Big Baby enabled Leal Sundet, x-PMA employee and Coast Committeeman from Local 8 in Portland, Oregon, and his gangster style tactics related to the ILWU ‘s jurisdictional dispute over 2 jobs.
According to the article, the 2 week trial was about damages related to the behavior of the Union.
Both Local 8 and the International had already been found guilty of unlawful thuggery, a Decision they Appealed and lost.
The Union brought in a team of 7 of high-powered attorneys who attempted to re-litigate the case the Union lost on Appeal.
One observer estimated the Union was spending in the neighborhood of $70,000 a day on their lawyers who wear the big underwear, while their regular lawyers, also on the payroll, sat in the bleachers.
The Union tried to blame everything that happened on Elvis Ganda and the way he and his ICTSI people treated the Local 8 longshoremen.
When pressed for specifics the Union was unable to describe incidents where management was abusive toward the workers, outside of 1 story about a ILWU clerk who worked next door to T-6, who had been allowed to drive her car thru T-6 to come and go was told she would have to use her own companies gate after ITCSI took over T-6.
Oh, the horror.
At one point Leal Sundet took the stand to explain the Union’s claim that Elvis and his people were verbally abusive toward their longshore workers.
When the ICTSI lawyer claimed that Leal himself had verbally abused Elvis, Leal responded by denying the claim. At which point the lawyer pulled out transcripts from Leal’s deposition and read him his own threatening words.
The jury obviously did not buy any of the Union’s fairytale because they gave Elvis pretty much everything he was asking for.
All of a sudden there is a lot of concern on the part of the Union.
Members are openly claiming they are not going to pay.
There is talk of declaring bankruptcy, although I’m not sure how that would work when they have a guaranteed income stream, PMA pays 85% of their dispatch hall expenses, and they have virtually no liabilities outside the money they donate to politicians.
There is a special 1 topic caucus later this month, just to deal with the verdict.
Southern California has called an emergency Area Meeting for all Locals, longshore, clerk and foremen.
Big Baby collected money from every Local on the West Coast while he made his fair well tour, maybe he should give it back to help pay for his actions.
The Union asked the Judge to delay the Judgement for 2 weeks, allowing for each side to submit briefs.
The Union is expected to play the “we are to big to fail” card in hopes of getting the Judge to reduce the damages the Jury awarded.
There are some in the legal community that feel that unions are entitled to and should get special treatment.
I sure hope the Judge is not one of them.
Big Baby is a stupid bully. He and his lackeys should be held accountable.
Let them declare bankruptcy and have their collective bargaining agreements declared voided, and watch the feeding frenzy of those willing to fill the void.
They should take Big Baby’s name off the golf tournament, and put it on the; Take Your Money and Drinking Contest.
This is starting to get interesting.