Refund

Since TWU Local 100 has claimed "Mission Accomplished" it reminded us of the other banner titled "Mission Accomplished" that was displayed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a televised address by United States President George W Bush on May 1, 2003 and the controversy that followed.

The executive committee approved ending the so called poisonous John Samuelsen solidarity fund contribution. Now the other promise of the TWU Local 100 president John Samuelsen is that the monies collected would be refunded if not used. We are not holding our breath to that. 

Since the fund has reached the level needed to fulfill its mission, we are concerned that ‘Fund will continue for several months to pay for medical benefits for our laid-off brothers and sisters’ is not acceptable. This is loophole where a bus could drive thru. In addition the numbers as of January 19, 2011 showed that the balance is $2,702,172.37. There is no detailed numbers breakdown of the benefits paid. The $361,232.36 that was paid indicates that only 125 members received benefits. Thus indicating that on  average each member received a benefit of $2,889.85.

Since Local 100 doesn’t have neither a treasurer nor a temporary treasurer - except a fox guarding a henhouse since October 2010. ‘The several months’ is not acceptable due to the fact that the benefits paid could dramatically be inflated, therefore gnawing at the balance. 

If President George W Bush has inspired president John Samuelsen as well as the executive committee to copy GOP tactics blindly. The republican party has controlled the white House for 28 of the past 40 years. The Republican Revolution controlled the House of Representatives from 1995-2006, and the GOP had control of the Senate for most of the 14 years. Former Senator Phil Gramm, a Republican from Texas, deserves particular credit/blame for the current crisis. Within a year of becoming Chairman of the Senate Banking Commission in 1999, Chairman Gramm pushed through legislation gutting the New Deal banking insurance and securities laws. The Gramm Leach Act created the Wild West deregulatory environment that fostered the derivative industry that collapsed the financial world. Just like the public had enough with the republicans by kicking them out of the house, senate and the White House the TWU Local 100 will respond in the same manner to Samuelsen’s republican inspired money grabbing schemes by sending him back to work.