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THINK ABOUT IT
Eighth in a
series of newsletters by former Local 150 Financial Secretary Ray Connors
KEEP THE
MEMBERS IN THE DARK
Most
of you have probably noticed that you have not seen Joe Ward’s
monthly article in the local’s monthly paper for some time now, even
though, as much as Bill Dugan hates to think about it, Joe is an
officer of Local 150. Many of you know also that Bill Dugan left out
much of the content of the last article of Joe’s that he did allow
to be published. Nothing new here, members.
Like he did to Joe, Bill Dugan censored the content of
articles that I submitted for our paper when I was Financial
Secretary. Most of the time it was because he just didn’t like what
I had to say. He believed that some of the things about which I
wrote would be perceived as conflicting with his agenda. However,
soon after I became an officer, one of my articles was omitted
completely.
Prior to writing that
article I had been asked questions from several members about how
our hiring hall works, and how our members are dispatched. I was
surprised to find out that many members just didn’t understand the
dispatch procedure. Many of you members in Indiana will remember
that the Addendum I (the official rules governing our hiring hall)
was at one time included in the 10 County Agreement. When Bill Dugan
became aware of this, he insisted that it be removed from the
contract and not be included in any future contracts. Since the
Addendum I is the backbone of our hiring hall, I felt that our
members had the right to know about it and feel comfortable with its
operation. So, I wrote my monthly article explaining dispatch
policies and procedures to our members. When the paper came out and
my article was omitted in its entirety, I asked Bill Dugan why. He
told me that the members didn’t need to know about dispatch. Just
what is the big secret? What does he
have to hide?
I wonder how many of our
members realize that Local 150’s monthly paper in not a “news”
paper. When Local 150 first began to publish the paper it was
intended to keep members informed on important issues such as
changes in health and welfare benefits, pension updates, and
information concerning contract negotiations throughout the local.
Although it does still provide some information about what is
happening in our local, its primary goal is no longer to inform our
members about the issues. Its main purpose is to promote the actions
taken by Bill Dugan, and advance his causes. Its intent is to keep
the members satisfied with the affairs of the local, no matter how
amiss they might be. I learned early on, that all articles written
for the paper are expected to praise Bill Dugan and anything that he
supports, and to give him credit for anything positive that is
accomplished by the staff. Nothing ever goes into this paper
without the close scrutiny and censorship of Bill Dugan and his
attorneys.
As a matter of fact, for
years Dugan’s articles have been written by his attorneys, a task
that had previously been assigned to the paper’s associate editor.
The fact that he does not write his own articles should certainly
not surprise anyone who has ever listened to Bill Dugan try to
articulate on anything regarding the important issues of our local
or its members.
Think for a minute about
the things that you have read in the paper. Have you ever read
anything but praise about anything that Bill Dugan does or supports?
Ever read a letter (even an editorial) from anyone that doesn’t
agree with him and support him? Ever read anything that tells you
that anything within our local could be better? You can be sure that
you have never read anything except what he wants you to think and
believe.
Notice that now, since he
has purged the local of just about everyone who is really qualified
to work for you, he has used the paper to try to tell you about how
great and wonderful the local is with all of his “new” people. In
fact, most of them actually rate somewhere between inexperienced
“anything you say, Bill” yes men, to those who are downright
incompetent, with no idea of how to represent our members.
And now Bill Dugan and the
UEP have gone even farther with their control of the paper. It is
now being used as a campaign medium to spread their distractions and
distortions (and not too subtly, I might add). Using the paper to
campaign against one’s opponents is actually against election rules;
but as you already know, they don’t play by the rules.
Just think about who
currently writes for our paper; four candidates running on Dugan’s
slate, Dugan’s newly appointed head of the apprenticeship site, the
district business agents who have recently been put on staff when
Dugan fired those who won’t kneel down to him, and his Local 150
bought and paid for attorneys.
I have told you before
that they are sneaky and dishonest and will do anything to try to
win this election, and they have control of the paper.
THINK
ABOUT IT.
Think about it
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