ATU Local 1001 - RTD Arbitration

RTD week long strike in April, 2006.

It's three years later but it's the same old cast in more troubled economic times.

What were the gains other than public resentment?

Link to the 2/24/2009 Colorado Department of Labor and Employment order denying the RTD employee members of ATU Local 1001 the right to strike and ordering arbitration.

The employees did strike for a week in 2006 at the end of their last contract. It's unclear to me if there were any actual gains. As I recall, the employees were out for a week and ended up with pretty much what RTD initially offered. Did any of the union bosses or lawyer Jones give up a penny? I think it's also important to remember that union officers (including shop stewards) are paid for x hours per month at the top rate for their respective occupational group so their own raise is going to be larger money-wise than most/all of the grunts actually doing the job. Who's interest is being served?

I wonder how much sympathy there is for the employees in today's economic climate and with RTD needing at least another .04% sales tax increase from the citizens or face a $2.2 billion deficit by 2017, mostly the results of Cal Marsella's pet project - Fastracks.

Do I think that the RTD employee members of ATU Local 1001 are overpaid? ABSOLUTELY NOT! If I were an RTD bus driver or mechanic, I'd want a raise and the benefits I was promised. As a Colorado voter, will I vote for another sales tax increase in 2009 or 2010? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We fell for the B.S. in 2004 when the sales tax increase was the answer to all of RTD's problems so fool me once "shame on you" - fool me twice "shame on me".

With boss and head cheerleader Marsella leaving for greener pastures in the private sector, it'll be interesting to see what direction RTD takes. Only time will tell what RTD's future is but I believe it's a pipe dream to think that the voters will approve another increase. I'll also wait and see what comes of the arbitration between RTD and ATU Local 1001.

In the meantime, there is a way for the members of ATU Local 1001 to ensure themselves a raise (almost $600 per year for RTD employees, less for private contractor employees but a raise none-the-less) before there is an arbitration decision and new contract - PETITION FOR DECERTIFICATION and throw "dem bums" out in an election. The folks at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundations will be happy to help.

20 Centuries Ago?

I'm listening to President Obama's press conference announcing federal judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for Supreme Court Justice and he made a small gaffe, 20 decades not centuries. 

We knew what you meant to say, Mr. President.

Judge Sotomayor seems to be a reasonable choice and I wish her a speedy confirmation and a distinguished career as a high court jurist.

All you need is faith and trust... and a little bit of Pixie Dust - Peter Pan

In Honor Of Our Fallen Comrades Memorial Day -2009 Courtesy of USAFlags

BUS-TED In Orlando

I received an "anonymous" email with an interesting subject and no explanation:

On Orlando bus Route 39, it dawns on passenger: The driver's a kid!

Well, that peaked my interest so I googled it and sure enough, it's a true story from Orlando Florida in October, 2006. It has absolutely no relevance to the blog but it's Sunday morning and everyone deserves a laugh now and then. Read the full story.

As an ex bus driver myself, I had flashbacks and about split a gut when I read the kids "defense":

While speaking with the suspect ... in reference to obtaining his biographical information, he asked me "what is going to happen to me now"? I told him he was being placed under arrest for grand theft auto and would be transported to the JAC. At that point, he stated "why, I drove that bus better than most of the LINX Drivers could. There isn`t a scratch on it. I know how to start it, drive it, lower it, raise it". He also stated he has completed courses for obtaining a CDL and on how to drive the bus.

Perhaps he should have been paid instead of arrested! Enterprising young people need encouragement.

Animation courtesy of the AnimationLibrary

Right-To-Work v. Union Security (Protection) Clause

There are currently 22 right-to-work states. That leaves (of course :-) 28 states and the District of Columbia with laws that allow a union security or protection clause. I don't know if the average worker is "better off" in one environment or the other but I don't want anyone, union or anti-union, to try and force-feed me any crap.

It's 2009 and as a thinking person, I have to ask: "If unions are such a great deal for me, why do they insist on laws allowing my employer to deduct money from my paycheck just so I can keep my job?" I won't even comment on the (choke, gasp) "Employee Free Choice Act", the most blatant, self-serving bucket of chicken manure ever proposed. Thankfully, it's starting to look like it's on life-support and it's only a matter of time till the plug is pulled.

I make many other decisions on how to spend my money, why not allow me that choice also? I promise, that if a union offered me something of value I couldn't get on my own, I'd gladly authorize a payroll deduction to them.

The amount of money the unions spend to protect the unions is staggering! Long ago, I belonged to the B.S.A. and even as poor as my parents were, always found the ten cents a week to pay my dues. Is it possible that the difference between the B.S.A. and the unions, is that the B.S.A. has adult leadership?

My challenge to all the so-called labor leaders, looking out only for the welfare of the "down-trodden" worker: "Quit hiding behind the cowardly Federal/State protection laws and compete like a (wo)man!". It would earn my respect.

AN AMERICAN LIVES HERE!

If you've read bits and pieces of the blog, you may know at least parts of my story. Born in a little town in the piney woods of east Texas 62 years ago, Viet-Nam vet, non-practicing skeptical Southern Baptist, a little left, a little right and sometimes in the center with a lot of libertarian thrown in for good measure. I try to warn folks not to accept, as gospel, the propaganda from either the right or the left. I vote, pay taxes and I love my country and the American people! I'm curious by nature and I'm fortunate (or un, depending on your viewpoint) to have the time to read the news from around the world on a daily basis. I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack but I think I can tell right from wrong, perhaps from being in the wrong so many times in my sometimes ill-spent past.

Some will say that I'm anti-union. I strongly deny that accusation. I'm actually pretty ambivalent toward the concept of a union but I'm strongly pro-America and American worker and it disgusts me to see the corruption and amoral self-serving actions of today's labor bosses and other politicians. I strongly believe that union members (and the general public for that matter) are doing a lousy job of policing their unions! I understand, I didn't do my due diligence for the two years I belonged to ATU Local 1001.

My disgust extends to the many industries where the crooks, hucksters and flim-flam artist have long been allowed to wreak havoc and now come crawling to the taxpayer with their hands out. Perhaps I'll live long enough to see the unions cleaned up and start in on the banking business. ROFL! At least I can hope, that if there is a God and a Hell, there is also a special place in that Hell for all the miscreants who have propelled us to this time of crisis.

Myself, nowadays, I'll continue to make the statement - the members are the union and the bosses, from Local to International, are nothing but the hired help! Without the member money, the union ceases to exist. Unions in themselves are neither good nor evil but the concept of a democratic workers organization has been bastardized to the point where unions exist only to keep unions in existence.

I've read the Bureau of Labor (BLS) statistics and I'll agree with what the unions proclaim so loudly - in a given industry, union members tend to earn more than their non-union counterparts. What the BLS warns, and the unions ignore, is that there are other socio-economic factors that must be taken into account before drawing any conclusions.

I also warn against a literal interpretation of the claim that in today's recession, the heavily unionized states have a higher unemployment rate than states that protect unions to a lessor degree. The same is true of the claims that right-to-work states have lower unemployment rates than states that allow the union protection clause (which ought to be sent straight to the darkest regions of hell where it belongs).

All the claims are true to a certain extent but do not stand alone as either an indictment or exoneration of labor unions. I believe, much like Will Rogers, a little common sense and watchfulness will lead a person to the truth much quicker than anyone's load of statistics.

Two other stories, both from Investor.com (Investor's Business Daily), caught my attention today:

Live Better, Don't Work Union

Crazy Against Trade

In closing, I'd like to quote Mark Twain (one of my favorites):

"Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Image courtesy of Cowboy Clip Art

And Here's the Rest Of The Story

Federal Charges Brought Against Twelve Members of Operating Engineers Local 17 

or

"I was robbed!" cried the crooks 

It's a year old and it doesn't look like DOL was involved - The FBI got em'all. Charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, 7 counts of extortion,  conspiracy to commit extortion and attempted extortion. Looks like the boys from Local 17 are out of action. Charged were:

GERALD H. FRANZ, JR., Business Representative, age 45

JEFFREY A. PETERSON, Business Representative, age 45

GERALD E. BOVE, retired, past Business Representative, age 62

MICHAEL J. CAGGIANO, member, age 38

JEFFREY C. LENNON, member, age 53

KENNETH EDBAUER, member, age 63

GEORGE DEWALD, member, age 50

MICHAEL J. EDDY, member, age 39

THOMAS FREEDENBERG, Business Representative, age 51

And here's the rest of the story:

It gets even funnier (ironic not ha-ha) if you look at the 2008 Local 17 LM-2. A couple of the International boys are running the local and here's one of the LM-2 Remarks:

General Information: In December 2008 allegations of fraud were made against one of the investment managers employed by Beacon Associates LLC II, in which Local 17 invested. Such allegations suggest that the value of the underlying assets managed by the investment manager was overstated and that such overstatement dates back to prior years. As of the preparation date of this filing, the exact loss to Beacon has not been determined, however management of Beacon estimates the maximum loss to Local 17 to be approximately $ 775,000. The market value of Beacon shown in  Schedule 5 of this LM-2 filing reflects the estimated market value of the Local's investment in Beacon as of December 31, 2008. 

What is the world coming to? Crooks stealing from crooks!

Local 17 may be going for a record - 12 crooks in the union itself and they invested with another crook - poetic!

If you're looking for the Operating Engineers in the DOL disclosure room, you'll need to find IUOE-ENGINEERS, OPERATING, AFL-CIO in the dropdown box.

California Financial Crisis and SEIU

From what I gather SEIU boss, Andy Stern, is not a real nice guy and some of the SEIU tactics are more reminiscent of a 30's gangster movie or the early Hoffa Teamsters than what you'd expect in 2009 America. Be that as it may, Google Reader just brought me an interesting WTH post on THE UNION LABEL BLOG. WTH (Warner Todd Huston) attributes his post to the Jon Ortiz The State Worker blog on the Sacramento Bee site.

The interesting tidbit both report:

Ortiz notes that on page 18 of the overview of the 2009-10 state budget, the report suggests the following:

The Legislature could direct the administration to score budgetary savings if it chooses not to approve the labor agreements proposed by the Governor with the state employee units represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1000. (These agreements reduce the number of furlough days for these state workers from two days per month to one day per month.) In addition, the Legislature could reduce state employee salaries by an additional 4.6 percent in 2009-10 for more General Fund savings.

Someone in the state's Legislative Analyst's Office grew a pair and decided to "tell it like it is" It remains to be seen what the SEIU reaction is going to be.

photo courtsey of WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Colorado News - Safeway, King Soopers & UFCW Local 7

The contract between Colorado Safeway and UFCW Local 7 expired May 9th, 2009. The "members" authorized a strike but agreed to continue working until May 30th while talks continued. Safeway and King Soopers have a lock-out agreement and King Soopers has stated they will lock-out if the Safeway workers walk out.

That's the news synopsis and we have one more little wrinkle. King Soopers went on strike in 1996 and Safeway locked-out it's employees. Colorado/Safeway paid more than $5 million in unemployment to the locked-out workers during the strike. Safeway challenged the claims and finally, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the workers right to unemployment during a lock-out.

Enter the republican legislation and we have the law that currently exists: locked out workers can draw unemployment if it's an "offensive" lock-out but cannot draw benefits if it's a "defensive" lock-out. A King Soopers lock-out because of a Safeway walk-out be considered a "defensive" lock-out and the locked-out employees WOULD NOT receive unemployment benefits.

Colorado now has a democrat Governor and democrat legislation so HB-1070, that would allow ALL locked-out workers to receive unemployment benefits, was introduced. The original effective date was in 2010 and it wouldn't affect (unless there were a really looong strike) any current labor negotiations but in the final days of the legislative session that ended May 6th, the effective date was changed to July 1st, 2009 and sent to the Governor. Interesting timing!

Surprise! Much to the consternation and dismay of the UFCW, democrat Governor Bill Ritter vetoed HB-1070 at 4:55 PM on  May 19th and issued a press release stating:

"I believe it is ill-advised and counterproductive to enact legislation that materially impacts the relative bargaining position of parties in the midst of ongoing negotiations."

It's obvious our first term governor wants to be re-elected in 2010; I'll leave the discussion of the Governors true motives and political future to the pundits and applaud the Governor for his veto - Drive a wooden stake through it's black heart and kill it forever! And while you're at it, let us Coloradoans have our deserved right-to-work and banish union protection clauses to the dark pits of hell where they belong.

Colorado Safeway, King Soopers and Albertson's workers - grow up. You absolutely have the right to walk off the job and the other employers absolutely have the right to lock-out their employees if there is a strike going on. If you get locked out, it's exactly what you agreed to and paid for! If you buy into the load of horse poop the UFCW bosses have been trying to sell you, you have no one to blame but yourselves when you no longer have a job; I suspect there are at least two unemployed Coloradoans (and likely some out-of staters willing to move) waiting for every job the UFCW Local 7 members throw away.

You're getting some bad advice from Ernie, Kania, John and the rest of the bosses. Ask them how much of their comfortable salaries they're going to give up to help you out when you're unemployed and can't even collect unemployment.

Any organization that needs Federal and State protection to simply stay alive needs close watching!

It's 10 o'clock - do you know where your money is?

Image courtesy of the AnimationLibrary