In a "Donald Trump" response to charges I filed against him for "Conduct Unbecoming", on March 21, 2007, President Thompson made a Constitutional "ruling" that will prevent "totally" disabled members from holding union office.
According to Thompson if a determination is made that a member is off disabled and unable to return to work, he/she will now be classified as "retired". Once placed into retirement by Thompson, the member also looses the right to bring charges against international officers, to file appeals, or to make inquiries.
Now that the President has made-up this interpretation, his ruling must now be uniformly applied to all members. President Thompson has already applied his decision to my membership status and it is assumed that he will apply the same decision to all "totally" disabled members currently holding office.
Article 16 provides that decisions of the President can be appealed to the Board of Directors. The only way a member could make such an appeal is for the President to makes his ruling know to those who would be affected by the ruling - which, of course, he did not do. While the President has ruled that I am retired and as a retired member I have no right to appeal, I appealed his decision anyway.
The Board of Directors will not meet until after the Convention, therefore any person that Thompson thinks might not be able to go back to work because of being "totally" disabled, regardless of the possibility that your medical situation might change, and even if your name remains of the seniority roster, and even if you might be able to return to work at a later date, you are out of luck, according to Thompson.
Of course I know that Thompson is very seldom correct in his decisions and it is obvious that his "ruling" was intended to prevent me from being nominated and running for International President.
Despite Thompson’s ruling I will continue to campaign for President. At the convention the delegates will get the opportunity to validate Thompson ruling or rule his ruling out-of-order.