The ILWU/PMA contract grievance procedure is a fraud being run by ILWU conmen Frank Ponce de Leon, Cam Williams, Bobby Olvera Jr., and their PMA puppets.

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.

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Pathetic liars like Justin Hirsch and his scumbag lawyer, Rob Lavitt, show why the ILWU is corrupt and failing the honest working longshoremen they claim to represent.

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?

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An ILWU Labor Day story every worker should read.

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:

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