Local 23 President, Dean McGrath, opened last Thursday’s emergency roll-meeting by telling his membership that he knows what he says will end up on the internet, on my website, but he does not care because the Local has never lost a case to me.
The “reason” Dean called the roll-call (mandatory) meeting was to tell his membership that they have to cover the skilled work, because PMA is not happy about the fact that Local 23 has not been filling jobs.
As a direct result of members who have been trained to operate equipment choosing to work non-skilled jobs, skilled work is not getting covered.
This is an example of longshore greed in action.
To solve the problem the Union is proposing to stop sign-ups for training, and allow PMA to just select members by seniority and notify them by letter that they are being scheduled for training. (This plan makes me wonder, who is it that they want to train that did not, or forgot to, sign up for the current training programs?) (Nothing is as it seems with these guys!)
PMA is not happy that Local 23 is not filling jobs, but they are afraid to file Section 9.41 complaints against Local 23 members even though they file them by the 100’s in Los Angeles, against Local 13 members.
Dean is begging his members to cover their skill work, and complaining that they can’t figure out a way to hire skilled casuals to cover the jobs.
Yeah that’s right, these guys can’t figure out how to hire people for jobs that pay $38.18/hour. Amazing.
But, why start the meeting by trash talking about me?
Could it have something to do with the NLRB charge I just filed?
Sounds like Dean has been listening to his buddies Scott Mason and Conrad Spell, and is parroting their same old hateful negative personal attacks against me. They think it will stop people from talking to me.
Dean told the membership that I am anti-ILWU and that they have won every case I have ever brought against Local 23.
That is Pirate/Longshore talk for, don’t talk to the bad man who used to work for PMA.
Dean and I go way back. In the 1990’s Dean came to my house, with his dad, to discuss grieving the registration process. I am pretty sure Dean was one of the 58 casuals who sued the Union, using the transcripts I helped them create, and changed the way casuals were dispatched and registered, and the way discrimination grievances were processed in Tacoma.
Does Dean think that the nice NLRB postings, like the one below, that the Local was required to post, are because they won?
Does Dean think that the money the Union had to give back to the B-men, according to the NLRB posting below, is because they won?
Does Dean really think that what he said will stop people from calling me?
Does Dean know that I am from Lakewood, that I went to Clover Park, that I worked at the Weyerhaeuser Log Dock before I worked for PMA, and that I registered 100’s of his members when I worked for PMA?
Come on Dean, lots of Local 23 members talk to me.
Dean and Local 23 are so afraid of “the outside” finding out what they are doing to their rank-and-file, that they forcibly took one members cell phone who was recording the meeting.
Dean asked the member what he was doing. The member explained that he had suffered a head injury and it is hard for him to remember details, so he records things so he can view them later.
Dean and his crew decided that was not a good enough explanation, so in front everyone Dean deleted the video from his phone.
Did Dean think that he was the only member recording what was happening?
Dean is actually a good guy, and I like Dean.
Dean earned my respect when I was told how he was the only Caucus Delegate that stood up to Big Bob, when Big Bob was objecting to the new Publicity Committee that the Caucus agreed to create.
Big Bob was objecting in his normal Big Bob way, telling the Caucus that the International had a publicist, when Dean spoke up and asked if he had heard correctly or not, because he thought he heard the Caucus agree to create a new Publicity Committee.
When Big Bob heard what Dean said, he turned beet red and stormed off.
Dean earned my respect and showed he has potential, and right after Dean spoke up Locals started nominating members to the new Publicity Committee.
All Dean needs to do is get rid of dead beats like Scott Mason and Conrad Spell who are giving him bad advice, and start doing what he thinks is right. Dean has great instincts, he should trust them.
But what would I know, I have never won a case? Eh?
Now that I think of it, I believe I will amend my current NLRB charge to include sending members to 28 day in-patient treatment, arbitrarily and without following proper procedures.
ARRR!
