To the Dissolution of Local Union 608 - Say NO!, Part 1

The rumored “take-over” of LU608 will not be due to Joseph Firth alone, or to anyone else singly. If Firth and others were so ineligible why were they allowed to have progressed to the point of being installed as LU608 officers? Why did McCarron, Spencer, O'Dwyer and Bernstein, DeCarlo, Connor, and Shanley, and/or the US DOJ not work sooner or faster to bar them from being eligible to run?

Nonetheless, with all the tumultuousness there probably hasn't been so much availability of information, honesty, forwardness and member interactiveness in the history of LU608 since its inception. The events at LU608 should be allowed to play-out so that nearly all that is wrong with LU608 will “float to the top” and the members can rid their local union of nearly all their garbage.

If and when LU608 is actually dissolved or merged, it will happen because McCarron will have thought he has lost control of LU608 and its representatives are no longer in lock-step with him. It matters not who any of the local union representatives are, just that they obey. If a local union or council representative or representatives causes 'difficulty' for McCarron, and that difficulty continues, he will remove that 'difficulty' and all else along with it. (To me, this is akin to killing a patient just to get rid of a little bit of sickness. Kill the patient and the sickness doesn't spread, though the sickness would have been thoroughly overcome by letting the body cure itself.) He will not attempt to get at the root of the problem, that of mistakes and corruption that continue due to a lack of local union members' involvement and oversight due to naiveté, ignorance, and poor decisions due to lack of information, intimidation/fear, anger, and apathy. This pattern/process of failure is applicable to any and all organizations. Restrict peoples information and/or interrupt their opportunities to learn and they are doomed to repeat their mistakes.

McCarron may argue that the root of the problem is the actual existence of Local Union 608, but that would be an arrogant and disgusting argument because that would imply that all locals are or eventually will be a 'problem' and they all eventually will need to be destroyed.

Destroying LU608 will only make problems worse. For starters where are all the LU608 members going to go? Will LU608 be merged into LU157? This would be a disaster for both LU608 and LU157 members. Such a merger would create a local union with approximately 10940 members. How would that help any member? If simply dissolved, will the LU608 members just have to pick another local union to join? It is also rumored that LU20 and LU2090 are going to be dissolved or merged. There used to be many local unions in NYC. (Though, for the most part they were run like fiefdoms due to lack of informed and involved members often due to intimidation/fear and apathy.) Now there are but 11 local unions in NYC. Are we eventually going to have just a handful of local unions in NYC? Imagine two or three LU's with over 8000 to 12000 members each. You think our local unions are dysfunctional now? The percentage of members that attend LU608 and LU157 meetings and that are involved in union matters is already dismal. Just wait and see how the local unions will operate, or rather not operate, with over 8000 members each. Imagine just 10 E-board members determining the fate of 8000 to 12000 members. You think you had little control or say in your local union matters before? Well, you're in for a real treat if and when LU608 is destroyed.

Instead of McCarron helping to fix problems at LU608, he would rather destroy the local union, as he has nearly always done in other similar situations. Instead of McCarron and Co. helping to inform members as deeply and widely as possible and instead of encouraging all LU608 members to be involved in their local union affairs, they would rather destroy the local union. If only for the moment, the destruction of the local union is simpler, easier, cleaner, quieter, and better for, and only for, McCarron and the UBC oligarchs.

To the Dissolution of Local Union 608 – Say NO!, Part 2
To the Dissolution of Local Union 608 – Say NO!, Part 3