Dark side of the "Code of Excellence"

[PSperanza]

Contractors trying to depress wages is short sighted, they also make a percentage off our wage. Taken to the extreme, if they were successful in getting us to work for a minimum wage with no benefits, they could not justify a high markup and their profits per job would decline over time, as competition would keep driving down the bid prices. We would all be in the same boat then, contractors and labour, having to do twice as much work to maintain our current standard of living.

JChadwick

You're quite right Brother Chadwick, I used the same logic in organizing and was successful. The key is having all the contractors on the same page and signed to a union contract.

[PSperanza]

I re read this post today and it seems so much more relevant after watching how CE CW programs have been forced upon local unions in the U.S. by the I.O. and in local 353 where in my opinion it was implemented by former Business Manager (now appointed senior business Rep) Joe Fashion disguised as the ITE Program. He told us that he did so by his authority under what he called a "Market Recovery Initiative" without membership approval by vote.

Newly appointed Business Manager/ Financial Secretary stated about the ITE Program at a local 353 union meeting that he absolutely believes it is the right thing to do.

Decoding "The Code of Excellence"

There is just no defense of the Code of Excellence program as written by our International Office. It is without a doubt the most effective union busting tool ever devised. Yes, that shiny gold card that came in the mail is the first part of the attack on our Brotherhood. The second part is our voluntary participation in the "Code of Excellence" program, and no I'm not talking about the feel good list of expectations, and newfound spirit of cooperation between management and labor that they keep telling us about. No, I'm talking about the real agreement, that must be signed by our Business manager in order to comply with the category 1 "Enabling Language" that was forced into our collective bargaining agreement by International President Edwin D. Hill.

Article XII, Section 12.01
" I, Edwin D. Hill recognize that to meet the needs of my ever ravenous appetite for dues, funds, and power at your expense, YOU must do whatever you are told, and work under eroding conditions without complaints, alongside of CW/CE's with full portability,on reduced scale jobs, without shift or premium pay. The "Code of Excellence" is the only way that I will be able to force you to do these things, and keep you from walking off. therefore each IBEW local union and NECA chapter shall include minimum standards as designed by our legal department".

Maybe the one in your agreement looks different, still don't be misled, this "Code" nothing to do with the contractor or customer, but everything to do with control of you! Please, don't take my word for it, ask to see the "Real" side agreement signed by your Business Manager and the NECA Chapter Manager, it's your right, don't take no for an answer.

When you get that copy you will see several pages of confusing fluff, skip through it till you get to "Standards of Conduct" where they admit that the code that you have been shown is no more than "a collection of abstract principals and broadly worded directives." Then they go on to describe the true purpose of the "Code".

Next under "Enforcement and Accountability", the program explains how the "Code" can be used by the Contractor or the Local Union as "a condition of referral to a job in the jurisdiction of the Local Union". In other words' you can be denied a referral for non participation, or the slightest infraction of the "Code"

Moving on to Table 1 "Prohibited Conduct" you will notice that while some of these make perfect sense and are perfectly acceptable, none apply to the contractor as we have been told. And of the twelve prohibited actions, only two carry the threat of expulsion for the first offense. Those are "Participation in ANY type of work slowdown or work stoppage" and "Instigating a work stoppage".

Violence, Theft, or Harassment of co-workers doesn't carry such an extreme penalty! The "Code" further states that anyone instigating or participating in any work stoppage or slowdown must be brought up on charges by the Local Union's Business Manager and denied use of the referral procedure for a "Specified period".

I don't take "walking off the job" lightly and in 20 years I've considered it once, due to conditions. My brothers agreed with me and said "If you go, we go. After multiple threats coming from our own Rep. on behalf of the Contractor, we refused to back down and the Contractor decided to make things right. It made me proud of my brothers, and proud to be a part of such a great brotherhood.

You see, what they realized is that we were doing nothing wrong, we threatened no strike, and we were not in violation of our Constitution. We simply decided to vote with our feet, as is our right.

They couldn't stop us.....until now.

This "Excellence Code" is just the tool that an oppressive International Office needs to stop us from protecting ourselves and standing up for what's right when the system fails us. Under the corrective actions of the "Code of Excellence", we would have been forced to appear before the "Excellence Committee" which is made up of equal parts Contractors and appointees of the hall, with a simple majority rule. We could face charges from our own Business Manager, be denied the use of the referral system for a "specified period" while taking mandatory 'Excellence training"or expulsion. Even if you are not expelled, a simple suspension or revocation of your "Code of Excellence" gold card will not allow you to work on any job that has "Code of Excellence" certification as a condition of referral in ANY Locals jurisdiction. That is the TRUE purpose of the gold cards that we've all received, and the International database that we are encouraged to enter ourselves into, to keep track of who is "Excellent" and who is not, Nationwide! There is absolutely no other function that these cards provide for us that can't be accomplished faster by a simple phone call!

So now that we know what our International President Edwin D. Hill and his Administration are trying to accomplish. By devising and implementing this "Program", they intend to take away your right to protest or "vote with your Feet", and Brotherhood will be considered "Instigation" and a punishable offense. This is all increasingly important as they introduce more and more devastating and destructive initiatives, addendum's, modifications, creating conditions that you will be forced to accept under threat of removal from the Books and possible expulsion from your Union. Soon we will all become irrelevant, and find ourselves back under the oppression that our Brothers before us fought so hard to overcome.

Thank You "Code of Excellence", and Thank You Ed Hill!

Fraternally,
Jonathan Chadwick
IBEW 1547 Journeyman Wireman

[brotherskeeper]

Is this Code of Compliance being used in Canada now? Just another form of blackballing members who are naughty in my opinion. What's next, a Code of Minimum Daily Output? So if a member is in violation of the code, he appears before a stacked kangaroo court / excellence committee which is as arbitrary as the wind blowing. At least we should have a jury of our peers if on trial. What repurcussions do the contractors face? Some already violate not only our agreement but also the O.H.S.A. with impunity, altered start times, lack of tools and materials, poorly supervised by sleazy foremen who quickly throw you under the bus to save their own ratty hides. Courageous members that cry foul are sent down the road, in all probability after being slandered, by spies and imposters who crow about being a union brother, while proudly displaying their no rats stickers on their toolboxes to complete their disguise. Why do you send us garbage guys they protest behind our backs. Who will enforce the contractors? The customer? The men? The right to strike or wobble is removed, we are like an old toothless dog ready to be put down. Ten guys are lined up ready to take your place.Probably pet I.T.E.'s. from Kazakhstan eager to do the master's bidding without a whimper after gleaning all your Canadian trade secrets from you. So sorry you're laid off nice working with you bye bye. It has to be a two way street, the contractors face no barring from sites as we will. Collectively, members need to stick together and avoid companies that play unfairly. Unfortunately, people need to eat and some will put up with transgressions to put bread on the table.

[dieseldave]

@Brotherskeeper;  Your last sentence says it all !

[Borgi]

Evening:

The problem is Dave, and I mean no disrespect.  Excuses!  Are you Union or not? The International is not, so why should we.  We all have choices, choose something better. 

In time I hope to offer someting better than excuses!

Thanks, Borgi

[Conversationalist]

And please Brothers, help me get the word out about Edwin, the more people that know who he is the less likely I am to have an "accident". Feel free to pass on this info. as he loses credibility his ability to do us harm is diminished, and Business Managers might not be so quick to support his initiatives.

Who knows, if enough people are made aware of Ed Hill's true background, there could be a lot of excitement in Vancouver!

JChadwick

[Conversationalist]

You need to understand who is making the call for TFW's, CW/CE, small works/wages, and "Code of excellence". The way that contractors get whatever they want from the I.O., and helping corrupt Business Managers hold on to power, while threatening, merging and putting into trusteeship, any Locals that oppose him. How could our President be so against our Brotherhood? To answer that question you need to know more about the man.

 At 19 Edwin D. Hill begins his apprenticeship, turns out after 4 yrs. and gets appointed to the P.A.C. of L.U. 712, then Vice President, President, and Business Manager, all within a few years....pretty lucky right? He must be a special person to have all these great things happen to him. But it's not enough, while he is the business manager of his local 712 in Beaver Pa. he decides to start being unfaithful to his wife with his secretary, a Miss Mary Bowers,(see United States vs. Marie Bowers) oh sure she seems so innocent, whats the harm, but while Ed's enjoying a little extra marital affair, she is stealing hundreds of thousands of 712's dues and he's completely unaware that this is going on, thats right, Ed is as much a victim as all our brothers in 712. While in court she swears under oath that it was Edwin's idea, that he asked her to steal the dues and give them to him, so that they could be together forever, but how can we believe a woman who has no reason to lie and is already going to jail, we should believe instead that while they were having an affair that Ed had no idea that Mary was embezzling dues, she must have been some kind of criminal mastermind to fool our International President like that! But really Ed Hill is able to watch his former employee and mistress take the fall for what was "allegedly" his crime.

While this is going on, a couple of brothers in 712, John Mallick and Billy Chadwick, realize that something is happening to the Pension Fund money,(John H. Mallick and Billy Chadwick vs. IBEW L.U. 712), again Ed is SHOCKED! So he immediately brings charges against our brothers John Mallick and Billy Chadwick for daring to question his integrity, and informing the Department of labor of alleged improprieties with the Pension Funds. The D.O.L. investigates Mallick and Chadwick's allegations, the results of this investigation causes the D.O.L. to take legal action against the Pension Fund, the International office drops the charges against Mallick and Chadwick, and Edwin D. Hill resigns. I'm sure that it had nothing to do with the charges that his mistress/secretary and brothers are making against him.... The missing dues money, or the "allegedly" misappropriated pension fund money, it's probably something else that causes this obviously arrogant, allegedly corrupt, adulterer, to walk away from his duties as Business Manager!

So now Edwin Hill goes underground, appointed by I.O. President Charles Pillard  to the International Office, where he spends the next 20 years skulking around all of our funds, such as C.O.P.E.(illegal funding of political candidates) and N.E.B.F.(illegal loans made to Clinton administration officials for Florida real estate), helping AFL CIO President Sweeney out of an insurance fraud scandal,(ULLICO), and possibly helping himself to whatever he wants. After enough time passes and no one remembers who he is, they bring him out into the open and appoint him to the office of International Secretary Treasurer,(after the re-election, and then sudden retirement of Jack Moore from that position) where he waits patiently for a few years until J.J. Barry appoints him to be our new and current President!

I love our Brotherhood and I will fight with all I have to protect it, but how could such an "allegedly" corrupt man end up making decisions that effect my life?

I know that this sounds unbelievable, but unfortunately nothing that I've said can't be backed up by public or court records, I would not slander a brother, but Ed Hill is not My brother, or your's. We will re-elect him at our next convention in Vancouver, no matter what, unanimously, to another term that he will not be able to finish, he will retire and he will appoint his successor, and this cycle of unaccountable oppression will continue, as it has for more years than any of us can remember. Who was the last International President that we actually selected? They have all been hand picked by the outgoing administration. There is just too much smoke around this guy for there not to be any fire, and while the courts couldn't make all of the charges stick, and the ones that they did were simply paid in fines by trustees(from our funds). We don't need that much more information to realize what this man is all about.

Well, I guess we get the leadership that we deserve, we don't want to get involved, we get someone like Ed! In a true democratic election process, like O.M.O.V. these things would have come to light sooner, we would be able to know the man that wanted to lead us before electing him, and someone like Edwin D. Hill would not have had a chance.

We have to make a change, or these no accounts will keep selling us out. Now is the time, One Man One Vote! Don't wait to see who this current Corrupt Bast*rd thinks should be our next President, Let's tell him loud and clear that this B.S. will not be tolerated anymore O.M.O.V!

JChadwick
 

[Conversationalist]

Not biologically, But Billy's our brother, it is a coincidence that we have the same last name, and that is how I came across the court records. Since I became aware of this information that Brother Billy fought so hard to expose, along with the damage that is currently being done to us, I have to do what I can to remind people who this man is. I am duty bound by our oath of obligation, I believe that there is sufficient evidence to charge ED Hill and investigate his qualifications to hold office, I just need to figure out how to do it.

JChadwick

Well I know Ed Hill was given the email by fax regarding the trustees of the ibew 353 comm workers not doing their job and protecting the  injured com workers and he never responded and the human rights committee in Washington had the stories of the females in ibew 353 as well. So when did these guys including Ed Hill ever look after the interests of the ibew member. Its interesting reading this story of the embezzlement and Ed Hills mistress  and the grand jury investigation and it leads to the question--why no charges --who was protecting Ed Hill and if Ed was made a mole for the government well that's over 25 years ago without any real cracking of any major crime organizations so the mole thing is more laughable . The comment on yahoo of who was saving the carcass of Ed Hill is more appropriate. Google Ed Hill and Mary Bowers under yahoo comments.

[Conversationalist]

If there was any evidence linking Ed hill to satelitte spying of the pregnant females Chadwick would that help you in making charges stick? 

[Conversationalist]

heres another angle to look at why charges never stuck with Ed Hill. He wasnt a mole in the way we would consider a real mole to rat out criminal organizations but rather a government mole to manipulate unions in order to drive down wages and make lots of concessions. Thats another angle for intelligent people to ask as you look at what has transpired over the years. Hey thats my opinion anyways