tony bojorques of utu local 1241 richmond/stockton, ca.is a local chairman but acts more like the company Lazy Boy when it comes to representing his members. instead of representing me at an investigation, he was present for reason of acting as a company witness. his function was to look for me on the property to determine whether or not i was present to attend formal investigation, and he did this most dutifully. i wish i had k-9 retrievers with as much loyalty as this local lap-dog. the bnsf has much to gain by putting these types into local union positions, and they do their best to make them feel like part of their team. what happens to those, who after elected, chose to bring up safety issues or local grievances is clear. they hit them where it hurts, the wallet. put a u.e.t. team to watch the local chair, fail him on some practices or rules, threaten him with discipline or time off, and that usually whips them into servitude quite easily. its sad to see a whole local suffer the wrath of the bnsf mis-management tactics because of a local rep. being too afraid for his own job security to stand up for his members or himself. why is there not local representation that work to do one thing, represent the local members? as it is, theses local officers take most of their time off to conduct union buisiness [or in bojorques's case company buisiness] so why not establish this job as a full-time union paid job. imagine the difference in how local issues would be handled if there was a person standing up for the workers rights that actually had the balls to take it to the company and not worry about any retaliation that might be taken when worked their next shift. make the local chair, legislative rep, secretary, all one persons responsibility and make it like the exept company positions , only paid for by the union instead. the people who are being fired and flushed down the drain just might stand to gain from having some real representation fighting in their corner. paying such high dues may not feel as if it is going to pay for the picnics, and postage stamps, and all the other things the local reps pilfer up as the excuse to dip into the pot all the time. i feel the union is one big let down. a money looting scam that steals from the poor to further the rich as they try to make us believe that they are doing such a great service to the workers in their fight for working condition fairness and security. it is more like the mafioso dons who make you pay for protection from those who would harm you, and it is the dons who will be harming you if you dont pay up. like a vicious circle, is it not?
Posted on Jun 17, 2005, 3:08 PM from IP address 69.110.102.247