FROM 1998 TO 2021. 23 YEARS LATER AND THE RATS ARE STILL IN THE WOODPILE !!! WHERE IS THE US CALVARY???

TELL US AGAIN HOW PATIENT WE MUST BE.TELL US AGAIN HOW THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE TURN SLOW

 

MAYBE WHAT YOU SHOULD REALLY BE EXPLAINING TO US IS WHY NOT ONLY HAVE YOU REFUSED TO BRING THESE CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE BUT WHY YOU HAVE HELPED THEM MAINTAIN THEIR CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES 

                       US CALVARY KEYSTONE COPS REGIMENT

 

 

IMPEDIMENTS TO UNION DEMOCRACY

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND

THE WORKFORCE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 4, 1998

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM B. RUGH, CARPENTERS FOR DEMOCRACY, UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS & JOINERS OF AMERICA, RIDLEY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA

 1998

Mr. Rugh. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for giving us this opportunity to be heard. I am not only here to represent the Philadelphia Carpenters for Democracy, I also here representing other groups such as ours that have sprouted up across the United States and Canada that can't be here because of geographical reasons.

We are not here to protest against our local unions, we are not here to protest against our district councils, we are here to protest the hostile takeover of an international union from its members. This takeover was done by power and money-hungry politicians masquerading as union brothers.

The 500,000 plus members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America were stripped of their voting and representation rights that we have had since its beginning in 1881.

We no longer have a say or a vote on the following issues: we no longer vote for the business agents that represent us every day; we no longer vote on secretary-treasurers and presidents of our councils that guide our business agents and organizers; we no longer vote on bylaws that govern our union; we no longer vote on negotiated contracts for our wages and fringe benefits; we no longer vote on any dues or assessment increases.

The right of a union member's vote is a check-valve to ensure that business reps and council leaders work for the best interests of the members that pay their salaries. These leaders are no longer accountable to the general membership. They are only accountable to the person who appoints them and signs their paycheck.

You ask how was this takeover done? It was done with bribes, intimidation, high-priced lawyers and legal loopholes. The bribes came in the way of substantial pay raises for our council and local leaders to offer no resistance. Their choices were to be fired and have their locals disbanded and their charters pulled. Our general president calls this "restructuring," even though they closed locals and councils that are completely solvent.

Another example of the bribes is in bought convention delegates and financing the expenses of others. Along with threats of blackballing and never working again, intimidation tactics were enforced by firing business agents and local officers, stopping elections, lawsuits and legal action against individual members, local unions and district councils. In other words, members' dues money was being used to pay the legal fees of high-priced lawyers to strip them of their rights as union members. Don't these figures add up to labor racketeering? We think so.

We were forced to accept this plan introduced by current UBC President Doug McCarron. He calls this new plan a "representative democracy." With this system we are now represented by delegates instead of making the choices ourselves, a system where one-third of these delegates are appointed. This gives absolute power to an executive secretary-treasurer of a regional council that is first appointed by Doug McCarron and then is elected by the delegate that he in turn appoints. Instead of having autonomous locals and district councils throughout the country, we now have small kingdoms.

Isn't there a saying that goes absolute power corrupts absolutely? In Philadelphia we have approximately 10,000 members. They are represented by 60 delegates. Out of these 60, 20 are appointed and another eight are on the council payroll. That means 28 out of 60 delegates draw their paychecks from the council.

As part of the restructuring, our work dues were doubled without a rank-and-file vote. In Philadelphia, our work dues were raised from 1-1/2 to 3 percent of our gross wages, and we did not have a say in the matter. Are we concerned where our dues money is going? Absolutely. Where do we turn for help? Within our organization, petitions were forwarded to the International.

In Oregon, 2,500 signatures were collected but were denied by our general executive board. In Detroit, 1,200 were collected, again denied. In Philadelphia, 1,100 were collected, again denied.

As you can see, it is not just a few disgruntled workers. A lot of the members that came down here with me today sacrificed a day's pay and the possibility of retaliation from our leadership, plus their employers.

The Labor Department tells us that it is illegal to raise dues without a referendum vote. They tell us it is illegal to have appointed delegates vote on a higher office, yet it is happening all across the country. After receiving complaints and protests from all across the United States, still they do nothing. We began to make appointments to see some of our local Congressmen, some of whom sit on this committee.

Even though this so-called plan is obviously wrong to the union member, we got little more than lip service from them. At least with this lack of representation, we can still vote on their performance.

No more in the Carpenters Union. When Peter J. McGuire first founded the International in 1881, it was to better serve the members across the country. It was not founded to be a corporation with personal financial goals. It was not formed to make bad real estate investments, as it did in the late 1980s, when our general president and executive board were involved in a real estate scandal which amounted to the loss of $125 million of our hard-working members' dues money.

The International was not founded to threaten, intimidate and take away the autonomy of solvent local unions and councils. They are meant to work for the members that pay their salaries by settling jurisdictional disputes and to lobby for better work-related legislation.

In Philadelphia, in 1981, the International came into our council to change the voting structure for our business agents and council leaders. After three days of hearings, where our members were allowed to come in and testify and voice their concerns on the past voting structure, their voices were heard and the International made changes that were necessary to guarantee a more democratic system for our members.

This is how an International represents its members. Our general secretary is also the chairman of a bank, the First Trade Union Bank of Boston, Massachusetts. Isn't this a conflict of interest? Our general president has announced that he has been elected to the board of Perini Corporation, also out of Massachusetts. The head of an international union on the board of an international construction company? Isn't this a conflict of interest? We believe it is.

In closing, I have a little something I wanted to read. It comes from somebody that had a lot to do with our history in the past. It goes like this:

"Give all the power to the many, and they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, and they will oppress the many. Both, therefore, ought to have power, that each may defend itself against the other."

That, by the way, was Alexander Hamilton.

 

A NEW YORK MEMBERS RECOLLECTION

  I will always remember being at the 2000 Carpenter Convention in Chicago   and hanging with Carpenters for a Democratic union. John Reiman was on trial for exercising his democratic rights. Tom Verdone was his barrister.

     We were out front picketing the grand majestic hotel where Doug Mccarron was staying. Ken Little, Tom Verdone, John Reiman , etc, we were all there.

       Suddenly Doug McCarron appeared in the lobby of the hotel.  We could see him with his body guards thru the glass revolving doors..  His goons were video taping us from across the street.

      Once Mccarron saw Bill Rugh and his two sons along with the rest of us, he stopped like a deer in the headlights just before the revolving door. And I clearly remember one of Bill Rugh's sons curling his finger for McCarron to come out.  McCarron, the coward that he is when facing union democracy, did a 180 and went back into the hotel.  He went out another exit as far as we could ascertain.

 

NOW "COWARD" IS A STRONG WORD

 

HOW ABOUT GUTLESS,WIMP,SPINELESS,PRISON BITCH OR ONE OF MY FAVORITES

CHICKEN SHYTE
  

 

 "Bribes, intimidation, high-priced lawyers and legal loopholes"

HEY FEDS.CAN YOU SAY PATTERN OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

 

 

ONE THING I MIGHT ADD THAT BROTHER RUGH HAD NO WAY OF SEEING. OVER THE LAST 23 YEARS THE REAL OBJECT OF DIRTY DOUG MCCARRONS AFFECTION HAS REVEALED ITSELF

EXCLUDING THE FEW PHONY AND THEREFORE ILLEGAL TRUSTEESHIPS IMPOSED TO PUNISH THOSE WHO EXPOSE THE UBC CRIMINAL SYNDICATE SUCH AS MIKE MCCARRON AND JOHN BALLANTYNE.

 

 EXCLUDING THE FEW PHONY AND THEREFORE ILLEGAL MERGERS TO PREVENT LEGALLY ELECTED MEMBERS FROM TAKING OFFICE SUCH AS PETE SAVAGE

 

ALL ILLEGAL ACTIONS THE DOL HAS NOT ONLY ALLOWED BUT HAS REFUSED TO INVESTIGATE 

 

 WHAT IS MCCARRON REALLY CONSOLIDATING.WHAT IS THIS CRIMINAL RAT REALLY AFTER

 !!!BANK ACCOUNTS AND PENSION FUNDS!!!

MCCARRON IS CONSOLIDATING UBC FUNDS AND BANK ACCOUNTS THROUGHOUT THE UBC KINGDOM TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE UBC INTERNATIONAL TO CONTROL AND ROB

HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO YOU WANT??

MCCARRON AND THE UBC INTERNATIONAL SPENT MILLIONS AND THREE YEARS SUING IN FEDERAL COURT DEMANDING TO ALLOW THE UBC TO SEAT AND REMOVE TRUSTEES ON INDIVIDUAL FUNDS AT THEIR DISCRETION

FUCHS - V- ALLEN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN NY