ABX says NO THANK YOU to ASTAR

[erichartmann]

So exactly whose side are you on? If you don't trust the E-Board then why didn't you run?

It really isn't a matter of "sides". Someone had complained about a lack of info from the E-board regarding the contract. The E-board and the N-Committee have chosen not to reveal what those articles already T/Aed cover. The answer is, as I said earlier, simple. When the T/A is presented for ratification, if you don't like it, just say no.

My other comments reference the likely outcome if the T/A is voted down by the membership. As a union, we have rejected two previous T/A's. The first was in 1986/87. The negotiating committee brought back an agreement which they refused to recommend. Management had insisted it would pass. They were wrong. The second was in 1996. The E-board looked at the T/A as presented to them by the negotiating committe, recognized that some serious problems existed, and refused to proffer it to the membership for a vote.

The world did not come to an end in either case. It will not come to an end if we decide this agreement is a turkey and vote it down as well.

As to why I didn't run:

1) I have previously served the Union in a number of different capacities.

2) I am senior enough to be regarded by the "why can't we all get along" crowd as one of the barbarians.

3) I am senior enough to be regarded by many of the junior members as to senior to care about or represent their interests.

4) I don't care to devote my life to working for people who don't appreciate the effort.

5) I have come to believe there is some small amount of truth in management's position that the union spends far to much effort representing 2% of its members for their lack of judgement; in short, those who, without the union, would have been handed corporate Darwin awards long ago. I have no desire to represent these individuals.

6) If you ask me how I feel about something I will not shade the truth (as I see it) to fit your sensibilities.

7) In short, I do not regard myself as electable, do not care to run, do not wish to serve (again), and do not wish to waste my time.