Longshore-labor-relations.com

Big Baby enabled Leal Sundet, x-PMA employee and Coast Committeeman from Local 8 in Portland, Oregon, and his gangster style tactics related to the ILWU ‘s jurisdictional dispute over 2 jobs.

According to the article, the 2 week trial was about damages related to the behavior of the Union.

Both Local 8 and the International had already been found guilty of unlawful thuggery, a Decision they Appealed and lost.

The Union brought in a team of 7 of high-powered attorneys who attempted to re-litigate the case the Union lost on Appeal.

One observer estimated the Union was spending in the neighborhood of $70,000 a day on their lawyers who wear the big underwear, while their regular lawyers, also on the payroll, sat in the bleachers.

The Union tried to blame everything that happened on Elvis Ganda and the way he and his ICTSI people treated the Local 8 longshoremen.

When pressed for specifics the Union was unable to describe incidents where management was abusive toward the workers, outside of 1 story about a ILWU clerk who worked next door to T-6, who had been allowed to drive her car thru T-6 to come and go was told she would have to use her own companies gate after ITCSI took over T-6.

Oh, the horror.

At one point Leal Sundet took the stand to explain the Union’s claim that Elvis and his people were verbally abusive toward their longshore workers.

When the ICTSI lawyer claimed that Leal himself had verbally abused Elvis, Leal responded by denying the claim. At which point the lawyer pulled out transcripts from Leal’s deposition and read him his own threatening words.

The jury obviously did not buy any of the Union’s fairytale because they gave Elvis pretty much everything he was asking for.

All of a sudden there is a lot of concern on the part of the Union.

Members are openly claiming they are not going to pay.

There is talk of declaring bankruptcy, although I’m not sure how that would work when they have a guaranteed income stream, PMA pays 85% of their dispatch hall expenses, and they have virtually no liabilities outside the money they donate to politicians.

There is a special 1 topic caucus later this month, just to deal with the verdict.

Southern California has called an emergency Area Meeting for all Locals, longshore, clerk and foremen.

Big Baby collected money from every Local on the West Coast while he made his fair well tour, maybe he should give it back to help pay for his actions.

The Union asked the Judge to delay the Judgement for 2 weeks, allowing for each side to submit briefs.

The Union is expected to play the “we are to big to fail” card in hopes of getting the Judge to reduce the damages the Jury awarded.

There are some in the legal community that feel that unions are entitled to and should get special treatment.

I sure hope the Judge is not one of them.

Big Baby is a stupid bully. He and his lackeys should be held accountable.

Let them declare bankruptcy and have their collective bargaining agreements declared voided, and watch the feeding frenzy of those willing to fill the void.

They should take Big Baby’s name off the golf tournament, and put it on the; Take Your Money and Drinking Contest.

This is starting to get interesting.

Do not use Section 13 of the PCLCD or the Green Book to file claims of discrimination.

Contact us, or get a lawyer and have them contact us, if you want to win.

The Section 13 procedure is just there to protect the Union and PMA, not you.

It is a totally rigged procedure run by incompetent corrupt Arbitrators.

According to Section 17 of the PCLCD, and the Green Book, the Contract grievance procedure must be exhausted before pursuing any other remedy.

While under oath, during depositions, experts from both PMA and the Union stated that everyone knows that they Contract grievance procedure is optional and voluntary, and that everyone knows they free to go to the outside at any time.

Well, the same principle holds for confidentiality.

The PCLCD and the Green Book both claim the grievance procedure is confidential, but they know that it is not.

There is no confidentiality in the workplace, outside of the Companies proprietary business secrets.

Everyone knows that, right PMA and ILWU?

If you are interested in finding what is happening with Eric Aldape, the Local 13 member who was deregistered because of his political fliers, you should go to the Membership Meeting this Thursday, October 3rd.

Here is the flier that he put out inviting members to come to the Meeting and help him get back to work:

Ask Ray why he has been refusing to help a member?

Yesterday, Mike Dimon sent a non-member deregistered B-man to start working at the non-PMA cement dock, but he refuses to send Eric.

For the last 3 weeks there has been an unfilled job at the non-PMA cement dock. Ray knew the whole time he has been saying he needs to look into it.

When the membership gets all the information, they WILL do the right thing.

Time to do the right thing Ray?

Corrupt Union Officials have weaponized the PCLCD grievance procedure and are using it to get rid of members they want out of their “Social Club.”

Frank Ponce de Leon, Cam Williams, Bobby Olvera Jr., and their corrupt friends on the Local JPLRCs have refused to process grievances like the one against paying the Steady Crane drivers $55/day off the books; have faked JPLRC Meetings; have gone after members that threaten their power using a Trail Committee to fix it so they can’t run for Office for 13 years; have gone after members by getting them time off work for talking about discrimination grievances at Executive Board Meetings; and have allowed a member to be deregistered because of political cartoons; all while processing a Union Complaint from Ramon Ponce de Leon and agreeing to increase the guaranteed pay for steady crane drivers to $1,000 for the 2 days per week they get paid to stay home, without opening the contract or ratifying the Agreement; and burying the Employer Complaint filed against, Chris Viramontes, the past local 13 President who admitted he invested $130,000 to help start the Port Medical fraud.

This is the same Chris Viramontes who claimed to have nothing to do with Port Medical in his original 13.2 Complaint filed in 2012, and in his retaliation Complaint which resulted in the deregistration of Eric Aldape in 2017.

There was a day when PMA would not have allowed these corrupt Union Officers to do what they are doing. I know this because I worked for PMA for 9 years, back when it was run by men who had honor and compassion.

The current PMA leadership is the epitome of Union dominated wimps.

The entire Grievance Procedure of the PCLCD is being used to protect the corrupt activities of the Union and PMA, mostly by simply refusing to process Complaints or requests for 6 months so the individuals will be time barred from any legal action.

In some cases the Union and PMA have fabricated meeting Minutes which they never provided to the member, then they argued he had no right to litigate because he failed to appeal the JPLRC Decision they admitted they failed to provide.

Quite a few members, B-men, and casuals reach out to me for help.

It is my belief that given the level of corruption in-house, the only option to address discrimination complaints, registration complaints, training complaints, or any other JPLRC Decision is to go to the outside and get a good lawyer.

A good lawyer like Dan Stevens of Stevens & McMillan.

Watch the Ruth Bader Ginsberg movie if you want to know what it will take to get what you have a right to have.

Tell Dan you got his number here, 12 referrals and I get a free 6 inch Subway.

It is time to stop these corrupt conmen from ruining the ILWU.

Check out the bold faced lie in the letter Justin wrote to deny a member’s request for Seattle JPLRC Minutes.

JPLRC Minutes DO NOT contain any confidential information, and DO NOT require substantial time and resources to review. That is a bold faced lie.

There is no burden in giving a member a copy of the JPLRC Minutes. They are provided by PMA and all that is needed is for a secretary to open a file cabinet and pull out a copy.

These are the same JPLRC Minutes that PMA distributes to all their member companies.

Justin Hirsch and Little Richie Austin are claiming that the PMA is distributing longshore workers confidential information to their member companies, and that is OK with the Union, they just don’t want other longshoremen to get access to this alleged confidential information.

Really? What confidential information is Justin talking about?

Someone should ask Justin and Rich what confidential information they are allowing PMA to distribute to their members.

Denying members information is a direct violation of the Union’s promise to give all the information to the membership, so they can do the right thing.

Justin is just a pathetic little liar, who will be on the hot seat when he gets called to testify at the NLRB Hearing scheduled for October 15, 2019.

Also on the hot seat will be Local 19’s scumbag lawyer, Rob Lavitt.

Lying Rob filed the following legal document with the NLRB claiming Karey has no legal right to unredacted JPLRC Minutes.

This is the same Rob Lavitt that signed the following NLRB Settlement Agreement stating that employees have a legal right to unredacted JPLRC Minutes.

So, longshoremen in Local 23 have a legal right to unredacted JPLRC Minutes, but Karey from Local 19 has no legal right to unredacted JPLRC Minutes?

That in a nutshell is why Unions are failing.

Liars should not prosper, and liars in Unions are no exception.

Does anyone really think that scumbag Rob will let me ask Justin to explain his lies during the Hearing on October 15th?

I predict the liars will settle, and the Settlement will contain a non admission of guilt clause, because that is what scumbag lawyers do.

What do you think?

A lone, longshore worker, Eric Aldape, lifelong dues paying member in good standing of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 13, opposed the Union and Pacific Maritime Association in Federal Court on Friday, August 30, 2019.

Aldape’s, lawyer argued that a provision of the collective bargaining agreement was an illegal sham which allowed the 89 member companies of PMA and the Union to avoid liability for violation of the civil rights of waterfront workers.  

PMA and the Union argued that Section 13.2, bargained for and agreed upon by the Union and PMA for more than 15 years, is a “speedy” resolution of discrimination claims.  

PMA and the ILWU both claim everything that happened was in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement ratified by both parties. They just forgot that the last paragraph of the July 1, 2014, LOU Regarding Proper Application of Section 13 states; intra-union political disputes are not covered by Section 13.1, and that all Eric’s fliers were political fliers.

Aldape’s lawyer countered that it was a kangaroo court procedure that must be complied with within days of any “discriminatory” event and robs workers of their statutory rights under state and federal law without the benefit of advising workers of the rights they are giving up.  

Importantly, for victims of harassment and discrimination, there is no actual remedy, except for the discipline of the “accused.”

The lawyer for Aldape argued that even if the arbitration provision contained a warning, it cannot be saved from its illegal nature because of the way in which civil rights issues are resolved, without the benefit of lawyers, without sufficient time to gather witnesses, and before an “arbitrator” who is another longshore worker and has no other qualification.

The Judge asked PMA; How does a ILWU longshoreman, appointed as Arbitrator, accused of bias, rule himself not biased w/o a hearing, then terminate the employment of a longshoreman he admitted he threatened to kill?  PMA had no answer.

Mr. Aldape was the “accused” in 15 such arbitrations over nine years. Section 13.2 was weaponized by union officials against Mr. Aldape for the publication of political flyers and cartoons which lampooned union officers and those running for office, accusing them of fraud, graft and corruption.  Mr. Aldape was punished for his dissidence with nearly three years of time off and ultimately, his termination.

Mr. Aldape’s lawyer argued that the procedure was unlawful as applied to Mr. Aldape by punishing him for his outspoken and protected right to criticize union officers. 

Provisions of Federal law provide protection for workers who exercise their right to freedom of speech in the workplace.  

The Honorable, Andrew Birrotte, took the matter under submission and is expected to rule late next week.

The outcome will impact 22,000 longshore workers in every working Port on the West Coast, from San Diego to Bellingham. 

Below are the Documents submitted to the Court prior to the Hearing:

Here is what it looks like when the ILWU uses intimidating tactics before a NLRB hearing they know they can’t win.

Local 19 is not going to go to trial. They are going to settle, just like Local 23 did on the exact same issue.

Do Rich and his attorney really think they are going to be able to convince a Judge that they should be allowed to redact the JPLRC Minutes they provide to longshoremen?

Here is an example of the kind of redactions I am talking about:

Both Region 19 and Local 19 agreed to a Settlement which allowed them to redact information like they did for Eunice, I refused to agree and appealed the matter to DC.

DC agreed with me, they rejected the proposed Settlement which is why there is going to be a trial.

There is no way this is going to trial.

This is an example of a lawyer going for maximum billable hours, while trying to intimidate the people who file NLRB charges in order to have a chilling effect on others.

Like I said: Screw Little Richie Austin and his scumbag attorney.

Check out the Section 13.2 Complaint filed by E-Board member and caucus delegate Christine Aguirre, after she failed to get her way at 2 Special JPLRC Meetings where the matter was held over.

The completely unqualified PMA Arbitrator seems to be working as directed and has scheduled a Section 13.2 hearing on this nonsense.

Christine did not like something she heard while listening in on a conversation about Union payments to Coast Committeemen.

She injected herself into the conversation and did not like the outcome.

Before filing her Section 13.2 Complaint, with the assistance of Mike Dimon, she complained to the Employer who responded by filing an Employer Complaint against The Greek alleging a Section 17.81, 17.82 violation.

Three days after the conversation, The Greek was called by Luke Hollingsworth and told Local 63 was holding a Special JPLRC to deal with the Employer Complaint.

This is what happens when a Union Official, who thinks they are all that, has a “problem” with a regular member like The Greek.

Christine showed up with 15 witnesses and claimed she was verbally assaulted.

All but 2 of her witnesses did not remember anything and, after listening to everyone involved, the Local 63 JPLRC held the matter over and referred the Employer Complaint to a Tri-Party JPLRC with Local 13.

Seven days later The Greek was called into a Tri-Party JPLRC Meeting along with all of the witnesses, and Luke Hollingsworth, and Ray Familathe.

Mike Dimon and Christine were hanging around at the meeting, but did not come into the room.

After a vigorous discussion The Greek was asked if he would be willing to apologize to Christine in order to settle the matter.

The Greek surprisingly agreed to apologize, if it would resolve the matter, but instead of accepting the apology and agreeing to settle the matter, Mike Dimon held the matter over and had Christine file a Section 13.2 Complaint.

The Greek is now scheduled for a Section 13.2 hearing on August 19th based on Christine’s Complaint, in which she does not claim discrimination.

Mike Dimon has requested all of The Greeks grievance history to use it to prove he is guilty, just like he did with Eric when he got Eric de-registered.

This is very interesting, because Mike is a convicted felon who knows that prior convictions cannot be used to prove guilt, yet he is going to try anyway because it worked with Eric.

When is the membership going to tell Mike Dimon, Luke Hollingsworth, and Ray Familathe to knock off the special treatment for Officers filing Complaints against regular members over inter-union political disputes that have nothing to do with covered work?

Is PMA going to allow Mike Dimon’s and Christine Aguirre’s phony Section 13.2 double jeopardy Complaint to actually get processed?

Is it going to take another lawsuit? Or a Class Action?

Check out the following Federal Court filings.

The first shows that Chris Viramontes recanted his denial of any involvement in the Port Medical fraud, and admitted that he invested $130,000 in Port Medical.

Chris finally admitted what everyone already knew; that he was a partner in the Port Medical fraud.

Eric did 1 year off work because of Chris’ lies, and it was Chris’ lies that resulted in Eric’s deregistration.

The truth is coming out and, if this case gets to trial, a jury will not be kind to either the ILWU or the PMA for their involvement.

The second shows that Mike Dimon covered for his buddy Arbitrator Mark Mascola by faking a Special JPLRC Meeting to deny the Section 13.3 Complaint of bias filed by Eric.

Mike Dimon claims he had a Special JPLRC Meeting with Eric Kalnes from PMA, agreed to deny Eric Aldape’s Complaint, then never notified him. No actual Employer members were present, and PMA staff have no vote.

Now both the ILWU and PMA are claiming that Eric failed to exhaust the grievance procedure, because he did not appeal the decision for which he was never notified.

Here is the entire Opposition to Local 13’s Motion for Summary Judgement:

This Court Document is just one example of the dirty deeds being perpetrated by the corrupt Union Officials at Local 13 and the International, with PMA’s approval.

Both Local 13’s and the International’s Officers, including Frank Ponce de Leon, covered for the criminal activity of fellow Officer Chris Viramontes, by refusing to process the Employer Complaint against him and letting the 2 non-Officers Dave Gomez and Sergio Amador take all the heat. Dave and Sergio went to jail and got de-registered, for their part in the massive Port Medical benefits fraud.

In the mean time, Local 13 Officers are refusing to allow dues paying member in good standing Eric Aldape to be dispatched to non-PMA jobs, as is his right as a dues paying member in good standing.

What do they think Eric is paying for?

If the Executive Board continues to refuse to allow Eric to be dispatched to non-PMA jobs, this issue will be placed before the membership who have the final say.

According to the following Federal Court documents, the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association have been, and are continuing to, violate the rights of every longshoremen covered by the discrimination grievance procedure of the West Coast longshore contract documents.

The following Federal Court documents tell a tale of corruption and deceit while explaining how the ILWU & PMA have denied 21,000 worker’s rights in order to limit their liability.

You could not make this stuff up.

As more court documents become available (get posted to PACER) they will be posted.

The only way to combat corruption and deceit is with the truth.

These guys will not win using deception and bluff.

Homey don’t play that.