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From: ashur1@cox.net
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003
Subject: [ibew] A little story about the Carpenters/Laborers national union!

I'm very sorry for the rant but this story must get out.

Last year a large utility holding company, MidAmerica/CalEnergy announced that they were planning a large geothermal power plant addition to their existing units in the Imperial Valley. (see this LINK: http://www.calenergy.com/html/projects2_imperial.shtml). Of the 10 existing units, only one (the first) was built union, none are operated union. In fact, the company has spent a fortune over the last years to defeat IBEW efforts to organize the work force. The planed new project is to be the largest geothermal plant in the world and is called the Salton Sea 6.

They held a meeting and invited local building trades unions to attend. A gentleman named Paul Preast put on a very slick presentation. Talked about the enormous benefits (their words) to local residents, the economy, the environment, building trades, and (last but not least) the benefits to CURE (California Unions for Reliable Energy). One thing that they didn't realize was that there was one of the founders of the group called CURE in the audience. Mr. Preast reported that CalEnergy was willing to strike a deal with the building trades unions on this project. He would be willing to assure that about 45% of the construction work would be done by members of these unions. He had a preliminary drawing of the plant site with a horizontal line drawn down it separating the generation facility from the geothermal field.

After the presentation, in the question and answer session, there were a number of questions about the plant. A person in the audience that had some CURE experience(me) asked if this new plant would be covered by the CURE agreements (BTW: CURE agreements insure 100% union construction, a guaranteed period of time for 100% union maintenance work. Usually from 15 to 30 years, most are at the 30 year mark. And agreement from the company to be NEUTRAL in respect to their workers forming a union. Every power plant permitted in California except one has been signed to these agreements.) The CURE questions caused Mr. Preast to lose some of his jovial enthusiasm and the session ended shortly after.

Later that evening I got a call from Mr Preast. Mr. Preast wanted to know if I would meet him for coffee at a hotel in San Diego before he headed back to his office in the MidWest. I showed up at the meeting location (a large NON-UNION hotel in the San Diego area). While at the table with Mr. Preast another gentleman walked up to the table and was introduced by Mr Preast as one of the key persons in the Carpenters union. The Carpenter's were holding a periodic officer's meeting at the hotel. Mr. Preast told me that he was there to meet with a good friend of his, Doug McCarron. During the meeting Mr. Preast talked about how there could be a compromise cut between CURE and CalEnergy but in no case could the job ever be built completely union or would they even consider the other CURE agreements. The meeting ended with a handshake and a "hearty highho" .

It was about a month later that we heard a rumor the both the Laborers union and the Carpenter union had signed a "PLA" with CalEnergy. In the mean time we were scheduling meetings with CalEnergy at our first meeting we discussed the scope of construction, there desire to use local Imperial Valley people at much reduced rates and little or no benefits. We ended the meeting without progress. It was a short time after our first meeting that I got a copy of the "rumored" PLA that was signed by Carpenters/Laborers in Washington DC.

This was a very interesting [sic] agreement. The agreement allowed for a large number of the workers on site to be paid $7 per hour without any benefits. In fact, the agreement appeared to protect only one group of workers. Workers in the Washington DC office of the Carpenters and Laborers. The agreement had strong Union Security language, language that made collecting dues from these low paid (with no benefit) Carpenters/Laborers easy, and language that gave these two unions preference for all of the jurisdiction on the job.

NOTE: All of the CURE agreements cover ALL crafts and require the signing of their full local agreements! No one is left out even though there are only 5 trades supporting CURE.

From that point on CalEnergy was unwilling to consider the full CURE agreements.

In this case the Carpenters/Laborers have cut the "knees" out of all of the other trades and have effectively made coming to agreement with this company much more difficult. They have short changed their own members, abandoned the labor movement, and have made labor seem like a group of cheap prostitutes.

Why this rant??

Last week Mr. McCarron (it IS IMPOSSIBLE to use the word brother with this man) met with the Governor of California, Gray Davis. It is told that the meeting was centered around the Salton Sea 6 project and the fact that the only reason that CURE is involved is to insure that the IBEW operates the plant. Mr McCarron is a cancer on working people, he has no interest in any kind of union solidarity. His interests are in collecting dues money from as many under represented workers as he can find.

I was going to scan the original "PLA" that the Carpenters/Laborers signed. The copy is not very good so I will transcribe the whole document and include signature pages and everything that will prove it's origin.

I will try to post this document to the group tomorrow no later than Monday.

Share this with the Carpenters/Laborers that you know, post it on the internet, help the good union folks take control of their union and their destiny. Help STOP this cancer from weakening the rest of organized labor.

LINK to the California Energy Commission web site with the Salton Sea 6 and CURE documents:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/saltonsea/documents/

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Emergency Resolution No. 1 - Fraternal Ties with Quebec Union

Whereas: The Fraternite Nationale des Charpentiers-Menuisiers, Local 9, and the Fraternite Nationale des Poseurs de Systemes Interieurs, Revetements Souples Parqueteurs Sableurs, Local 2366, constitute a union with similar principles and goals as the British Columbia Provincial Council of Carpenters: and

Whereas: The Fraternite Nationale represents carpenters, lathers, floorlayers, and other trades in Quebec; and

Whereas: The Fraternite Nationale is the dominant civil construction union in Quebec, with members working union for companies that are operating non-union in BC; and

Whereas: The Fraternite Nationale left the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1981, and as an autonomous union has organized over 13,000 new members in Quebec; and

Whereas: The Fraternite Nationale is looking to form cooperative relationships with other unions across Canada that are not controlled by international unions; and

Whereas: The BC Provincial Council of Carpenters needs to form alliances with like-minded unions across Canada that can assist us in organizing, political lobbying at the federal level, and other issues:

Therefore Be It Resolved: That this Convention empower the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters Executive Board to establish a fraternal relationship with Fraternite Nationale Local Unions 9 and 2366; and

Be It Further Resolved: That this relationship shall be built upon equality, mutual respect, and complete and full organizational autonomy; and

Be It Finally Resolved: That this relationship is not about organizational affiliations or mergers, but rather is about uniting like-minded workers across Canada for the purpose of increasing our collective strength.



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Committee on Education and the Workforce Press Release
ULLICO Turns Over Special Counsel�s Report to Committee; Documents Under Review

"The credibility of ULLICO and its obligation to the unions and members who invested in the insurance company are at stake. If reports are true, it appears that some ULLICO board members enriched themselves personally at the expense of the unions that invested in or had their investments handled by the insurance company," said Boehner. "Moreover, media reports indicate that ULLICO's own investigator, former Governor Thompson, concluded that the company likely violated state securities law."

The Thompson Report On ULLICO


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Press Release Source: Winston & Strawn

James R. Thompson, Chairman, Winston & Strawn, Addresses Comments by ULLICO
Friday April 4, 4:30 pm ET

CHICAGO, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Report of the Special Counsel on the ULLICO Stock Purchase Offer and Repurchase Programs and Global Crossing Investment was released by ULLICO, Inc. on April 2, 2003.

In connection with the release of the Report, ULLICO made certain misstatements concerning the Special Report's findings and the Winston & Strawn team that prepared it.

James R. Thompson, Chairman, Winston & Strawn, addresses ULLICO's statements:

April 4, 2003

Mr. Robert A. Georgine
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
ULLICO Inc.
111 Massachusetts N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001

Re: Special Counsel Report

Dear Mr. Georgine:

In recent days, ULLICO has made misleading, false and/or defamatory statements in connection with the Special Counsel Report.

In a press release issued by ULLICO on April 2, 2003, ULLICO stated:

"[T]he Company believes that Governor Thompson was ill served inasmuch as
the applicable law on the breach of fiduciary duty was not fully explored
by his staff."

This statement is both false and defamatory and contradicted by the characterization elsewhere in the release that our investigation was "exhaustive." Not only was the applicable fiduciary duty law, including your expert Mr. Hanks' treatise, thoroughly explored by my staff, but our conclusion that there was compelling evidence of breaches of fiduciary duty was reviewed and endorsed by Professor Mark Sargent whose expert credentials on Maryland law are at a minimum equal to Mr. Hanks' credentials.

In the same press release ULLICO states:

"All of the documents agree that there was no violation of law."

This statement is misleading, as the "documents" so referenced arguably included the Report of the Special Counsel which in fact, among other things, found compelling evidence that there were violations of Maryland fiduciary law.

In an April 4, 2003 article in the Daily Labor Report, John Rodgers, ULLICO's press officer was quoted as follows:

" ... ULLICO spokesman John Rodgers said the Thompson report showed 'very
clearly that there was no violation of the fiduciary duty' either by
Georgine or the board members."

This statement is false as we found compelling evidence of such violations.

It is one thing for you and your advisors to take issue with the conclusions in our Report. It is quite another for ULLICO and its press officers to make misleading, false or defamatory statements about the Report and my staff.

I ask that you personally effectuate the retraction of these statements and ensure that no such statements will be made in the future.

* Very truly yours,
* James R. Thompson

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