Fellow aviators, and all,
As the most recent past president of IBT Local 1108, and someone whose name is on the Charter, I take last weeks events pretty seriously. There are certainly some mischaracterizations in the other thread, and it is so long that I’m sure a lot of people are unable to keep up. So, I have taken the liberty of starting another thread.
First, I place primary blame on Teamsters rep BM for the underhanded tactics that were attempted. Most of you who are interested in this thread, have probably already seen the Separation Agreement that was posted on the other thread. The idea that BM needed to steal the check and deposit it into another account, so that they would have the money to pay the loan to NJASAP is simply laughable. Does anybody really believe that the Secretary Treasurer and myself, or any other members of the then current 1108 board, would not have gone through with that or any other portion of the agreement?
Please try to put things in perspective, and use an understanding of the system, and you will easily determine that the only people with anything to gain by playing games with the Agreement was the IBT, and in their minds they would help 1108 get some more Netjets money. If the Agreement were abrogated by anyone associated with Netjets, the IBT could have collected several more of the almost $400,000 dues checks before the disaffiliation process could have been run through the NMB.
For those who believe that Netjets pilots were pilfering the treasury, I would tell you that myself and our former Secretary Treasurer fully understand the fiduciary obligations we had to the Local, and as I told BM and others weeks ago, if anyone believes I have done anything illegal, please prosecute me to the fullest extent of the law. I would suggest that it is important to note that during the extent of this period, a Flight Options pilot has been an Executive Board member, and TRUSTEE. For those who don’t know the duties of the Trustee, they include signing the books once a month, after a full and complete review. Each and every check that is written that month, along with all the documentation, is available. In addition, the Agreement specified that any extraordinary expenditures would be approved at Eboard meetings, and BM (and the two Options pilots on the board), was provided access to each and every one of them. One last note, at our meeting last Wednesday, I presented a motion to approve an outside audit of all funds since the April time frame. (The IBT had an auditor in for almost six weeks prior to that, and his outbrief included the terms “awesome,” and “most technologically advanced Local in the IBT.”) It may be interesting to note that the motion had only one no vote. I can assure you that was not a Netjets pilot. (Feel free to check the official minutes.)
I will tell you that in my personal opinion, the two Flight Options pilots were duped into this by BM’s lies. As we sat in the conference room when I found out about this, one of them asked me what I thought he should think when he found out the checking account would be $120,000 in the red. Unfortunately, as the IBT auditor admitted a short while later, that was not even close to correct, nor was it what he had told Bill Moore.
What bothers me, is that I had previously told those responsible that BM was attempting to sabotage the Agreement. The bottom line is that two of them chose to believe Bill, rather than put thoughts and facts together, (like their own ability to review the books), and understand that Bill was probably trying to destroy the relationship between the two groups, because he wants to make sure NJASAP does not get any credit if things go alright in future negotiations, and he doesn’t want the Options pilots to be cozy with a model for their own potential disaffiliation.
Some people have suggested that the IBT lawyers must have approved the “Trusteeship,” and therefore it really was legal. (Quite frankly, I believe that the IBT attorney involved was one of the few people trying to just make this work.) Not to be rude, but please folks, get a better idea of how the real world works, and do it before your bargaining team goes back into negotiations with F&H. That paperwork is supposed to go through the Airline Division Director, who knew nothing of it, and the NMB, where it was not filed. That paperwork was to be used to BS the banks, and the Options pilots. In addition, as pointed out elsewhere, it’s not legal for certain other reasons. As part of some addendums to the Agreement framework last week, the attorneys proposed that the IBT would make no claim to Trusteeship, and we would take back our police reports. BM and others work on the assumption that the courts will probably treat something like this as a civil matter. However, I can assure you his face changed a little bit when we found out what had happened, and I read their “trusteeship” letter, and pointed out that the effective date was the 8th, and the check was taken on the 7th.
I spoke to MS and ERM yesterday. ERM was not aware of any of this, and was on his way back from vacation in Canada. MS and I had a strained but cordial conversation, and the bottom line is that he stands by his decision at the time based on what he knew. My bottom line to that is the appropriate due diligence was not done, and someone should take responsibility. I will leave it at that. However, while I don’t like to see some of the things posted on the other thread on either side of this issue, a number of posters with obvious information from someone in Options leadership, have accused me and others of financial improprieties. I will always answer to those types of charges.
Sincerely,
Greg Rountree
As the most recent past president of IBT Local 1108, and someone whose name is on the Charter, I take last weeks events pretty seriously. There are certainly some mischaracterizations in the other thread, and it is so long that I’m sure a lot of people are unable to keep up. So, I have taken the liberty of starting another thread.
First, I place primary blame on Teamsters rep BM for the underhanded tactics that were attempted. Most of you who are interested in this thread, have probably already seen the Separation Agreement that was posted on the other thread. The idea that BM needed to steal the check and deposit it into another account, so that they would have the money to pay the loan to NJASAP is simply laughable. Does anybody really believe that the Secretary Treasurer and myself, or any other members of the then current 1108 board, would not have gone through with that or any other portion of the agreement?
Please try to put things in perspective, and use an understanding of the system, and you will easily determine that the only people with anything to gain by playing games with the Agreement was the IBT, and in their minds they would help 1108 get some more Netjets money. If the Agreement were abrogated by anyone associated with Netjets, the IBT could have collected several more of the almost $400,000 dues checks before the disaffiliation process could have been run through the NMB.
For those who believe that Netjets pilots were pilfering the treasury, I would tell you that myself and our former Secretary Treasurer fully understand the fiduciary obligations we had to the Local, and as I told BM and others weeks ago, if anyone believes I have done anything illegal, please prosecute me to the fullest extent of the law. I would suggest that it is important to note that during the extent of this period, a Flight Options pilot has been an Executive Board member, and TRUSTEE. For those who don’t know the duties of the Trustee, they include signing the books once a month, after a full and complete review. Each and every check that is written that month, along with all the documentation, is available. In addition, the Agreement specified that any extraordinary expenditures would be approved at Eboard meetings, and BM (and the two Options pilots on the board), was provided access to each and every one of them. One last note, at our meeting last Wednesday, I presented a motion to approve an outside audit of all funds since the April time frame. (The IBT had an auditor in for almost six weeks prior to that, and his outbrief included the terms “awesome,” and “most technologically advanced Local in the IBT.”) It may be interesting to note that the motion had only one no vote. I can assure you that was not a Netjets pilot. (Feel free to check the official minutes.)
I will tell you that in my personal opinion, the two Flight Options pilots were duped into this by BM’s lies. As we sat in the conference room when I found out about this, one of them asked me what I thought he should think when he found out the checking account would be $120,000 in the red. Unfortunately, as the IBT auditor admitted a short while later, that was not even close to correct, nor was it what he had told Bill Moore.
What bothers me, is that I had previously told those responsible that BM was attempting to sabotage the Agreement. The bottom line is that two of them chose to believe Bill, rather than put thoughts and facts together, (like their own ability to review the books), and understand that Bill was probably trying to destroy the relationship between the two groups, because he wants to make sure NJASAP does not get any credit if things go alright in future negotiations, and he doesn’t want the Options pilots to be cozy with a model for their own potential disaffiliation.
Some people have suggested that the IBT lawyers must have approved the “Trusteeship,” and therefore it really was legal. (Quite frankly, I believe that the IBT attorney involved was one of the few people trying to just make this work.) Not to be rude, but please folks, get a better idea of how the real world works, and do it before your bargaining team goes back into negotiations with F&H. That paperwork is supposed to go through the Airline Division Director, who knew nothing of it, and the NMB, where it was not filed. That paperwork was to be used to BS the banks, and the Options pilots. In addition, as pointed out elsewhere, it’s not legal for certain other reasons. As part of some addendums to the Agreement framework last week, the attorneys proposed that the IBT would make no claim to Trusteeship, and we would take back our police reports. BM and others work on the assumption that the courts will probably treat something like this as a civil matter. However, I can assure you his face changed a little bit when we found out what had happened, and I read their “trusteeship” letter, and pointed out that the effective date was the 8th, and the check was taken on the 7th.
I spoke to MS and ERM yesterday. ERM was not aware of any of this, and was on his way back from vacation in Canada. MS and I had a strained but cordial conversation, and the bottom line is that he stands by his decision at the time based on what he knew. My bottom line to that is the appropriate due diligence was not done, and someone should take responsibility. I will leave it at that. However, while I don’t like to see some of the things posted on the other thread on either side of this issue, a number of posters with obvious information from someone in Options leadership, have accused me and others of financial improprieties. I will always answer to those types of charges.
Sincerely,
Greg Rountree
