MONTHLY MEETING
MARCH 17,1993
Many mail order subscribers to the WATCHDOG missed the last issue (a broadside) which was delivered by foot (mine) at Moscone the day before the March general meeting. I was seriously concerned about Mike Hardeman's announcement of a special order of business for payment of Color&design bills followed by his declaration that
"all funds were open for consideration". I was certain he was targeting installer-funds. When the president came out in the Wingnut waving the union flag I was positive.
A lot of members attended that meeting which went on forever. Each deserves a commemorative t-shirt. I ATTENDED THE MARCH MEETING & SURVIVED. I even lived to write about it. In fact when I reach those pearly gates & st peter asks me what on earth I did & I tell him I was a local 510 installer he will say, 'If you went to meetings brother go right on in because you already been to hell'.
Most of the meeting was taken up by installers complaining about the loss of work & jurisdiction. We learned that we made a deal with stagehands back in eighty something. No installers knew. One time at one meeting in one of their reports Joe or Bob told everyone. I missed it. The agreement revolves about the term 'theatrical' and focuses on the use of motorized hoists.
I am having big trouble with we. I don't remember a vote or even a discussion. They just made policy & have been careful about advertising because rank & file installers would not appreciate their efforts.
The subject that ate the most time was out of town workers for I&D companies. How does an installer identify one? Or verify they have transferred in? Or check the ratio? Or their pay scale? How come they work through breaks & meals. How come they get all the overtime? Who is stewarding I&D's.
Don't expect answers. I'm just happy to remember some of the questions.
And while my head is at work I must say a word about safety. I am seriously concerned about some of the rigging practices and equipment that our members must work with and under.
At one show I saw an installer working on an 8' ladder on a fully extended scissor jack. That totally defeats the function of the safety railing. The steward objected. The foreman countered by ordering uprights & expanders tied to the existing railing. A Business Agent stood right next to him asking the hotdog installer if he felt safe now.
At Uniforum (in several installer opinions) Rube Goldberg was rigging in north hall. Instead of triangular trusses designed to span distances, sections of black iron pipe, which can barely carry its own weight, were used. One 20' section was not long enough so two sections were coupled (as in union) and the joint was scabbed with another pipe. This mickeymouse truss was suspended from ceiling eyebolts in loops of chain without a safety.
Twice now installers have seen these sections of pipe slid out & fall. Once it just missed an electrician working on the floor. The second time it hung up in cross piping. Sub-standard Unsafe!.
Back at the meeting Joe asked for and got permission to reopen the C list with a new sign-up. He is once again afraid he will be unable to meet the call of Semicon. There are now over 500 A list installers with about 400 actively seeking work at a given time. But C listers refuse to wait for the tape to change.
I think he has been going round in circles so long he has worn a rut deep enough to prevent the penetration of new ideas. I'll try my best to help. Raising the signup fee from $20 to $50 was obviously insufficient inducement for casuals to purchase beepers so lets raise the signup fee to at least $500. Anyone who pays will buy a cellular phone just to break even. And our lawyers need the money. It all works out.
Meanwhile Mike reports that IBPAT requests we change our bylaws & prohibit B & C list installers from paying the full initiation fee and becoming voting members of the local and international. That possibility has always existed but no officer has ever informed a single worker of the option. The IBPAT request appears related to the recent percapita tax levied on 51O's B & C list installers & the bylaw change would sever the recognized bond between taxation & representation.
Joe also reported that the teamsters have sent out a letter announcing that they were going to demand jurisdiction over blanket wrapping. So far he has seen no action. His posture remained suspended between two attitudes, 'if they don't we will' & 'lets wait and see'. If we do go after the work we will need a real game plan and professional leadership.
The Air Quality Committee (which distinguishes itself from the Health & Safety Committee) reported that the results of the city's second air quality test was received by the union office and no where in the report is there any indication that the air quality violates standards set for human health & safety. Every installer should feel safe now & stop complaining.
Meanwhile the Air Quality Committee has purchased a meter for independant monitoring of the saturation of certain gases and is attempting to devise a strategy for implementation. I favored requiring the officers, singularly or as one happy family, to walk behind a fork lift for 8 hrs in order to establish a worst case scenario. Actually I would settle for a junk yard engine running in the office between 9 & 5 Monday thru Friday.
The AQC also introduced a motion to start keeping records of air quality related illness in order to counter official test results. The motion passed and requires the office to begin compiling a file of air quality related illness reports & the stewards were authorized to distribute and collect these reports.
Presumably forms will be available shortly.
Finally, after 9 pm, the subject of the 'special meeting' that Mike advertised on the payment of Color&Design legal fees reached the floor. All funds were not considered and a motion was made and passed to pay $10,000 out of the general fund which added to a Builder Defense Fund contribution of $22,000 and resolved the current outstanding $32,000 legal bill.
Just hours before the builders had met and voted to contribute the entire contents of their recently established Defense Fund. They also voted to hold in obeyance any extension of their special defense fund assessment pending judgements against the local.
A lot of anger and resentment was directed against the builders that were at the meeting (all 5 of them) until one installer had the insight to point out that the real problem was the officer's inability to supply answers to questions on financial costs and containment and to produce any semblance of a game plan. Except punt & bunt.
When asked to estimate the total costs of the Color&design war Mike was unable to supply a figure. It surprised many members that no one was tracking the expenses. Then under pressure Mike tossed out a $60,000 figure which sent several installers rushing for barf bags. That number probably covers legal fees these last 6 months. No other costs. The good news was that no one wondered why the international [IBPAT] has not supplied legal aid or financial assistance or organizing skills.
On the subject of members who did not perform mandatory picket duty at Color&design or contribute 4 hrs pay, the members voted to assess these individuals $25 a month in additionai penalties until their account is settled. Twenty four members fit this category (8 builders & 16 installers). One installer got up and admitted to being one of the 'unpaid 24' and was heavily booed by the brothers & sisters. I must give this wingnut credit for honesty & courage. He did not think that the union could own or delegate his personal time and there must be substance to that claim because the union has yet to suspended him for non payment of dues and/or assessments.
The entire problem was ironically created through the ingenuity of our leaders. Their plan required the performance of picket duty and accepted money as an alternative. If they had levied an assessment [equal to 4 hrs wages] and offered picketing as an alternative then there would be no problem collecting from primadonnas. The chorus would sing 'do you know the way to San Jose' [all the way to San Jose].
I did not stay to see who won the raffle.
GENERAL MEETING
APRIL 21,1993
The election campaign got off to an early start. Before Mike even finished his report I lost tract of the number of times he mentioned the importance of his political connections & the implied value to the membership. He also dropped names like buzbombs over England back in the early forties. I never cease to be amazed at the number of members who eat it up.
Once again discussion of Color&design occupied lots of time. More members are becoming aware of the situation and coming to meetings to question what is happening. The latest report remains simply "there is no way of knowing what the ultimate costs of this will be" Members were warned to be careful of what they said because the enemy has a 'direct line' into union meetings.
[If there is a legal mechanism for converting personal criticism of union officers into evidence for the prosecution then I may be guilty because the lawyers for Color&design have subpoenaed copies of the WATCHDoG.]
For the benefit of readers and in case anyone should ask, the local union was exercising its legal right to establish and maintain an informational picketline. We were not engaged in an organizing campaign. Anyway the case will go on and on and members will continue to pay for this poorly conceived & even more poorly executed adventure into bankruptcy.
Due to the nature of motherhood our attorney requested and was granted a trial date extension of sometime in late 1994 & the opposition has now filed new charges of conspiracy naming Giltspur & Exhibit group as codefendants. They must love that.
The importance of Bob Owen's political activities on behalf of the local were accompanied with a story about how the management of the San Mateo fairgrounds is being pressured by Bob's political contacts into pressuring their prospective tenants (shows managers) into using only union affiliated labor contractors. In addition they (Bob & Joe) got jobs on small show whose name I can't remember.
I never seem to be impressed when they brag about adding a few hours to the annual total because I compare it to the hours lost to blanket wrapping, soft furniture delivery, out of town I&D workers, stage hands & the general absence of a strong union presence on installer job sites.
Joe announced that he might not have another sign-up but the news reached this writer too late to change his review in last month's meeting report. Also in this issue.
During the meeting officers referred several times to a 'new document' that SPECTAKOR, managers of the convention facility, just distributed. One installer asked to see the document but the officers decided (with a chuckle) that they would not inform members of its content because the document made contractors responsible and it was therefore the contractors obligation to inform.
But the WATCHDoG abhors a vacuum & will inform you.
There are four pages that essentially make tenants (in the form of contractors, subcontractors & exhibit only contractors) responsible for a multitude of things including but not limited to taxes, licences, permits, insurance (comprehensively), state, federal & local laws, ordinances, rules & regulations & worker's compensation insurance.
Tenants are also responsible for enforcing the following policies; no wheels of any kind in either lobby & no parking in the facility or its driveways or Folsum St with bagged meters. It designates the 3rd and 4th street ramps as tenant employee entrances. (Use of other entrances or exits increases costs by requiring additional security.)
It prohibits use of public seating or facility employees lunchroom by tenant employees. It establishes a speed limit on all vehicles (including bicycles) of 5 mph. It requires carpeted areas to be visqueened & plywood covered when in use. It prohibits any substance being attached to or any implement being used on any facility wall surface.
Prohibits smoking in the building.
Gives the house rigger the 'authority to inspect and provide direction to the contractor's employees'.
Establishes the marshalling yard and a procedure to determine damages before & after tours and makes the tenant responsible for leaving the building in the original condition including floor adhesive residue removal.
Now you know as much as I do.
Or almost.
I also have a copy of a recently signed letter of mutual understanding between four local unions [#16 IATSE, #85 TEAMSTERS, #6 IBEW & #510 SIGNDISPLAY] which establishes a procedure for arbitrating jurisdictional disputes between the locals without impacting the event, the facility or the industry.
A complaint must first be filed with the union steward or representative who then notifies his or her employer who in turn notifies the facilities general manager who will contact the respective business agents. The unions further agree to meet as soon as possible to resolve any issues and while the dispute is being mitigated work stoppage is prohibited. It further states that the determination will establish precedence for all future work of that nature.
Sounds ok. The danger lies in the fact that nothing prohibits our officers from making agreements without the consent or instruction of the members. The current procedure is to make a deal first and then only when necessary inform working members. A dangerous power to extend to anyone with political ambitions.
During the meeting one installer asked if it were possible for the office to send the show schedule to installers in the mail. He was 'officially' informed that if he sent a stamped self addressed envelope to the secretary she would mail him a schedule.
I am in sympathy with this installer's feelings because for years & years I came to meetings and asked if the office could send installers their working cards & dues receipts by return mail. I was always told that it was to much trouble for the secretary and would cost too much. I had to become chairman of a bylaws committee (that's months of meetings) and bring a resolution to the membership in order to get the union to mail working members a dues receipt & working card.
So my recommendation to that installer is to volunteer to chairman the next bylaws committee because that has been the only alternative for members who think they are paying for services which they are not receiving.
On second thought I take that back.
A long long time ago another bylaws committee determined that it was necessary for the Business Manager/Financial Secretary to create & present for membership approval an annual budget. He has never done so.
So forget the bylaws committee. Send the secretary a stamped self- addressed envelope. And if you are looking for a gauge with which to measure the his commitment to providing services for members, you have found it.
Late in the meeting Mike Hardeman requested $1,000 from the general fund to buy a feather for his cap. The Salvation Army, on whose board of directors he serves, is giving an award for human services and on his suggestion they chose Hilary Clinton who chose to come and accept. The expenditure (10 tickets to the awards presentation dinner) was clearly either a charitable contribution or a political expenditure, each of which has its own funds & funding procedure. I also thought the amount excessive considering the huge financial debt members are covering.
But Mike's need for the money was impulsive and immediate and did not allow time to follow procedures for PAC & PROMO funds. The general fund always remains immediately accessible.
When I argued against his request he responded that not supporting him was "insensitivity to the needs of multitudes of less fortunate people living in redevelopment tenements around Moscone and neglect of my obligation to return something to the community from which I take so much".
Coming from a marshmallow that was a heavy insult to swallow.
Then just before the president ended the meeting he discovered two rank & file committee chairmen were present and prepared to give reports.
SAC (the Substance Abuse Committee) has been working on a counter proposal to management's proposals and submitted a long written report that I have not had the time to read. Installers can get copies from the chairman if they are interested.
The AQC (Air Quality Committee) chairman reported about a recent tour of the ventilation system control room at Moscone and then asked the officers what progress they had made implementing the motion passed by the members at the last meeting to compile a file of written 'air quality related illness reports'. His question drew a complete blank & absolute silence. Obviously they had done nothing.
Why should they. It was not their idea and they have more important things to do.
Not many members realize that when they voted to accept the terms and conditions of the new contract they also voted to created an Official Health & Safety Committee composed of the Union's Business Agents. That was a political maneuver which effectively removed all powers from several rank and file committees including the one concerned with air quality in Moscone.
The official committee has met once I believe this last year "Great meeting. Got a lot done. We're going to meet again" Their single accomplishment consists of getting the city to test the air in its own building. Twice. For us. Free. Mike Hardeman is chairman of that committee and damn proud of saving us money.
Meanwhile the rank and file committees continue struggling to make progress in spite of their demotion. They are researching and preparing strategies and circumventing the stonewall by bringing motions directly to the floor for the consideration of members. Support them. Even to the eternal consternation of officialdom.
Talking about the air reminds me. Last month I only read the summary of the Moscone air test which concluded that everything was ok because the average was ok. Current limits for exposure to carbon monoxide are between 30 & 50 parts per million and the summary's average (19 parts per million) was under both.
This month, thanks to a concerned installer, I read the actual document which lists the meter readings before they are averaged and summarized.
The average may be 19 parts per million but some individual readings were over 80 parts per million. Alongside each reading was the time and an indication of location. Every reading over 80 was taken near a forklift. Every reading taken on the loading docks was over 70.
If you are working in either of the upper lobbies you breath marvelously clean air but if you work on the loading docks or in the vicinity of fork lifts you qualify for membership in the Dead Canary Society. Apply quickly!
Something else I learned. There are no standards for indoor air quality but there are standards for outdoor air quality. We are sailing unchartered waters when attempting to define indoor air quality. And there are no regulations controlling emissions on vehicles used indoors (off public roads). None of the equipment we work near is even smogged.
In the April/May issue of the union's Wingnut editor John Carter announces himself in charge of collecting and distributing election material for all the candidates. That's real generous. I think it important to note that not only is he a political appointee of incumbent officers but also an officer himself and even a candidate for office. A conflict of interest will simply not occur to him nor will his friends suggest it to him.
At election times politicians promise anything.
Incumbents promise everything.
Look for hard evidence. Hearsay is not enough.
EDITORIAL
This is probably the last time subscribers will enjoy this perspective on a monthly meeting from the comfort of their favorite chairs. Producing the WATCHDoG consumes a lot of time. First attending meetings in living color & then reliving them in black & white (or shades of grey when applicable). Anyway, I am sure incumbent officers are rejoicing at this prospect & the competition already celebrating. This would not be the first time this staunch advocate of trade unionism took time to do other things. As for the financial success of the venture, don't be surprised if you see the staff on the show floor selling back issues to make the payments.
I am always concerned about the state of the union. There is a lot to be concerned about. The question that keeps coming back is who's in charge & the answer I find hard to erase is out to lunch. If no one runs against the current officers there will be no election this June. Under those conditions incumbents easily delude themselves and others into believing they are doing a great job. Installers can expect continued indifference to all their concerns. If there is a show the stage will be set at the union meeting on May 19th when nominations are held.
The Feb./Mar issue of the Union's Wingnut limply questioned the political life style of our current leadership by printing rumors about undocumented calls and their significance in local history. Please keep in mind that the editor & writer is himself a political appointee & a fellow officer.
I know that each of you will continue to believe what you want to believe but let me point out that in the history of American Trade Unions politicians have always been the enemy & have devotedly served the rich & powerful. The wealthy still call upon elected public officials for armed assistance in protecting their profits (often only imagined) from hoodlums, gangsters & criminals which is the official designation for union workers on strike. It is difficult for me to believe that politicians have changed their spots or the rules of the game.
Mike Hardeman says his & labor's objective is to fill government with 'our own people'. That justifies what he does & sounds just great. But it never works. The infiltrators invariably succumb to the tide of upward mobility & defects from the working class. Look how difficult it is to distinguish Mike from professional politicians or government officials or corporate executives or other members of that club. Not only do they patronize the same image (tailor, hairdresser & dietician) but also the same social attitudes & personal prejudices. That makes it impossible to perceive the problems of working people and to represent their needs.
Whether or not you embrace the Machiavellian political circus, when you buy Mike's ticket you must also buy his act because he makes all the calls. Your personal political agenda might be of a different color or sexual orientation or social awareness but you must accept his agenda. Often he is out there lobbying full time to defeat legislation members support or working full time to support causes members oppose.
And when you buy his ticket not only is it very expensive but that is all you get. Nothing else. No representation on the jobsite. No policing of the terms of the contract. No stewarding of the local's jurisdiction. No response to rank & file concerns. No progress on health or safety issues. No financial management. No member services. No concern for the installer hiring hall. No support for seniority. No information. No respect for trustees or rank & file conunittees. No planing for the future. Except his future.
Look carefully before you believe anything.
Especially in an election year.
COMMUNICATIONS
Accompanying your most recent bill for dues was a 'communication' from Mike Hardeman which attempted to answer questions raised at the meeting concerning the cost of the Color&design safari. I often doubt the accuracy of numbers which the union officers give because they are consistently uninformed. If nothing else the figure $78,833.55 does not include the contribution of members picketing at 4 hours of wages ($80 x 500), another forty grand. It does not include what was consumed from the agendas of officers who might have been other places doing other thinngs. And the costs are not over yet because the case will proceed up the judicial ladder so that lawyers on both sides can continue to collect fees. And then there is the final settlement.
If Color&Design wanted to cost this local money and make 510 members pay then they have succeeded. Not many members want to do this again. One officer even used it as a threat when members suggested they (the officers) take action on the blanket wrapping problem. If those are the only alternatives, do nothing or eat another Color&design size bill, we are clearly in need of new ideas.
All the complaining at the last meeting must have got to Mike because he felt it necessary to include a little 'shut up and stop complaining' message for all the brothers & sisters. "WHY AM I IN THIS UNION?" This attitude gives the illusion that he personally is responsible for what trade unions have accomplished. Nothing is farther from the truth. He is just a figurehead performing empty rituals while climbing the social ladder.
Installers should keep on complaining. Dissatisfaction amongst working people is the power that spirited the entire trade union movement. Continue to voice your concerns & demand results from the officers you employ.
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