The Real UTU
The Teamsters and the disgruntled former VP who threw the roadblock delaying a fully supported merger with another union to create SMART were not acting on behalf of the UTU membership. I resent how they took it on themselves to ruin our New Year. It really burns me to hear how they hurt us this way, then have the gall to claim they did all they did "for the members."
What were they thinking of when they went to court to block the merger we were counting on? They didn't ask us if we wanted a TRO. To my way of thinking, that TRO is a T.K.O. to the hopes we had for a union that could take on anybody for me and my family. It's a TKO because this is really a technical knockout--our merger got held up on a technicality. They couldn't defeat the merger on its merits, they couldn't overcome the membership vote, so they got lawyered up and came up with a real head-spinner. Here's the glitch the lawyers found that became the basis for their TRO- the fact that the SMWIA Constitution was only available on the Internet and was not mailed to all UTU members.
Give me a break! How many UTU members planned to read the SMWIA Constitution had they received it in the mail? How many have read the UTU Constitution? (I know I haven't). How many voters have read the U.S. or Canadian Constitutions? Does that mean you can't vote for President of Prime Minister unless you have?
Sure, it was a clever legal gimmick, but at what cost to the members? By blocking SMART, they stomped all over our democratic rights and some of us are getting damn angry about it.
Seems to me that the handful of Teamster activists who went to court to block our merger are on a power trip. They don't care about us-they just care about themselves and about expanding their power. I've been reading the letters they sent out explaining "why"-and they're really pathetic. They keep talking about "protecting our union's cherished craft autonomy." Are you kidding? From the same guys who have been trying to hand us over to the Teamsters! And now they complain about craft autonomy? Our "craft autonomy" is in good hands with SMART and the merger gives us the strength to continue to defend our craft against the carriers. Those fighting against SMART would have known that if they had actually read the merger agreement.
They're treating our merger election like this was Florida in 2000. Just the way the Bushies did. They've gone to the courts to overturn a decision made at the ballot box. I don't care how they try to dress up their objections to the merger, I repeat they don't speak for me and they don't speak for our membership. It's time to tell them to take their lawyers and go home and let us have the future that we as UTU members voted for.
What were they thinking of when they went to court to block the merger we were counting on? They didn't ask us if we wanted a TRO. To my way of thinking, that TRO is a T.K.O. to the hopes we had for a union that could take on anybody for me and my family. It's a TKO because this is really a technical knockout--our merger got held up on a technicality. They couldn't defeat the merger on its merits, they couldn't overcome the membership vote, so they got lawyered up and came up with a real head-spinner. Here's the glitch the lawyers found that became the basis for their TRO- the fact that the SMWIA Constitution was only available on the Internet and was not mailed to all UTU members.
Give me a break! How many UTU members planned to read the SMWIA Constitution had they received it in the mail? How many have read the UTU Constitution? (I know I haven't). How many voters have read the U.S. or Canadian Constitutions? Does that mean you can't vote for President of Prime Minister unless you have?
Sure, it was a clever legal gimmick, but at what cost to the members? By blocking SMART, they stomped all over our democratic rights and some of us are getting damn angry about it.
Seems to me that the handful of Teamster activists who went to court to block our merger are on a power trip. They don't care about us-they just care about themselves and about expanding their power. I've been reading the letters they sent out explaining "why"-and they're really pathetic. They keep talking about "protecting our union's cherished craft autonomy." Are you kidding? From the same guys who have been trying to hand us over to the Teamsters! And now they complain about craft autonomy? Our "craft autonomy" is in good hands with SMART and the merger gives us the strength to continue to defend our craft against the carriers. Those fighting against SMART would have known that if they had actually read the merger agreement.
They're treating our merger election like this was Florida in 2000. Just the way the Bushies did. They've gone to the courts to overturn a decision made at the ballot box. I don't care how they try to dress up their objections to the merger, I repeat they don't speak for me and they don't speak for our membership. It's time to tell them to take their lawyers and go home and let us have the future that we as UTU members voted for.
posted by The Real UTU at
12:44 PM
3 Comments
