This Union meeting was a very important one.  We were able to change our Bylaws if we chose to.  The FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE SLATE talked with as many members as we could and we came up with 8 Bylaw changes.  We contacted our attorneys and after their review of these Bylaws they advised us to only amend 3.  Here are the 3 Bylaw changes we would like your help with at the March 21, 2007 Union meeting with your “yes” vote.

How we were able to submit these Bylaw changes was very interesting.  So here we go, one of the present Executive Board Members’ said they needed to do some house cleaning. They read their Bylaw changes and asked if there was any new business.  Brother Vince Tenuto asked if he could read the members requested Bylaw changes.  He was told “NO” by another present Executive Board Member because, according to the Bylaws, you have to submit them to the Local before 5:00 pm the day before the General Meeting in January (or something along those lines).  Brother Tenuto then replied, “I have a Xeroxed copy of the Bylaws and it does not state anything about 5:00 pm.”  Then  this present Executive Board Member asked Brother Tenuto if he had the whole paragraph stating this.  Brother Tenuto answered yes.   He was then told he had an old Bylaw book.  Brother Vercillo asked the present Executive Board to go to their office and get the correct Bylaw book that stated 5:00 pm.  Meanwhile, Brother Vercillo asked the present Executive Board if he could make a motion.  Their reply was yes.  His motion was to let Brother Tenuto and another member read and submit their Bylaw changes.  The present Executive Board asked for a 2nd and Brother Tenuto seconded the motion.  One of the present Executive Board Members’ asked that all in favor say “I” and about 90% of the Members said “I.”  Then the members were asked that all opposed say “nay” and that amounted to about 10%.  So Brother Tenuto read his 3 Bylaw changes, submitted them to the Present Executive Board and they were accepted.  The other member read his and it was not accepted because of a conflict with our Constitution. 

Apparently this Brother was unaware that he could not make Constitution changes only Bylaw changes.  It appears that he did not know that he was trying to rewrite the Constitution. 

After being shot down by the present Executive Board, this member brought up that they added a newer BA to their Board who was management for one of Locals entities.  He felt this was a conflict of interest, which we agree with.  Some words were exchanged between the present Executive Board and this member, but we really do not want to repeat those words.  At this time, the Bylaw books were brought into the meeting and some of them were passed out.  No one could find this mysterious 5:00 pm cut off time.  Then Brother John Dominikovich asked the present Executive Board Member who told Brother Tenuto about this mysterious 5:00 pm cut off to read it to him and the rest of the Members from his Bylaw book proving this.  He was reluctant to read.  His first excuse was it must be a misprint in the Bylaw books.  Then he finally read it.  Sometimes people think that they could pull fast ones and that our members won’t catch it.  We proved them wrong.  After he read this section of the Bylaws, Brother John Dominikovich asked him to apologize to Brother Tenuto and all of the Membership.  He did apologize but it was in the cocky and sarcastic way we are all used to.  What is really funny about him is he acts like he is running this Local instead of the real person who was voted into that position.  Maybe he should stay in his seat and let other members talk.  If he did we might get a lot more accomplished at our meetings.  There was also a member who usually stands up in front but he was sitting at this particular meeting trying to degrade and using foul language towards Brother Tenuto.  At this time Brother Vercillo stood up and asked the present Executive Board to remove this member from the meeting for being out of order. The present Executive Board finally did the right thing by having this member removed.

Brother Harry Wambaja asked why when one of the Brother Members was thrown out at the last meeting it was not read at this meeting.  He was told it was an oversight.  Yeah right, we believe that one!  He also tried to read a section out of the Bylaws explaining the proper procedure of removing a member from meetings when one of the present Executive Board Members’ rudely told this Brother Member that you cannot just read what you want out of the ByLaw book.  Basically calling him a liar.  The Present Executive Board is not aware of the fact that Brother Wambaja is sanctioned by the State of Illinois in Bylaws and proofreading them.  Maybe they could learn something from this Brother Member.  The FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE SLATE listens to and learns from his knowledge.

The CTA was back after missing the last meeting to let our Members know about one of their problems.  It was about an old driver who was fired a long time ago who wound up immediately receiving another job through the CTA and worked that job for a very long time.  Just recently he was rehired as a driver.  This we commend our present Executive Board for, it is a good thing that this person got their job back.  Subsequently, this person was given all his seniority back as a driver, which is just plain wrong.  Especially since in doing this he is now given the right to bump approximately 60 drivers.  We understand why the CTA Members are mad.  What should have happened to this person, who received his job back, was to have been dropped to the bottom of the seniority list as a new employee.  But the present Executive Board gets an “A” for effort on this one. 

Questions were asked about overtime problems at O’Hare and why there is not an over time or seniority list posted at the Airport.  Also asked was how, when and where the foreman interviews for the City of Chicago were going to take place.  We also had some questions from the Tollway Authority and the IDOT members.  It was great to see more members, especially new ones, at this meeting asking questions and getting involved.  We need more of this. If you want your Local to work for you then you should be more involved in it.  We are asking ALL of our Brother and Sister Members to please start attending these Union Meetings, it is very important to our futures.  Especially the meeting on March 21, 2007 supporting our members Bylaw changes.  This is the first step in bringing this Local back to the Membership.  It is easy to remember when our Union Meetings are.  They are always on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm, at 300 S. Ashland in the basement hall.  We understand this is a hard time for some of our members to make, which is why one of the Bylaw changes we are trying to make is to bring them back to Friday nights at 7 pm.  Hopefully we will see you at the next meeting and Thank you for visiting our website and reading this update.

So until the next Union Meeting, have a great month, stay safe and remember that this has been the views and opinions of some of the members that were at the last Union Meeting.

     

Thank you for your time-

Fighting For The Future Slate