From the Heights of the Teamsters to An Anti-Merger Website

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.

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 serve on the vaunted Teamsters Executive Board. 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.

SMWIA Answers Our Questions

For the second time, we submitted questions to both the Sheet Metal and UTU leadership, and for the second time in a row, we recieved a response from President Sullivan at the Sheet Metal Workers. Once again, we have gotten no response from anyone in Cleveland.

Below is the email response we recieved from Sullivan, completely unedited and copied and pasted from our email account. One thing that stands out is Sullivan's response to a question about the UTUIA. Sullivan states that the UTUIA's independence was agreed to very early on in negotiations, and it was purposely left out of the merger in order to ensure it remain separate and intact. His response shows that the screams and hollers from the plaintiffs and their supporters about the impending sale of the UTUIA was nothing more than opportunistic rumormongering and lies.

All we have to say is keep the questions coming because it seems like we at least have some sort of a dialogue going with one of the major actors behind the SMART merger.

Click here for Mike Sullivan's previous responses.


Again I would like to thank you and your readers for taking the time to ask questions on our SMART Merger.

I have submitted answers to your questions of April 22, 2008, in the space below your questions and have highlighted them in Blue for clarity.

Michael J. Sullivan



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.

In our merger negotiations it appeared early on the UTUIA may have been subsidizing the UTU through the payment of salaries of some of the officers. In our opinion this was not a sound business practice for either organization and both organizations needed to operate independently. To assure this independence, we took the position very early on that the UTUIA would not be a part of the merger and a separation would be maintained.

The UTUIA should be an independent organization who provides service and pricing to its members based on its cost alone. The exclusion of the UTUIA from the Merger Document should make it obvious there was no intent by the SMWIA to sell off the UTUIA, nor to control it.

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.

It would appear through his own affidavit President Futhey met with Attorney Fox and others concerning the suit that was filed. As the membership of the UTU had supported the merger as did then General President Thompson and by their vote the UTU Executive Board, unless then Vice-President Futhey had spoken to General President Thompson or presented his concerns to the Executive Board for support, which it appears he did not, he was acting without authority as an officer of the UTU when he met Attorney Fox and others.

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

I have no knowledge of this.

This is a question. I stumbled on a web page titled utucandidate.com. There 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?

Early in our discussions on a possible merger it was clear the then current structure of the UTU was in our opinion top heavy and was not economically sustainable. UTU General President Thompson agreed with this assessment and was in the process of making changes that would bring the UTU into a position of economic stability. As these initial meetings lead to merger talks, the SMWIA made it clear we were not in agreement with continuation of the subsidy of UTU officer salaries by the UTUIA and wanted a complete separation of the UTUIA and the UTU in their operational structures. Whether this has as yet happened I have no specific knowledge.
As you are aware a dues increase did occur in January and was deemed by General President Thompson as necessary to stabilize the finances of the UTU. Even with the dues increase it was the opinion of General President Thompson such an increase would not allow for an increase in the number of staff, but would only serve to stabilize the current cash flow within the UTU.

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

I have no knowledge of this.


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?

It would appear by President Futhey’s affidavit that he met with attorney Fox in November of 2007. The substance of that meeting is known only to President Futhey and Attorney Fox.

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?

If in fact then Vice-President Futhey provided UTU documents to Attorney Fox , it would appear this was done without the authorization or authority to do so.

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?

The current financial condition of the DIPP Program is a question for President Futhey.

As to my knowledge of the program, there was discussion by General President Thompson regarding the underfunded position of the program. He stated he believed for the program to survive there would have to be a combination of plan changes and contribution increases. It was my understanding General President Thompson made the changes prior to his leaving on January 1, 2008.

It is also my understanding that President Futhey has undone some of those changes, what effect those changes would have on the fund is unclear. Time will only tell if the fund will survive in its current position.

Remember This?

Those of you familiar with the UTU.org website might remember a lot of material was erased from it on January 1st when the Futhey regime took over. What was changed, in particular, was almost every reference to the SMART merger - denying members access to the information provided to them earlier on the site about the merger and blocking their ability to see the information at dispute for themselves.

Thankfully, we have been able to retrieve that information, for now at least.

Who wants to bet on how long it will take for the page we link to to be deleted?

From A Site Reader: Death By A Thousand Cuts

I'm still troubled by all the finger pointing, name calling and outright slander of officers who have served this organization for many years. I've listened to the CD that was sent and will listen to it again but was Paul wrong in saying a delegate w/ a $250. airfare instead was paid several thousand dollars to attend our convention. And this practice should continue. How would your members feel about that?

When Paul spoke about craft autonomy I think what I heard was "is it right for 10 members of a craft to vote down an agreement for the majority." Is it time to look at that for the good of all? He spoke in an open forum. I don't think what he said was meant to be a secret though I don't think he was aware he was being recorded.

That says more about those doing the recording than who was being recorded. I've felt for some time in the guise of protecting our members rights and constitution an agenda has been pushed because some members realized there was going to be changes in how the UTU would operate as part of SMART. I never thought from the time the merger was first announced till now that we would continue to do business in the same way that we had.

I did think we would have a greater sense of autonomy than with any other merger partner. In addition the SMWIA in the merger document put enough UTU officers on their General Executive Board (?) that we (UTU) could stop actions by that Board.

As a minority union I don't think we could have asked for a better deal. And it sure didn't sound to me like SMWIA was trying to take advantage of us. I realize that's my opinion and you're free to disagree.

Finally there are many ways for an organization to die, quickly or by a thousand cuts.