May 12, 2007
Some people have informed me that UPTE has sent the final check as a result of filing their objection/challenge letter for the 2006/2007 objection period. This amounted to a little more than $20 and, combined with three earlier payments of about $16 should amount to a total of nearly $70 to those of you who paid the maximum fee to UPTE ($35 from July-December 2006 and $40 from January thru June 2007). Let me know if you feel that you did not receive the full amount for this period or have not been paid at all. If you have a complaint, it would be quite helpful if you kept the check stubs. Please note that this is not payment for the 2007/2008 period. The payments for this period will come later so if you are an objector/challenger for this period, you will have to wait several months until you start receiving payments for this period.
If you were an objector/challenger for 2006/2007, you should have received a letter with enclosures from Chris Camardella, case manager for the American Arbitration Association. Let me know if you have not received this letter. In the letter, he announces the scheduling of a hearing in Oakland California on July 24 and 25, 2007 regarding the "Impartial Determination of Union Fees- 2006-2007". The purpose of this hearing (that you do not have to appear for) is to force the union to prove that they only owe you what they have sent. The union has the burden of proof and the Arbitration Association has appointed William Riker as the "Impartial" arbitrator.
You should read his resume, it is quite interesting. For 20 years he was an "advocate in the private and public sectors engaged in collective bargaining negotiations, grievance processing, wage and salary and personnel administration, supervisor and management education, and equal employment opportunity (including affirmative action and implementation)". His resume does not indicate on whose behalf he advocated, whom he was employed by or paid by during the twenty year period. This certainly seems to be something less than full disclosure. He also is currently a Trust Fund Administrator for several unions and I doubt that he is doing this for free. How can someone with such a history of union activism not bring in a bias? I will state my objection to his appointment as the arbitrator in this case and you can also voice your displeasure with this arbitrators' appointment, challenging his appointment for cause by writing to Mr. Camardella if you so wish.
You should read Mr. Camardella's letter as carefully as I have. On the second page of the letter, at the bottom, there is a NOTICE. It reads that "The arbitrator(s) have arranged their schedule and reserved the above date(s) based on the advice of the parties". The arbitrator certainly has not asked my advice as to the date and place of the arbitration. As far as I can determine, this representation of asking the advice of all the parties is not at all true. No one that I have spoken to has informed me that they have advised the arbitrator through Mr. Camardella or any other AAA representative that the dates or the venue is acceptable to them. If you have been contacted by Mr. Camardella or any other AAA representative regarding the dates or the location of the hearing, I'd sure like to know. But, if you complain that the statement is not true, the AAA will either ignore the question or give a semi-plausible explanation (i.e. "this is only a form letter, we made a mistake, etc."); I've been there before.
For those of you who have sent me an objection/challenger letter for 2007/2008, please have patience. You won't receive anything for a while. Your letter and those of about 1,000 others have to be copied, entered into a database, checked by my process server and finally served legally upon the union. The letters cannot be legally served until UPTE sends what is called a Hudson Notice; the union usually sends this in June or July as a booklet anywhere from 30 to 40 pages (let me know when you receive this, most of you are now familiar with what this looks like). The union will then check the letters to see that they are properly filled out. This takes them about two to three months. Around September or October, the union will finally issue checks. This is all part of a legal process and as you may know, legal issues take a long time to resolve. You have done what you need to do to get back part of the money that you pay to the union. Just wait and you will get back money, let me and my legal advisors take care of the details. I cannot guarantee that you will get back all of the money that you have paid for the entire year but if you are persistent and patient, who knows, the union has folded before. It's been my experience that that if you press those who keep denying the truth, you will be rewarded.
I'm just an ordinary guy with extraordinary passion for truth and justice. I am Werner.