Not visiting the membership

‘Irene had at one time been a major hurricane, with winds higher than 110 mph as it headed toward the U.S. It was a tropical storm with 65 mph winds by the time it hit New York. It lost the characteristics of a tropical storm and had slowed to 50 mph by the time it reached Canada. AP’

Since now we know how to differentiate the storm hype and reality, did mayor Bloomberg when he ordered evacuations coupled with a role in ordering a variety of actions that had the result of shutting down New York City for two days in the wake of tropical storm Irene lead to much hype? Was it portrayed as armageddon, no - was it annoying, yes. In reality it turned out to be a tropical storm. Leadership in general is described as eliciting others cooperation for the benefit of all. An example that may be used to describe this phenomenon is that of a lion’s behavior. There are all kinds of leaders in the world whether in the political, military, or financial Institutes and in the event of incidents those leaders would survey the field in addition to checking on the well being of their co workers. Those are the basic characteristics of leadership.

Now lets review the actions of John E Samuelsen (leadership skills) president of TWU Local 100 - Take Backward Our Union - TBOU why did he not visit the membership in the field - why was he missing in action? Many have reasoned that if the TWU Local 100 membership left their loved ones at home to traverse to work locations and braved the much hyped hurricane Irene turned tropical storm Irene then at the minimum John E Samuelsen should go out and meet the membership in the field - so what did he do during the much hyped hurricane Irene turned out tropical storm Irene? Rumors are flying off.

First that John E Samuelsen was sick with the flu and that he was confined in bed - we wish him speedy recovery and to get well. Illness is a trump card that ends the story, usually it is used wisely to avoid legal troubles. 

Second John E Samuelsen’s cell phone ran out of battery thus he could not communicate with the rest of the membership since there was no electricity in Brooklyn to charge his cell phone. This one appears to be not plausible (It is true Con Edison shut down the nuclear reactors and steam as a preventive measure however the coal and fossil fuel generators did the job admirably by keeping New York City lit up).

Third John E Samuelsen was bailing out water out of his house due to the rain water however our brethren at Stillwell Station & Surf Avenue claimed they were dry (this one was our preference due to the fact that it gives a metaphor of an old wooden ship that was taking water with the men under the deck bailing out water using wooden buckets - while captain Bligh above deck barked orders).

Fourth that the union car that John E Samuelsen used had limited gas and that it should be used for emergencies only - so he was unable to visit the membership in the field. Now what do you think? Pick your choice whether it is the first - illness, second - no battery, third - bailing out water, fourth - car. Your guess is as good as ours, welcome to the land of John E Sameulsen hyped leadership and the reality missing in action.