ILWU so ashamed of PNW Grain Agreement they refuse to discuss it.

The ILWU is so ashamed of their new PNW Grain Agreement, they refuse to discuss it and were said to be very upset that the press talked to me.

Looks like everything about their fancy new labor agreement is secret.

The Union spokesperson said I was “misinterpreting the contract, making a mountain out of a molehill, etc., because grain handlers have long used steady employees.”

Yes the Grain Companies have long used steady men, but the new Grain Agreement Sections 12.1 and 12.2 takes the dispatch hall out of the process and allows the Employer to reach out to any longshoreman, regardless or seniority, and offer them steady employment without posting any order with the hall. Taking the hall out of the process is significant. The shapeup is back for the first time since it was eliminated by the strike in 1934. Did they think we would forget why the ILWU was formed in the first place?

When questioned by the reporter, the ILWU spokesman issued the following statement: “The union doesn’t choose any steady men anywhere and never has.”

Smoke and mirrors, lies and deception, more answers that don’t answer, all part of the secret society of the ILWU.

The ILWU is so proud of their new Grain contract that they refuse to respond to the reporters request to compare the previous contract with the new one.

Shame on you Leal and Roger, you sold out the hall.

Tentative Grain Handlers Agreement 8-11-14

 

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Big Bob refuses to get involved in Local elections, unless it involves mechanics.

Because of the Local 13 Caucus Delegate election results, Big Bob has decided to get involved and appoint an extra Caucus Delegate to represent Local 13 mechanics.

Big Bob refused to get involved in Local 13 elections, and allowed Mondo to run in the re-run, because “he does not want to get involved in Local elections”, but he just appointed a 11th Caucus Delegate when he ordered Ray Benavente to stay in San Francisco after he lost the Caucus Delegate election.

Big Bob’s explanation is that Ray is there to represent the mechanics.

The elected Caucus Delegates represent all the members of Local 13, including the mechanics. The mechanics had the chance to elect who ever they wanted and they did not choose Ray Benavente.

Where does Big Bob get the authority to override the election choices of the Local and appoint one of his buddies to a elected position?

Knock it off Big Bob, and let the Caucus Delegates select their own Mechanics Representative from among the newly elected Caucus Delegates.

If Big Bob wants to hire Ray Benavente as a mechanics expert to help him negotiate the contract that is his decision, but the International should pay their expert and, if they pay him, it does not make him a Caucus Delegate with voting privileges.

 

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Mark Williams broke the Zero tolerance rule.

Seems like Mark Williams did not like being questioned about the lack of use of the Local’s email blast to inform members about the dock fire last week.

He does not understand that the membership could and would forgive him for leaving work early to join some friends at a local sports bar to watch Monday Night Football. All he needed to do was say he screwed up, and the membership would forgive him, after all, we all make mistakes and longshoremen are some of the most forgiving people in the world.

Because of the lack of leadership in the local to teach Mark the proper way to manage a situation, he fell back on what he has learned from watching former leaders like Chris Viramontes and David Arian and, he resorted to abusing the person asking the question, just for asking the question.

Mark does not understand that while normal abusive behavior is accepted on the waterfront, our society has Zero tolerance for abusive sexual harassment. Mark’s behavior toward Vivian would have resulted in immediate termination in any other industry.

Bobby O Jr. was informed about what happened at the meeting, and instead of doing the right thing and immediately removing Mark from Office, he asked to have until Wednesday to respond to Vivian’s grievance.

Bobby O Jr. has until Wednesday to do the right thing, if not the matter will take on a life of it’s own and move to Big Bob’s desk in San Francisco.

 

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Has Mark Williams lost his mind?

What was Mark Williams thinking last week at the Local 13 Executive Board meeting when he lashed out at Vivian with a venomous personal attack including insulting sexual gestures and foul and abusive language?

Mark Williams seems to be feeling the pressure of several Federal investigations, including his false LM-2 reporting, and decided to take it out on Vivian, because he thinks he can do anything he wants at a union meeting. He is wrong.

That my friends is the heart of the problem.

Local 13 officers, including Bobby O Jr., think they can do anything they want at a union meeting, because of the oath of secrecy that all members take.

Local 13 officers and their puppet Arbitrator, “Judge Roy Bean” Miller have tried to squash any person who dared to challenge them or their rules, just like they tried to squash Eric.

Well it did not work with Eric and it will not work with Vivian, because they punch back.

Mark Williams refuses to allow Eric into the union offices to protect the office workers, then attacks Vivian in the union offices.

Mark Williams has lost his mind, and has to go.

 

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Congratulations Eric #7519 Aldape – Local 13 Caucus Delegate.

The Fresh New Start has begun, with the election of Eric #7519 Aldape to Caucus Delegate.

Congratulations to Local 13, and congratulations to Eric Aldape. The fun starts now.

Eric wants to thank the members who supported him, and let you know that next week he will be writing to the Local to request a status report on the negotiations of all the Local’s Port Supplements, and to inform them that he will be sitting in on all future bargaining sessions.

Eric wants the members to know that he plans to make good on his promise to bring Equalization back, and he plans to see that the 22 shift limit for steady men gets put into all the Supplements that have steady man language.

Eric wants the membership to know that he plans to see that all the Local’s Port Supplements are actually voted on by the rank-and-file, not just approved by a voice vote at a union meeting.

Eric also want the membership to know that he will not sit quietly and allow Mark Williams to verbally abuse Executive Board members like he did to Vivian at the last E-Board Meeting.

If you mess with the bull, you are going to get the horns……

 

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Local 13 Fall 2014 Run-Off Results

Congratulations Local 13 for electing Eric Aldape to Caucus Delegate, you will not be disappointed.

On the other hand, what were you thinking putting the rule breaker back in for 6 more months of doing nothing? Too bad, so sad.

Local 13 Fall 2014 Run-Off Results-cd      Local 13 Fall 2014 Run-Off Results-vp

In the words of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, “It’s a brand new day, so let a man come in and do the popcorn.” Go Eric.

 

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On-the-Hook Election Picks – Fall 2014

Check out the latest Local 13 Election Picks.

Vote early and vote for Eric Aldape for V-P and Caucus Delegate.

On-the-Hook Fall 2014 Election Picks

Shame on you Ruben Chacon and your Facebook nonsense. Eric exercised his rights and does something when he feels wronged, you got a problem with that?

Local 13 will get the leadership they deserve, one way or the other.

 

 

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Why is Local 13’s leadership so afraid of Eric Aldape?

Why are Local 13’s corrupt Officers so afraid of Eric Aldape?

In a word, because he is honest.

Eric Aldape is a straight talking honest longshoreman, who scares the shit out of the current Local 13 leadership because he is just that, honest.

Bobby O Jr., Mark Williams, Julie Brady, Mark Mascola, Harry Dong, and the rest of the corrupt current leaders of Local 13 are so used to lying and deceiving the Local that they do not know what to do with someone who tells the truth, and does not keep secrets from the membership.

Why else would they have let Mondo Porras run again in the election that he caused to be re-run, as a result of his breaking the rules?

Why else would they manipulate the Trial Committee procedure to prevent Eric’s complaint against Mondo from going before the membership?

Why else would Mark Williams refuse to put Eric on the agenda for the Executive Board Meeting, twice, after receiving 2 request letters from Eric?

Eric can not go to the Union Offices, because of Mark Williams’ claims that he is a threat to the office workers. Mark called the police 3 times when Eric came to pay his dues, then threatened to fire the guard if he let Eric in to pay his dues, because he is afraid of Eric.

Mark is not afraid for the safety of the office staff, he is afraid of what Eric will do if he gets elected.

The Clique is so afraid of Eric, that they allowed the guy who broke the rules that caused the election to be re-run, to run again, because they are afraid Eric would win with Mondo and the twin out of the race.

If Eric had been the one found guilty of breaking the rules, there is no way he would have been allowed to run again. No way in hell.

Mondo got 901 of the 2413 ballots cast, which is 37.3% of the total voters who cast ballots. For some reason 231 members did not vote for Vice-President at all.

Just think, if all the members who did not vote for Mondo including the 231 who did not vote for V-P, vote for Eric, he will be the next Vice-President.

Mondo has proved he is only there to prevent Eric from getting elected, he has done absolutely nothing during his 6 months in office, except take a paid vacation. Bobby and the Clique brought in Chris Viramontes to do Mondo’s job and negotiate the supplements, in secret of course because the membership does not need to know what is going on with their Union. After all the Clique knows best, and if you do not know that you must be anti-union.

Time for the membership to speak, and tell the Clique they are tired of secrets and lies.

Time for the membership to vote, and tell the Clique they want transparency and honesty.

Time for the membership to elect Eric Aldape Vice-President, and tell the Clique to take a hike.

 

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Election fraud at Local 13 or just plain incompetence?

Hard to say exactly what is going on during the Local 13 election process. It could be fraud, or it could be simple incompetence.

At the end of the last election, right before the count, one of the member judges asked the pensioners conducting the election to tell him the totals for the number of members signed/scanned in and the total number of ballots to be counted.

Seems like a simple question, and the information requested was easily available to the pensioners getting ready to conduct the count.

The number of members signing in and the number of ballots to be counted should be the same. No problem, right?

Wrong, instead of answering the simple question, the pensioners turned to Mark Williams and asked him if they could answer and he said NO, and told the pensioners that the member would have to fill out a request for information and submit it to the Local.

According to the Local 13 Constitution, the elections are run by the pensioners, who wanted to answer the question asked by the member, but Mark Williams stepped in and told them not to answer, so they did not.

The reason the number signed in is compared to the number of ballots, is to prevent ballot stuffing, which is where someone stuffs a bunch of phony ballots in the boxes to change the outcome of the election.

We are not saying that Mark Williams and the Clique are stuffing the ballot boxes, but they could be. Why else would he refuse to answer the simple question posed by the member?

After a secret meeting, where he allegedly counted the number of members signing in and the number of ballots counted, Mark Williams announced that the numbers were the same, but the judges observing the election will never know if the results were tampered with because, it was done in secret after the  fact.

Election fraud or simple incompetence, what do you think?

 

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Does Frank Ponce de Leon’s “Clique” decide which Local 13 volunteers get paid?

Who decided to start paying the “volunteer” members of the Local 13 Executive Board?

Frank Ponce de Leon’s “Clique” is still very much in control of Local 13, including deciding which of their friends on the Executive Board gets paid for their volunteer work, using his current puppet President, Bobby Odor Jr.

Controlling the rank-and-file thru fear, intimidation, deception and lies is how “The Clique” operates.

Union meetings are short, nothing of substance is discussed, and minutes are not made available to the rank-and-file. Everything is secret.

Members who ask questions or dare to disagree with the “Clique” are subjected to personal attacks and labeled anti-union. If your real lucky Frank will turn your wife in at her job, for using her email to push a flier, or call 911 on a member for going into an alley.

Negotiations have been going on since May 12th, and no information about what is going on is being given to the membership, NONE.

Secret negotiations lead to disastrous agreements like the PNW Grain agreement.

The union negotiators never told the rank-and-file anything about the contract until it was a done deal, then told them they had to approve it “because it was better than nothing”.

Unless Local 13 wakes up and replaces “The Clique” with new leadership, the ILWU Dispatch Hall is on its way out and the longshore employers will be calling their workers from home using their new shape-up iPhone application, and all you will hear from the union is, “PMA made us do it.”

Time to wake up Local 13.

Time to vote for new leaders.

Time to elect Eric Aldape Vice-President, and put the Hall back in control.

 

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