Arbitration Shell Game

Just because your grievance was voted for arbitration does not mean the union presidents sent it to the arbitrator. This minor detail needs to be made known to members. 

Sometimes this is because the union officials—and lawyers—involved want to cut a deal. Other times it is because they want to sit on your grievance and starve you out.  

I experienced this with my Truck Shop Overhaul grievance. In April, it was recommended for arbitration by Vice President Mark Weems, voted affirmative by the majority of his Executive Rubber Stamps (Local 308 Executive Board) and I let members know. 

However, at the June meeting, the grievance found its way back to the Executive Rubber Stamps and they destroyed it. He even went so far as to accuse me of cutting off work for my coworkers.  

That should have never happened. I can only guess that his CTA masters told him to pull it for a favor. Being the master manipulator he is, he murdered the grievance and pinned the crime on me.  

Members must obtain proof from union officers that their cases are indeed with an arbitrator. 

Do not trust what you are told. See it in-writing. I say this for Local 241 members too. President Keith Hill has over 1,000 grievances—many from unjustly fired members he dislikes—and they never seem to get in front of an arbitrator.

This is one of the great curses of Business Unionism.

We need to change it. The members need to know exactly what is being done by the union presidents on their behalf. Every detail. Every contact.  

I have been experimenting with methods to start such a transition, using a spreadsheet. For now, it is in prototype form. Kind of buggy too. However, I am making progress. 

Meanwhile, I highly recommend you register for my Virtual Union Hall—if you have not already done so. There, I teach all kinds of things about the Contract that you need to know.