The ILWU and PMA lie all the time, but not when they are under oath.
Why would Leal Sundet and Rich Marzano lie, under oath, about how the Coast Labor Relations Committee makes decisions?
Since 1934, each side of every Labor Relations Committee, including the Coast Labor Relations Committee, has had 3 or more members and each side has always had 1 vote. If the Parties fail to agree, they arbitrate or do nothing. Mostly they do nothing. They even have specific language, PCLCD Section 17.271, to dispose of the grievances they fail to act on within 6 months.
According to Section 9 of the 1934 Arbitration Decision, the Labor Relations Committees shall be comprised of 3 members designated by the Employers and 3 members designated by the Union. The Award also spells out that if the Parties fail to agree on any issue before them, either party may request Arbitration.
PCLCD Section 17.11 still states;
“Each of said Labor Relations Committees shall be comprised of 3 or more representatives designated by the Union and 3 or more representatives designated by the Employers. Each side of the committee shall have equal vote.”
And PCLCD Section 17.27 still states;
“In the event that the Employer and Union members of the Joint Coast Labor Relations Committee fail to agree on any question before it, including a question as to whether the issue was properly before the Coast Labor Relations Committee, such question shall be immediately referred at the request of either party to the Coast Arbitrator for hearing and decision, and the decision of the Coast Arbitrator shall be final and conclusive.”
At no time, ever, has each side had 3 votes as claimed by ILWU’s Leal Sundet and PMA’s Rich Marzano during the NLRB hearing.
At no time, ever, has either side voted against their own side’s interests in order to protect the integrity of the Agreement.
What does for the integrity of the Agreement mean?
Nothing, it is a ridiculous and meaningless phrase used by the Union.
It is the ridiculous reason given by Coast Committeeman Frank Ponce de Leon, when he and Big Baby snatched up Employer Complaint EC-0781-2016, against Chris Viramontes, as well as the Complaints against the other longshoremen involved in the multi-million dollar Port Medical fraud case. (LA Times Article 1-16-17)
The real reason Frank, Cam and Big Baby snatched up the Employer Complaints is to protect themselves, because they along with Ray Ortiz Jr. were up to their eyeballs in it, and now they are trying to send the Complaints to the PCLCD Section 17.271 6 month bone yard.
Chris Viramontes feels so confident that the CLRC will bury the Employer Complaints that he was bragging at a recent Executive Board meeting about being the money man for Port Medical and what a good investment it was. He even nominated himself to the Benefits Committee at the Caucus, to which one member responded; Are you going to do that from jail?
Individuals have integrity, not agreements, but not individuals who lie under oath.
This is what deception and flat out lying looks like.
ILWU members buy this nonsense because they don’t know better. What is the NLRB Administrative Judge’s excuse?
Check out the Background on pages 2-5 of the Administrative Law Judge’s Decision in NLRB case 19-CB-169296;
Or for those who prefer PDF, here is the entire Decision in Case 19-CB-169296.
If what Leal Sundet said is true, then Eric Aldape would not be doing time off right now for his political cartoons.
On more than one occasion Leal told Eric that he felt that Eric won his case, or that he agreed with Eric’s position, but he never once voted with PMA to “protect the integrity” of the Agreement.
If the ILWU and PMA will lie under oath in an NLRB hearing over a simple 10 b timeliness case, what else are they lying about?
One other flat out lie is that the CLRC deals with about 500 grievances per year.
I have been reading CLRC Minutes for 36 years, and they do not deal with 500 grievances per year. Why would Leal and Rich lie about that?
The Coast Labor Relations Committee (CLRC) with Cam Williams (Local 19), Frank Ponce de Leon (Local 13), and President Big Baby, have processed fewer grievances than any previous Committees. In part because they changed the procedures to allow them to deny access to the Coast Arbitrator, whenever they feel like it, and made their decision not arbitrable. Also, it is hard to process complaints when Big Baby throws tantrums and walks out of meetings.
Frank Ponce de Leon and Big Baby are refusing to process the following Section 13.3 Complaint; Eric – 13.3 against Coast Appeals Officer appointment inc bkup. A Discrimination Complaint against the CLRC who violated their own Letter of Understanding regarding the hiring of former ILWU attorney, Larry Schwerin, as the Section 13 Coast Appeals Officer. They refuse to say why.
Frank Ponce de Leon and Big Baby are also refusing to process the following Section 13.3 Complaint; Eric – 22 Shift 13.3 Complaint. A Discrimination Complaint against the LA/LB JPLRC, for refusing to enforce the equalization language designed to equalize the earnings of steady men and hall men for all Local Port Supplements. They refuse to say why.
Frank Ponce de Leon, Cam Williams, and Big Baby only process Complaints they feel like processing, and lie about what they are doing with the rest.
Frank, Cam, and Big Baby also lied to the NLRB when they said they had no control over Arbitrator’s Decisions in Section 13.2 Complaints, and the evidence is in the minutes of meeting CLRC 12-15, wherein the Union agreeed to vacate the Miller Order re Eric Aldape penalty. The CLRC minutes prove that the Union has control when they want to.
Funny how Frank, Cam, and Big Baby can agree to vacate Miller’s Order modifying the Decision, but claim they can’t do anything about Miller’s Decision that caused Eric to get time-off in the first place. The Employers requested Miller’s Decision be vacated in the following letter; Eric – PMA letter dated 11-21-12.
It seems that the Union and the PMA have become so accustomed to lying, they forgot how to tell the truth.
If the Union and PMA are willing to lie about something as fundamental as how their grievance procedure works, and how many grievances they handle each year, how can anything they say be taken at face value?
Time for the NLRB to step up and tell the Union and the PMA, it is not nice to lie to the United States Government?
Time for the NLRB to do their job and protect longshore workers from the liars that employ them, and from the liars who claim to represent them?
Yes, yes it is.