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A
proud ACRE officer is transformed
Hello Proud Mike: Definitely an interesting e-mail
which you sent to the MTAcre web site. True to form,
it is totally hypercritical in nature. Coming from
a person who has refused to answer any certified letters
or provide any information to your ACRE membership, which
is guaranteed to them via your ACRE Constitution and Local
Division Bylaws. Pure ACREism at its finest.
What exactly are you proud of? The fact that you sign
your name to agreements and documents and then hide them
from your ACRE membership. A truly proud person
would show everyone these signed documents and want
to take the credit for their accomplishments. A true
coward would hide these documents from their membership and
shun any responsibility for their actions. To
date, you and the rest of your ACRE officers have chosen
to act as cowards. Too scared to show this ACRE membership
what the facts really are. If you did, the ACRE gravy
train would come to an abrupt end.
As usual you go for a conspiracy theory. Blaming
the Big Bad International Unions for everything which does
not go ACRE's way. The MTAcre web site was created,
developed and implemented by ACRE members. Not a single
dime was taken from any outside source. Sorry to burst your
ACRE ego. Funny how the ACRE membership can tell who
runs the site, and ACRE officers can't. A true grassroots
movement in the works. Not like with the creation
of the ACRE. When you and Tony and the rest of your
crew were BLE and UTU officers who refused to
resign their positions and use their own funds
for the formation and creation of the ACRE. No attorney
logos on the back of our shirts, decals or business cards
or web site. Can your organization state the same?
Didn't think so. Since you insist on having the International
Unions somehow connected to this site, they will be
solicited and if they wish they will be able opt for a link
to this site. We could use additional funds for
other projects. Thanks for the input.
Being that you are proud of your actions and what
you sign your name to, why don't you in your own words "come
out from under your rock and support your rhetoric in the
clear light of day". Provide your ACRE membership
with the following proudly signed documents.
- A copy of ACRE's historic pension plan. What was
mailed out to our home was just a short synopsis of an
idea for a pension plan. The MTA Defined Benefit
Pension Plan effective 1/1/94, amended on 11/2001 dated
1/9/02 is 113 pages long. The MTA has taken our
Vanguard Accounts and is taking 3% of our earnings
for a Pension Plan, and the ACRE has not provided
to its membership a copy of the signed Pension
Plan. The truth is this plan does not exist yet.
Gary "D" and the rest of his wrecking crew are hard at
work squeezing out everything they possibility can
from this plan. Then he will summon you
and Tony to sign it without question. The MTA will
be able to do this because that is exactly why they pay
you.. Do exactly what they instruct you to do.
Do what they say or lose your MTA pay.
- Provide a copy of your negotiated agreement with MTA
Metro-North for your full-time union release position.
You proudly wrote to and proclaimed it's existence to
the ACRE membership on 12/8/2000. To date,
you have failed to release a copy of it to your
ACRE membership. What do you have to hide it from
your ACRE membership?
- Provide copies of the minutes from ACRE Local Division
9 monthly meetings from March, April, May and June of
2000. These minutes are guaranteed to the ACRE
membership through the ACRE Constitution and Local Division
Bylaws. To date, you have refused to release them
to your ACRE membership. As a matter of fact, you
refuse to post any minutes of any ACRE Local Division
9 monthly meetings for your ACRE members to read.
What do you have to hide from?
- Provide access to ACRE's financial records as set forth
under the regulations of the LMRDA. Again the ACRE
has refused to allow their membership access to ACRE's
financial records. What do you have to hide from?
- Inform the membership if you get to keep the funds
in your Vanguard account. You signed away your
memberships Vanguard accounts. Did the MTA allow
you to keep yours? What do you have to hide from?
- Provide copies of all of the agreements (written
and verbal) which you have proudly signed or agreed to.
To date, you have refused to release any of them.
Where is the CMS agreement. The agreement to change
the 14B arbitrary. What do you have to hide from?
- In your Question and Answer sheet about the historic
ACRE Pension Plan, it states "ACRE hired the Segal Company,
one of the most respected accounting companies in the
world to run an actuarial study and compare the Pension
to the Vanguard Accounts. So there would be no question
of the results, we had the numbers run for each individual
who is a current employee. Right down the line,
the Pension provided a much greater return than the Vanguard
Accounts ever will". Provide a copy of this report
to me. The ACRE membership paid for this report
and we are entitled to see the facts. How come not
a single letter, our numbers, or any other information
from the Segal Company was included in the contract
ratification package which were mailed to ACRE members
homes? Did the Segal Company run the numbers for any
of the new hires. They will pay 3% into their
pension forever, they have to co-pay their medical including
all future adjustments, without the lifetime medical benefit.
With everything you now require the new hires to pay for,
does this historic ACRE Pension Plan out perform the Vanguard?
This is just the usual ACRE grandstanding. Tell
the ACRE membership what they want to hear and provide
absolutely no facts to back up any of what the ACRE or
it's officers claim.
Your statement "afraid to run for office to gauge just
how little support you have". Let's look into the
ACRE "democratic user friendly organization" election process.
Please explain why with the inception of the ACRE, does
the entire membership get to vote on the Local Chairman
for each individual Local? Why do New Haven, Harlem and Hudson
engineers get a say in who is the GCT Local Chairman.
They do not work under him or concern themselves with their
GCT issues, so why do they have a say as to who runs
the GCT Local? And vise versa for the other locals?
Why do 348 engineers get to tell 60 GCT engineers
who they can elect and run their Local?
This ACRE election system appears to be more of a dictatorship
and not really a true democracy. I think it is the
ACRE officers who are afraid to stand on their own two feet
and have only their own local engineers decide their
fate. This election system was not in place under
the BLE, why does the ACRE need to have this election
system in place today?
When the ACRE disaster is finally exposed for what it
really is, then we will see how many of your
ACRE officers knock each other down to run in and cut
their own deals to reduce their prison time. If there
was ever any integrity on the part of the ACRE organization
or it's officers, it was compromised long ago. Sold
your soles to the MTA for a few bucks. Now Gary "D"
and the rest of the MTA has you and your ACRE team on a
tight leash. They are your masters, and you can not
escape their commands. ACRE officers lifestyles
and this ACRE organization can not survive without the
MTA's financial support. You call it full-time
union release positions, I consider it on the take.
It is sad to accept that the MTA is and has become ACRE's
International. How can you profess to be an Independent
labor organization when you accept financial support from
the MTA, the organization which you are entrusted to
protect your ACRE membership against? The next
time Gary "D" summons you up to his office, see if he
has determined the rate of return on the MTA's investment
on ACRE officers full-time union release positions?
You will never allow an open debate before the entire
assembled ACRE membership. You will never release
any of the facts, proudly signed documents or other
information requested in this e-mail. You will stay
hidden up in your ACRE office, never to walk into the
engineers room in the clear light of day, afternoon or night.
If any of these documents were brought out in the clear
light of day, there would be no need for a debate.
This ACRE membership would wake up and realize what you
have done with their livelihoods and run you and the
rest of your officers out of town. I have a file
cabinet full of certified letters which have been ignored
by you and the rest of your ACRE officers. What do
you have to hide from? Step out into the clear light
of day.
ACRE's big promotion. "Show your ACRE card and
save". Can I bring my ACRE card (which was never mailed
to me) to the MTA and get a raise like I used to before the
ACRE organization negotiated their historic contract
with the MTA. Can I get the MTA to deposit free
money into my Vanguard account like I used to before the
ACRE. Can and will I still be able to get a free
medical plan from the MTA like all engineers used
to before the ACRE. No, all I can get with my
ACRE card is a free fountain soda or 50 cents off an egg
sandwich or hot dog. I guess with all the money now
being deducted from my pay, I will need every penny.
By the way how many free MTA rides does Metro-North provide
with these ACRE cards. Does George, Gary "D", or Peter
know of or approve of the use of ACRE cards for free transportation
on Metro-North trains? Is this card good on the subway
or LIRR? How many cards are passed out to ACRE family
members, friends and acquaintances for free transportation?
How much money does the MTA lose with ACRE cards?
Was this part of your historic negotiated deal? Is
this how ACRE officers can afford to build all of their
new homes by peddling ACRE cards? If only ACRE officers
used this energy on the MTA with our contract instead of
harassing MTA vendors for meal discounts.
The MTA took $66,000.00 from my Vanguard account.
I am now paying 3% of my salary forever to the MTA. The
ACRE doesn't even have a copy of a complete and signed Pension
Plan. Just a promise from the MTA that they will
do the right thing with this Pension Plan. In
the very near future I will be co-paying for my medical.
For what, for five years worth of service time
(going from 1988 back to 1983). Why didn't you take
this historic pension deal in 1998? You bad
mouthed the Pension Plan as too costly and sold everyone
on the two-tier Vanguard system. Funny how with
your promotion of this historic ACRE deal, not once did
you ever mention any of the costs associated with implementation
of this Pension Plan. If you had, we would still be
under the Vanguard. What if anything is left
from the 1998 contract? Absolutely nothing.
Gary "D" got it all back with this historic
ACRE Pension Deal. Four years down the drain
with nothing to show. Now the first two years of this
ACRE contract with nothing to show.
A misinformed, uneducated, kept in the dark ACRE membership
is your and Tony's only means of survival. The ACRE
is the MTA's greatest asset. With the ACRE the MTA can
and will take everything away from it's unionized work
force and make them pay for what they want to keep.
Just provide the facts and see how long ACRE lasts. Mike
are you still feeling proud? Are you willing
to take a chance and step out into the light of
day?
I have nothing to hide,
Jim Ekberg
ACRE member in good standing
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