Saturday, June 2, 2012

MY PICKS FOR ATU LEADERSHIP

I am no where near as critical as some of our members are of our current president, Jonathan Hunt.
From my point of view Jon has done a pretty decent job leading in the midst  of the world wide attack against union labor. When you watch Jonathan conduct a union meeting you have to respect the man and his abilities. He is a brilliant man no doubt.
The current contract we are working with is a good one, with decent pay and benefits.
Mr Hunt and Mr Heintzman have done an excellent job of negotiating our contracts. I congratulate both of them for the excellent work.
But I cannot wrap my mind around voting for Heitzman/Hunt ticket for one reason, they have been in charge too long.
Mr Heintzman, after his tumultuous tenure at the international, thinks he can just walk in and take over at 757 again?
How can I possibly support that at this point in our history.
We do need a change, and this would be a good time to move in that direction.

BRUCE HANSEN PRESIDENT
With that in mind I support BRUCE HANSEN FOR PRESIDENT. I think that Tom Horton has some excellent ideas and the intelligence to pull off the presidency, but he has no real exposure to current union affairs and I feel that there needs to be some current experience with union affairs.


Mr Hansen has been involved with union affairs and vociferously defended me personally while I was working at Trimet so I know the man well. He is a man that can be trusted.

MICHAEL CONNER VICE PRESIDENT
The choices for VP are a little more muddled, both Jay Frye and Mike Connor seem well qualified to be Vice President.  But Mr Connor has been part of the union and I remember reading his articles in the labor press and was very impressed by this man. Therefore he is my pick for Vice President.



Now the treasurer was somewhat of a quandary.  I was not very happy with the work of our current treasurer. But as time went on I think she started growing into the job. And I was very impressed how she handled being sidelined by Jon. She has been through the school of hard knocks and deserves another term in my opinion. I will be voting for Evette Farra for treasurer.

EVETTE FARRA

4 comments:

  1. Thanks Al, as a frequent reader of this blog your nod is appreciated.

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  2. Great picks Al-agree totally.

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  3. Al,
    Thanks for your opinions. Other members need good opinions to help them make wise choices.

    Jay Frye will be my choise for VP.

    Being an MOW employee, I view Michael Conner as completely arrogant and inflexable with a poisionous relationship already set in stone with management.

    My thoughts are that we need someone with experience, yet brings a new perspective and some ability to compromise when necessary to carry us forward through the next contract.

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  4. Just remember who the adversaries are. A team of lawyers and hired big dollar anti union mercenaries.

    We need to elect our own Pit Bulls that we can mistreat and kick, but let them out of the yard to attack the thieves and defend our rights and futures.Pit Bulls sometimes bite their owners... but are still good Watch Dogs with a good strong chain around their neck.

    The hired guns didn't get their jobs because they are friendly or nice. They will take money out of your pocket.

    Elect the Pit Bulls to watch our back yard. Ron and Mike are good dogs.

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