He's Not Just A Teamster. . .

But Ed Michael was also the President of BLET Division 724 in Illinois.

Yes, the same Dale Edward Michael who was the driving force behind the lawsuit disenfranchising the tens of thousands of votes cast by UTU members last summer. The same Teamster activists who consistently writes about folding the UTU into his union on his TDU blog and on the old website for Division 724:

BLET Division 724 is very excited about the new beginning and possibilities created by the historic merger between the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). . .We believe that once the operating crafts, and ultimately all rail labor unions unite as Teamsters, we can successfully compete in the bargaining arena to win good contracts for not only transportation employees, but for every rail labor employee.

This is the same Ed Michael who claimed to a reporter at the Kansas City Star that he only belongs to both the UTU and Teamsters because "he holds seniority in both unions."

If you go to the same Division 724 website, as it is today, you will see that Ed Michael no longer remains as President of the local. Material calling for the Teamster takeover of the UTU has also disappeared, replaced by political and worksite messages. Why he left, we do not know. We do know that he left his position immediately before the SMART merger was voted on last August.

There is nothing wrong with somebody expressing their opinion. Free expression without fear of retaliation is the central linchpin of democratic trade unionism. However, there is a problem when someone hides their true intentions and keeps it hidden under a veil of attacks, mistruths and glaring factual omissions. That’s not free expression – it's deceit and manipulation in its lowest form. It means someone is hiding something, and usually it's not something good. We are better than that and the though of a Teamster official vetoing our cherished votes through a hidden agenda is something that needs to give each one of us pause.