1 October 2019
Local 309,
On Saturday, 092819, Local 309 had its quarterly meeting at Famous Dave’s Barbecue on the southwest corner of Arapahoe Rd. and Parker Rd. First, let me address any concerns as to why we met at this location. Because the former Board has refused to cooperate with the transition, we were not able to use the office or meeting room that the former Board has rented for the past few years. After I searched for a meeting place and found the cheapest one at $375, VP Tucker did his own search and found we could use a room at Famous Dave’s for free. So, we spent $273 buying everyone lunch (tip included) and came out $102 ahead of our lowest priced alternative option.
During the meeting, the new Board briefly addressed the plans we originally had at the time of the June election (see attachment which was handed out at the meeting), but then explained the 3 ½ month detour we were forced to take in order to regain our assets from the former Board. Although we finally recovered our bank account on 092619 (approx. $70,000), the other equipment, computers, codes and records are still being withheld. When the Wells Fargo banking specialist began the long process of returning the account over to the newly elected Board, he mentioned to me the former Treasurer’s name and stated, “All she had to do was meet with you at the bank and sign over the account.” I explained that she and the former President were repeatedly invited to do so over several months but refused to respond. I mentioned this because one of the steps in changing the culture of our Union is to rework the By-Laws so that elected leaders can be more easily be held criminally liable should they chose to act in their own interests at the expense of the membership who elected them. In addition, we are working with the Department of Labor so that this cannot happen again.
In regards to holding the former Board accountable for its actions and inactions, this is pending but not forgotten. During the meeting, Treasurer Jeffrey Meyer was commissioned to enlist a forensic accountant to begin to reconstruct our books from bank records and get our organization on solid footing in regards to financial records. In regards to the past records, equipment, computer codes, etc., the former Board has chosen to ignore our pleas and requests for almost four months, and our parent Union has allowed this to happen. At some point, we have to move on, and this is what we plan on doing. The Department of Labor requires labor unions to maintain their records for five years. We will leave these records in the hands of those who refused to relinquish them and move forward without them. If the DOL has concerns, we will refer them to the former Board members, who through their own choice to refuse to cooperate now have the responsibility of maintaining these records. In order to save money, we will work without the overhead of an office and will soon have a new mailing address (i.e. a PO Box).
At this time, because of the refusal of our parent Union (UGSOA) to assist in using their legal forces to require the former Board to cooperate with the transition, our Local has been forced into a time-crunch where some key decisions of a higher priority regarding the upcoming CBA negotiations had to be made. The 14 Local 309 members that participated in the meeting this past Saturday worked from 1100-1420 hours trying to sift through the alternatives in order to find the best solutions for our membership. As they discussed, debated and even argued over the alternatives (see “Today’s Agenda” in the attachment), I know the new Board members’ confidence grew as we realized that those who attended and invested in this meeting had your best interests at heart. In the end, the attendees voted to stay with UGSOA, but had three stipulations: 1) We would not rely on UGSOA or its representatives to negotiate this CBA. 2) We would use the necessary amount in our bank account to hire legal representation whom are skilled in labor negotiations to assist us with the planning and negotiations of this contract. And, 3) the membership voted unanimously to demand that UGSOA assign Local 309 a representative other than Mike Burke.
In early September, long before we even got our bank account back, Mr. Burke was pressing us for a quick negotiation date (i.e. early October). Obviously, because of the delay caused by the former Board, a quickly set negotiation date simply will not work. We are going to request a negotiation date in December. This will give us sufficient time to make sure we hear from you and prioritize what you want. In June, VP Tucker began this process, and Himzo Palavra has been working, also. Our goal is proper representation of our membership. It should be noted that, prior to the negotiation, we will not be able to discuss all the information we have gathered from you the membership, nor the priorities that you have given us, nor our strategic plans. Please feel free to keep giving us your input because is valuable to us and will be recorded. But, to openly discuss our strategic plans and your priorities would almost certainly compromise our ability to negotiate with our adversary. However, the priorities you have given us and the negotiation process will be thoroughly and accurately documented so that you will know what we did and why we did it. The goal is two-fold: 1) to be accountable to the membership so that we can build confidence in our Union, and 2) to build a learning organization so that the next negotiating team will be better prepared based on lessons learned from this negotiation.
Lastly, I apologize to those members who, prior to the 092819 meeting, asked me to explain the subject matter of the meeting. Due to strategic reasons, because we actually have adversaries who are actively working against us, I felt like it would be wrong to explain in detail the complete content of the meeting prior to decisions being made by the members who attended this meeting. In addition, it seemed like every day our plan had to change based on the legal guidance that we were receiving as it related to the petition process, the information we were gathering from the vetting process of the alternative labor unions, and the time and resources we had available in relation to the likelihood for success. On top of all that, we still had not received access to our account, and therefore did we did not know what our financial options would actually be until two days before the meeting. In fact, I only set the meeting on the 28thbecause it was the last Saturday available to have our required quarterly meeting. This was indeed an unusual situation, and we dealt with it as best we could. As we move forward, I’m sure things won’t be as hectic.
Through the process, I kept hearing from labor leaders who repeated a similar phrase, “Your union is only what you make it.” To a large degree, I believe this is true. In the end, we are foolish to rely on UGSOA or any other parent union. As a whole, Local 309 will only be what we as individuals choose to invest in it.
Much Thanks,
David Hemingway,
Union President, Local 309