July 7, 2009
We had a meeting tonight
There were 32 members that showed up. That included the officers.
Darren talked about Beth. He said the problem had been going on since 2004. $1755 total through all that time. He was able to trace receipts back to the beginning.
The .25 that we put into H&W… the new benefits took effect on the first of July, with the new contract. Now you can get glasses/contacts once a year instead of every two and dental has a higher annual amount that can be used.
Darren said that Rick needed a new truck, that caused a lively little discussion… then we voted to approve him getting a new truck. The funny part is, Darren doesn’t need a vote to buy a truck… he just asks as a courtesy.
32 members out of 1100 or so… I would call it unbelievable except that one week ago we had around 240 show up to vote on our new contract. 20-21% of our membership decided for the rest whether the current contract was acceptable… that is what is mind boggling.
For those that think going is pointless because everything is predecided… the vote was fairly close > 147-94. Roughly 50 votes from acceptance to non-acceptance. 50 votes, 50 more members to show up out of 1100. 4% more of the membership.
For the overwhelming majority of this membership, this is your livelihood- your life. You won’t be moving onto greener pastures. You’ll die or retire out of this local. It seems you would be interested in having a little more vested interest in what goes on down at the hall by taking an active role in regular meetings, or at least by showing up on the nights we vote on new contracts.
I’ve offered a couple of ideas to the current and former administrations on how to increase attendance… no action has ever been taken… so no way to know if my ideas would work. (to be fair, the previous administration ran out of time before being able to act on any of my ideas).
I guess you can chime in and let us know why going to meetings and participating holds zero interest for you.
Comments on We had a meeting tonight »
I think Darren is probably a stand up guy. He was probably bringing the truck purchase up because something may have been said about him buying a truck without getting a vote on it.
Thats too bad about Beth but I am glad we have a BA that looks for this type of thing and does the right thing about it.
As far as going to the meetings, where is our resident republican at? He said we didn’t need to go! besides this time of year the HVAC side is way busy
Lets talk about the HVAC side. The fitters aren’t competing with non-union shops on the scale that we are. I got back from Owasso last night at 7:30 and had an hour of paperwork to get done on my own time. We don’t have any apprentices when we unload a van and carry it all up 3 flights of stairs by ourselves. Thats why the scale for unlimited HVAC techs is always $2.00 an hour over scale and an extra dollar in our annuity
damn I try to get you stirred up about the over scale pay and extra annuity and it didn’t work!
I’ll list the reasons I don’t come to many meetings and you can ponder them.
1) It’s true that very little of what goes on at the monthly meetings affects servicemen. The agenda is mostly toward what jobs are coming up, how many are on the bench etc. It’s a predominantly construction union and the meetings should cover those issues. I don’t and never had have an issue with that, just don’t see the need to come that far for construction info.
2) It is a very busy time of year, and we generally have to work later hours. Not a great excuse but hey, it’s there.
3) Now for my main issue with the meetings.
I always heard that we were brothers. Supposed to stand together and be one. Yet I was at the special meeting and I witnessed the usual name calling and disrespect for the person trying to speak.
When Darren anounced the amount of the proposed contract, somebody yells out ” Better than we ever got with Menafee in office”. Whether you liked Don or not is that respectful behavior to a brother? Anytime someone got up to speak, someone else would shout out an opinion or comment before the speaker was even finished speaking. I realize that we’re all just a bunch of working hands, but when did simple respect and courtesy go out the window.
Then of course there are the drunks who would be comical if it weren’t for the fact that we’re conducting official business. I don’t figure they would be any more intelligent if they were sober though.
The way the special meeting went, behavior wise, it would have been more appropriate to hold it in a bar.
So there it is. That’s my beef. Let’s see what the other thousand or so have to say.
I couldn’t get all that whining about carrying tools upstairs out of my head
Finally. Something we can agree on
Why am I surrounded by service guys, are you the only ones smart enough to use a computer?
admin?, gizzard made several really viable statements in the 3rd paragraph. I would like to hear your take on his statement. The whole brotherhood thing does seem to be a superficial crock of doo doo. Where is the brotherhood that is supposed to bond and make us better than the rats that just care for themselves?
I do disagree with you on one point gizzard, there are some bars that have really polite people. I went to a few clubs in my day and some of them were filled with intelligent, well behaved, educated people.
I guess I was too hard on some of the bars out there.
I don’t know that there is a set “above scale” for service guys, but I would like to know about the extra dollar in the annuity? I hadn’t heard about that one.
Admin ol’ buddy for all the ribbin’ I give you, you probably would have made a good service tech if you had wanted to. But then you probably would never make it to the Business Manager position.
Were you drinking when you had these so-called intelligent, well behaved conversations?
I still say I could have made weekend night manager at McDonald’s by now…
Ok, all seriousness aside, let’s talk about this
As I’ve said before, and no I’m not calling out any individuals, for the most part we are in this only for ourselves. More money for me. More job security for me. More benefits for me. I think there are very few that give a rat’s ass about the union and what the union ultimately stands for… (this statement includes everybody from the rank and file members all the way up to highest levels of administration of all unions) Their only concern is what the union can give to them.
What is a union? A union is an organization that provides a platform for a group of people to have a stronger, collective voice to stand up to the tyranny of business that would exploit the working class. Unions provide a means for the less experienced/qualified/talented to have the same opportunity as others. As a whole we are stronger, rather than trying to fight as individuals. This was the original brotherhood aspect– we look out for each other, not for ourselves.
Unions have said to all working people that without unions, there would be no health insurance. There would be no weekends. No 40 hour work week. No overtime pay. no vacations. etc etc. We trumpet our horn to the world of the great things we have done and yet we fall short in our ideals.
Where is the rallying cry for organizing the illegal aliens? Do they not deserve the same opportunities we have? Better than that… what about organizing them in their homeland… if missionaries can go there to preach the Gospel, why cant organizers go in there to preach our gospel?
I’ve rambled long enough, I could go on for hours…you get the gist of what I’m saying.
Comments?
“… if missionaries can go there to preach the Gospel, why cant organizers go in there to preach our gospel?”
I think you just nailed it. There is no religion that is without fault. I have seen some of the worst crimes committed with ties to religion. I guess our Union could be a heck of a lot worse.
This clip is not for the weak, if you are an emotional person this could have an effect on your well being.
http://www.inewsit.com/video/gallery/Five-people-suspected-to-be-witchcrafts-were-bruterly-murded-in-kisii-Nyamataro-Village
You cannot organize illegal aliens in this country because they are here illegally. You would be giving the same benefits and rights to people who are breaking the law.
If your goal is to get them into our unions and such, then they must first become legal.
You can argue the immigration thing all night long, but if they are breaking the law (as it presently is written) then you cannot reward them with the same benefits we as Americans enjoy.
If you want them to be legalized ,then that’s a different argument.
As far as organizing them in their own country, that’s fine, but then they wouldn’t need to be here.
I’m not against the hard working people who come to try to get a better life, but if you start rewarding lawbreakers where does it stop?
Here’s your 160 acres… farm it, raise your kids, cows and chickens… don’t worry about them pesky savages… The mighty US cavalry will take care of that little problem for you.
I’m trying to find an emoticon for this? :=/
where did you guys go?
They’re still coming and looking… probably wondering what wacky idea I’ll twist off on next.
I never quite got the farm, chicken, kids and calvary thing.
But hey what do you expect I’m a product of Okc public schools.
I feel your pain… sometimes I think that may be the whole crux of the problem
there are alot of members that are products of OKC public school system.
Thanks for putting news from the meeti8ng.I’m not making excuses for not attending it.But as members we should attend as many meetings as possible, admin. makes a good point on this matter ……
Admin, did you make the meeting aug4th?
I couldn’t attend due to the death of my farther in law.hope you post the gest of the meeting here to keep me up to speed on the business of the local….
thanks!
I guess admin has been to busy to update us on the aug. meeting. Or maybe he did’t get to attend it either.
Let us know how it went is you made it to the meeting…Thanks for your work on this web site admin.