get on it!
Your exaggeration misses the salient point made recently by a senior member of the Union front office: "...Animation Production Artists are NOT WORKING in a GARMENT FACTORY ...we are not being paid by the number of sleeves we sew."
When an hourly employee asks for O.T. and is rebuked with "...I DON"T PAY OVERTIME...I HAVEN"T PAID OVERTIME IN FIVE YEARS!" And, when that employee insists AND is paid for O.T. (by falsifying their Timecard(s) so that those O.T. hours appear as regular hours,on a separate Time Card.") in the end, it doesn't do anyone any good. The Senior Producer gets a skewed impression of the schedule(s) they have created for a particular Production.
From my own recent experience, if that O.T. request is made within the Probationary Period (first 60 days-as per the Contract.) That same Producer can "let go" an artist, for no particular reason.
I don't know why some of you equate "watching a clock" as "childish," "unprofessional" or "mediocre."
I, for one, am VERY familiar with hard work and willing to put in the extra hours needed.* AND, I am just as willing to ASK THAT I BE COMPENSATED FOR THIS.
* if the O.T. hours are regularly demanded by hourly employees, the Producers will have to reconsider their budgets and schedules resulting in the hiring more reasonably sized staffs.
Too many middle managers treat hourly employees like salaried employees WITHOUT the commensurate compensation to those employees up front.
For those who are concerned that their "excellence" could be compromised by the "collective" then, I would suggest that you file for an "HONORABLE WITHDRAWL" from this Union immediately. Therefore, you'll have the freedom to display your artistic prowess, unfettered, in the UNREGULATED FREE MARKET. No longer, will you be associated with those "factory workers" you so detest. I'm NOT being sarcastic here-I REALLY mean this.
In all sincerity-Good Luck!
All union shops Ive ever worked at, they've always paid overtime. I submit my hours at the end of the week. Im honest about my hours, and feel fairly paid for my work.
Whats the problem?
For those who are concerned that their "excellence" could be compromised by the "collective" then, I would suggest that you file for an "HONORABLE WITHDRAWL" from this Union immediately.
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I don't have a choice if I wish to work at the studios that produce the highest quality work.
Besides, as I said, the health and pension benefits along with the base pay standards are all great things about the union.
I'm perfectly happy to take advantage of the benefits that work for me. I'm also perfectly happy to do what's best for my career.
Figure out who I am and file a grievance .... or maybe you could use that same energy to work harder at what you do so you can become more valued.
I've always submitted my hours and have been paid overtime, with no problem until this past year when our studio-and others- faced massive cutbacks in staff. Any filing for overtime was now required to be made IN ADVANCE. Those who were and still are intimidated to file for O.T. remained while others who did, were "let go."
As for the last post, the Health, Pension and Wage benefits that you enjoy about the Union is based on fair and accurate reporting of yours and others' hours. Doing so is in YOUR interest-imagine how much further along we would be if everyone did the same?
"...Taking advantage,...what's best for my career?" You've ALREADY been taken advantage of as evidenced by yours and others comments, here.
Filing a grievance against YOU? Where's the logic in that? I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your work is not as sloppy as your thinking.
You've ALREADY been taken advantage of
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No I am not a victim.
I am paid fairly to do what I do regardless of how long it takes me.
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Filing a grievance against YOU?
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This is called being sarcastic. But I believe your thinking does represent the typical union mentality of putting a lot of effort into trying to keep everybody at the same level.
The job of the union is to keep a bottom on wages. It is designed to protect the weakest in the system and it rightly should. Once you move beyond that level, you should be thinking of yourself as a professional first and a union member second. Whiney victimhood and professionalism are two very different things.
Whaaaa! Whaaa! Whaaa! EYES WIDE SHUT! "Via con Dios, ese!!!"
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