| Subject: MCOFU Lies |
Author:
Shaun Dewey, Captain
[Edit]
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Date Posted: 23:18:01 05/23/03 Fri
During Correction Officer Week, MCOFU E-Board distributed a letter that, as par for the course, was about as untruthful as it gets. As a Captain, I felt compelled to respond to the lies these nit-wits put on paper. They start their letter out by saying that you have been inundated with false advertising by the Captains Union. First of all, the Captains Union has nothing to do with unit 4 joining IBCO. One member of the Captains Union, is an executive board member for NAGE/IBCO, and in this capacity only is involved in IBCO’s decision to offer unit 4 better representation. The Captains Union/Local has no part in the campaign whatsoever. As members of IBCO, many Captains are asked questions and are glad to boast about the national union they belong to. This has somehow been spun into the Captains Union wanting to take over the Officers Union. No matter what happens, the Captains Union and the Officers Union will remain separate, with separate negotiations, separate contracts and separate executive board leadership. The only thing we would share is the professional guidance and legal/political representation of IBCO. Most will agree that MCOFU should have had big brother watching them with some of the recent blunders they have orchestrated. Someone would have explained to them that when your membership votes 2/3 one way, you don’t go the other way. Someone would have explained to them that thou shall not lie, steal and commit other criminal activity.
MCOFU also told you that AFSME was thrown out because of incompetence and neglect at the negotiating table. Anyone that was around at that time will tell you that AFSME did pretty well at the table. Look at some of the big ticket items we all enjoy, 20/50, permanencies for all Correction Officers, heart bill, job picks at Concord, Walpole and Gardner, not to mention the base salary increases we all got back then. What has MCOFU got you? Some say they got you money, but at what sacrifice? Look at the sick time language MCOFU agreed to and how they handed drug testing over on a silver platter. The truth of the matter is with any professional union looking over your shoulder you would have got the same salary increases and then some. The Captains Union got a better contract than you coming out of the gate. They got virtually the same benefits you got only better sick time language and better bereavement language. No one in the Captains Union is on attachments and they can use their bereavement days anytime they want(not on their days off) not to mention they get time for their spouses extended family. Under MCOFU’s contract you can’t even go to your wife’s/husband’s brothers funeral. Many have said that IBCO couldn’t get the Captains seniority. The truth is the Captains have no one to blame for that but themselves. IBCO negotiated significant salary increases (30% increase for some captains) but the D.O.C. took a hard-line stance on seniority. The contract was put out to the membership without seniority and was overwhelmingly passed by the captains. If any organization was going to get the Captains seniority it was IBCO but the Captains have no one to blame, for not having seniority, but themselves. Has anyone asked MCOFU why they haven’t got seniority for Worcester House?
MCOFU also told you “MCOFU was formed in 1989 by seven Corrections Officers who were disgusted with the national umbrella union and lack of representation for our grievances and arbitration, sub par contracts, political endorsements without our consent, no elections for top union officials, and no control over our dues.” Let’s address some of those issues. The fact is, IBCO has provided attorney’s to the Captains Union at every step of the grievance process to include step 2, step 3 and at Commissioner’s hearings. MCOFU provides you with some institutional steward who shows up in a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt pretending to know how to litigate. You may meet the one MCOFU attorney 10 minutes before your arbitration hearing begins, and that’s what they call representation! They mention “sub par contracts”, just look at any old ACFME contract or any IBCO contract and compare it to yours and then tell me which is sub par. They tell you about political endorsements without your consent but don’t forget how they had stewards handing out forms one weekend asking who people wanted to vote for the governor’s race. That’s not “consent” that’s, we’re going to endorse who we want anyway but we want to say we asked your opinion. How many “consent” cards did they collect? Most people weren’t even asked. Did the E-Board go with the consensus or did they back who they wanted contrary to the membership vote? Oh, they would never do anything like that, would they? They told you “no elections for top union officials and no control over union dues.” Why do they continue to insult your intelligence? Under IBCO your election of Union Executive Board members remains entirely under your control. The election of national positions is also a democratic vote by all members of IBCO/NAGE. Under IBCO By-Laws, no union executive board can raise dues without a 2/3 membership vote unlike your current union which will do what it wants regardless of how the membership votes or slide it into the contract which forced a dues increase that you already said you didn’t want.
The #1 issue of the old campaign to get rid of ASFME and an issue they will constantly bring up regarding IBCO is that a percentage of your dues will be going to the national. My answer to these morons is who cares what account the money goes into, the important question is what is a Correction Officer getting for their $10 a week? What is the benefit package, contract language and representation a union can offer you. IBCO’s package is without question a better package. Under IBCO, your dental and optical is paid by the national unlike your current union which takes in $40,000 a week in dues and then asks you to pay for your dental and optical benefits on top of that. You pay $520 a year in union dues and IBCO will give you up to $1,000 a year in dependent/child care benefits; you do the math. MCOFU needs to put up or shut up. Has MCOFU ever showed you what income they bring in between the dues, PAC money and the dental/optical withdrawals and then showed you what they have done with the millions upon millions of dollars they’ve collected since they took over in 1989. What is the current balance? What have they done with all that money?
There are some Captains who don’t want you guys affiliated with us but contrary to what MCOFU is telling you it has nothing to do with us. Members of your bargaining unit, which is separate from ours, reached out to IBCO and asked to help a sinking ship. Frankly, I don’t care who represents you guys but I refuse to remain silent while MCOFU lies to you about my Union. The Correction Officer with guts, who cares about their family, will take their head out of the sand and look at every option available to them. Don’t listen to the thugs who tell you that if you sign a union card they’ll throw you out of MCOFU. You don’t let cons intimidate you, why would you let the thugs. How long are going to let them continue down the path of destruction and deception at your cost? There is never a good time to change unions because it can stall negotiations but there isn’t a union out there getting anything at the negotiating table while this Governor is in office. So, under the circumstances, it’s the best time. I wonder what MCOFU told the county unions when they raided them; did they explain to them that it could stall negotiations?
MCOFU tells you that you’ve been “inundated with false advertising from the Captains Union.” It’s pretty sad when you got more information from IBCO in two weeks than you did from MCOFU in 14 years. Oh, that’s right, now they’re starting to send you stuff. The truth again is, if MCOFU was doing right by their members they would have nothing to worry about. When the Captains voted for a Union, there were several choices on the ballot to include MCOFU, but we overwhelmingly chose IBCO. Isn’t it strange how MCOFU wanted to represent the Captains but now they tell you it’s a bad thing to be in IBCO with the Captains.
Sign any and every professional unions card who can provide you with better benefits and representation. Get them all on the ballot and choose the best package. That’s what the Captains did and nobody came close to IBCO. MCOFU will tell you that IBCO getting the Captains 21 new appointments is also a bad thing but tell them that’s what an effective union does for its members stupid. The fact is, the scars run too deep between MCOFU and the D.O.C. which has left your union ineffective and left your membership out in the cold. When your brilliant E-Board decided to picket the mans house it was the beginning of the end and the point of no return.
I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose by sharing my opinion other than potential rebuttals by cowards that refuse to sign their name. This is not the opinion of the Captains Union, it is my personal opinion. The International Brotherhood of Correction Officers represents far more Correction Officers than just the Captains. Up to this point they have merely put the feelers out to see if Massachusetts Correction Officers are serious about wanting professional guidance, better representation and benefits. If you’re happy with the performance of your union as of late, then let IBCO know and they will leave you alone. If your not happy, then be a man and say so and IBCO will stand behind you and show Massachusetts what a real union is all about. Take advantage of this opportunity to improve your future, and have the issues important to you finally addressed. It’s time for Massachusetts Correction Officers to be viewed as professionals who have influence in the public safety and political arenas. Stand tall and stand together for a better future with a powerful, influential and united union.
SINCERELY,
SHAUN DEWEY, CAPTAIN
p.s. First, I don’t even like corn and I thought it didn’t count in prison. Second, to the coward who keyed my car, if you thought that would keep me silent than you don’t know me very well.
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Just wanted to say hi to y'all
OUR UNION AT WORK FOR US???
