THE FACTS ABOUT MILL-CABINET & INDUSTRIAL LOCAL #1635 
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In 2006, LU 1635 celebrated 102 years as a UBC Chartered Local Union. We were the SECOND LARGEST of the FIRST four local unions UBC chartered in all of KCMO.

LU 1635 was one of the FOUNDING locals of the Carpenters District Council, which is ONLY about 55 years old. The purpose of the council was to serve as a figurehead, for the local unions who formed it, to deal as one entity in representing the Unions, here in KCMO. The local unions and their membership were the only source of INCOME to the District Council, the real power was held by the founding locals. These Brothers & Sisters were on to something!

In 1971, the last Cabinetmaker Business Agent retired. His name was Walter A. Said. He would have received his 70th year Service Pin for continued service in the Brotherhood, had he lived. He died at 92 but taught us Apprentices what HONOR and a Union was meant to be. This man was the very first Council BA/Organizer. In his years on the council he organized lumber mills and cabinet shops from KC to Topeka, Ks. LU 1635 had 125 Union Shops under our jurisdiction, an association of union shop owners (similar to who the outside carpenters deal with at contract time, one entity), and over 1,200 members. He left the council as a special Representative of the UBC General President in the 1960's.

In 1994, two years after Terry Davis took office, the fight began over BA representation. We wanted (and should have received) an LU 1635 member to represent our trades and industries. This was not unheard of, since the Millwrights, Lathers, Carpenters, and now Floor Layers Locals all have representation from people knowledgeable in their field. For 40 years LU 1635 has had an appointed BA who knows nothing of our industry. It’s like having a Cabinetmaker BA representing the best interests of the Iron Workers. To make it even more difficult for 1635 to flourish, Terry has regularly, and illegally, barred our BA’s from attending or reporting to our meetings. He does this in retaliation for LU 1635’s opposition to his continual UBC By-Law violations. The most recent barring was when the police where called in to stop the M-80 rampage of Travis Davis…Terry’s boy. Terry blames 1635 for turning in his renegade son, when in fact it was the Best Western Inn who called the police.

Since Terry’s election into office, LU 1635 membership has gone from 380+ members, with 25 Union shops, to 124 members and 1 shop. The message is clear! What Terry wants is to organize Painters and Tapers (who are already organized) and eradicate an entire industry.

Today, 1635 has NO lumber mills, 1 union cabinet shop, 3 display shops, 2 glass & window shops, and 1 door & sash shop. That’s a grand TOTAL of 7 union shops! As one of many examples, there’s Schutte Lumber…the last lumber mill. Schutte decertified after 7 months…and repeated requests…for Terry to send someone down to sign up a new member. No one came! 

The highest paid exhibit builder’s scale is just over $18.00/Hr. Cabinetmaker scales is less than that. Our members have the lowest union scale within the Council area. LU 1635 does not even rate space on the Council website; there is no cabinet maker or industrial union scale listed at all.

At last check, our Local received in-fees from the Council in April of 2006. Remember, the Council now has 17 BA’s & 13 FULLTIME Organizers at $100,000+ per year. LU 1635 pays for a BA, just like everyone else.

Between September 1995 and December 1997, Terry & the UBC held a hearing on our complaints to the General Office over mistreatment, bullying, and threats made to 1635 officers, delegates, & members. After our UBC Trial (instead of a fair hearing), the UBC General President had ordered us to self-destruct 1635 or they would take our local charter. WE REFUSED to turn over our books, records, bank accounts, UBC Charter, membership, Apprenticeship training program (which was the first ever formed in KCMO), and shops. When two UBC General Reps were sent to pick up our Local charter and we refused to comply, they  told us at that meeting that “we were the nicest bunch of members who ever told them to go to HELL,” and could they leave now! Well 1635 had already hired a law firm seeing how it was going to go and it cost us 2/3rds of our local union treasury to fight it in the Kansas Federal Court system. A copy of our original complaint is available on this page, read it yourself and see if it sounds like today or something you’d be proud to say you’re a member of?

Here’s some highlights of the Council/UBC kangaroo hearing that resulted in ALL the fault being 1635 NONE credited towards the CDC by the UBC:

1. 1635 officers were limited to 30 minutes only to speak, could not call witnesses, could not cross-examine witnesses, rebut statements made by the witnesses, or have our lawyer present during the hearing.

2. When the working membership from the shops who were to testify arrived after work supporting 1635 were told that they would have to wait outside because the list was FULL of Council supporters who took off work that day to prevent our members from testifying that afternoon. 90% of the Council supporters who testified against 1635 at this hearing had NO first hand knowledge of the events in question (hearsay), because they had never attended a single meeting of the Cabinetmakers local! 

3. 1635 was told that NO PERSONS would be allowed in the hearing room except for current UBC Members but a non-card carrying shop owner was allowed to testify for more than an hour against 1635. He was under investigation by the CDC for non-payment of his employees dues check-off and behind on his fringe payments upon these same members too. He blamed our officers of not collecting the monies when it was the job of the council appointed BA’s to do so.

4. Terry Davis spoke uninterrupted for an hour and a half. After that 1635 presented an unopened US Certified-Mail envelope containing a check issued for our local per-capita tax owed the council. Right on the FRONT of the envelope was the dates of each of the three separate times it was REFUSED DELIVERY by the CDC office, making Terry’s case that 1635 was in arrears and owed the council money. Terry, by refusing it three times made us late to deny our council delegates the right to vote at the CDC. The UBC forced Davis to not only ACCEPT the check but also to write 1635 a receipt for proper payment made. Walter Said was there at the hearing along with several other old retirees to witness for us. When it was over Walter shook his head and told us “he was ashamed at what he saw and heard. This was not the UBC he had worked so hard for 65 years.” 1635 was found guilty of nothing except having the guts to stand together against a dictator.

The short version of our Federal Law Suit was that after screwing us around for another year an a half preparing for a TRIAL by JURY in Federal Court, both the CDC & UBC figured out that we weren’t going to give up. Their action against us was a no win situation in front of a jury of working people. So they offered us a settlement two weeks before trial, we REFUSED it. By this time our assets had been frozen and our mailing address had been changed. These actions were performed illegally by the CDC & UBC. Our attorney advised us to settle, as we now had no money to pay for our defense. The Settlement was signed in 1997, and to this day Terry has never lived up to a single clause like returning the three shops taken from us. Also the return of membership that, they had mass transferred without proper paperwork, or permission of the members.

The Delegates got their TERRY CAMPAIGN letter bragging of his deeds and the support of his TEAM let me inform you of what’s happened to 1635 since the settlement:

1. 1635 is the ONLY local to show ZERO growth in union shops or new membership since then to date of this report, even though we have a full-time TEAM of go getters. Our entire market share has fallen to 7 shops & 124 members 50 of which are Retired.

We haven’t had our appointed BA present at a single meeting for well over three years and we have never even met our new BA since he was appointed in Feb. 2006. The CDC did this without CHARGES filed against its Officers or the local, without TRIAL, and without APPEAL.

2. The reason for the action taken against the entire local union was that ten minutes before a LU 1635 meeting in early June 2003, five CDC Yukons pulled into our parking lot, the first 3 contained our BA, the industrial organizer we had never met, and newly appointed CDC Organizer Travis Davis. I was inside with a Retired former 1635 officer watching as 3-4 1635 Retirees were walking up to the front door of our meeting place when, TRAVIS throws an M-80 into the parking lot where our members entered the meeting room.

Yes the KCKS Police was called but, not by us the Best Western Hotel called them and I met the Police in the parking lot to point TRAVIS out to them. His attack was upon the oldest & weakest members of this order. Instead of the other CDC BA’s and organizers reprimanding TRAVIS, they LAUGHED with him. I cancelled the meeting to protect our outnumbered members. TRAVIS did come inside to threaten me to a fellow 1635 member. So a vote was taken at the next council meeting. John Masten, who was running the meeting, made a motion to take away our BA because we mistreat them so. Again violating the UBC Constitution & by laws. And the council delegates rubber-stamped it without even hearing our side of it. That’s how the DAVIS DICTATORSHIP & his supporter's works for those it’s paid to represent!

3. 2005 UBC General Convention Las Vegas, TERRY, leaves 1635 delegates & alternates without CDC paid airfare, hotel reservations, expense monies, CDC shirts, CDC pins, etc. We pooled together $13,000 of our own money to go to the convention in spite of his efforts to leave us at home. The first day we arrived having gone directly to the UBC credential area, a CDC BA verbally accosted us. As we were returning to our rooms, we see TERRY glad handing people in the main lobby of the Bally Hotel. One of 1635’s delegation went to Terry, had a hold of his hand before Terry recognized the Brother and asked him where our money was since the CDC had paid for everyone but, US! Terry then saw 1635 President Brown and charged at him and physically assaulted him by grabbing his left index finger, bending it backwards, threatening to BREAK it. I went to break it up, when 2 UBC bouncers grabbed TERRY and took him away. Police reports and Bally Hotel Security reports are available for your information on this site YOU PAID FOR THIS EMBARRASSMENT. As well as the ONE MILLION dollars that Terry kept bragging about he was carrying around. We finally got to UBC Central District Vice-President James Sebliska (Terry’s direct UBC Boss,) who told our representative that hotel security had gone to Terry’s room the night before (after three days of complaint by us), and told him if there was one more incident involving 1635’s delegation that NOT ONLY HE would be put out of the hotel but the entire KCMO CDC Delegation would too! To date the UBC has taken NO ACTION against him or the others involved using threats & intimidation against their union Brothers. It took us more than 6-months to get our money from the CDC for the Convention trip, with no breakdown of what we were being paid for. And no mention as to how much the other delegates received. IT’S NOT OVER YET if you JOIN ME Aug. 26, 2006, and TAKE BACK your UNION!