MTAcre - If a tree falls in the ACRE, does ANYONE hear it ? is anyone listening ?

ACRE member responds to News by the ACRE article

40 Lumur Drive

Sayville, NY 11782

May 3, 2004

Jack Gaines

Chief Editor/Writer

Association of Commuter Rail Employees

420 Lexington Ave., Suite 215

New York, NY 10017

Dear Jack:

Unfortunately I have to infer you wrote the Anonymous Websites article that appeared in the News by the ACRE, Spring 2004, Volume 1, Issue 9. Interesting to note that no one within the ACRE had the guts to put their name on this article. This editorial is filled with unsubstantiated propaganda, which attacks and attempts to discredit an ACRE member in good standing who happens to exercise his rights, which are guaranteed to all ACRE members through our ACRE Constitution and Local Division Bylaws. This article is filled with a lot of accusations. Let us review what you have written and determine if any of this material, which the ACRE wants its membership to believe, has any merit, or is it all just plain bull.

“The site, financed by our former Internationals.” No proof what so ever is provided to back up this claim? Does the ACRE have any receipts showing our former Internationals financed or had anything to do with this site? Which of our former Internationals are you talking about? None are mentioned by name.

“Continues to promote the same tired old allegations that have thoroughly discredited by the Department of Labor, the Justice Department and the National Mediation Board.” What specific allegations are you talking about? Does the ACRE have any letters stating that any investigations were ever conducted by these agencies and the ACRE or its officers were cleared of any wrongdoings?

“What is troubling however is the way our former internationals have taken advantage of our coworkers by getting them to participate in a web site based on discredited accusations.” Taken advantage of is defined as “to make use of for gain. To impose upon, esp. unfairly, as by exploiting a weakness.” Explain how our former Internationals have accomplished this? Where is your proof? What corrective action(s) has the ACRE taken to get help to these troubled coworkers? The anonymous website is filled with documents like ACRE's LM2's, the ACRE Constitution and Bylaws, ACRE Newsletters and letters from ACRE officers. Are these the discredited accusations you are referring to?

“Contributors to the site like engineers Jim Ekberg and Tom Gleason have been writing editorials attacking ACRE.” What attacks are you talking about? Not one example is ever mentioned or provided to back up this statement.

“This is the second campaign that Brother Ekberg has participated in against the interests of ACRE. Mr. Ekberg's first campaign was his appearance in a video produced by the AFL-CIO attacking ACRE during the signalmen representation vote.” Where is ACRE's proof the AFL-CIO had anything to do with this video? The ACRE stated to the membership on 6/15/2000, “The board is exploring the advantages and requirements of affiliating with the AFL-CIO. This can be a long process and can take up to two years before final approval. We have been in contact with their state offices and hope to have more in the near future.” Is this ACRE's way of trying to discredit and turn the membership against the AFL-CIO? ACRE has never updated the membership concerning this affiliation. What has the AFL-CIO written concerning the ACRE? John Sweeny President of the AFL-CIO stated in a letter dated 10/25/2002, “Any statements by ACRE suggesting that AFL-CIO affiliation is in its future should be discounted as claims designed to affect the outcome of ACRE raiding campaigns. Finally, let me make it clear that no unaffiliated organization that raids AFL-CIO unions will be rewarded with membership in the AFL-CIO. As for my part in this video, Dennis Boston, Vice President of the BRS, asked me if I would mind talking about my experiences as an ACRE member. Doesn't the ACRE want their members speaking to other outside union members about their experiences as ACRE Members? I could write a book on what has transpired here. The problem is no one on the outside could or would ever believe it.

“ACRE officers who have been accused of unimaginable misdeeds by Mr. Ekberg.” Again, not one quote or example is ever provided.

While Mr. Ekberg openly campaigns against the interests of ACRE and spreads unsubstantiated lies against its officers, Local Division 9 has retaliated by honoring Mr. Ekberg's August vacation requests and recognizing his rights as an ACRE member.” Where are any quotes to back up this claim? What lies have I spread against ACRE officers? What are the ACRE interests that I have openly campaigned against? How petty of you to bring up my vacation request. (This subject will be explored in depth at a later date.) Lets talk about retaliation from Local Division 9. On August 1, 2000, I sent Mike Doyle a letter with a few concerns about the ACRE. Let me share a few examples of what I have experienced since August 1, 2000:
I had my user ID revoked on the CMS System.
Mike Doyle's letter dated 8/9/2000 asks me to prove that I do not beat my wife.
Mike Doyle states I never stopped by the union office. I prove Mike wrong.
Mike Doyle states I never come to monthly union meetings. I prove Mike wrong.
Mike Doyle states I never called him. Again I prove Mike wrong.
Mike Doyle states I insulted everyone in and every officer in ACRE.
Mike Doyle states he would forward my letter to Mike McCarthy, President of Local 9 for a response. To date, Mike McCarthy has never responded.
Mike Doyle has never written a letter of apology to Brother Ekberg and his wife concerning the false and deliberate statements he made in his letter.
Ronald DeAndrus releases Brother Ekberg's personal salary information without his consent to the ACRE membership for open discussion. Reason being, I had no right to complain about ACRE since I was making money. I believe I work for Metro-North, not the ACRE. A certified letter was sent to Mike Doyle protesting this violation of my rights on 9/5/2002. As usual, no response or action was ever taken by Mike Doyle.
My claims submitted for arbitraries are denied while my conductors are paid.
While at work, my car was vandalized.
I have sent over 20 certified letters to various ACRE officers seeking guaranteed information and clarification on a wide range of issues. So far, ACRE has refused to acknowledge or answer most of them. Gives a whole new meaning to ACRE's claim of being a “democratic and user friendly organization.” I guess this is just ACRE's way of making their members feel warm and their concerns welcomed.

“It's apparent that it is more fun for Jim and Tom to accuse innocent people of imagined wrongdoing than to report on the illegal activities of the groups financing their activities.” How many times must I say the same thing? Jack, where are your supporting statements, any documentation or proof? What groups are financing Jim and Tom's activities? Which groups do we need to report on?

“These individuals could have come to any of the open forums held to discuss the contract ratification and voiced their opinions but, as usual, they choose to sit on the sidelines and hide in the shadows casting unsubstantiated allegations.” Prior to ACRE's open forums, was any information about ACRE's historic contract ever mailed out and presented to the ACRE membership? No information was ever presented to this membership beforehand to read and educate ourselves' on. You had the ACRE membership go to these forums blindly, and be told by ACRE officers only the information which these ACRE officers knew and wanted the membership to hear. This way no tough questions would ever be raised by the membership. (Our officers used this tactic during the contract ratification process in 1999.) No copy of this Pension deal, which ACRE members voted for and paid for, was made prior to the contract ratification vote and is currently still unavailable to the ACRE membership for review. No ACRE member or officer knows exactly what the ACRE membership is entitled to, or going to receive upon retirement. Sadly, the details are still being worked out. One of the main factors holding up this Pension is the determination of what constitutes an employees salary. This will have the greatest impact upon the amount of money an employee receives and lives on throughout their retirement. What a rude awaking it will be when the engineers who have already put in their papers and left, do not receive the huge pensions which our ACRE officers had lead them to believe they would receive. ACRE officers had their members vote, accept and pay for a concept. How could any ACRE member in their right mind vote and pay for something, which they had never seen and reviewed? Now please explain to me why I should have and needed to attend this ACRE miss-informational forum.

Tom Gleason is not a member of the ACRE. He pays a dues maintenance tax to the ACRE. (ACRE members pay $80.00 / month dues, non-ACRE members pay $76.00 /month tax to the ACRE. Non-members pay 95% of the dues cost and receive absolutely no rights. Another fine example of the democratic and user-friendly ACRE organization. Forcing people to pay for something they do want to be a part of or believe in. If it weren't for this dues maintenance policy, which was implemented just prior to the formation of the ACRE, how many members would ACRE really have? Most would have left by now.) Since Tom is not an ACRE member, he does not have the rights an ACRE member has. He can not attend ACRE union meetings, he can not run, nor vote in officer elections, he does not vote on ACRE contracts, he can not attend any of ACRE's functions, he has no say whatsoever in anything concerning the ACRE, its officers or members. Tom just pays and goes along for the ride. Jack, you know this to be true. So why must you criticize Tom for not attending any of ACRE's informational forums?

“ACRE officers are more than willing to set up an open debate and discussion with Mr. Ekberg and Mr. Gleason conducted under the eyes of the membership. They should consider this to be an open invitation to take us up on the offer.” Are ACRE officers more than willing to uphold the ACRE Constitution and the oath they swore to uphold? As soon as ACRE officers comply with my guaranteed rights under the ACRE Constitution and Local Division Bylaws and provide me with all of the documents, contracts, minutes, agreements (verbal and written), financial records etc., and answer all of my concerns which I wrote to them about, I will be more than happy to debate any ACRE officer(s). But ACRE officers will never respond or comply with any of my requests. It's not that I am not entitled to any of these documents or records, which are guaranteed to me through the ACRE Constitution and Local Division Bylaws, Federal, State and Local laws. It's not that these documents, agreements, records, etc., do not exist. ACRE officers signed these records and told us of their existence. It's just that if ACRE officers provided them to me, it would prove to this membership everything that I have stated for the past two years about the ACRE organization and the actions of its officers to be true. This is exactly what ACRE officers are afraid of and will never let happen. The truth about their organization to be revealed.

“In tracing the line by line code sources that expose the Internet addresses of the individuals posting on the website, we have found a few familiar names.” Why did you not tell or show us who they were? Why the secrets? How much time, effort and ACRE members dues money was wasted by ACRE officers concerning this web site. Sad to say ACRE officers are running around in circles chasing their tails and have nothing to show for it. If a few members could inflict this much concern and trouble on our ACRE officers, how can the ACRE organization and its officers ever expect to survive in the real outside world?

Jack, since you keep claiming that I have worked against the interests of the ACRE, I pulled out the Constitution and looked up a few items for you. According to Article II, Purpose, which states: “The ACRE has been established to provide employees an organization that both recognizes and affords representational autonomy to distinct crafts while pursuing unity of action to achieve goals common to all.” How have I violated ACRE's purpose? By writing letters and questioning ACRE officers?

Article III, Objectives, which states: “To secure full and complete rights for all employees who are eligible for membership. To advance the economic and social well being of the membership, and to promote the improvement of conditions in the employment of the membership. To encourage mutual understanding and support in obtaining our objectives through cooperation with our membership, the carrier and the riding public we all serve.” How have I violated ACRE's objective? By standing up for my rights and the rights of the new hires which ACRE officers cannibalize with every contract? By ensuring a future for the next generation of engineers?

Article IV, Membership, which states: “No person shall be denied or excluded from our organization because of the exercise of their right of free speech.” This is what has our ACRE officers in an uproar. I have chosen to exercise my right of free speech as an ACRE member. ACRE officers do not want the membership to know what they have done and what is going on. That is why my certified letters go unanswered. That is why our union meetings were changed from Saturdays, when over 50% of the membership could attend to Mondays, when only 15% of the membership could attend. Currently ACRE Local 9 has 348 members. The Graybar conference room has chairs for about 15 members. Where are the other 333 members supposed to sit? Since ACRE likes throwing around statistics, the average attendance at a Local 9 union meeting in 2002 was 15 members. Usually 6 of the 15 members are ACRE officers. On average only 4% of the membership attends and participates in union meetings. When you factor out ACRE officers, member attendance drops to 2½%. This just demonstrates how our ACRE democratic and user-friendly organization likes to operate. Minutes from these meetings are never posted anywhere. So how does the other 97½% of the membership ever know what is going on and what our ACRE officers are doing?

Concerning our Members Bill of Rights, it states: “Each member of the ACRE shall have the right to: A copy of the contract and all letters of understanding covering the member. Inspect and copy any letter of understanding agreed to by the ACRE. Inspect minutes and financial records and obtain copies of the minutes at a reasonable cost.” How come when I try to exercise these rights with certified letters, ACRE officers ignore my requests? How come when I sent certified letters dated 10/30/2003 and 12/1/2003, to Jim Fahey, Executive Director of ACRE, requesting he enforce my rights as an ACRE member, he does not respond? To date, Jim has ignored my concerns and continues to allow my guaranteed rights as an ACRE member to be violated by ACRE officers. Where do I go from here? The ACRE Constitution is not worth the paper it is printed on.

If I have done all of these terrible things against the ACRE, its officers and Constitution and Bylaws, which you have just informed the membership about, then why have I not been brought up on charges to be heard before the membership? The truth is I have done nothing wrong and it is actually my rights that have been violated by the ACRE and its officers. This is ACRE's dilemma. You know I can prove my case, but ACRE really does not have any case. So you print this nonsense to try to discredit the web site and any one you believe is associated with it. In the old days when people printed and posted articles concerning the ACRE, if ACRE officers or members did not like what they read, they would just tear it down from the wall. Now with this web site, anyone can log on and get information 24/7. Members can read as much or as little as they like when they want to. This is ACRE's real problem, they can't censor and control what is said or read.

The purpose of www.mtacre.com is to provide information to the ACRE membership to better understand how their union representation is functioning, and how it affects their careers at Metro-North Railroad. What are ACRE officers intimidated by and afraid of?

Jack you hit the nail on the head when you state “While it's sometimes fun to play pretend.” This is exactly what the ACRE and its officers are all about. Pretending to be a union and caring about the concerns of its members. You state in a letter to the membership on 12/15/1998, “Finally, there is the issue of money. I will not be the next hypocrite to tell you, it's not about the money. It's always about the money.” How do ACRE officers receive the largest portion of their salaries? In a letter to the ACRE membership dated 12/8/2000, we are informed “As far as four officers being paid full time by Metro-North and drawing a salary from ACRE, all of our officers work full time for Metro-North and most draw a salary from ACRE. Two of our officers, General Chairman Anthony Bottalico and Mike Doyle are on full-time union release positions, which have been negotiated with MTA Metro-North Railroad. To date, these ACRE officers have refused to release the details of their negotiated deal with MTA Metro-North to this membership. In Metro-North's response before the National Mediation Board on Case # R-6893, they state, “the decision to allow employee union officials release time is a business decision made by Metro-North. Employee union officials on release time are not permitted to engage in activities that are contrary to Metro-North's interest or in activities that are exclusively union business. In a letter to the membership dated 1/16/2004, five-ACRE General Chairman state “Collective bargaining is the single most important thing your elected representatives do for you.” During these intense collective bargaining sessions concerning our contract negotiations, how did ACRE officers fulfill their obligations to the ACRE membership and to Metro-North for their salaries? How many hours did Mike and Tony sit across from Gary “D”? How many hours did they sit along side of Gary “D”? How did they legally collect their pay from both sides during these rounds of ACRE contract negotiations? It is impossible for ACRE officers to fulfill both agreements to be paid, especially during contract negotiations. They could not possibility represent both sides fairly. Their signatures on this historic contract and the lengths they went through to push it through, clearly show ACRE members which side won out and will always win out. The members of this Association will never stand a chance against the MTA and Metro-North as long as their officers are on the MTA payroll. How can they collect two salaries and answer to two masters? I have heard of a term that I believe applies here. Its called “on the take.” It is defined as “in search of personal profit at the expense of others. Fits very well here.

I must say that it is a tribute to the ACRE leadership that in the weeks since our contract was ratified that absolutely no ACRE member or officer knows what is going on. ACRE members are speculating on what they will receive and new rumors surface on a daily basis. ACRE officers are contradicting each other on what they believe ACRE members are entitled to. ACRE General Chairman are up with Gary “D” hoping the MTA will do the right thing. They have finally realized that all of these fine details should have been worked out before we signed and paid for this deal. When all of the details concerning this pension deal are fully revealed, how will these officers face the membership? For example, contained on page two of this Newsletter is an article on the $1,000 Lump Sum Payment. It states “ACRE is setting up a process to allow members to bypass federal and state taxes by contributing their $1,000 to either their 401 or 457 Deferred Compensation Plan. What happened to ACRE members who believed what they were told by our ACRE officers and printed in this Newsletter? They deposited their lump sum payment into their deferred compensation plan and had federal and state taxes taken out? Why did this happen? Why did ACRE officers misinform the ACRE membership? Didn't ACRE officers know what they were talking about? Were they misinformed or did they misunderstand Gary “D”? Is the ACRE going to reimburse all of their members for these taxes? One final point. Why did members have to contact the ACRE instead of Metro-North's payroll department to process their choice? Does the ACRE now handle Metro-North's payroll functions? Isn't this just another example of a company union?

Jack, since you are pretending to be an editor, here is a little advice for you. When you make a statement or accuse a person of doing something, please come up with a fact, or have a statement, a quote, something from the person you are accusing to back up your claim(s). Something like proof must be presented to back up your article. Otherwise it just becomes total nonsense. You could be held accountable for what you print. You have not proven or backed up one item in this editorial. You have just lead your readers on another wild goose chase. Just another fine example of ACRE grandstanding.

I can only sum up this letter with the words written by Mike Doyle in a letter to the membership on 1/31/2000, “We must remember that this is the only railroad in the United States that an Association like the ACRE could exist.” Just think about Mike's words. What is Mike really saying about the ACRE, it's officers and it's members?

Sincerely,

James W. Ekberg ACRE Member

Sent via certified mail

P.S. as far as the graffiti situation goes. From what I am reading, to me it looks like it is all coming from dissatisfied ACRE members. I know it must be really hard for ACRE officers to believe that such a person could actually exist. Maybe ACRE members should just play pretend and make believe that they are truly happy.