Who will stop the Bleeding?
Well, seems my rumor was incorrect; the Board of Directors has done nothing as usual? Seems it was Ray Linwebber's Legislative Board that voted to ask for Boyd's resignation. Ah . . . , sorry Ray, the remaining 60,000(?) members could ask for Boyd's resignation and it wouldn't be forthcoming!
Let's see, WE know the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees are not going to intercede for the benefit of the membership . . . , how about the Executive Board . . ., say starting tomorrow? Well, . . . a quick indication of where they are headed will come within the first 10 or 15 minutes of the proceeding when it is determined IF the Executive Board has used their authority under the Constitution to request ANY of the documents that Mr. Griffeth has requested but been denied by Boyd! If not, expect the proceeding to be delayed and/or proceed upon demand of the Executive Board with "little"or no punishment to be ultimately determined by the Executive Board. With all due respect to Roger's opinion, I don't specifically have the same faith in the Executive Board ("fair and honest with no political agenda") account my own experiences with them in both Smoot and my charges against Little and Boyd!
So the question remains: Who will stop the bleeding of the UTU? Those who were delegates in Anaheim may remember that Boyd made a special trip over to my table to advise that the best "current membership" figure available was 66,368? So what is it now after the Canadian fiasco, the indictments, and the H&W agreement? I'm guessing below 60,000 for the first time since UTU came into existence in 1969 . . ., and sinking rapidly?
From a membership of close to 200,000 in it's heyday with a VP for about every 12,000 members to approximately 60,000 now with a VP for every 4,000 members and a VP for less than 1800 yardmasters? While we will again see as much delay as Johnson can get for the 2003 LM-2, expect it to reflect an end of year balace of about 16 Mil - 9 of which is in GCA/SLD "trust" (if there is such a thing in the UTU?) funds. The top heavy heirarchy with all their benefits and the unreasonable expenses/per diem of the top three officers places UTU in a situation where we have an approximate monthly average deficit spending of 600,000 . . ., or about 7 million a year! In other words, WITHOUT a dues increase, we can operate one more year assuming there is not a significant lose of members in 2004?
When you consider that to get re-elected in 1999, the "New Beginning" bragged about having 44 million, being "strong a stable" finacially, and being the "premier" Transportation Union in North America . . . a reasonable person ("U" - the dues paying member) might conclude that the "New Beginning" was a dismal failure even if the two chief architects hadn't been indicted?
Of course, WE don't know how much money has been used for Boyd's attorneys from either UTUIA or UTU but when that comes out, it should be the straw that breaks the camals back with the membership and lead to criminal indictments of members of the Board of Directors. I did finally receive a response from the Ohio Board of Insurance but it is basically non-responsive to the specific question asked, i.e., how much money from UTUIA funds has been forwarded to Boyd's attorneys for defense of the actions in Texas? In any event, I will get a copy of the report when it is available and share it's conclusions with my readers!
On a brighter note, I have finally been contacted (phone message and left phone message in return) by a agent of the FBI with the request to explain how Boyd and Little's actions have affected the members of UTU? I look forward to having that conversation albeit most avid readers here probably understand that I think the current indictments (personal enrichment by selling designated counsel positions) is minor compared to the activities of this union heirarcy in the Smoot case and in alleged Railroad Arbitration! The wasting of millions for special reps, unity intiative (haha), politics, etc. is another sidebar that hasn't really been investigated at all to my knowledge. I certainly hope the buying of a federal judge and the two specious decisions of the 4th and 6th Circuit Courts of Appeals (wiretap/bankruptcy) gets equal investigation at some time in the future?
What is the legacy of the LittleVoid Regime (Ah . . . "The New Beginning"): in a single word - APATHY! Apathy that caused the membership to disconnect with the International Union altogether account the feeling of futility! Born first by the arbitrated 1996 agreement wherein LittleVoid pulled the rug out from under the membership after they voted against the National Agreement and had it implemented upon them by Smoot styled "Executive Session" standards and then by a process of "favoritism" backed by both union and designated legal counsel funds that disenfrachised all but a small group of local union officers and particularly delegates!
So who can stop the bleeding? Obviously the government can by placing the UTU into trust as was done with the Teamsters when it became to corrupt to function for the interests of the membership! While I don't think we are there yet, the inaction of the International Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, and International Officers has made it more of a possibility than if they had taken some decisive actions last year!
In my opinion, only the delegates can stop the bleeding right now and that is the case regardless of the outcome of Roger's charges (I anticipate nothing which will do further damage to UTU, i.e., confirm the Executive Board is worthless unless charges are filed by the President or the Board of Directors) or the criminal trial in Houston.
While the demise of UTU from the BLE pundits is premature, it is inevitable IF the delegates fail to act soon. When the Executive Board fails to remove Johnson and Boyd from office and without awaiting the outcome of the criminal proceedings in Houston, the delegates must petition for a Special Convention for the purpose of replacing Article 25 with a recall provision! Forget another convention UNLESS the Department of Labor orders it and I don't see that happening as of now! I believe there is latitude to approve a recall provision without having a Special Convention but it would have to have the concurrence of the Board of Directors for mail ballots (and probably government approval).
While I am not adverse to a two day Special Convention, if absolutely necessary, it will drain approximately 40% of the capital left in theUTU general fund, require an immediate dues increase, and possibly be counterproductive, i.e., cause more loss of membership to BLE (Ah . . ., assuming the trainmen don't have to pay the exhorbitant dues engineers in BLE are paying). Ultimately, the delegates must provide the recall provision that will change the face of the current UTU leadership (particularly Board of Directors) wherein the UTU Board of Directors mandates extreme cost cutting measures (cut VP's to 10 and salaries to VP/Internation Officers by 25%) as a show of good faith (and common sense) BEFORE they vote the membership on the amount of dues increase and/or "special assessment" necessary to survive to the next convention. Absent that showing of good faith and itemizing what changes will be made specifically (in UTU news), they cannot pass the necessary dues increase to make UTU viable into the future.
And I would comment here that both BLE and UTU members better realize that two man crews is the only battle cry of both unions for the next decade that makes sense IF Public Safety is the prime consideration. That needs to be a Conductor and Engineer until the attrition of the conductors and then become Engineer and Co-Engineer! Of course the problem is that Public Safety isn't the main concern of Railroad Management and both unions would agree to engineer only road jobs IF they could gut the other union (similar to the RCO issue that is turning out to be the "lack of production" nightmare to the Carriers that anyone with common sense already predicted).
A significant hindrance to any plan to rectify the problems in UTU - the International Officers themselves . . ., none have ever spoken up in public and on the record for reform of UTU and most are only looking to survive a few more years until they take their multiple pensions and $100 a month lifelong health insurance into retirement (if one looks at their current duties each year many are already into semi-retirement)!
Paul Thompson should retire and the Board of Directors should do whatever is necessary to support attriting the AP position as soon as possible. The members, through their delegates, actually have the fate of UTU in their hands now because any significant dues increase without substantial reform of UTU will lead to mass migration of members that leaves UTU unable to meet their overbloated payroll and into bankruptcy! Hell, then our international officers can worry about their H&W payments and pensions in just like our members and retirees do!
Management of UTU by the President, Assistant President, and GS&T from Seattle (Austin), Shawnee Mission, and California has been a proven failure; when do we get top International Officers to actually run the union from Cleveland and also stop interferring with the duties of the SLD's and GCA's? Inquiring Minds Want to Know?
UTU remains viable today because of the hard work of Local Union Officers, SLD's, GCA's, and some International Officers despite an overbloated International heirarchy that has placed their own self-interest above that of the membership and has remained absolutely silent in the face of wrongdoing for years! It can't and won't remain that way much longer! In my view, without immediate action in the next 4 months . . . UTU is history and those that caused it's demise will still be blaiming non-union websites like this and "alleged" criminals like Ken Smoot? Hang in there and always have a nice day!
10:49:48 PM 
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