Meeting with Bruce Hansen-ATU President

I haven't seen Bruce since leaving Trimet employ. I forgot what a nice guy he is. One thing I can say about Bruce, he does try to do the right thing.. He wanted me to hear it from him what his logic was for accepting the deal with Trimet. 

And he is willing to meet one on one with any member of ATU757 if they don't understand what's going on.
That says a lot about the character of the man.

I am  programmed  very closely to vice president Hunt.  Both of us have been fighting with Trimet officials so long that neither of us can envision any sort of honest cooperation anymore. Both of us suffer from the "victory or death" syndrome.

I don't trust them, I never will trust them but I imagine that Bruce is most likely correct about one thing, the  loss of  health coverage from one of the best in the country to just another average policy was inevitable.

It's a shame that the retirees had to take this huge hit, the company did indeed lie to us about our retirement package. Our retirement package shrunk significantly while Mcfarlanes got much richer. And so goes the world right now. 

The public enjoys watching public employees getting eaten alive. 

The mainstream media has successfully infiltrated the minds of our fellow citizens into believing the race to the bottom is good for them.

I also agree with Bruce that ATU757 is in a much more desirable position if we end up with another arbitration.
ATU757 has taken two consecutive hits in these contract negotiations, a 'fair' arbitrator would most likely take that into account.

By entering into an agreement now rather that fighting it till the bitter end saves the union and its members (currently working at Trimet) heartache on multiple fronts beyond the health care component.

  I still continue to believe that ATU757 should have never agreed to give up the right to strike. The reason we are in the position that we all find ourselves today is that our union (Jon Hunt) gave our leverage away. With out the power to strike there is in reality no union. 

In the end President Hansen emphasized that this ordeal is over for now. There is no going back. The contract was approved by a vast majority of the members that voted so it is totally legitimate.

There is no point in discussing this any longer.

Solidarity is essential from here