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.