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$100 Plus Story

  • How to Start a Revolution

     This letter was sent to us from a reformer battling for democracy in IUOE Local 501 -  currently reaching out to other IUOE locals across the country.

    The Man In Black
    501maninblack@gmail.com

    Union men and women around the country, lend me your ears! There's something wrong with our Unions, you know it, and I know it! You see the newspapers where some Union Big Wig got arrested, or how some state is trying to get rid of Union Laws and somehow we miss the connection. Those Labor Bosses who get arrested give ALL of us a black eye! And so, the vast majority of folks out there have the concept that "UNIONS ARE CORRUPT"! 99% of Union Members who go to work every day, who pay our taxes, who are good, upstanding Citizens get painted with the same brush, "UNIONS ARE CORRUPT!" And when some corporate shlock buys off a politician to propose a "Right To Work" Amendment, the American Voter just sees a chance to get rid of corrupt Unions.

    Well, shame on all of us.

    You know what I'm talking about! We are afraid to stand up against the "Good Ol' Boys" that are running our Unions for fear of being "black-balled". We let them intimidate us, spend our dues money on "conferences" and "charity golf outings," and we sit silent. Shame Brothers and Sisters, shame.

    Now, let me tell you a story... Out on the west coast is where my home local sits: The Operating Engineers Local 501 in Los Angeles. About two and half years ago, some shenanigans went on and the International decided it would step in, fire our elected leadership, put in a new puppet regime and force feed all of this to the Union Members who pay the bills! Well, a few of us old timers got together and decided ENOUGH! So, I was born: The Man In Black! I don't know if you all remember the old Johnny Cash song, but he said that as long as someone suffered he would be the Man in Black, and well, we stole the idea! And what were we going to do exactly? Well, we were going to do what the American people have done since coming to the continent, we were going to TALK! The problem is, that our International Union had filed a federal lawsuit against websites! Yes, it was the International Union of Operating Engineers who stripped away its own members First Amendment Rights to Free Speech and now, when you want to sign into an Operating Engineer website you have to have your Member ID and sign in! So we knew we didn't want a website! Then one day it dawned on me: I have a HUGE e-mail list! I'll send out an e-mail to my friends and we'll have a conversation!

    So, some two and a half years ago the first 501maninblack@gmail.com e-mail was sent out to 53 recipients. We talked about Union issues, why what the International was doing was wrong...and we asked to have our friends send in their e-mail address list. So far, e-mails are still considered "personal communications" and although the International would LOVE to silence The Man In Black, they can't! Now it takes two or three days to send out an e-mail! All across the country Operating Engineers are signing up for the Man in Black e-mails and we continue to grow each day! We talk about what is wrong with our Union, and what we, THE MEMBERSHIP can do to fix it! Sadly, we have to remain anonymous because the retribution would be terrible, but having a conversation is important! In days gone by, the Union Meetings were the forum for these discussions, but as most Union Members will attest to, now we are afraid of being branded a "troublemaker" and we sit silent in the Halls we built! I don't know where it will lead. I am hopeful that eventually every Union Member in the country will join the list, and although that may be wishful thinking, I believe in the Union ideals I was raised under, I believe in the MEMBERS!

    Union Members from coast to coast have grown lazy and complacent. We let our Halls fill up with cronies, and crooks. I know there are good leaders out there; we used to have one at our Union Hall, but for the most part what I see is Union "Leadership" who has led us to the smallest Union Membership in our nation's history. I have seen the members painted with the same "corrupt" brush that these "Leaders" get painted with, and I don't know about you, but most of the Union folks I know are hard working, dedicated people...who deserve better! Our American Forefathers started a revolution that gave us the United States of America, and they started that revolution by getting together and talking about what was wrong. Maybe it's time for the American Union Member to start talking too!

    Who knows? In this crazy world we live in, where 99% of us feel detached, maybe a conversation with a Brother or Sister will be a welcomed addition to our hectic lives. I know this: If we, the UNION MEMBERS don't do something the "Leaders" of our Unions will have all of us working in "Right to Work" states, and the American Labor Movement will be a dead end chapter in the great American history books. Working men and women built this country, we can build a better labor movement, but we have to try. Let's start with a conversation! If you'd like to be added to the Man in Black e-mail list, drop me a line at: 501maninblack@gmail.com, I'll be talking until something starts to change. Until we make a move to make a few things right, you'll never see me wear a coat of white!

    See you in the trenches,

    I am the Man In Black,

    Johnny

  • NYC Carpenters rat ruling regime
    The giant, snarling, inflatable rat has been widely employed by unions in labor disputes with employers and non-union contractors in recent years, but on the lower west side of Manhattan this past August, the iconic species of rodent bared its teeth at an unusual target: The headquarters of the New York City District Council of Carpenters (NYCDC). 
     
  • AUD Testifies at House Hearing on Union Democracy -- House Committee reviewing DOL’s Decision to Abandon New T-1 form
  • An interview with Ken Crowe, author of The Truckers
    Kenneth C. Crowe has covered labor for Newsday and has won numerous journalism awards. His works include America for Sale (1978) and Collision: How the Rank and File Took Back the Teamsters (1991). Here he talks about his new novel with our $100 Plus Club News. See our review of The Truckers

    $100 Plus News: What made you write the story now? Were you working on it for some time?

UDR Story

  • Goodbye, Frank Schonfeld

    Frank Schonfeld, an eminent spokesman and leader in the battle for union democracy, died in November at the age of 95. A memorial gathering is planned for Sunday, February 26, 2012, at 2:00 p.m., to be held at Vladeck Hall, 74 Van Cortlandt Park South (corner Hillman Avenue), Bronx, NY 10463.

  • Letter to the Editor: IUOE

    Contributed by James H. Thomas
     
    I would have liked to start out this article about my union, the IUOE, on a positive note. However, for a very long time I have been troubled by where my union has been in the past, and now where it has arrived.
     
    Turmoil from coast to coast, all-out war against anyone speaking out and worse, schemes against workers entitled to pensions and other benefits. The IUOE International uses its vast resources for all the wrong reasons and against the wrong people: their own members.
     

  • New Carpenters Call for Direct Members Vote

    Court Action by Rank and File Carpenters Blocks Quick Ratification of CBA that Eliminates Hiring Rights. New Leadership Calls to Conduct Direct Membership Referendum on CBA.
     
    New York carpenters elected a member with a long record of fighting for reform to the top spot of the 25,000 member District Council in December, just in time to win a key legal battle delaying a vote on tentative agreements that would eliminate the union hiring hall. Mike Bilello, a 36-year member who started campaigning for union democracy nearly two decades ago, was elected Secretary Treasurer with nearly 63% of the almost 5,000 votes cast. Bill Lebo, his running mate for Council President also won.  A month after taking office, Bilello's administration and the council's powerful 100-member Delegate Assembly unanimously called for a membership referendum on the agreements. 

    The election follows a two-and-a-half-year long trusteeship imposed by the International after Michael Forde, the prior EST, was removed in a 2009 racketeering scandal, for which he is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence. Frank Spencer, the International trustee, had sought a quick vote on tentative collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) he negotiated that would end decades-old hiring rights that refer one third of all carpenters jobs based on qualifications and seniority. The CBAs also included 20% pay cuts for many carpenter jobs. 

    A few days before taking office, Bilello testified in support of an action in federal court brought by rank and file carpenters seeking an injunction to stop the ratification until carpenters and the 100 members of the Delegate Assembly, who are elected by the locals, had a chance to review the provisions of the agreements. 

    Many members view the hiring provisions as the key to contract enforcement, protecting them against retaliation for health and safety complaints, and preserving dignity on the job. The agreements eliminate the 2-1 system in which a third of all jobs are referred through the hiring system according to seniority and job skills. Employers hire the other two-thirds directly from the membership and can easily skip over members who complain about contract violations or health and safety violations. In other construction unions where members lack hiring rights, grievances and safety complaints are rare or non-existent. Members passed over for work in retaliation for filing such complaints must rely on federal bureaucracies such as the NLRB, OSHA, or the EEO, as opposed to the grievance machinery. 

    To be ratified, the tentative agreements needed approval of a majority of the 100 members of the Delegate Assembly. The delegates were elected local by local last fall. Spencer sought a quick vote of the assembly on January 10, the day before installation of the new officers. At its second meeting, under pressure from below to reject the agreements, the Assembly unanimously adopted an extraordinary measure to hold a membership referendum on the agreements by mail ballot conducted by the American Arbitration Association. 

     ______________________________
    “It was complete silence at a time when it was most
    important to get this information     to the members.”
      ______________________________

    “It was the end-all for due process rights," said Demian Schroeder, a nine-year member and shop steward, who was a plaintiff in the case. "No mass mailings, no robo calls, no newsletter, no announcement. It was complete silence at a time when it was most important to get this information to the members." 

    The carpenters argued in court that members and delegates need adequate time to review the CBAs. In December, a federal judge had ruled that the UBC was required to post proposed CBAs online for two weeks. Bilello testified at the hearing on January 6, just days before he was sworn in as EST, that the vote be postponed because important provisions of some of the contracts had been left off the union's website. 

    Carpenters report that the Delegate Assembly and much of the membership is divided over the CBAs. The employer associations are threatening a 20% wage cut if the CBAs are rejected, and a rival-union sponsored by the Painters union, an AFL-CIO affiliate, has petitioned the NLRB for representation of important areas of jurisdiction. If the Painters are successful, the NYCDC could lose countless jobs. UBC President Douglas McCarron disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO in 2001. 

    After a decade’s long battle for members' rights, Bilello is in the strongest position possible to wage a campaign to protect what is left of carpenters' right to fair hiring and to rebuild a union plagued for years by corruption and organized crime influence.  His testimony in support of the Carpenters action in federal court and his support for the membership referendum are promising signs. It remains to be seen whether he will speak out in favor of the crucial hiring rights and how hard he will campaign for them. 

  • DOL Rules on IUOE Local Election Complaints

    As we reported in the July/August 2010 issue of Union Democracy Review (UDR 186), Finn Pette the former financial secretary of Local 501 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, had launched a campaign for local business manager. However, he was not allowed to run because he had earlier been "convicted" on trumped up charges.  In a recent decision, the DOL has filed suit to void the election and conduct a rerun under its supervision.

  • Letter from the editor: So long but not good-bye
    With deep regret, I must report that I am stepping down as editor of Union Democracy Review. Starting in 1958, I have been responsible for these 193 issues of UDR, 42 issues of its predecessor, Union Democracy in Action, and a few special issues.  It adds up to 239 numbers over a period of around 53 years.  I have no idea if that’'s any kind of record for this type of  social cause publication. But it surely is an interesting statistical footnote. 
     
  • “Faculty Majority” defends academic democracy, but how?
    A discussion piece
     
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