Since the Consent Decree was implemented in 1994, two United States District Judges, six United States Attorneys, four federal monitors, have worked diligently to achieve its objectives. I believe that the UBC is trying to take credit for stopping the corruption in NYC when they did nothing except look the other way. They have had to known about and if they didn’t know about the behavior of the leadership in NYC, shame on them. They never once stepped in to stop the corruption even when the signs were evident and Mr. Forde was on Drugs. Pete Thomassen was held in contempt and Mr. Forde was fined ten thousand dollars for manipulating the out of work list, in violation of the consent decree. This would have and should have been an opportune time to step in and do the right thing. I feel the UBC are only trying to fleece the NYCDCC and keep their agenda.
This company, the FMI Corporation was hired by the council to give insights to study of the market for Union carpentry. Yes, this was a prudent endeavor but perhaps we could have had heard from a few different perspectives on the issue. One point of view can be opinioned and biased. We are in the worst recession we have ever seen and we must keep the members concerns in focus, not the big companies. Let’s not mix up the corruption issues and the recession status. We have spent over six million dollars on our organizing efforts and only received about 107 jobs for our members. Most were newly signed up members who are now sitting on the out of work list. Maybe we should be asking why our parent company, the UBC, why they were not doing their job to over see a fragile NYCDCC. Where was Mr. McCarron’s leadership and fiduciary responsibilities? How come Judge Conboy didn’t put a stop to this when he was over seeing these proceedings? With all due respect, how could Judge Conboy represent the UBC after the position that he just relinquished?
The UBC has undertaken an extensive revision of the District Council Bylaws in an effort to strengthen the District Council against future misconduct and racketeering by its elected officials. The Bylaws can be changed but if they aren’t enforced by the UBC, they are useless. When the R.O. finishes his job over seeing our union who will protect the members? They are blaming all the past problems on the Bylaws and corruption but until they admit that they were also at fault, nothing will change. How does lessening the ratio of Delegates deter corruption? How do larger Mega locals stop corruption? The onus is on the UBC to prove this otherwise don’t go against the UBC Constitution just to make a nice fit in New York City. It will be business as usual when the R.O. leaves the union in the member’s hands.
How does all this restructuring propose to rid our union of corruption? Let us not be fooled by this maneuver to take complete control and blame it on corruption. Where is the proof that the structure of our council played any part in the past NYCDCC debacle? This is only a tactic to have fewer Delegates in place for member representation. The UBC “bean counters” see this as an opportunity to fleece our funds in New York to shore up other places around the country and to keep building this training center in Las Vegas. This school does not really help the rank and file carpenter in New York. Ask how many members actually have had any training at this facility?
Raymond McGuire, counsel to the Benefit Funds’ Trustees, doesn’t speak of all the money that is missing and how to go and retrieve lost funds from past crooks. How many contractors owe money and how many haven’t paid back funds? How many payment plans do we give out? Are we a bank or a lending institution in the position to do this? If you are late on your dues 30 days they want to “strike you from the records”, but let companies go for years paying us back. Make them buy cheaper cigars and cheaper shoes for awhile and get this money back in the funds so honest hard working members don’t have to go without.
As the Collective Bargaining goes on without any member participation, we are getting closer to the June 3oth date. Members haven’t heard anything but give backs. We already gave back $2.13 from our last raise and now they are threatening members with the loss of eyeglass and dental benefits. Perhaps we should delay the contract negotiations until we have a better understanding and elected representatives in place to give the members voice to the bargaining?
This Labor-Management Committee is just another position to complicate things. This committee should be incorporated into the Inspector Generals scope and should function as the most dominant weapon to ward off corruption by guarding against cash payments, sub-scale wages on jobsites, the hiring of non-union workers, and the evasion of Benefit Fund contributions.
The UBC Supervisor will establish an advisory committee of five non-employees, rank-and-file Union members who will monitor the ongoing collective bargaining process between the union and the employers. These negotiations have been going on for many weeks now without the implementation of the suggested commitment to transparency. These members will be chosen by the District Council Delegates no later than June 1, 2011. Well, it is now June 2nd, 2011 and I haven’t heard of any rank and file members selected. I would love the privilege to sit on this committee and like to know how I can apply. We don’t have a legitimate Delegate body in place and to use the current Delegates under a trusteeship would not be fair. Perhaps we should hold off on committing to any negotiations until this suggestion can be brought to fruition?
I hope that this correspondence can shed some light on what this letter, in my opinion is really saying. We owe it to our members not to be hasty in something that will affect the lives of so many union members and their families. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Bill Walsh
Local 157
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