More Questions from Site Readers

Over the course of the past month, we’ve seen our site’s readership explode along with the questions that have come into us from the “comments” section. The overall goal of this site is to dig deep and find the real truth about what is happening to our union.

Which brings us to this post which a reader recently placed in the comments section. . . .

I have just entered on to this site for the first time and cannot figure out how it works. I see that a number of brothers have asked some very good
questions. Could someone please tell me if the answers are posted and
where I can read them?

While searching for the original response from the SMWIA President, we realized a lot more questions have been asked by site readers. In the interest of keeping everyone informed, we made a list of those questions and once again will be submitting them to Presidents Sullivan and Futhey. The last time, we received no response from President Futhey. We’re hoping, in the interest of reaching the truth, that he can truthfully answer his members’ unfiltered questions (listed below) this time around.

Below are the questions we will be submitting to both Presidents:

what i really want to know is whether the merger included selling the utuia. is that true because the plaintiffs and their supporters are screaming it to the mountains without any sources.

When Vice President Futhey met with attorney Fox was Futhey being paid by the UTU? When Vice President Futhey called the anti merger boys did the UTU pay for the call? When Vice President Futhey turned over documentation to Fox, was he on UTU time or his own time? Did he use a UTU computer or a UTU fax or a stamp paid for by UTU? Is Vice President Futhey guilty of misusing union funds? I voted for the merger and he is using my dues money to cancel my vote.


What kind of deal did futhey strike with these guys when he met with them back in october?


This is a question. I stumbled on a web page titled utucandidate.comThere was a three or four page statement on that site concerning the UTU's finances. At the end of the statement reference was made to the UTUIA subsidizing UTU officer salaries and that process was supposed to end on January 1, 2008. Has that subsidizing by UTUIA stopped? Also in view of the level of the general fund and other funds is there a sizeable dues increase facing UTU members?

Is it true that President Mike Futhey has been charged and the Chairman of the UTU Executive Board tabled the charges?

Is it true that Vice President Mike Futhey 2007, provided information to anti UTU attorney Fox in November of 2007 to support the anti-merger movement?

Is it true that Vice President Futhey was acting without the authority of the UTU President in 2007 when he provided documentation to anti-union Fox?

I just heard some bad news about the UTU’s DIP program from a UTU insurance representative who is blaming former President Thompson for DIP’s problems. Could this website fill us in on the truth about DIP?

We will be posting the responses we get along with the previous responses from President Sullivan of the SMWIA as soon as we get something back.

Plaintiffs Responses to Discovery Questions

The files (attached below) containing the discovery responses from the original lawsuit plaintiffs were forwarded to us today by an anonymous source. From what we can gather, it seems the statements in them were made sometime last week.

The plaintiffs definitely seem to be trying to be as tight-lipped and evasive as possible as judging by their refusal to discuss anything that reveals their ties to the Teamsters. Roy Arnold, for one, refused to answer a single question beyond admitting to have thrown out some documents he had in his possession.

Even, a lot of new information comes to light that none of us in the UTU seem to have had any knowledge of before:

Everyone knows that President Mike Futhey cooperated with the plaintiffs by providing them with an affidavit in support of their effort to stop the merger. We know at the same time he did this, he was still telling everyone around him he was for the merger and had ample opportunity to come out against the merger numerous times at the UTU Convention and at an October Board meeting. What we did not know is that according to Jim Eubanks, it turns out Futhey was the one who started the ball rolling against the merger by initiating contact with the Teamster plants! According to Eubanks: “I received a phone call from M.B. Futhey that resulted in a meeting Ed Michael and I had with him in Memphis during which we learned, generally and for the first time, that Paul Thompson's representations about the UTU Constitution remaining intact as part of a SMART Constitution, and preservation of UTU autonomy, were disingenuous and false."

Ed Michael refused to answer questions about or deny his involvement in the Teamsters. This includes what offices he ran for, statements he made while at the Teamsters, positions he took as a Teamsters official, and his effort at merging the UTU into the Teamsters.

Ed Michael, in an amazing moment of clarity actually answered questions about his membership in the UTU. It seems that Ed Michael left the UTU in 1992 and did not come back until last year – just in time to launch his bid to derail the membership’s vote for the merger.

About funding of the lawsuit, Eubanks testifies that “Contributions to plaintiffs’ Save Our Union fund have been received, to date, from 66 individual members, ranging from $20 to $1,600, and from 29 subordinate UTU entities, ranging from $100 (US) to $30,000 (Canadian). In addition, a retired UTU member loaned plaintiffs the $35,000 required, at the outset, to retain Mr. Fox.” Who is this retired UTU member with $35,000 to burn? The answer to that I’m sure may turn a lot of heads.

It’s interesting that the plaintiffs seem to be doing everything they possibly can to pressure the 7 UTU Vice Presidents into caving into King Futhey’s wishes – rather than let the process continue towards one of discovery where the plaintiffs’ motives and plans are exposed. Though they refused to answer a lot of important questions, we’re confident they will eventually have to fess up in one way or another. It’s not just the Court that will begin pressuring them, it’s also the mounting pressure on their allies in Cleveland that will force them to.

Click on the following to view .pdf scans taken of each of the plaintiffs' depositions:

Roy Arnold Discovery Responses
Jim Eubanks' Discovery Responses
Jon Hasenauer Discovery Responses
Ed Michael Discovery Responses
Save Our Union Checks
Fox Engagement Letter

Open Letter from Don Lindsey - UTU Local 533

This was an open letter sent to the Save Our Union web site. It was signed by me and if you post this I want to be sure that no one thinks I am ashamed or afraid to be associated with my comments.

Don Lindsey
Member, UTU Local 533

Keeley Letter In Support of Free Expression

April 10, 2008

Re: My UTU Constitution Rights Related to the UTU / SMWIA SMART Merger

Dear Gentlemen, Sirs and Brothers,

Thank you for your long and distinguished careers of service to others. I am reminded of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for making the ultimate sacrifice. Mike and two teammates had taken position on the outcropping of a rooftop when an insurgent grenade bounced off Mike's chest and landed on the roof. Mike had a clear chance to escape, but he realized that the other two SEALs did not. In that terrible moment, he had two options -- to save himself, or to save his friends. For Mike, this was no choice at all. He threw himself onto the grenade, and absorbed the blast with his body. One of the survivors puts it this way: "Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, 'You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.'" What Petty Officer Monsoor did inspires awe.

It is with this thought in mind that I want to thank each of you for your steadfast courage in the face of vile attempts to slander and defame you by just a handful of unhappy Brothers who will be the only beneficiaries of their selfish and unreasonable anti-union actions.



I ask that you would continue in your efforts to protect the rights of myself and other dues paying members that voted in favor of the Smart merger.

I beg that you would continue in your efforts to protect the autonomy of this and other Committees, and their General Chairpersons’ rights who have written letters supporting the SMART merger, without fear of the threat of retribution for dissenting from the opinions of other UTU Members and Officials.

I plead that you would continue in your efforts to protect the autonomy of myself and other UTU Delegates that support the SMART merger, without fear of the threat of retribution for dissenting from the opinion of other UTU Members and Officials.

In closing, I continue to support the SMART merger, along with all of you, because I believe it will bring stability to the labor movement, protect our autonomy, increase the volume of our voice united as one and strengthen labor’s ability to secure a better working environment now and well into our future.

Fraternally,

Robert J. Keeley
General Chairman, UTU, GO-342
Cc General Distribution

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.