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NLRB, Update I
In June of 2007, I informed you, DA # 41, should the August 6, 2007 National Labor Relations Board hearing be postponed or canceled, or should the UAW capitulate by providing us with an updated and accurate copy of the Allison Transmissions transfer list, I would post that info here. On July 20, 2007, I received a Settlement Agreement from the Baltimore office of the NLRB, which states that UAW Local 239 must post, for sixty days, in the Baltimore Jobs Bank facility, a NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES AND MEMBERS. The NOTICE, signed by President Swanner, states;
WE WILL NOT coerce employees by refusing to allow employees to see the Allison Transfer list so they can verify that employees are being properly transferred.
WE WILL allow employees to see the Allison Transfer list so that employees can verify that they are being transferred properly. The list being provided for inspection is dated July 28, 2006 and all older Allison Transfer list have been destroyed.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner, interfere with, restrain or coerce our employees in the exercise of their rights as guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
As you see, we will be allowed to monitor the Allison Transfer list so we can be assured that eligible employees are being properly transferred. Therefore the NLRB hearing is canceled. However; I wouldn’t advise everyone to rush down to Local 239’s Union Hall, or flood it with calls, because, according to Swanner, Solidarity House lawyers have yet to work out the details and procedures for viewing the Allison Transfer list, another minor bump that stalls the inevitable. Therefore, I ask everyone to please be patient. Our supposed union reps have denied us our right to view the list for almost a year; so a few more weeks won’t matter. And if they stall too long, additional charges will be filed. When details and procedures are worked out, I’ll post it here.
NLRB, Update II
Also, since being informed that we will be forced to commute sixty seven miles to Wilmington from Baltimore, we’ve raise the issue about when our area hire was extended beyond the fifty mile radius, thereby excluding us from any relocation allowance from the corporation. Gail Hardinger has been pursuing this issue from the beginning. She asked Swanner and UAW International Reps for documentation that extends our area hire but was met with resistance. It was through charges at the NLRB that she received the following two page document on June 18, 2007. In the middle of page one is;
1993 GM-UAW
CONTRACT SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
And on page two is;
New
Excerpt From The Minutes
Employee Placement/Job Security Subcommittee
During the current National negotiations, it was
mutually agreed that some Area Hire Areas would
be modified as follows:
- Laurel, Mississippi and Meridian, Mississippi are an Area Hire Area
- Indianapolis, Indiana is extended to include Bedford, Indiana
- Coopersville, Michigan and Grand Rapids, Michigan are expanded to include Kalamazoo, Michigan and Lansing, Michigan
- Lansing, Michigan is expanded to include Kalamazoo, Michigan and all of Flint, Michigan
- Fort Wayne, Indiana is expanded to include Three Rivers, Michigan and Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Baltimore, Maryland is expanded to include Wilmington, Delaware
- Tarrytown, New York is expanded to include Bristol, Connecticut
- MCD Willow Run is expanded to 60 miles
SUBMITTED TO UAW OCT 23 1993 < Rubber stamped date here
INITIALED BY PARTIES Illegible initials here
While the above document was rubber stamped October 23, 1993, for all we know, it could have been written and rubber stamped prior to being released in June. An agent of the NLRB was asked if he could verify the document’s authenticity. The agent stated that UAW officials wouldn’t dare submit a bogus document. If the agent had our experiences with UAW International and Local Reps and their propensity to deceive, distort, and misinform members they swore an oath to, the agent wouldn’t think twice about questioning the document’s authenticity or UAW Rep’s integrity. That fact notwithstanding in the grand scheme of things; if the document is good enough for the NLRB, we have no choice but to accept it as well. Therefore, according to the above document, we are not entitled to a relocation allowance.
The powers that be in Solidarity House and our Local Union Halls should not have to be forced to provide us with info and documentation that we, as dues paying members, have a right too. And we, as dues paying members, should not have had to spend a year and countless man-hours pursuing that info and documentation, be it bogus or not. Union Reps failure to produce documentation when requested, not a year or more later, reinforces our belief that they are no more trust worthy than their Mgt partners.
Unfortunately the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. For denying us our right to view the Allison transfer list, all Swanner has to do is post a NOTICE, and eventually let us see the list. Where is the lesson learned in that? I’m not sure what the punishment should be, maybe a fine paid out of the local’s funds? At the very least, I believe that would outrage the membership and perhaps, if we’re lucky, lead to his impeachment, or his ouster in the next election, thereby setting a precedent, anything would be better than a slap on the wrist.
If we were the highest authority in the UAW like its website used to proclaim so many years ago, International Reps would have resolved the above issues for us, but I guess they’re too busy being the selfish self serving role models Local Reps emulate. Since a democratic resolution is out of the question at the International level, the only way to even begin to fix all that is wrong with our Union is a coup at UAW Solidarity House, contract time or not. I wonder how much Blackwater USA would charge.
In Solidarity, Doug Hanscom
DisgruntedMember@aol.com
www.soldiersofsolidarity.com
www.futureoftheunion.com
www.factoryrat.com
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