Author: Jim Tessier

Bobby and Victor’s plan to kick Eric out of the Union for life started out just like they wanted it to.

Bobby and Victor knew they did not have a quorum when they started the meeting. Just what they wanted.

Bobby and Victor know if only a few members, their followers, show up at a Union meeting they can do what ever they like.

That’s how it works at Local 13, most of the time, but it only takes 1 member to stop them dead in their tracks and thats what happened at last Thursdays lynching.

Dr. Felix Mendoza decided he had had enough and stepped up and called for a quorum.

This is where it gets interesting. For those of you that do not know, according to the Union’s Constitution in order to conduct business at any Union meeting there needs to be a quorum. A quorum is 10% of the Union membership.

10% or less of the Union membership make most of the decisions at Local 13, because rarely do they get enough Union members to show up at a Union meeting unless it is a stop-work meeting.

At last Thursdays Union meeting it was obvious that there was no quorum, but Bobby and Victor went ahead and started the meeting anyway, and they started reading the Complaint that Larry Toledo filed against Eric. Not the decision and recommendation like they are supposed to. They were intent on whipping their crowd up and setting them lose on Eric.

If no one calls for a quorum the meeting can, and most of the time does, continue with less than 10% of the members present.

This is what I call the “tail wagging the dog” management style. It is a very interesting way of doing business and it works as long as the dog allows it to. However, it only takes 1 member to stop it from happening and that is what Dr. Felix did.

Local 13 has about 6,800 members in good standing, according to the recall efforts from about a year ago, so 680 members would constitute a quorum.

It was obvious that there were fewer that 680 members at the meeting, so Bobby and Victor started to try and lower the number by claiming that members who are off injured do not count, and somehow they came up with the magic number of 521.

Even that ploy did not work because they “counted” and could only come up with about 400 members, even though some who were there said the number looked more like 250, and Bobby and Victor had to cancel the meeting for lack of a quorum.

If Dr. Felix had not stepped up, Bobby and Victor were fixing to kick Eric out using 250 or so of their followers, then claim “the membership” decided. Thank you Felix.

If the members of Local 13 do not want to go to meetings they should have at least 1 member call for a quorum at every meeting to stop Bobby and Victor, from wagging the dog.

Next month should be a Stop-Work meeting, because of the elections, which should make Bobby and Victor’s plan to kick Eric out of the Union more difficult, if not impossible.

To be continued……..

As a result of Victor Hudak refusing to answer Eric’s letter or phone calls, and being told that the Union Meeting was going to be a free for all against Eric, he decided not to go and sent Victor the following letter.

But that did not stop Eric from passing out his fliers on the Casual hiring process.

The CLRC minutes from meeting #12-04:

And the Attachment to the Minutes of CLRC Meeting #15-15:

Click on the hyperlink to see the original CLRC document, CLRC 15-15 – Jun 23 – Special – ATTACHMENT (Local 13 Casual Outline) – …[1]

One of Eric’s friends sent this Vintage 1975 Flier attacking Harry Bridges before the 1975 negotiations, and guess what the guy that wrote it did not get kicked out of the Union.

Fuck you Bobby O Jr., and Victor Hudak.

UPDATE – No Quorum so Bobby and Victor’s plan fell apart. Too bad, so sad.

What is going to happen now Bobby and Victor? You fucking morons.

Chug, chug, chug…..

Check out Victor’s latest letter to Eric, in response to Eric’s request for information to defend himself at the March 3rd Union meeting.

What does Victor think he is doing, other than what ever he feels like?

Here is Eric’s response and 3rd request for information.

Click here if you prefer pdf files: Eric – response to Hudak letter 2-26-16

I do not see how any self respecting longshoreman cannot go to the Union meeting tomorrow March 3rd, to vote NO on the motion to kick Eric out of the Union without even telling him what he did.

What kind of people treat their own members like this?

Time to tell Bobby and his crew, Victor Hudak, Mondo Porras, John Seixus, and Larry Toledo, to knock it off; then vote them out of any Union Office to make sure they get the message.

Homey don’t play that.

ps  If you go to the Union meeting you will be able to get some good info on the 6-23-15 CLRC directive on Casuals.

The subject of Casuals is back in at Local 13, just in time for elections. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Check out the latest edition of Inside the E-Board with Eric Aldape.

Local 13 invited the Coast Committee but they are to busy kissing ass, and telling lies, at the 2016 JOC TPM Conference this week in Long Beach, and it is too inconvenient for them to stop by Local 13’s Membership after the TPM ends on Wednesday.

Frank is afraid to go in front of the Local 13 Membership, he knows what will happen.

The only reason Frank was elected to the Coast Committee is because he ran unopposed. (Big Bob fixed that at the Caucus)

Frank claims transparency, then refuses to give copies of the documents he is using. I don’t think Frank knows what the word means, after all it is a big word.

That’s right, the Trial Committee found Eric guilty and agreed to ban him from the Union for life, with no evidence, no exhibits, and without telling him what he did.

Read for yourself how Bobby Olvera Jr, Victor Hudak, and John Seixus are trying to kick Eric out of the Union.

Read Victor’s letter that came with the transcript, including 4 documents.  None of the documents that he sent Eric were entered as exhibits as he claims.

Here is the transcript. (had to break it into 3 parts to scan it in)

Transcript of 1-19-16 Trial Committee hearing – part 1 of 3

Transcript of 1-19-16 Trial Committee hearing – part 2 of 3

Transcript of 1-19-16 Trial Committee hearing – part 3 of 3

Here is Eric’s response to Victor’s letter.

Bobby Olvera Jr, Victor Hudak, John Seixus, and Larry Toledo plan on banning Eric from the Union for life at the Union Meeting on Thursday, March 3, 2016, without telling him what he did.

How can any self respecting Union member stand by and allow Eric to be kicked out of the Union for this bullshit?

This shows how Bobby Olvera Jr, John Seixus, and Larry Toledo have been using their Trial Committee Kangaroo Court to screw over members for the last few years, and to eliminate any political challengers like Eric and “The Greek.”

What kind of Union members do this to each other?

Time to go to the Union meeting on March 3rd and stand up for Eric, if not, this is what the beginning of the end of a great Union looks like.

Their, but for the grace of God, go I.

Time for the real ILWU to stand up and do the right thing?

For those of you that have never seen it, here is Section 9.13 aka the 70% Rule for B-men:

For those of you that have never seen it, here is the entire document called the Coastwise Rules Covering Registration and Deregistration. (It takes a while to load, it is a big file)

It is not that complicated, each month the Local posts a list of the B-men hours that shows the 70% number.

If you are below the 70% number you have to supply an excuse to the JPLRC. You have to do this every month, even if it is the same reason.

Learn to play the game, if you want to keep your job, and do not depend on anyone else to cover your ass.

Any questions?

Check out the letter Eric received from Local 13, Secretary/Treasurer Victor Hudak, in response to 2 letters he wrote to President Bobby Olvera Jr.

Little Bobby is to busy doing what ever it is he does to respond to letters written to him, he has his boy toy Victor respond for him.

This is the kind of letter you get when the assholes running the Local, including the puppet Trial Committee, are out to fuck you over.

Although it is frustrating to get bullshit letters like this, they do present an opportunity to engage and this is what that looks like.

What kind of Union treats their members like this?

Why the ILWU of course, this is how Little Bobby and Big Bob roll.

This ain’t over, we are just getting started.

Check out Local 13-bulletin-06-16. What is going on?

If any Local 13 B-men do not understand the 70% rule, it is because the “Union Officers” are to stupid to explain it.

How is it that B-men are required to attend mandatory monthly meetings, and “your” Chairman of Stewards, Frank Toscano, was not able to explain the 70% rule during these meetings?

This meeting is voluntary, so they don’t have to pay you.

Everything you need to know about the 70% test is in the JPLRC Minutes, but they are secret.

Are Bobby, Mondo, and Victor so fucking stupid they can’t do what every other Local does, they have to hold a “voluntary” (unpaid) meeting?

YES, yes they are.

What is wrong with the Trial Committee?  Why won’t they give Eric their Decision?

It’s not like they don’t know what to do, John Seixus and Larry Toledo have been playing musical chairs with the positions of Chair and Attorney of Facts for the last few years. They know exactly what they want to do, but they can’t.

They can’t do what they always do, they can’t create their own record, or should I say their own lies.

This time there is a transcript of everything they said, and everything they tried to do, including their decision.

Usually they ask a bunch of questions, then twist the answers and use their made-up bullshit to find members guilty.

Eric exercised his right to have the hearing transcribed and offered to pay for it. The Trial Committee agreed to his request and agreed to provide him a copy, in writing.

They thought they had Eric. They were going to get Eric to answer their questions, then use his answers to find him guilty, only Eric did not play ball the way they expected him to.

Eric refused to answer any questions, and they did not know what to do. They got flustered at his refusal to plea guilty or not guilty and tried to start asking questions. When Eric told them he was not a witness and he was not answering any questions, Bobby sat back in his chair and threw his arms in the air.

Eric told the Trial Committee Chair; “This is your show, I’m just here because you invited me, get on with it.”

Bobby O Jr. went on to testify, on the record,  about all kinds of stuff including the Local 13 Delegates being divided, the partying that went on at the Caucus, and about the Facebook posts of Caucus Delegates who were playing with family when they were supposed to be working, none of which had anything to do with Eric’s charge.

Steve Lewis turned in his hand written Decision, but has NOT provided a copy to Eric.

Eric keeps hearing he was found guilty and his penalty is to be read out of the Union, but he has no written response and he is being denied a copy of the transcript that Bobby promised.

Last week Mark Gallardo tried to kick Eric off the Grievance Committee telling him he had been read out of the Union, he called in the security guard to remove Eric.

When Eric asked when he was read out by the membership, Larry Toledo told him the Trial Committee read him out and they are the membership.

Eric refused to leave. He went to see Bobby but Bobby was not in, so he explained what was happening to his secretary . She asked if Eric had anything in writing, and he said he did not. She said go back in the room and sit down. A few minutes later, she came to the Trial Committee meeting and told Mark that Bobby wanted to speak to him on the telephone. Mark went to talk with Bobby and came back and said Eric did not have to leave.

What kind of Union treats members like this?

Time to provide Eric his Decision and a copy of the transcript, so he can deal with it and get back to his passion: Equalization.

Part 2.5 of the Trial Committee saga, more to come.

Chug, chug, chug……