Breaking: An Inconvenient Fact

If you want to figure out a man's motives, look for what he's trying to hide.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit blocking the UTU membership's right to vote would have you believe he is just a "rank and file double header." He has even attempted to laugh off assertions about his ties to the Teamsters, stating he's just a BLET member - and nothing else.

Nothing can be more misleading.

During his time at the Teamsters, Ed Michael accomplished a lot for someone who was just a supposed "rank and file doubleheader."

He wasn't just a dissenting voice within the Teamsters - oddly campaigning against the SMART merger on a site devoted to Teamster issues.

He wasn't just the President of BLET Division 724 in Salem, Illinois where he launched his platform calling for the takeover of the UTU.

He didn't just serve as a mouthpiece for Teamster truckers - arguing that Teamster contracts like the Master Freight Agreement don't take away jobs from railroaders.

No, he made his way around the Teamsters Union, far beyond the scope of the BLET and the Teamsters Rail Conference.

Ed Michael in fact passed up an opportunity to run for a spot at the BLET Convention in 2006. Perhapsthe BLET was small peanuts to him.

Instead, he ran for and became a leading contender for an at-large General Vice President position on the Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Not just anybody can run for one of these positions.

First, you need a minimum level of support to just be on the ballot - support that doesn't just come from the railroaders in the BLET and BMWE.

Second, out of two million members, only 26 members are allowed to serve on the vaunted Teamsters Executive Board. In fact, out of the 26, only a grand total of 2 represent rail Teamsters. One of the two, John Murphy, is a 40 year Teamster who never served as a member on the railroad but was awarded the position of Rail Conference Chair due to his loyalty and work in merging the BMWE and BLET into the union. Only one Executive Board member, Fred Simpson, is a true railroader who cut his teeth on the rails rather than the highways of North America.

There is no denying the truth that Ed Michael was far and above what he claims to be, just a regular old "double header" with the resources to simultaneously launch a major lawsuit and internet campaign all by his lone self.

Ed Michael has yet to come clean on his heavy involvement at the Teamsters Union - even inclusing his high profile campaign to land a seat on the 2.3 million member union's Executive Board.. The same goes for the Eubanks family who have written on Teamster issue blogs about merging us into their union and campaigning on the pages of the Teamsters Magazine itself.
The Teamster plaintiffs and their supporters need to come clean and tell us exactly what their motives us. There is too much at stake and the last thing we need is to watch our jobs pass us by as we look over at the truck traffic on the highway, thanks to the hysterics and character attacks of a group of petty snake oil salesmen.