Read Between the Lines
It seems like there is a full moon every night lately. The world is spinning off its axis with increased speed. It is hard to fathom that so many people take everything they read or see on the internet as gospel. Almost everything I see and read has underlying causes and purposes. Nothing is put on the internet that should be taken at face value. Everybody has an agenda.
We are walking into a crisis in this country because of the misinformation being disseminated in every area of the social and usual media outlets. The concern to me is our union. We are attacking each other with accusations and creating vacuums that seem to be setting us on a path to destruction.
One of my biggest concerns is the accusations and threats to our National President and vicariously the entire Executive board. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have been around for a long time. I have seen and heard things during my career that at times make me shake my head. Let me lay out my take on the assault to our National President. President Renfroe has worked his way up to the presidency starting with being a special assistant to the president. He is an extremely intelligent man who has made had a few missteps along the way. I would like to you identify anyone who has not. Fast forward to the last National Election. Every elected National Officer stood on the stage and was sworn in. Everyone ran on the ticket as a slate and were elected together. Almost everyone elected had been together for years with full knowledge of each other’s comings and goings. If anyone running for office had an issue, it should have been brought up prior to the decision to run on the ticket. Instead, a few months later, one of the running mates on the ticket, Director of City Delivery, Chris Jackson, decided to bring our National President up on charges. One of the charges was a DWI, which occurred back in 2018, while driving a vehicle that the union leased. While I do not condone anyone who drives while intoxicated, I am furious that Chris went back 5-years to dredge up this charge. Where was Chris when it occurred. I am sure every board member had knowledge of the incident. If Chris was so offended, why did he run on Brians ticket and then stand with him while being sworn in? Let’s face it, it was a backstabbing clear and simple. As with some of the other charges, they were old news. If you take a minute and think about it, why now? Just as National Negotiations were to start, we were placed in a compromised situation. All of this is purely partisan politics. From my perspective, this started as a west coast assault on the President. Not sure what the entire issue is but I feel as the west coast felt slighted over some trivial issues and decided to use Mr. Jackson as the point man. Chris did this even though the preparations for negotiations were going full bore. And out of that, we have others smelling blood in the water and have jumped into the fray. All you have to do is read much of the garbage on social sites. Almost everything I see is either opinion or conjecture. Conversations about the contract negations are a daily hit job. Do any of the people on these sights know what is being spoken about at the table? No. They hear things then pass them off as full facts. This slide into the bowels of absurdity is numbing. I hear it every day on the workroom floor or in phone conversations with my members. The members are attacking the stewards more frequently based on what they hear or read whether it is factual or not. Local management sits back and laughs at us when this occurs. Many of our members listen to podcasts and take it all as proof of reality. My questions are, do you know what the real reason is for the things being said? Does that person have an ulterior motive? Is he trying to stir up the members because he wants to run for a position himself? Is he trying to upset the balance of power for personal gain? The point is that things are not always as they seem. There are always ulterior motives, especially in power and politics. Personally, I am offended by Chris Jackson’s backdoor move. I am offended by those that want to push this narrative and are using a National Officer to do so.
The President acknowledged he had a problem and took steps to get himself right. He picked a terrible time to do so, right after we opened negotiations. But in reality, when is the right time? He realized he was in a bad spot and would not be at full steam during the negotiations, so he stepped aside for a brief time. This put us in a bind but what would have happened if he had stayed and was unable to function properly? I am personally not happy how this went down, but it was truly a courageous step to take. The negotiations slowed but we were not hurt as I see it. We had competent officers and past officers to keep us straight until Brian got back. Unfortunately, this incident has created a cottage industry of wild accusations and verbal assaults against all union officials and members. With open season on all union officials, we are losing competent people who just wanted to represent the membership. The shop steward field has thinned and that hurts all of us.
This is my personal opinion and after 41 years, I believe I am entitled to it. I have served our membership since 1985 and loved doing it. I take members as part of my family and have always tried to do my best for them. Do not think I do not understand the ramifications to this article, but honestly, I do not care. Somebody needs to stand up and defend the brothers and sisters who put the membership first each and every day. Personally, I do not like a number of President Renfroe’s policies decisions over the years and have let him know. But I would not undercut the entire membership by screaming out about things I have no knowledge about. If Chris Jackson and his brethren felt the President was wrong, they should have had the backbone to bring it to the membership before he rode Brians coattails to his current position. By waiting until after he was elected, he has hurt the entire membership. Shame on him and the rest who look to undercut all the NALC has achieved for personal gain. As the saying goes: Stand Together or Fall Divided.
