What is the right amount?

     In a private chat area for ATU757 members a discussion about reducing our union officers pay rate by 20%. It was expressed that a 6 digit income was too much for an officer to be making. I was asked if I was supportive of the cut and I wanted to know more reasons for the cut proposal. The main response I was getting back was that a candidate should run for office for the membership not the pay. With this understanding I than asked why just 20% why not just have a lateral move and maintain the same pay that the person was at as an employee? No pay increase or decrease would clearly demonstrate that the person was purely interested in just the membership’s needs being met.

     It appears that many welcome the idea of a 20% cut but not liking the idea of staying at the same pay. What does this say about the interest of that person? Is it for the membership only? Is it self-interest only? Or is it a little of both? The question I have is how much is one person willing to sacrifice for the membership?

President Hunt's Bold Action

On Sunday November 13^th, 2011 at about 3:10pm I was attending my local union charter meeting. After I had signed in to the meeting, paid 25 cents for a raffle ticket, stood for a moment of silence for our lost Brothers and Sisters our local union President Jonathan Hunt called my name asking me to step in front of 40 – 60 members so that he could search me for recording devices. At that moment I felt that he had just singled me out and was attempting to publicly harass me in front of the membership. I felt this action he was requesting was in violation of my civil rights and uncalled for so I refused. President Jonathan Hunt then advised Sandra Guengerich (a female) that she is now the sergeant at arms and that she was to remove me from the room and search me. I left the room with Sandra with no incident. Outside of the room Sandra advised me that she did not feel comfortable with the instruction she had be requested to do and I advised her that I did not feel comfortable allowing a member of the opposite sex being instructed to search me in private.

I contacted a friend that is an attorney and was advised to allow the action to take place and seek legal advice upon the first opportunity. I returned to Sandra and approved of her to search me and President Hunt then stated that I was not permitted to return to the meeting and I will not be permitted to attend future meetings until he has had a meeting with me and my attorney. I left the building with no incident. Members at that meeting reported to me that statements had been made that I was singled out because Hunt caught me recording meetings and that I released information on the internet that jeopardized contract negotiations.

The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)

TITLE I -- BILL OF RIGHTS OF MEMBERS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS

(29 U.S.C. 411)

(5) SAFEGUARDS AGAINST IMPROPER DISCIPLINARY ACTION.-- No member of any labor organization may be fined, suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined except for nonpayment of dues by such organization or by any officer thereof unless such member has been (A) served with written specific charges; (B) given a reasonable time to prepare his defense; (C) afforded a full and fair hearing.

I have never received written specific charges, never given reasonable time to prepare a defense or afforded a full and fair hearing before this disciplinary action took place. President Jonathan Hunt took it upon himself to act as Judge, Jury and Disciplinarian. As I was leaving the building a member asked if this could be voted on and President Hunt did not allow any vote to take place.

In front of 40 – 60 members President Jonathan Hunt has:

·         Singled one member out and asked that member to perform a task of being inspected in front of the membership. It is not known if this was intended to demonstrate his concern for the security of the membership or to use the individual as an example to the membership and publicly humiliate that member in front of the membership.

·         Appointed a member of the opposite sex as a sergeant at arms and instructed the member to remove the other member and search that member in private. This type of instruction is demeaning to both members involved.

·         Denied re-entry and stated that the member will not be permitted back until a meeting with that member and the members’ attorney is conducted with him.

·         Stated to the membership that the member has recorded past meetings and have posted information from the meetings that have caused damage to contract negotiations.

·         Performed these acts without supporting documentation, due process or proper investigation.

·         Discredited a member in good standings and continues to receive union dues from that member.

The actions from ATU757 Union President Jonathan Hunt are very bold and have presented me with very little choice. The damage he has caused is unexplainable and cannot be left unanswered. I am not clear of the cost to myself or the membership for the actions. It is clear that someone does need to answer for this and at this time I will take all legal action necessary to assure that not just my rights are being protected but the civil rights of all my Brothers and Sisters. It is our membership dues that support the elected officers and there are appropriate ways to address issues with in our membership.

An Interactive Officer Survey Can Be Accessed By ATU757 Members

atu757.info site is starting to take shape. Last week at our local charter meeting there was some talk about creating surveys and using the information to help improve our union. I have heard this talked about a few times before and never learned of the out comes of any surveys. I fugred a survey would be a create tool for the communication website I am working on so with the help of my Nephew we developed an interactive survey of Officer that can be submitted by members. Not only can a member submit a survey on each officer they can also see the results right after the survey has been submitted. This is on a secure site and only ATU757 members are permited access. Before a member is able to view or submit surveys they must register first at http://www.atu757.info and once the email has been confirmed and the member has been reconized as a member they will have access to the survey.
If you have any question or comments about my site please feel free to contact me. I will work at getting more information about this as soon as I can. I am still working some bugs out of the system and getting all the detail work done. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Questions About Union Picnic Prize Fund

On August 28^th, 2011 ATU757 had our annual picnic. Over $20,000.00 in gift items had been purchased from Costco to give as prizes. Costco has confirmed that ATU757 does not have a membership to buy items at their store. The prizes had been bought using a Costco card under the company name of Hunt Court Yard. 

Questions:

1.       How come ATU757 does not have a Costco Card and why wasn’t it used to increase possible prize items?

2.       What type of membership does Hunt Court Yard have and was any funds converted due to these items bought?

3.       Is this a violation of Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959?

http://www.atu757.info/CostcoUse.pdf

Campaigning Reality Check

I am getting word back from people saying how crazy I am to think that it would cost $20k - $30k to run a successful campaign. According to our 2010 LM2 report we have a total of 4,383 members. To run a successful campaign you need to get some type of word out to all of these members (if you are running for President, Vice President or Secretary). Because the properties are so spread out the easiest answer is to mail them something. So let’s look at that:

Stamps                                 $0.44each            X 4,383 members             $1941.67

That is only for the stamps. It does not include paper, ink, envelopes or access to the mailing list. All candidates have only one company that they are able to do this type of work for them and I do not see a candidate for President, Vice President or Secretary being able to spend less than $1 per member. To be closer on the real side you should at least expect to pay close to $2 to $3 per member just on one mailing. This will bring the actual cost for one mailing around $8,766.00 to $13,149.00 and this is only for a one time shot and does not include any other activity the candidate might do. The time, gas, travel expense, food and so much more is all a part of campaigning.

ATU757 August Meeting Minutes 2011

For all ATU members!
Here is the minutes of ATU757's August 2011 Charter meeting. Feel free to comment on this post as it is an open outside meeting from our union.
http://www.atu757.info/Minutes/20110814

Who is the fool here?

To warn you in advance, this will be a very long post.

On August 14^th, 2011 I attended a Union meeting and left that meeting asking myself questions like:

Who is the fool here?
What or who can we believe now days?
Does our Union Constitution mean anything?

For the past few years I have shown a very strong passion towards my Union and my Employer. With this passion I have questioned the authority of both the Union to which I belong and the Employer that employees me. In doing so there has been very strong resistance from both. In communications with fellow members it appears that the membership feels frustrated and helpless. Members express fear of retaliation from both our Union and our Employer. This fear has also extended out towards fellow members fearing other members. Each one of us has our own views, passions and ideas about how our lives should be. Is living in fear the way of life you want to be a custom to?

UPDATE 08/12/2011:

The intention to “Prefer Charges” towards President Jonathan Hunt has been based off of communications and documents between him and me in reference towards the delivery of documents to a member. There was a dead line of July 30^th, 2011 for the documents to be delivered to the member. It is not clear that this dead line had been met, yet it appears that the member has received the documents and the proceeding is moving forward.

Because the proceedings are moving forward and the member has the required documents as stated in our communications I find the intention of “Preferring Charges” towards President Jonathan Hunt Null Void and is not warranted. Though the delay is questionable the end result is the factor of dismissing the intention of “Preferring Charges”.

In Solidarity

Define Solidarity:

Solidarity is the integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group with people and their neighbors. It refers to the ties in a society - social relations - that bind people to one another. The term is generally employed in sociology and the other social sciences. What forms the basis of solidarity varies between societies. In simple societies it may be mainly based around kinship and shared values. In more complex societies there are various theories as to what contributes to a sense of social solidarity.

Yes my paper work is signed “In Solidarity” and I am proud of it!

Preferring Charges against President Jonathan Hunt

UPDATE 08/12/2011:

The intention to “Prefer Charges” towards President Jonathan Hunt has been based off of communications and documents between him and me in reference towards the delivery of documents to a member. There was a dead line of July 30^th, 2011 for the documents to be delivered to the member. It is not clear that this dead line had been met, yet it appears that the member has received the documents and the proceeding is moving forward.

Because the proceedings are moving forward and the member has the required documents as stated in our communications I find the intention of “Preferring Charges” towards President Jonathan Hunt Null Void and is not warranted. Though the delay is questionable the end result is the factor of dismissing the intention of “Preferring Charges”.

Today I am making it known of my intention to “Prefer Charges” against President Jonathan Hunt for nonfeasance in office. I have created a PDF file that has all the required documentation to bring this action forward. I am in need of ten (10) signatures from members of ATU757 who are in good standing and in support of this action. Please read all the documentation and if you are in support fill out and mail the last page to me as instructed in the instructions of the that documentation. Thank you for your support. -Chris

Poor Local Union Leadership

Our Union has its Bylaws, Constitution and General Laws that governs how it is to operate. Section 21.7 “Disclosure of Union Business” of our Constitution and General Laws states “No officer or member of the L.U. shall furnish to any unauthorized person a list of the names and addresses of the membership. All business of the L.U. must be kept strictly private from persons outside of the Union, unless publication be authorized by the L.U., and persons giving out any information contrary to the L.U. shall, after proceeding in accordance with the provisions of Section 22, if found guilty, be fined, suspended or expelled.”

National Labor Relations Board and U.S. Constitution govern over Unions to assure a person’s freedom of speech is not violated. With past events I have learned a lot about what a Union can intervene on and what must be taken to civil court. Unions are very limited in actions that can be taken towards a member for their use of freedom of speech. There are a few areas that our Union is able to act upon though. If members participate in a Union function and a Union member releases a list of participant’s names to management or the public to discourage future participation, the union can take action to protect those members. If a Union member was to release a list of member’s names to a rival Union then the Union is able to protect its membership.

On February 18^th, 2011 Sandra Guengerich and I had a meeting with TriMet HR. A complaint had been filed against me and the meeting was to get my side of the story. During this meeting the investigator presented a copy of a preferring of charges that I had filed with the Union towards another member. The member that I had filed the preferring of charges towards with the Union had released the documents to TriMet HR (management). The last two pages of the Union paper work included two lists of member’s names, employee numbers and signatures. The investigator informed us that at least one of the members had been questioned by management about their participation. On June 11^th, 2011 the same member that I filed a preferring of charges towards publicly post all the lists of printed names, employee numbers and signatures of all the members that participated.

Is Bruce Hansen The Right Choice?

Bruce Hansen
2012 ATU757 President Candidate

Friends for Bruce

"Please cast your vote for Pride, Integrity and Honesty.
Vote for BRUCE HANSEN"



     Bruce Hansen has started a website http://www.friendsforbruce.com for his 2012 ATU757 Presidential campaign efforts. In 2009 Bruce lost the Presidential election by less than 300 votes and is the popular candidate in 2012. In these past three years he has been working hard to build support for this coming election. Our current ATU757 President Jonathan Hunt is also working hard so that he can maintain his position. 2012 will be an interesting election for ATU757 members.

     At the start of this year I announced my intention to run for ATU757 President this next year. At this point ATU757 members will have three candidates to pick from. There is a chance that with a third candidate joining, the votes can split up in such that our current President can maintain his position. The President position appears to be the only position that would have the most positive change on our membership if the right person wins the election. The question to the membership is "what is a positive change" and "who will make this change"?

     Jonathan Hunt has had many years to demonstrate to our members the directions he wishes to keep our union moving. It is now up to Bruce and I to convince you (as an ATU757 member) that one of us would be a better selection. I hope that our membership will review all their options and vote for who they feel would best represent them.

     On Bruce's website he talks about Pride, Integrity and Honesty. From viewing his website I find myself questioning this and putting it to the test.

     In his "Goals" section he states "Once the membership has voted affirmation for a budget, it will stay within that budget, unlike being over budget by $282,000.00(as of June 2011)."

     Is this statement true?
     Are there documents that support this statement?

Document #1:
     In May of 2012 at our Charter meeting the membership was presented financial documents of a "Monthly" and a "Year to Date". The "Year to Date" stated the effected dates as July 2010 through April 2011 and showed a deficit of -$282,122.13. This would indicate that according to this document that our membership was over budget by that amount by the end of April and we were presented the information in May.

Document #2:
     In June of 2012 at our Charter meeting the membership was presented financial documents of a "Mothly" and a "Year to Date". The "Year to Date" stated the effected dates as July 2010 through May 2011 and showed a deficit of -$224,094.15. This would indicate that according to this document that our membership was over budget by that amount by the end of May and we were presented the information in June.

Document #3:
     In July of 2012 at our Charter meeting the membership was presented financial documents of a "Mothly" and a "Year to Date". The "Year to Date" stated the effected dates as July 2010 through June 2011 and showed a deficit of -$309,406.03. This would indicate that according to this document that our membership was over budget by that amount by the end of June and we were presented the information in July.
     This document also included a disclaimer at the bottom stating "This document is a snapshot provided by QuickBooks at the time of the printing of this report. Therefore, the final numbers are subject to change based on invoices that arrive after the report is printed but must be accredited to that month. Additionall, the Payroll Services also make post-report changes which may require subsequent changes of the report. For absolute final numbers, please visit the DOL website, where you'll find the ATU757 yearly LM2 and 990 report."

Other Important Information:
     As a member in good standing I do not recall ever being presented and voting on the affirmation of a yearly budget. The documents that are presented to the membership are "income and expence" reports.

To Answer The Questions:
   Is this statement true?
   Are there documents that support this statement?
     Because our members have not been presented an actual budget, how could it be stated we are under or over budget? If a member is using the "income and expense" report as a guild then the documents clearly state that as of the end of June 2011 our "income and expenses" are in the negative $309,406.03. Please remember the disclaimer as well and that this number is subject to change. The only true amount will be known after the LM2 is released sometime late December or so.

     Without supporting documents then anything said is just words. It is my goal to always be Transparent in my actions and to provide the supporting documents for the actions I am taking.

1. I take Pride to assure that all members are equal.
2. I am Honest about what I am presenting to our membership and use supporting documents to stand behind my statements.
3. I have the Integrity to learn from my mistakes, to stand up for my beliefs and to do everything in my power to protect the ones that are counting on me.
4. I believe with Transparency that our membership will help me not only be the best that I can be but to be the best that we can be.

Christopher R. Day Candidate for ATU757 President 2012

Another Letter From My Union About My Sites

So I have received another letter from my union about the websites that are registered to me. The first letter was a clear cease and desist letter making very strong accusations that I am infringing on the trademark. This letter still states “As a legal matter, these are considered identical to the Union’s domain name.” The Union is stating that the three sites that I have legally registered in my name and have full use and access to, are infringing on the Union’s Trademark. It continues to state “the fact that access to your site is unrestricted.” This statement is untrue and offends me because for the past three years I have been working hard at teaching myself scripting for security purposes. Both the first and this letter are based off of unsupported accusations and to continue such actions can and will be considered as intimidation and harassment.

I will be replying to this letter to make sure that my Union is aware of their accusation and allow them the opportunity to research their information again. Here are some simple facts to take note of:

1.       The mentioned registered website names are not, have not or ever will be used for commercial purposes as long as they are registered to me.

2.       These sites have not and will not make profit off the use of the sites.

3.       I have not ever offered to sell these site names to anyone.

4.       The bc.org site I did shut down even though it pertained to the black caucus events only.

5.       The .net site has always had a under construction landing page and has never had anything derogatory towards my Union.

6.       The .info site is a fully secure site that is by invite only and even if someone registers with the site they still only have limited access. Member access and higher is only granted to registered users that are personally known and are aware of the full use of the site.

As you can see there are many areas my Union needs to investigate and rethink about before they send me another letter. Their facts are not accurate and false statements are being made. I have even done a Google search on the Trademark name and my sites do not appear in the first page of links. The official site appears, Youtube sites appear and personal blog sites appear but not my registered sites.

I will keep you posted on this event as it continues.

Union vs. Member or Member vs. Union?

Today I received a letter from my union

and I am being instructed from the union General Counsel that the websites that I legally own is a trade mark infringement and to cease and desist from infringing on that name by discontinuing the three named websites. I hope this letter was sent to all other sites resembling the name “ATU757” such as http://www.atu757.com and many others or is it just me?

This is a perfect example of union officials attempting to prevent a union member from holding separate meetings. The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and The Union Members’ Bill of Rights might protect me if my Union decides to take action. Then again it might not.

Does Our Full Time Union Officer Honor Equality?

                Today after our Union Charter meeting our financial secretary approached me to inform me that the only communication I am allowed to conduct with her is via email. She continued to inform me that I am not authorized to post any recordings of her and walked away from me ignoring me. After the exposure of the meeting she invited me to on June 2^nd, 2011 I have to agree that the only secure communication with our Union Officers is documented communications. It has already been demonstrated to me that I will be told one thing and when I quote the statements made to me it is denied. In one room there were 4 people, 1 union member, 1 executive board officer and 2 full time officers. Who will the membership believe? The 1 member or the 3 officers? So I will respect this elected full time officer who swore to equally represent all members her request.

                It is not legal to release recordings of people engaged in private conversation without the knowledge of being recorded. I released a voice message left on my phone explaining about how credit cards play a key role in report numbers not matching. Was it legal for me to do this? Well she left a voice message on my phone. Did she know she was being recorded? How else would a get the message? Any time a person leaves a message on any recorded device I would have to say you know you are being recorded. The message I posted was an explanation why numbers are not matching. For our financial secretary to be so upset about that being post opens the door to why she might be so upset.

                In our meeting I never brought up the name of Tom Wallis yet the officers brought that name up a few times. Why was his name brought up? Is there worry I am making comparisons? Should there be worry? I was just pointing out that numbers are not matching and do not add up as presented to the membership. When I present clear documentation of this the conversation turned towards intimidating type comments and even an insult.

                Believe it or not I am now apparently limited to only communicate to our elected Financial Secretary via Email as instructed to me by our Financial Secretary. Earlier today our President commented to many members that it doesn’t matter if we like one or the other, we are still members of the same union. Our elected officers should be the role models of this and look at the example presented to me.

                If you would like a better understand of why our Financial Secretary is so upset with me you will have to do a little research. First you need to attend a union charter meeting and save the meeting minutes that is available for you to pick up at the table where you sign in. Save that because getting that same copy later is not an easy task. Then you have to wait for the following months meeting and attend that one. Make sure to again collect that meeting minutes for that month. Now you have two months’ worth of reports. Now you will have to do some math work. I will break it down for you here to help out.

1.       On the report that you collected from the first month find the year to date financial statement. On that page at the very bottom right side you will see a total number. Write that number down.

2.       On the report that you collected from the second month find the monthly financial statement. On that page towards the bottom right (if the auxiliary accounts are on the same page then count where it says “TriMet Auxiliary Accounts as a different page) you will see a total. Take that total and write it down. Here is where it can be a little tricky. If the first number you wrote down from the month before is a negative number that means our balance is currently in the negative and if the second number is also a negative number you will need to add both numbers together. If the first number is negative and the second is positive you need to subtract the second number from the first. If the first number is positive and the second number is negative you must subtract the second number from the first number. If both numbers are positive you add the two together. This will give you a total.

3.       Now look on the report you saved from the second meeting and locate the year to date financial statement. Match the total shown there and if they match then all is good. If they do not match something has been changed somewhere.

What you just did was take July 2010 – first month year to date and added the second months’ monthly report total. This should give you the new total of the July 2010 – second month year to date report. My complaint is I have looked at now the past 7 months and they do not match. My meeting with full time officers reveals that these reports are not meant to match and the members only get a general idea of about where our financial status stands. The only groups that get the respect of an accurate report are the US government and our International. We are on a different reporting system and our reports are able to be changed as sees fit by our full time officers. None of the numbers reported to us will match the LM2’s or the 9-90’s and to receive one of those reports it must be requested to our union or retrieved online from our government.

So do our full time officers offer us equality?

Are we offered the same respect as our government or international?
Does each member have the equal opportunity to communicate with elected officers the same way?

A meeting at ATU757 Office

          On June 2^nd, 2011 Evette asked to meet with me at the union office and I did. During this meeting other officers entered the room that Evette and I was meeting in. At one point there was 2 full time officers and one executive board officer in the room. There was another executive board officer in the next room.

          The executive board officer that was in the room next door later tells me that she closed the door of the room she was in because she didn’t want to get in the middle of it.

          The executive board officer that was in the room with me later posted a Facebook statement claiming the statements I quoted from that meeting was not true and then defriended me from Facebook.

          One of the full time officers in the room only nodded, giggled and agreed while the other full time officer made intimidating type statements and added an insult to finish off his comments to me.

          Is this what I am to expect from the elected officers that have been elected to protect the union and the membership?

          Can I expect that elected officers will protect each other and ignore presented documents?

          Can I expect that an elected officer will not tell the truth of actual events so that a fellow officer is protected?

          Will Officers lie to the membership to protect their position?

          Will an Officer ignore a member when in need?

          The June 2^nd, 2011 meeting I had demonstrated to me that the answer is yes.

21.7 Disclosure of Union Business.

No officer or member of the local union shall furnish to any unauthorized person a list of the names and addresses of the membership. All business of the local union must be kept strictly private from persons outside of the local union unless publication be authorized by the local union and persons giving out any information contrary to the local union shall after proceeding in accordance with the provisions of Section 22, if found guilty, be fined, suspended or expelled.

Printed Names
Signatures
Identification Numbers

These three items is enough information that when combined in list form is able to be considered a list of names and addresses.

Believe who you want

It has been stated that the two statements I claim Sam Schwarz made to me on June 2, 2011 at the union hall while I was meeting with Evette talking about the financial report was not made. The person stating this is Khris Alexander who states that he was at that meeting. It is true that Khris did not hear Sam’s threat statement. I do feel it is import to share some more factual information about that meeting so you can have more information to determine if Khris Alexander’s statement truly represents what took place.

On June 2, 2011 I meet with Evette at our union hall shortly before 1pm. She and I started talking about my concerns in her office with the office door open. Only Evette and I were in her office at that time. We had been talking for about 10 – 15 minutes when Sam (only Sam) walked in the room and joined the conversations. At this time it was only Evette, Sam and I in the room when Sam stated “By the way if you have a specific thing that you want to know about, you have to be specific. You can’t go on a fishing expedition because the department of labor is going to say you are on a fishing expedition and we are going to report that. I don’t know what Evette is going to do, I do not know what Jon is going to do but I am going to tell the membership hey you went on a fishing expedition. Is that what you want to hear?” Now to me that sure sounded like a threat or a type of intimidation. I am not worried who he tells what so that threat didn’t do much to me other than piss me off.

Khris entered the room about 3 – 5 minutes after Sam had entered and Sam’s “threat” had already been made, so of course Khris did not hear it. So Sam was in the room for about 15 minutes and Khris was in the room for about 10 minutes. Sam and Khris left to office together. Khris only heard the last 10 minutes of conversation and cannot truly account for all of what Sam had said to me.

You now have my side of the facts to look at as well. It is ok to believe what you want about who you want. It might matter what I say or it might not. The only documentation about that meeting I have is my notes, my copies of the Meeting Minutes from past meetings, my spread sheets of the reports and the reports reprinted for me by Evette that clearly show that the newly printed reports do not match the same reports that was given to us at our meetings. Not a single report Evette printed that day match any of the reports I had saved from our past meetings. That appears to be our union officer’s standard operational procedure. I am not bashing our union; I am standing up for my rights as a member to be reported accurately. I am sharing this information with other members to allow them the opportunity to do the same. If enough members feel the same as I do than maybe a change might be made. Fear and intimidation can only last so long. Sam use to scare and intimidate me and now he just pisses me off. I am sure I have pissed him of more than my share as well. I cannot and will not except the responses of “that is just how it is” and “you just have to accept it”. Our members do not have to accept anything they do not like.

On A Fishing Expedition?

On June 2^nd, 2011 I met with Evette Farra to talk about why the monthly reports that are presented to the membership do not match each other. During this meeting Sam Schwarz joined and made a few interesting comments. His first interesting comment he made to me was a threat. He states that because I am not requesting a specific item that he will tell the membership that I am on a “Fishing Expedition”. With him threating me with that I would like to step up to the membership and advise them that Sam Schwarz feels I am on a “Fishing Expedition”.

So what is my “Fishing Expedition”? On April 2011 our members had been presented a year to date financial statement from July 2010 to March 2011. On May 2011 our members had been presented a monthly financial statement and a year to date statement from July 2010 to April 2011. I looked at the YTD given to the membership in April 2011 then added the monthly statement given to the membership in May 2011 and the total of the two was $50,000.00 less than the total present on the YTD that was given to the membership on May 2011. This tells me numbers have been changed somewhere. If numbers are being changed then the reporting to the membership is not accurate. Both Sam and Evette confirmed that the reports will never match and will never be accurate to the members. Am I on a “Fishing Expedition”? YES! When I am reported to about our unions financial standings I want to be accurately informed and feel that the membership should have the respect to receive the same. Our union officer’s feel that it is not important enough, too time consuming and too costly to keep our membership accurately informed.

Now about respect, Sam Schwarz made another interesting comment to me stating “Is your brain the size of an M&M or if your brain was chocolate would it fill an M&M”. This is a clear example of the lack of respect our union Officers have for the membership. Though we are members in good standing and we pay our union dues don't be surprised if you contact an officer and you are insulted, intimidated or ignored. This is how much our officers respect us as members.

So in conclusion, our officers show little respect for the membership. They will give our members a report and then alter it shortly after reporting it. This makes the report given to the membership useless because an altered one has already replaced it. If a member does have questions they can end up being threatened, insulted and/or ignored and expected to accept that type of treatment. We have legal rights as members to have full access to accurate financial statements and our officers consistently deny use this access. My request was partly met and was limited; this is a violation of my member rights. Am I fishing for answers? YES I AM. I want to know our true standings and will share my information with all members interested to know the same. It appears our officers are more comfortable giving us as little information as possible and keeping us dependent on them.

So there you have it, our elected officers do not respect us enough to assure we have access to accurate information. If a member wants access it will most likely be limited and could include some intimidation and threats. This is if you make it past being ignored by the officers and required to go through the hoops they place in front of you. So label me as someone on a “Fishing Expedition” or even as a “Shopper”. When something catches my eye that appears wrong I am going to do what I can to find the answers.

PS If you have any copies of the past financial statements they are not of any use because none of them will ever match the information submitted to our International or Government. Only the LM2’s and 9-90’s are true, accurate and will not be altered after being reported. Of course the only we a member has access to these is they have to search for them online or submit a request that may or may not be approved.

A Meeting With Evette Farra Today

        I have been questioning the reports presented to us each month and have requested copies of the past Meeting Minutes so that I can investigate more. Currently I have had no reply about getting a copy of these minutes. Evette did call me last week and left a message stating that the reports might be off a little because of credit card receipts not being turned in on time. This excuse doesn’t make sense to me and from the message she left I thought she just wanted me to call her back. Evette called me today saying that I have not set up a meeting with her yet and that she is concerned about hearing I have been in communications with U.S. Department of Labor. I have had communications with the Department of Labor and received some advice from them about how numbers should match up and have agreed to keep them informed of my findings. Evette and I have arranged to meet today 06/02/11 at 1pm to go over my question. I am trying to keep an open mind about this and I am finding it hard because for me there is no reason a monthly and a year to date that are both presented at the same time should not match. I will report my findings and keep all members posted as best as I can.

Evettes message to me - http://www.atu757.net/EvetteMessage.mp3

ATU757 2012 Election Campaign

                I Christopher Day am announcing my intentions to campaign for the presidential position. Though the election is a year away, I am taking this opportunity to gather support for a successful campaign. My top priority is to create transparency, communication and training within our Union. The goal is to improve the functionality of our Union with today’s technologies and to assure that all members have the tools to view documents of our Unions operations.

                At this time Unions are facing many challenges, the need to update and build a stronger member is at hand. With almost 5,000 members spread throughout Oregon and South West Washington the need for solidarity is even greater than before. Using tools that allows transparency, communication and training will permit each member the option of being as involved as they want to be. Even with great distances between us we can work as a team to solve and improve Union issues. For too long information has been selectively shared and filtered. It is time for our Union to open up and allow the members full access to the activities within our membership.

                I am working hard at creating an interactive, secure website that will allow members to securely login and have access to many tools. These tools will include the ability to view all receipts, to report issues or events, to communicate and receive follow up with an officer, to view contracts and compare proposed changes, to comment on contracts, to stay current with events, to see the areas that officers and shop stewards represent, to take online training classes to improve your skills, and much more. At this time the website is under construction and it is very basic. As I learn more about scripting I will continue to improve the site. Currently the registration and updating your contact information is functioning and more will be added soon. Feel free to keep track of the site as it improves. You can locate the website at http://www.atu757.info I am also using the same model for the Black Caucus website located at http://www.atu757bc.org.

                I will keep you posted as events come up and as tools are developed. This is a very important election coming up; members are in need to have as much information as possible about the candidates that want to represent them. I hope you keep an eye on me and give me the opportunity to get your support.

Thank you

Christopher Day