This link is a safeguard. You need to know what I know!
Updated first week of every month until 2028
This link is a safeguard. You need to know what I know!
Updated first week of every month until 2028
The most skilled steamfitter will forever think their mentor
The Election Committee wants to control who wins. So they avoid the technology of the last 20 years.
Why did I spend $3,000 on an election I will most likely lose. I'm afraid this election will go down in our history as an assault on brotherhood and the strengthening of union autocracy.
Why do I say that? Just look at the campaign’s new rules. If you're not an incumbent, you get no union support. Zero.
If you're an incumbent, your job is to promote unions everyday as an elected official.
That's a good thing, but doing that you have to sell yourself. In other words, campaigning, for the union’s benefit is campaigning for yourself on behalf of the union.
It’s absolutely no different than what contractors do. As a contractor when I met with a potential customer. I would tell them how wonderful and skilled are crews are and how good a job we will do. Are business agents and manager are doing the same thing, selling themselves because that's the commodity we sell. Selling trust. In other words, we’re campaigning to win over their trust. So all that blabber about making the rules equal to everyone is hypocritical.
It's a disease that's been here for a while and it's growing. It was easy to see the symptoms, hide history, and ask the lawyers if betraying the members is legal.
The die has been cast. The rule has been made. Unionism castrated by political greed.
Access will cost you $3,000 and absolutely, no guarantees.
Dear brother, your right to campaign has a price.
It's capitalism. How ironic is that?
Everyone needs to be part of 602's leadership
The moment I considered the ---
---sad state of Local 602's politics, is the moment I knew I had to get involved. It’s because they want to be in line for succession of becoming the next Business Manager. So not to lose their place in line, they go along, to get along. They don't speak out. They acquiesce. Why? Because they don't give a shit about 293 members, and their union families, took it up to kazoo the moment they died to the tune of $717,000+ that they robbed from beneficiaries. Just fucking heartless. Then what's next? Coverup. Not just a coverup but an organized union made coverup. A genuine, Local 602 coverup. Now we're cooking.
My Platform
1. Dues reversal; up until about 2001 the officers paid their own dues. The Assistant Business Manager at that time put forth an amendment; (The membership, pay all of the officers dues.)
My platform would be to have ALL union members be responsible for their own dues and be part of the dues check off procedure. Return to a mathematical equation rather than the whims of an officer. When a member passes, we pay their beneficiaries three dollars times the number of members in Local 602 the previous fiscal year.
2. Separate the Business Manager and Financial Secretary Treasurer into two positions. Scrutiny promotes honesty. I was there when the two positions were made into one. That mistake will haunt us until it's fixed.
3. Nepotism should not be allowed within the union office. The fact that it was allowed in conjunction with the BM and the FST holding one position diminished scrutiny of our finances to nil. We ran amok to the tune of near $1 million at minimum.
4. Officers retirement gifts capped. After all working with your brain and your hands in the field doesn't get you $100,000 automobile when you retire or a second pension. What it does is separates one class to white collar and one class to blue collar. The birth of unionism was to make sure that the workers were getting a fair share. Our officers should be proud to say he or she is a blue-collar worker, and their is job is to protect other blue collar workers. After all our mantra was, “we speak as one.” One team! Team 602.
5. Our union is now meeting at the apprentice school and has 116 chairs in a union that has over 5,000 members. Employ 21st century technology using authentication technology that will allow us to use zoom or similar, as well as rotating the meeting locations throughout the Washington DC metropolitan area. Diligent transparency and inclusion is the father of unionism.
6. Amend Article III - If we need an additional officer, the case has to be made as to why. (for now, I'll leave that up to a future debate. Give it some thought).
7. “Notified Meeting Notices,” return to three readings over consecutive months. The amendment will be read by the President of the local and immediately following the President’s reading, it will be reread by a member in attendance. Each rereading will require a separate and different member per amendment and duly entered into the minutes.
8. Notifications to be sent via 5X7 post card or similar. All notifications deserve the status of singularity.
9. The Journal: After the tools of authentication are up to speed. Eliminate officers articles, instead we can listen to all reports, including the Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer, the Business Agents reports live or recorded. Create a forum for where members can make their case for being an elected official. Certainly a better way to promote transparency and inclusion.
10. Unions are a family tradition. Encourage your family to listen to the union meetings. Nepotism for field members is an important cornerstone of unionism.
11. It’s imperative that we understand the Labor Department's Labor Management report (LM-2's) thoroughly because our officers (Treasurer and President) are required to fill them out accurately every year. It's to our benefit that we expand our knowledge and understand our responsibility to our membership and to the government. Fortunately the labor department gives classes on how to understand and properly report our financial conduit. Thanks for reading. It's a plan your opinions and ideas are encouraged.
12. Create a portal during elections, where nominated candidates can convey their reasons for seeking an elected position in our union.
Dues
The man to my right, is Sam Townsend. He's remembered at the annual golf tournament we play in his memory. He was killed in the line of duty.
