Monday, May 23, 2005
PROPOSED BY-LAW AMENDMENTS
PROPOSED BY-LAW AMENDMENTS: "In addition to the monthly dues, there shall be a five-dollar ($5) General Fund Assessment to pay for Arbitration expenses, mandatory audit expenses, and general office expenses."
Before I get into this, I'd just like to say it's about time you updated your web site. Okay, let's get on with it.
"For their faithful performance of their duties, Executive Board Officers shall pay ½ of their Union Dues..."
"For the faithful performance of their duties, Committee members... shall pay ½ of their Union Dues..."
Faithful performance? How do you define "faithful performance"? Does it include negotiating a new contract that reduces wages and benefits over the previous contract covering the same period? Does it mean fighting for the jobs of known scumbags who happen to have a buddy in the union office while turning your backs on conscientious employees who happen to disagree with your politics? Perhaps it means depriving members of printed copies of the contract so they can't know if it is being violated. Or does it mean merely neglecting to update the local's Web site for years on end to enable the board to supply as little timely information to the membership as reasonably possible?
Arbitration, and employee infractions, have become so common-place that you feel a standard $5 assessment is necessary to help cover the expense of getting jerks their jobs back. Let's not forget that it is also to help cover the expense of "mandatory audit(s)". When was the last time you made an audit of the Union's financial expenditures easily available to the general membership?
It would be nice to only pay half the dues other members pay, while not having to sit behind the wheel or crawl under a bus. But then, the difficulty of dispatching your duties as hard-working, non-partisan representatives of all ATU members does take its toll, and is a very small price to pay for the stellar performance you give.
On June 15th the membership will have an opportunity to tell you what it thinks of your performance via a vote on your proposed by-laws ammendments. The only changes that have any real meaning are the ones concerning the dues paid by board and committee members. Assessments for arbitration, audits, and general office expenses are easily covered by month-to-month assessments as always. Simply asking any front-line worker "When was the last time your monthly dues fell as low as $62.09? (the proposed new base monthly dues amount)" will verify this.
So let's not be deceived into thinking that these changes are necessary to balance the Union's books. They are mainly designed to provide built-in monthly increases that the board does not have to explain to the membership, which will provide a means to assess greater month-to-month increases that won't look as bad as they do now with the current lower base dues. And with the added perk of halving the dues of board members for their "faithful performance", it all adds up to a great deal for the membership.
Keep up the good work.
Before I get into this, I'd just like to say it's about time you updated your web site. Okay, let's get on with it.
"For their faithful performance of their duties, Executive Board Officers shall pay ½ of their Union Dues..."
"For the faithful performance of their duties, Committee members... shall pay ½ of their Union Dues..."
Faithful performance? How do you define "faithful performance"? Does it include negotiating a new contract that reduces wages and benefits over the previous contract covering the same period? Does it mean fighting for the jobs of known scumbags who happen to have a buddy in the union office while turning your backs on conscientious employees who happen to disagree with your politics? Perhaps it means depriving members of printed copies of the contract so they can't know if it is being violated. Or does it mean merely neglecting to update the local's Web site for years on end to enable the board to supply as little timely information to the membership as reasonably possible?
Arbitration, and employee infractions, have become so common-place that you feel a standard $5 assessment is necessary to help cover the expense of getting jerks their jobs back. Let's not forget that it is also to help cover the expense of "mandatory audit(s)". When was the last time you made an audit of the Union's financial expenditures easily available to the general membership?
It would be nice to only pay half the dues other members pay, while not having to sit behind the wheel or crawl under a bus. But then, the difficulty of dispatching your duties as hard-working, non-partisan representatives of all ATU members does take its toll, and is a very small price to pay for the stellar performance you give.
On June 15th the membership will have an opportunity to tell you what it thinks of your performance via a vote on your proposed by-laws ammendments. The only changes that have any real meaning are the ones concerning the dues paid by board and committee members. Assessments for arbitration, audits, and general office expenses are easily covered by month-to-month assessments as always. Simply asking any front-line worker "When was the last time your monthly dues fell as low as $62.09? (the proposed new base monthly dues amount)" will verify this.
So let's not be deceived into thinking that these changes are necessary to balance the Union's books. They are mainly designed to provide built-in monthly increases that the board does not have to explain to the membership, which will provide a means to assess greater month-to-month increases that won't look as bad as they do now with the current lower base dues. And with the added perk of halving the dues of board members for their "faithful performance", it all adds up to a great deal for the membership.
Keep up the good work.
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