National Convention

[Enahale1]

Behind the scenes at National Convention

Just like Paul Harvey; the rest of the story that I got  from a
credible source
 
For those who believe that individuals cannot impact the
direction of or provide progressive change in a National Labor
Union, I have some interesting news. In the past several months
one person filed more than 85 internal union appeals/charges,
several ULPs and EEO actions contesting the actions of the NRLCA
within a specific state. Many of the appeals and charges came
when obvious attempts to introduce C&BL changes to conform with
US Labor Law were defeated by the officers of the State
Association.  The subjects of some of the charges filed include
a number of appeals/charges filed against the NRLCA contending
that in many states and particularly in one state the Auxiliary
and the Junior organizations are literally a part of the
Association, where there is no separability between the
organizations. In this specific state the Auxiliary and the
Juniors are solely dependent on income from the Association with
provisions for reporting disbursements of the Auxiliary and
audits back to the Association. The Auxiliary does no
independent fund raising (other than 50-50 drawings/raffles at
state convention and booster meetings) and conducts no
activities in support of the Association. The only apparent
function of the Auxiliary seems to be to funnel money to
Auxiliary officers who are generally spouses of Association
officers. The Auxiliary C&BL as part of the Association C&BL requires
membership of all spouses and yet the election, and appointment
procedures are in direct violation of US Dept. of Labor regulations. Since they are part of the
NRLCA, the NRLCA is liable for the infractions. The charges/appeals filed resulted
in a lot of activity on the National level and forced National to change the
convention to address and consider the points that were raised and for which
both the NRLCA and the National Auxiliary of the NRLCA are still liable. Also
neither the NRLCA or the auxiliary associations or the individual officers report the
extra disbursements as required for separate reports by Dept.. of
Labor. Apparently there was a lot of controversy created since neither the NRLCA
or the National Auxiliary are currently in compliance with US Law. One other
issue is that the NRLCA is in direct violation of US Labor Law by employing state
stewards with essentially unaccountable administrative functions as appointed
officers. US law requires that officers who exercise administrative authority
with little or no accountability must be elected and therefore
answerable to the membership. The charade of having state
stewards appointed by state boards as opposed to a statewide
election and then have the state steward, assistant state
steward and area steward appointments rubberstamped by National
is a clumsy excuse for holding a steward election for the
positions of state steward and assistant state steward by boards
that are comprised in many cases by senior stewards who are
answerable to the state steward. It is a broken and corrupt
system that encourages and rewards incompetence and mediocrity.
National realizes that there is a vulnerability with these and
many other issues. This explains the efforts to create a
National Steward system that National is suddenly interested in.
Other issues are also involved that National is attempting to
deal with and for which there will be more news. Also it took an
EEO suit to get National to treat all religions the same and to
stop proselytizing one specific religion. Understanding the rest
of the story explains how oblivious National is and has been and
it is something they will not tell you. Still think one person
can’t make a difference?

[K Carrier]

No it wasn't me but I whole heartedly agree! Its time to start running it like a real union instead of a good old boy club! However that requires change and that would mean throwing out all the old corrupt guard and starting anew! Like that will happen only if they are all in jail for theft and fraud will that ever happen! Hum I might just have stumbled on to the perfect answer! HAHA!

[sinister minister]

I have always felt that the Auxiliary was, at best unnecessary and at worst, a scam.  Bravo to whomever called BS on that.

[*SUPERsub*]

Very Interesting...I agree totally...there needs to be some serious accountability. I wont pretend that I understand everything...im kind of fuzzy on what this all means...but sounds like the Auxillary and Juniors needs to be file 13d right off the chart. Im sorry if I offend anyone...but there is no use that i can see for any of these groups anyhow. Hopefully we will see some major changes soon

[Carl]

If your state has ever had a national convention, then you realize that the auxillaries are important in helping staff some of the activities that occur during that time.  It is usually the auxillaries that man the some of the arts and crafts booths, and assist visitors with information about the area.  I believe it is important that spouses support their carriers and this is just one way of showing it.  Each state should regulate these organizations and make sure they follow the law and the National organization should make sure that the states are following the law.  

[DisGruntled]

I've been of the opinion for many years that the Auxiliary needs to either make themselves useful to the dues paying members or be eliminated.  Last week's convention was a perfect example of the Auxiliary's uselessness to the general membership.

For Example:
No coffee was available at any of the General Assembly sessions and it was a very long walk for the delegates to go to the nearest place to purchase overpriced coffee.  Why weren't members of the Auxiliary helping with that (or anything else)?  

Halls in the Convention Center reserved for Auxiliary activities could have better been utilized by the various seminars taking place.  Instead, the dues paying delegates had to go on major safaris to locate the halls in adjoining hotels where these seminars took place.

...and then the Auxiliary had the NERVE to complain that a nursery was not made available to babysit their grandkids this year!

[the original nana]

I have always felt that the Aux and Juniors are a unessary part of our association.You can oppose my opinion but I think its time we prioritize the  issues here. Ive never been very good at putting what I fell down in writing but I acnt let that stop me from getting this message out to paying members. So Im gonna give you a scenerio. Ok your loosing your house and you need to make cut backs what is the first things you gonna get rid of to save your house? The car that takes you back and forth to work or the cable service that you truly enjoy but can survive without. The way I look at it is that I go to work 5 days a week asnd as much as my husband and grandchildren mean to me they dont go with me. but yet I still know they support me in what Im doing. So why should my husband and grandchildren go to conventions and meetings with me . I am there to do business not vacation with my family. I fell we are putting way to much of our valuable time into what everyone calls a family orientated association . If we spent less time and money on the au and juniors we would have alot more time to spend on sving our jobs and our craft. Which if Im not mistaken helps the extended family out much more than having them with me while Im supposably conducting business.I think its time we made our union and Actual union not a family association. We need  to start adressing the issues of our livlihood ie... our jobs . My family comes first in my life and keeping my job safe is one of the important issues I feel I need to do to take care of my family. Then I can afford to feel confident enough to go on a vacation with them on my own time and feel assured that when I get home my job will be there and not jeopordized because I have a union that takes care of me . Not my family. Taking care of my family is my husband and my responsibilty not my unions.

[Vax]

    How much did this convention cost us to learn , what we knew before! When we have conventions totally dedicated to business, mabe well gain something, more folks worry about a round of golf!