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.