Anaheim Convention

     My Fourth Convention, probably my last as a delegate, was the worst one I have been to yet from the standpoint of "an open process"!  I couldn't have missed it worse when I stated in the Anaheim Convention Special that all elections should be hotly contested?   Apparently no one wants these pitiful VP jobs that only pay $130 G's a year plus expenses, pension, RRB pension, H&W, dental, vision, etc.? There were only three elections with only one incumbent being defeated (Bus Department).

    While Boyd easily defeated Jim Alford and J. D. Fitzgerald, they did pull down 154 votes (Alford - 118, Fitzgerald - 36) of 584, or approximately 26% of the votes cast? Not bad when you consider Alford only announced less than two months before the convention and I don't even think Fitzgerald knew he was going to be nominated? Of course the final position was me against K. N. Thompson for the reasons stated in the Anaheim Edition and because I promised Ken Smoot I would not let Boyd or K. Thompson get elected by acclamation! 134 votes is about 100 more than I thought I'd get and the vote totals don't bode that well for the hierarchy except that most of them will reach retirement by the next Convention so they could care less. If they did listen to Brother Alford and my message for quite some time, they won't come back 4 years from now with another 7 or 8 million in deficit spending!

    Brother Alford's message, as best I recall it from his speech and his speech and Q&A at the BNSF Caucus, was something like this:

   Better wages, a 401K mandatory Carrier contribution, and 6 weeks vacation from management. From UTU he wanted NO dues increase, stop deficit spending, get rid of the body guards, speech writers, and special reps; stop fying first class, move to Cleveland to do your job (he would have), and I think he took strong exception to having 36 Mike Captains in Anaheim a week early to prepare for the Convention?  I'm sure if I get anything above incorrect, Brother Alford will contact me! He ran a very cheap effective campaign and all union members should thank him for his courage to step up and challenge the fiscal irresponsibility of Boyd and the International Officers. Below is Jim "Almost President" Alford with the little known delegate from El Paso!

    While the "elections" just plain sucked, the theory is the "team" is so "unified" and apparently so "talented" that nobody (Except Roy Arnold) considers challenging any incumbents. The Canadiens didn't appear to have the strong "team" concept and actually had competitive elections as if that might be what democracy is all about?  While Boyd and Paul Thompson stress that "free speech" is allowed in UTU in the BNSF Caucus, there are always a "few" that don't get the word, i.e., Big Bad Sam!

    Similar to the song "Big Bad John" except Sam's "heroics" were of a little different nature? Seems they had two tables together right in the front lobby with a "Welcome UTU Members" on it with 5 chairs.  So Sunday morning, I go see the Assistant Manager (Julie), point out the table, and ask if any UTU member can sit there? She's a bit confused and I explain that every UTU members pays $30 or $40 more per room so we subsidize the costs of the meeting spaces and facilities. She agrees and says I have every right to sit there; I ask if she has any knowledge that someone paid separate for the tables and if they did, I will pay for my own table. She says "no" and I proceed to the table, now occupied by two gentlemen, hundreds of "Boyd" stickers covering the table, and three empty chairs.  I set up my sign, put out my "Expresses" and various Smoot articles like the "SAR" and the "Executive Session" Transcript (just in case there are questions that require "documentation"?). I introduce myself to the two gentlemen at the table and have conversations with them. Carver is the first to begin "profanity" and how my newsletter is inaccurate; no problem. Then another gentlemen advises I have to leave?   I explain he needs to send Hakey down or go see the Assitant Manager because I'm not moving unless she tells me to move. He leaves to talk with "Julie".   Now Carver takes exception to my sign:

    Carver says my sign is "political"?  I pick up a hanfull of "Boyd" Stickers and ask if they aren't "political"? No response.  I walk around to the front of the table and read "Welcome UTU Members" and note that it does not say "paid political announcement" and sit back down. By now a crowd is gathering, more "members" are saying I have to leave, and I reiterate that I'm not leaving unless the hotel management asks me to leave!

    And then "along comes Sam", i.e., Sam Marino of "high special rep" pay in Greensboro wherein Sam said something to the effect that you should get your "expletive deleted" facts correct, I made more that you showed? Sam starts throwing my newsletters in my box and says "I paid for this table" and tells me to get my "feces" out of here.  I say only if the hotel management moves me and he says something to the effect he's going to take me outside?  I get up and say "let's go", I've never started a fight but I sure believe in self defense"!   He babbles something as the first gentlemen shows up with Julie who advises she'll will set up my own table. So I got a table with bunting, and 4 chairs right next to "Sam's Table" and talked with delegates for 6 hours, giving out my newsletter. Alford's campaign manager (Richard Jacobs) spoke on my behalf when the arguments were going, pointing out to the original gentlemen (Chappel if I'm not mistaken?), that Brothers shouldn't be hostile and profane no matter what the problem!  Makes sense to me and I appreciate him standing up for my rights and the rights of the members.

    So Sam, the moral of the story is: if you're NOT a LIAR, you should go back and get your money from the hotel management because they gave my my table for FREE!  Just a real shame every delegate and UTU Brother and Sister couldn't have witnessed their idea of "freedom of speech"!

    Before I go any further, I want to thank those that made contributions to the Express, many receiving an "Express Yourself" shirt that will obviously be collector's items some day.   They were: Johnny Norris and Jefe Ruhu: $100; Patrick Delvecchio - $40; Anonymous - $25; Jim Alford, Don Hollis, Mike Shelton, Jim Matzler, Richard Jacobs, and Glen Johnson- $20; for a total of $385.00 - almost enough to pay for the copies of the Express I made for the Convention. Thanks again, I greatly appreciate your support and of the more than 100 delegates who took the time to tell me they appreciate my newsletter and my activities at the convention. 

    Coming next: The Delegates show some indendence on the Constitution and Sammie get's a "little" bitch slap from the mike by CEOEPE and remains "silent" on the issue?    Also have some great pictures for a separate picture page;  here is a preview: check out this handsome threesome L to R: Jim Huston, Me, and Jack Arnold.

The Constitution!

Ah . . ., the CONSTITUTION: "The fundamental and organic law of a nation or state, establishing the conception, character, and organization of its government, as well as prescribing the extent of the sovereign power and the manner of its exercise." (Black’s Law Dictionary - Seventh Edition) Always a real "sore point" with this Delegate/Board Member at every Convention prior to this one and addressed at length in prior "Convention Specials" wherein the Delegation got some really bad reviews from this writer!

Not so this time around, as the Constitutional Proposals were adequately addressed in their entirety in less than two days (considering our working day is FIVE (5) HOURS) because of the scant number proposed, the numerous proposals the CC (Constitutional Committee) allowed that were severely flawed and should not have been accepted, and the swiftness of the elections that left everyone wondering if we were going to get a "no call" day for $357 (Kinda like Thompson’s 244 no call days in 2002?)! Hey, I went to a mike on Thursday and asked a delegate if he was to there for a request for information, Parlimentary Inquiry, or Point of Information and he said he was there to adjourn "sine die"? I said "great" or something similar but advised it wouldn’t be allowed, that will save us a ton of money when we don’t show up Friday for 30 minutes at $357! They never made it to him and he would have been ruled "out of order" or advised "we have more business tomorrow", i.e., "get paid"!!! Think about this: IF we had finished all of OUR Business on July 31^st rather than adjourning at 12:03 p.m., we could have saved OUR Union about $225 G’s - DAMN - that’s MORE than Sam said we could save by going to a 5 year Convention rather than 4!!!!!!!!

Hell, Brothers and Sisters, Bill Boardman and I had to rise in opposition to a Motion to increase Per Diem from $149 to $185 because some clown paid $6 for a hotdog? I told him we’re already making $70 an hour, don’t buy the damn hotdog! As the Third Day PROCEEDINGS succinctly state: "Motion to increase Delegates’ per diem to$185. LOST." So did the delegates REALLY make $70 an hour? As Sam would say, It’s a "expletive deleted" lie . . . WE made MORE than that! While the 5^th day is not available UNTIL each Local S&T gets the Full Convention Report, this one is going to be skinny compared to previous editions. But let’s ("U" and I) do some quick calculations based upon the first 4 days and the fact that we adjourned in way less than one hour on August 1: 1^st day - 6:16; 2^nd day - 3:36; 3^rd day - 5:05; 4^th day - 3:03, 5^th day (let’s give the benefit of the doubt and say) - 1:00 - TOTAL HOURS WORKED FOR FIVE DAYS - 19 HOURS! Ah . . ., $357 Times 5 = $1785 Divided by 19 = Approximately $94 an hour!

Don’t know about "U" Brothers and Sisters, but that’s just about what I was making as a "yardmen"? The morale of the story is: Run for delegate . . ., IF you get elected, you will have the second highest hourly rate of pay in the UTU . . . right behind "most" of the VP’s!!! Ah . . ., my apologies to all you VP’s who spend 12 to 14 hours a day on those days you don’t report . . . studying (snicker, snicker)! MY POINT: had we not added a VP but instead cut two, WE could have saved a Million Dollars a year and NOBODY would ever be able to tell the difference when we arrived at the NEXT CONVENTION - except for the "bottom financial line"!!! OK, I digressed again, let’s talk Constitution!