Hypothetical-What would you do with video tape evidence?

This might make nice video fodder to local TV station. If you have the video and have the legal copyright to release it I'd say give it a go.

I suppose it depends on what your goal is. If you want these workers to actually do their job, why not approach their supervisor with the video?

i'd take it to the blade
http://www.toledoblade.com/contact
they seem very anti union, despite their awesome workforce

POLITICS ----->

unless you have a video of them doing nothing for over an hour (or however long they get for lunch) I doubt you have anything.

Take it to one of the TV stations. They would love to have something like that!

Whether the video is something or not, the popular action taken today is to post it to YouTube. The media can reference the YouTube video.

I would do the following:

1.) Make sure I am not guilty of having done something similar.

2.) Find out if there are any extenuating circumstances. For example, did they work longer at another time to offset an extended break?

3.)Find out if it is really only a one-time event or if it is chronic.

4.) Think about what I would want done if I were in their situation.

5.) Speak to them personally.

6.) Speak to their supervisor.

7.) Assess what retaliation could be done to me in return.

8.) Think through the real outcome of what will happen if I make a big deal about it. Remember about unintended consequences?

9.) Think about my real motivation. If your motivation is just to hurt or to retaliate then nothing good will come of it.

Where you supposed to be working while you were filming them? lol

HF, here's a business opportunity for you. Set up a website so people can view your video. No need to identify anyone. Invite people to submit their own footage of public employees goofing off. Sell advertising on the site.

People raise a good point about lunch breaks, though. I drive a conspicuously marked vehicle and I'm always nervous that someone will report me for being idle between 11:45 and 12:15, or from 1:30 to 2:00 on a crazy day. I like to eat lunch in the truck and read a library book for 30 minutes. I know it looks like goofing off, but I am not paid for that time and I am required by policy to be neither working nor driving for a 30-minute meal break.

You might also want to check and verify the laws concerning videotaping people. A friend of mine got fired for doing that very thing at work.

No, I wasn't supposed to be working. I wasn't even there. It was done by security cameras.
Yes, it is more than one lunch break and apparently they only get 1/2 hour for lunch. It shows 2 full hour breaks with napping.

How did you get security camera footage? Wouldn't that be considered company property? Might open you up for trouble.

take away the word 'union' out of your question and ask it again. These people dont work for a union, hey work for a city who is going thru terrible financial problems.

People wet their pants over that "U" word. If theyre getting paid by someone to do a job and they're sleeping instead, the person paying them needs to be informed.

Security camera footage can be easily downloaded to a DVD or USB drive. Use the mfr software and it will include a watermark to authenticate. It also has a time/date stamp.

Whether the footage is easily downloaded or not, the bigger point is who owns that footage? I suspect the OP may not be legally entitled to distribute any of this.

Unions are thee number one thing that keeps toledo in the dumpster. These unions need to be broken, busted, and completely dismantled. Forever. Unions are the biggest burden our city and our country has. Unions are thee number one reason we're heading for a third world country. Unions are the root of our nation's economic problems, to be certain. And I can't wait for Issue 2 to be passed by a landslide.

I disagree about destroying the unions, they need to be cleaned up for sure though they have way too much say and when a outside arbitrator with no interest in the outcome can decide the outcome of contract negotiations and its completely binding, well kinda have the situation we have here now.

Omar....have you seen the most recent numbers????? Issue 2 is about a light year from being passed by a landslide

Hockey Fan

I think that you would create HUGE problems for yourself if you pursued your video tape caper. Do these workers somehow have a real impact on your life or well being or do they just piss you off?? Think about how Tony Soprano felt about RATS....there ya go.

snitches get stitches.

I guess if I wanted to get this information out, I would do the following:

Make several copies of the film in a format that can be easily shared;

E-mail or snail mail copies to specific individuals at each of the local TV stations (call ahead and find out some names to get it to the right person);

Get it ready to put up on a site like Youtube and think about labelling it appropriately so others can find it (i.e. City of Toledo [Department] Workers on 2-Hour Lunch or whatever);

THEN, e-mail or snail it to the supervisor of the department and the mayor's office. Inform them that the media already has the film. Tell them you are thinking about putting it on Youtube, too, in case the local media ignore the story. Send everything anonymously if you are worried about your safety.

Sit back and wait for results. If you don't see a media story within 2 weeks, put it on Youtube and hope that it gets more attention that way. TV stations and the papers often write about Youtube stuff especially if it's shocking and/or embarrassing.

I really hate to think there would be retaliation and "stitches" over this issue :-(

I had a family member, who use to work in the sanitation dept, who would show me these pics of his fellow workers sleeping on the job. He never did anything with them, he just lol'd at this system. It gave us some laughs whenever we got together. I wish you luck. From a taxpayers standpoint we dont want to pay for sleeping workers and go further into debt...but then the workers standpoint is we got a good thing going here and then u come along and ruin it. then the debt becomes the now unemployed workers problem, as well as his families.

sorta like a catch 22

snitches get stitches.

Well you'd certainly know all about that - right, Ryan?

RockChick, you are aware that Tony Soprano is a fictional character on a TV series, right? If you don't believe me, check for yourself: The Sew-pran-noze

I like Viola's idea on this one.

"take away the word 'union' out of your question and ask it again. These people dont work for a union, hey work for a city who is going thru terrible financial problems.

People wet their pants over that "U" word. If theyre getting paid by someone to do a job and they're sleeping instead, the person paying them needs to be informed."

Agreed. And, in fact, the union would not defend such behavior. They might defend the employee and try to get them off with a warning or discipline as opposed to a termination, but most union contracts have clauses about sleeping on the job, and if you violate the contract there's not much the union can do for you.

I disagree. I bet if most union workers got fired for sleeping, they would run to the union and the union would fabricate some type of illness or condition to get their job back.
Look at the police woman who shot another cop. Her attorney is saying that she had seizures and black outs and that's what happened. Please. Blacking out and then pulling a gun and shooting it is a far reach. I bet her union will back that story to get her some type of settlement.

Who is saying she had seizures; her attorney, or the union? Sounds like you are projecting the possibly-dubious tactics of her lawyer onto the union. I wish the unions were one-third as tenacious as you're giving them credit for being...

Do you think maybe the union might stick up for the other union cop that was shot? No chance of that?

"You bet" her union would back that story? Very solid. "I bet" they would too. I bet anyone I disagree with is capable of any evil or wrongdoing I can imagine they possibly might be.

Just throwing in two cents' worth here ... in my workplace a union member got fired for peeling some metal off of a new building and selling it for scrap. The union defended him so vigorously, they managed to keep him coming back to get fired over and over again (unauthorized use of vehicle, avoiding work assignments and lying about his whereabouts, etc.).

His job was never really being done by anyone (leaving coworkers to pick up his slack) and a replacement could never be hired because he wasn't really "gone" yet. This lasted for 3 years while workers who had some skills and pride cycled in (and rapidly out of ) that department.

It makes it tough to know which side to support in union questions ... it's difficult for outsiders to know the true story at a workplace. But it's hard to argue with filmed evidence!

I've worked in an union environment before. I saw first hand how less than desirable workers were defended by and supported by the union. It's not worth getting into really. I personally don't agree with or like them.