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SPECIAL BULLETIN . . . . MARCH 1993
I don't care what our mooga booga Mike Hardeman tells the membership in his
official communications but all funds may not be considered for the payment of
debts. Installer Checkoff dues is not available for anything else but the funding
of the Installer Hiring Hall and the stewarding of installer job sites. Those are
the specific conditions under which that fund was established and has always
operated. Every installer was carefully appraised of the strict conditions under
which these funds would be administered before they approved the collection of
check-off dues. To pay C & D legal expenses from Installer Check-off dues
would be a violation of the trust of the membership.
The same is true of the Installer Defense Funds. Twice Installers were
required to raise funds specifically for the defense of their particular area of
jurisdiction. All the other members of this local refused to contribute to that
cause. Installers had the votes to require the entire membership to contribute but
chose to pressure no member against their will.
Mike says differently. He believes it is all his and has carefully anounced
his intentions to access installer funds because there is no money left in the
General Fund or the Defense Fund. He spent those dollars on cellular phones,
political campaigns and a trip to the inaugural ball. In the last issue of the OPI
Wingnut our local stand-up comic bags credit for the unethical principles &
justifies the use of installer funds by fantasizing on the benefits installers will
derive. Then he takes out and waves the union flag. If he were in the white house
he would use medicare to bail out bankers & social security to clean up
after exxon tankers.
One more time! It is not a question of unity. There never was a question about providing the funds to defend & preserve all of the local's jurisdictions. The questions were about ethics & leadership. And the problem
refuses to go away.
THE NEXT UNION MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 17TH.
If installers attend & demand justice the officers will look blank and say 'what should we do?' An
attitude that adds their work load to the already difficult task of protecting installer property. But because elected officers are unable to provide competent financial management does not mean that the membership must operate at their level of inadequacy.
The WATCHDoG suggests the following.
1. Assess the damages. I don't mean the ill conceived and poorly executed
attempt at organizing. I mean totalling up the past, current and estimated
future expenses. Money is being and has been spent in bits and pieces, some of them
very large, and there is no way for rank & file members to grasp the extent of the
debt in order to formulate a plan.
2. Determine a method and timetable for paying that debt. Usually there
are just two alternatives. Percapita tax which charges each member the same amount
regardless of their hourly wages or annual income or checkoff dues which charges members
according to the amount of hours worked & income earned.
3. Put it to a vote. And if it fails devise another plan and put it to a
vote. And another. Until the debt is met.
4. And if there are insufficient funds, money could be transferred
from other accounts but only when the terms and schedules for repayment are
specified in the motion presented to the members. The financial officer's motion stated his intent to, "pay the incurred C & D legal debt from installer funds". Period.
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the names of members along with their union
activities, he continues to do so. He never asked my permission [page 7 bottom
center] but he did take the opportunity to inform all the members that he and I were
on the same side.