Nobody saw it coming, not a hint of a deal until the deal was announced.
Remember when these negotiations started there was a call for real transparency.
The Portland Mercury covered the story very well: No Bloggers Need Apply? Only Mainstream Outlets Allowed to Cover TriMet Contract Talks | Blogtown, PDX | Portland Mercury
We all know that was all just talk and hoopla, neither the union or Trimet were serious about that.
I want to take a look at the timeline of the events related to the contract:
1-The agreement was announced by Trimet on September 30: TriMet and ATU reach tentative agreement on a new contract | TriMet News and Media Releases
2-Union members received information in the mail October 14th (no official reference found), there was no 'official' information until that time. (unofficial information was out there and on this site)
3-The union held a meeting to answer questions on October 19th(almost 3 weeks after announcement)
The Trimet board meeting is October 22nd
The ballots are counted on October 24th
(no official reference)
The way this should have worked is this:
1-Joint announcement by the parties, the mailing to the members should have been the day the agreement was announced.
2-The union informational meeting should be within 3 days of the mailing
3-the union membership votes yea or nay
4-The Trimet board meeting occurs.
The point I am trying to make here is that the union members were the last in the food chain.
How is that acceptable?
2 comments:
I read the information today and I don't think anyone there really gives on single thought about what happens in 10 years when they are retired or approaching retirement and all the new hires after ratification we just screwed are voting on our retirement benefits. Does anyone really think they are going to give a crap about us? When we screwed them. I don't know what people are thinking. And as far as the officers that didn't show up, it is my understanding that they had a "gag" order placed on them, if they would have spoke their mind TriMet would surely file an Unfair Labor Practice on ATU, unfortunately it was not communicated to the people like that today, Bruce knows he told Shirley to stop talking about the contract for that very fact anyway that's what her email said. But Bruce and his supporters will take every opportunity to turn anything into a hate fest.
Dan Martin told me mid september we would have a contract bye the end of Sept. on Sept 30 about 7pm we had a contract
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