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

To: Mike Doyle

From Jim Ekberg

RE: Generals Chairman's salary and your e-mail response

Dear Mike:

According to the ACRE Local Division 9 By-laws, which were sent to me (only after I had requested them) states under Article VIII, Section 2: Salaries: the following:

General Chairman ten (10) days per month
Local Chairman four (4) days per month
Secretary/Treasurer four (4) days per month
President two (2) days per month
Legislative Representative two (2) days per month

There is no mention of any other salaries to be paid to or by any ACRE officer period. No mention of any salaries to be paid from the General Committee. Show me exactly where I can find the authorization that allows you to receive and approve other ACRE officer salary payments from the General Committee fund. I understand that ACRE changes their Constitution and By-laws all the time, sometimes with and sometimes without their memberships consent. This change must have been slipped in somewhere along the line. As usual, no amendments made to either of these two-ACRE documents were ever mailed out to the ACRE membership for their information and documentation update.

Let's look at some facts concerning Local 9's monthly Monday meetings:

• Less than 15% of the entire ACRE membership can possibly attend.

• A good portion of the Engineers who do show up can only make about a half to maybe an hour of the meeting.

• The other portion that shows are usually on their swing time.

• Very few if any, of the members who have Mondays off, ever show up.

• No minutes from any ACRE monthly meetings have ever been posted for the membership to review, even though you have promised me many times that you would see to it that they would be posted for the memberships information.

• Does this sound like the way the most democratic, user-friendly organization in the country, that ACRE always promotes themselves as being, should be run?

You state “I sat silent at the last meeting while others posted questions for the officers to answer”. Lets review a normal meeting. Meeting is opened, read last month's minutes, seek approval. Then Sectary/Treasures report is given, seek approval. Then Presidents report is given, then General Chairman's report is given, then Local Chairman's report(s) (could be up to 4 officers speaking) is given. This takes about 60 to 90 minutes. Then on to unfinished or new business. By the time unfinished or new business starts, most members have had to leave and are out performing company service requirements.

For the last Local meeting on November 8 th , a motion was made to take the meeting out of order to get right to the By-law change (dues increase) that drew an unusually large Engineer turnout. From the unofficial minutes which were provided by Barbara Peterson “ over 45 people attended the meeting” which started around 11:00 am. When it came time for the actual vote for the dues increase at around 12:45 pm only 35 members were left to cast a ballot. Ten-ACRE members showed up and never got to vote on this motion. Who really knows what the outcome concerning the dues increase would have been if these ten-ACRE members got to cast a ballot?

As for myself: I showed up at 11:00 am and run an 11:52 am train. I stayed for as long as I possibly could (11:40 am) before I had to leave to perform service to the carrier. The reason why I did not have any questions for any ACRE officer(s) in this short period of time is because you were discussing the aspects of John D'Amore's pension and life insurance policy issues. Maybe if ACRE provided a copy of the completed pension plan to it's membership, we would not have consumed so much time going over these pension concerns. You never got to the dues increase issue or the officer's salaries and expenses which were related to it, before I had to leave. Now you throw out this nonsense and try to somehow discredit me for not asking questions when I had leave and go perform company service. Where did you think I was going? Do you really believe that I left since I was afraid to cast my vote against the dues increase (everyone knew where I stood) or to ask ACRE offices some questions? Have I not asked questions or raised concerns at other union meetings when I have had the time to attend?

As far as this incident on the deadhead train, I told you right from the beginning, when you said that we would talk all the way to New Haven, that we had nothing in common and were on opposite sides of the fence. You claimed that we were alike and wanted the exact same things. If you remember the last time we talked down by the Oyster Bar, you claimed that I twisted everything around and took it out of context. Now you keep telling the membership that I have no questions and am always silent around you. That's the reason I put everything down in writing. This way there can be no mistakes. Like you have told me before, you do not like to put everything in writing. I can only guess that you are afraid somehow you would be held accountable. It would be easier for you to deny you ever said something if it is not in print. Sorry Mike, but I refuse to play that he said, I said game with you. It is obvious that you don't like to respond, since I have a file cabinet full of unanswered certified letters that were signed for and received by ACRE. Most of these letters deal with my guaranteed Constitutional rights being an ACRE member. ACRE officers just keep saying that Jim or other dues maintenance members are afraid to debate them. Although we have accepted many times, even in writing, it is ACRE officers in fact, who have refused to move forward and set something up. Just curious, would this debate be held on a Monday or on a Saturday?

You claim that you will not engage in a back and forth Internet dialogue unless the questions pertain to legitimate issues and not unsubstantiated allegations. My questions to date have come from reading the ACRE officers forum off of the ACRE web site. If they are not legitimate issues then you should pull these questions and the answers from the ACRE web site. I noticed that no one ever signs these questions or answers. Maybe that's part of the problem, no one knows where or whom to direct any questions to about the information that is posted on your ACRE site. The problem with the ACRE officer's forum, like everything else put out by ACRE and its officers, is that no supporting documentation is ever provided to back up anything that is put in print. Just because it is on ACRE letterhead you expect the ACRE membership to believe it as gospel.

As an ACRE member in good standing, required to pay $88.00 per month dues, through mandatory company payroll deduction, I have the right to ask you or any other ACRE officer any question at any time in any manor which I choose. Neither the ACRE Constitution nor Local 9 Division By-laws grants you any power of authority to require any ACRE member to attend monthly union meetings to voice any concerns. Once the ACRE receives and accepts a dues payment from any ACRE members' paycheck, then you and every other ACRE officer becomes obligated to every dues paying ACRE member. It doesn't matter how, when or in what form they choose to present their concerns. ACRE officers work for the benefit of the ACRE membership. The ACRE membership does not work for the benefit of ACRE officers. This situation has been distorted since we became an Independent association where ACRE officers police themselves. Whether or not, you or any of the other ACRE officers comply with your duties, responsibilities, obligations and sworn oath of office is totally up to you as individuals. Sooner or later, either the ACRE membership or the courts will decide if you acted in accordance within the guidelines of the ACRE Constitution and Local Division By-laws and hold you accountable.