Trimess

Monday, February 22, 2016

Bruce Hansen's last stand

Bruce has staked his entire future on this new election

I understood why the Department of Labor ordered a new election for vice president but I don't understand why they ordered a new election for president

Bruce filed 2 challenges to the election, HERE and HERE

I don't see how either of them warranted a new election but what do I know.

I do know one thing for sure, because of Bruce we are in this state of turmoil now. 

As we all know the power is vested in the President so this is the one office that matters the most.

So Bruce decided he should be back in that office.  
He could have allowed Shirley the consideration to do her job for 3 years. 
In three years time if she had flubbed it (as badly as he did by giving the Trimet executives a freebie giveback) he could run once again.

By forcing this new election he has put himself in a box.
  If he loses a second time he will be finished as far as union politics is concerned.
 Because he can take credit for causing this unnecessary turmoil for no reason but his own self interest.

He has put his self interest ahead of the greater good. 
His one issue is with the so called "Heintzman crowd". 
His followers are all about that one issue.
 They don't care about anything else, all they want is anybody that is connected to Ron Hientzman out of office.
 I put it to the reader, is that a logical reason to hold a new election?
I would say that's an emotional reason that serves no logical purpose

If you look at how Bruce handled the presidency when he was in office you will see he operated in the exact same way as Ron did, as Jon did, and as Shirley is operating now.

The only difference is  Bruce 'gave' Trimet what they wanted in the last contract. 
Shirley, Jon, an Mary walked out of the meetings

Don't forget it was Bruce who gave the Trimet bus drivers the "block signup" it wasn't Shirley. 

So ask yourself, why should you vote for Bruce?
 Because he's not Shirley?
 Because he doesn't like Ron Heintzman, the man that gave us the best contracts of all time?

What can Bruce do that would be better than Shirley? 

I have no doubt in my mind that if Bruce does indeed pull off some sort of miracle he will most likely be a better president this time around.
 But we don't know that for sure do we.
 Bruce was way to cozy with the Trimet sociopathic  executives. 
It is my belief that they 'got to him'. 
Probably the way they get to everybody, by phony compliments and promises they will break later.

So good luck Bruce, if you somehow pull this off people will be watching you closely.
And if you lose, please go away, 
permanently . 
The "anti" Ron Heinztman cult within Trimet has no basis in reality

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have Job openings that ANYBODY can apply for....except. (union employees) this is 100% on you Bruce and yes I voted for you the 1st time.

Anonymous said...

Bruce wants back in office so he can give away more of our wages and benefits. Sad part is he really believes the bullshit TriMet management and friends tell him that he did a good job. Let's not forget how he flat out screwed over retirees in contract that keeps screwing them more and more.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen Bruce lately?

He's as big as a house

Anonymous said...

You can't take anonymous seriously including me.

Unknown said...

I'm new to commenting and there's probably another place to comment which will reach more people but here's something to think on...
I don't think Bruce is responsible for this "state of turmoil" - it's the ones that that corrupted the first election. Um, that would be Shirley and Jon or their brain behind(Heintzman who was a failure at the National and a failure when he came stumbling back to this Local). So the "logical reason" to have a new election is to have a honest one.

Maybe the Contracts were good not because Heintzman's a great negotiator but because he had the big leverage of the right to Strike. Remember the right he and Jon Hunt gave away?

Anonymous is confused - the Contract that was VOTED in gained wages. And even benefits compared to the Arbitration contract.
Shirley is on a fast track to another Arbitration loss. The voted in contract did impact retirees but TriMet and the Health care program are screwing up more than the Contract did - not Bruce's fault but Shirley and Jon sure are blaming him to win votes.

Al M said...

Bruce's contract screwed the retirees

And that's why he lost

You can argue anything you want, I know the truth

Al M said...

Furthermore It was Bruce who signed the hours of service agreement stripping away overtime for active employees as well as that block signup which stripped away seniority.

Trimet now hires maitenence employees from outside the union.

I didn't see any union member gains from the last contract, all givebacks.

I don't have the phobia of Ron Heinztman that so many Trimet union members have.

You'd think he was satan the way so many people talk about him

It's ridiculous

As usual, Trimet Union members get all twisted up over personalities which is more important to them than getting things done properly

Yes Hunt gave away the right to strike-huge mistake. But you have to understand the context of that decision. At the time Trimet employees did have some of the best health coverage for a transit worker in the USA. Relations with the company were excellent under Fred Hansen.

Mcfarlane came in and started his public bullying campaign and his qwest to break the union

And Mcfarlane succeeded it appears, even more so than I originally thought

Al M said...

We also know one other thing for certain, if Bruce does get back in office, Neil Mcfarlane will be one happy camper

Unknown said...

Thank you for the forum Mr M.
Remarkably forgiving to understand the greatest blunder of negotiations with consideration to the context of the "good times" but no consideration of the context of Bruce operating in the worst times since the Depression. That's a fair assessment?

Not twisted over personalities but over the stench of pocket lining cronyism and lost arbitration.

Understand the context that Bruce signed HOS in coordination with the state of Oregon regulators. Should he Malhuer the government?
Wasn't block signupa valid, well intentioned trial designed and implemented by Union members that failed in operation?

Yes, no gains from Fred era contract but gains from Arbitration contract?

Al M said...

NAT-

It appears that you may have considerably more insight into recent events than I do. I will comment that I never saw any actual intellectually composed explanations as to why these things were inevitable, and that may be part of my problem.

All of my opinions are based on the information that is available to me, I have no 'secret' source.

I concede your "good times" point, its valid.

It was never adequately explained to me why after 5 years of following one course of action, the U-Turn was suddenly urgent. The speed in which the last contract was approved after 5 years of the other course of action bothered me.

I also have an issue with 'leaders' that 'lose' for their members but retain their positions and their paychecks. They have lost nothing. If we lose, the leaders must lose. This was part of my issue with Bruce. We had to 'eat it' so is it not fair that he 'eat it' also?

As far as the 'pocket lining cronyism' alas it is systemic with every institution of this United States of America today.

When Bruce was in office he was just as much a dictator as Ron and Jon.

Bruce ignored my texts after he got in office.

He ignored Henry Beasley, And Chris Day, two members who have spent exhaustive time investigating issues around unionism and Trimet.

Jon never called or texted me back either, actually Jon humiliated me several times and actually did Chris Day wrong excluding him from meetings.

Jonathan Hunt was an 'old school' union leader. But I'll always have the highest degree of respect for his courage in standing up to the Trimet executives. People that took advantage of Jon and flat out lied about the way things would be.

You can say what you want about Jon, but he is a leader, and a pretty damn good one from what I can see

ATU PRESIDENT JON HUNT ADDRESSES SUPPORTERS

ATU president Jon Hunt takes on Trimet board president Rick Van Beveren


Bruce can't do that.

Unknown said...

Well no secret sources here either, just Charter mtg and tracking industry in media. That was my frustration with Bruce's campaign - lacking explanation for hard decisions and especially not enough self kudos... Bruce isn't perfect but is an admirable leader.

I don't see him ignoring - he was always on point in Charter when Chris & Henry pursued follow up. Don't know if you only attend for swearing in? Heintzman maybe goes to Tuesday meeting?

Hope I'm not as tiresome as some of the single note Sal's at the meeting...but

Leaders and leadership - Jon is not a leader when he humiliates you! Certainly not a "damn good one"! I watched the "takes on" and that's inexcusably unprofessional. He shows yelling,finger jabbing buffoonery. Those are the easiest to dismiss. I would wager Bruce has made the Board and negotiators skin prickle with discomfort by making a powerful researched statement which achieves more than a blowhard bluster. If Sizemore led the no strike law he would be an everlasting boogyman, hell we'd run Kate out of office for that but Jon gets to cruise on?
And didn't Bruce lead from the front by honoring his pledge to take a 20% pay cut to help the Union's accounting? Personally I think he should be repaid.

Being able to vote a contract up or down is the normal course of action, not stonewalling and losing Arbitration.

Al M said...

I'm not going to say that it's not possible that I could be totally mistaken and misinformed because anything is possible , even me being wrong about things.

You know I really hope that you're right and I'm wrong Because if Bruce wins this time I WANT to be wrong

I understand your points and I appreciate the conversation because this is the first actual detailed explanation from her bruce Hanson supporter about the situation.

My gut tells me if bruce wins he will be a far superior present This time around

However the fact that he saved face for Neil McFarland is very troubling.

The issues surrounding Shirley,Jon,Ron etc are quite a bit exaggerated, in my opinion

I can't support bruce in good Conscience

I just can't do it

And I got over Jonathan's abuse, sticks and stones and all that

I would've felt much better had Bruce lead even one demonstration. But he didn't.

Al M said...

Sorry for typos but I use a tablet these days and can hardly see the text

Al M said...

And I still have no idea why Bruce followed the previous policies regarding the contract dispute only to jettison those policies at the last minute to make this deal with Mcfarlane which required him to fire Heinztman and lock out Hunt

What precipitated that decision ?

That's the million-dollar question that needs to be answered

I was following events close enough to understand McFarland needed that decision at that time. I need to know why bruce allowed that to happen

McFarlane had been violating several court orders at the time also. Bruce got him out from under those

No, sorry, the more I think about it the angrier I get