THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2006 - TD’S ATTEMPT TO HAVE LU’S MANDATE THEIR CDC DELEGATES PRIOR TOO THE ELECTION 8/26/06!
More reports from working members that Terry Davis & his team are visiting local union meetings and through their LU supporters bringing about a VOTE of the membership present to MANDATE their LU CDC delegates to support TERRY in the upcoming election! So far its been done at LU#777 and I have word that they will attempt it TONIGHT in Independence MO., LU#1329. I am not sure how many other LU’s may have done the same.
HERE is the PROBLEM: 1. To make this action REALLY democratic ANY local union should have sent out a TIMELY notice to its ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP that such a VOTE was going to be taken at either a regularly scheduled meeting or a Special Called meeting of the local union. This has NOT been done, the action has been taken by ONLY the members present upon the SAME meeting night that (in the case of 777), Terry & Travis Davis & their team was present at. A motion was made, seconded, and passed that the local union mandate their CDC delegates to support Terry & his team on Aug. 26th. NOTICES were NOT sent out to their entire membership, leaving the rank & file NO knowledge that of the upcoming VOTE that night of Terry’s visit and in effect ensuring that there will be NO opposition from any local members OPPOSED to this action!
2. Terry has long opposed the LU’s right to mandate its CDC delegates at the CDC level, at one time having the CDC attorney advise the CDC delegate body that they could not be mandated. He explained that CDC delegates were just like members of Congress, they did NOT have to follow a mandate because each could make their own decision without regard of a local mandate of the members they are suppose to represent. Just like Congress the ONLY recourse the membership had left was to VOTE these CDC delegates out of office at the next election cycle for NOT voting as mandated by the local members. WHY has TERRY reversed his position? Simple since my mail out CDC delegates are getting hundreds of calls at home from angry members wanting a change. Many our being lobbied on their jobsites by fellow members daily and Terry’s attempts to send his BA’s, Organizers, supporters, etc., out to the jobsites in mass have BACKFIRED on him!
3. Instead of the members BUYING into their story that their working hard everyday to represent the members wishes, the MEMBERSHIP is in OPEN REVOLT to Terry’s re-election, existing PAID STAFF as voting delegates, opposed to the illegal campaign tactics of having paid CDC staff suddenly visiting ALL major jobsites, and MEMBERS are telling Terry’s SUPPORTERS to get the hell off our jobsites. It is very apparent that the vast majority of working members want a CHANGE and Terry supporters are being directly challenged to SUPPORT my election if they truly represent the people they work for! Abraham Lincoln once stated that, “you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people, all of the time but, you can’t fool all of people all of the time”. Do you think Terry EVER thought that member opposition to him would reach the level it has? Did he think that he and his supporters would lose CONTROL of the issues? I am extremely PROUD of ALL the working, Retired, and Apprentice members of this Council, for standing up and VOICING their opinion, that its time for a CHANGE come election day!
TO ALL VOTING CDC DELGATES: PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THE MEMBERSHIP ON ELECTION DAY!
This will be the most important decision of your life upon Election Day, it may be the most historic event in this District Council’s history and YOU have the power & the DUTY to represent the will of the membership. LARGE numbers of CONCERNED MEMBERS are going to attend this election wanting a CHANGE of LEADERSHIP!
THEY are going to lobby you, THEY are staying to see the results, and THEY are NOT going away if TERRY is RE-ELECTED! Do not think for a minute that THEY won’t be at their next LU meeting in force. Do not think that THEY won’t look you up on your jobsites. Do not think that MY defeat will mean that the CDC will be going back to business as usual either because CHANGE is HERE and its here to STAY! I know that your phones are ringing off the wall and I know that YOU are seeing the biggest outpouring of membership participation EVER, not since the members voted the dues check-off down 3 separate times. YOUR political life is at stake AUG. 26th, and I ask EACH of YOU to listen to your members, do the math, and respect the memberships desire for CHANGE! And VOTE FOR ME.
1. ONLY you & GOD will know how you voted, this is by SECRET-BALLOT election.
2. There are ONLY two orders of business Aug. 26th, election of CDC officers & the immediate installation of those elected CDC officers. If TERRY is defeated I will be sworn into office that same day and there will be NO RETRIBUTION from ANY of his supporters from that day forward. The MEMBERSHIP is speaking. WE WILL LISTEN and do the right thing by REPRESENTING THEIR WISHES!
Do NOT believe that the UBC is going to close down, and MERGE the KC CDC, into some other District Council because TERRY is defeated, they are NOT stupid. Also, do not believe for one minute that I am going to dismantle good working programs already in place, or make changes on the staff level that would jeopardize this council’s ability to function or service our membership! I will be taking a crash course from these very same people to learn everything I can about its programs in place and learn the job. I am NOT stupid either. I have spent almost half my life working for this UNION, I am the third generation of my family that has belonged to Cabinetmakers LU#1635 which is 102 years old, do you really think my goal would be to destroy the very thing most dear to my heart outside of my family? I ask for YOUR VOTE on Election Day NOT just for me but for THOSE who support a change in leadership! The choice is YOURS will you support a leader who’s had 14 years of abusing his power but, who ignored the PEOPLE he represented? Or will YOU JOIN me in RESTORING the GOD given RIGHTS of the membership to run THEIR own UNION as they see fit? TERRY DAVIS has already LOST his ability to lead this District Council by his own arrogant ACTIONS against those he should have represented. Do YOU really want to FOLLOW him down the road of his OWN destruction?
Douglas M. Cornett
Candidate for KCMO CDC EST
Here are the results of YOUR CDC voting delegates
TERRY DAVIS = 104 Doug Cornett = 7
111 CDC delegates VOTED, ONLY 7 good Brothers STOOD UP for YOU, the union workers, and retired members!
I cannot even begin to express my thanks to all the brave union brothers and sisters that came out on Saturday to show their support. You put yourselves on the front line to make a STAND for liberty, justice, and democratic rights. You are Hero’s! It was an HONOR to stand with you!
I am PROUD to be a 1635 member! I am PROUD of what we stand for and for what we will continue to fight against! We have ONLY 124 brave members left and only 7 union shops but I invite ALL like-minded union brothers & sisters to visit our local meetings held every second & fourth Wednesday night of the month at 7:00PM. We meet at the V.F.W. Post #1829, located at 5901 Crystal Ave. KCMO.
There were many campaign election violations committed by the DAVIS TEAM over the last week. Any member who has knowledge of, or witnessed, illegal campaigning by paid council employees (on union time) are asked to contact my secured e-mail website, or call the D.O.L. directly at (816)-502-0290. Also, be sure to report any threats or actions taken against your rights of freedom to assemble, speech, or participate in the Saturday rally, or actions against you since Aug. 26th.
This website will be up for the next 6-months. Please take advantage of the information it provides. Make special note of the links regarding the stripping of our democratic rights. It’s a nationwide problem and is being addressed by union Carpenters all over the US & Canada. The fight began at the 1995 UBC convention and continues to the present day. Don’t take my word for it, find out for yourselves.
In closing, remember that the number of CDC delegates for each local is based on the local’s total membership, two delegates for the first 100 members and one delegate for every 100 members there after. If you have a large membership, and truly want to see a change for the better, then make sure you put someone in that position that will choose HONOR before the DOLLAR.
Douglas M. Cornett
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2006 - ILLEGAL CAMPAIGNING BY CDC STAFF
I am receiving reports from various working members that BA’s are now traveling (in pairs) to various jobsites, and taking the members out to lunch. All the while, they are campaigning for Terry Davis, and condemning my mail out. They’re representing themselves as truthful, informed, union officials serving your best interests.
Yesterday, I reported on my visit to the BMA jobsite and later I received a report that BA, Dallas Darrow, had gone to the Bass Pro jobsite located in Olathe, KS. He STOPPED work production on that site, calling the men into two separate groups to campaign for DAVIS. E&K had about 20-30 employees working there who Dallas met with so that he could go through my mail-out…point-by-point. Dugan Construction (an out of state contractor) has about 15 members employed there who were asked to stop their work so that Dallas could meet with them...also on the employers time! At one point, he claimed that the dropping Pension pay out was NOT important since that rate only effected members who retired in that time period, that’s NOT TRUE! That rate will be included to factor any members retiring after that date when they retire years from now…not just those retiring now. He even stated as a fact that it is NOT THE MEMBERS MONEY anyway. Because their union employers pay into the fund for them for every hour worked. YOUR Pension money paid by union employers CERTAINLY IS YOUR MONEY, it is a benefit paid on your behalf for every hour you work, it’s in your union contract just like the Health & Welfare insurance monies paid by them for YOUR medical insurance! Dallas would have you believe that this union employer paid money into the pension fund, on your behalf, but IT’S NOT YOURS!
Today at the JATC Apprenticeship Training Center, a 2-hour meeting was held with the members during class hours. Travis Davis, Frank Anderson, Joe Hudson, and others (about 6 in all) went through my mail-out, point-by-point, just as the others reported above. They even stated that the CDC attorney had told them that they were not to campaign on union time but apparently Travis & his TEAM don’t need to abide by the LAWS!
Here is some of the latest pabulum from your hard working; member representing; looking out for your best interest; while supporting Terry Davis union officials.
1. If Doug Cornett is elected to office the UBC International will shut down the KC District Council and merge it into another Council in retaliation for Terry losing the election. Do YOU really think they would be so stupid as to do that? What do YOU think our, more than 10,000, members would do if they did, just sit back and TAKE IT! I don’t! This is a SCARE TACTIC!!! Its purpose is to prevent large numbers of members from showing up at the election on Saturday. They don’t want you to lobby the CDC Delegates, and they want to quite the uproar created by my expose of their ANTI-MEMBER RIGHTS actions since Terry Davis has taken power.
2. They are spreading the LIE that, while I was employed as the Mill-Cabinet & Industrial organizer 1989-1991 (only a year and a half), that I was paid by the District Council & enjoyed the same perks that they do. Nothing could be further from the truth! LU #1635 and the UBC International paid for my organizing position. LU 1635 paid 40% of the costs, and the UBC paid for 60%. NO CDC MONEY was used at all, and I WAS NOT employed by the Council. The CDC was merely the pay master (cut my check), the money paid to me was paid DIRECTLY to the CDC by LU1635 & the UBC, and it was a UBC pilot program, NOT the CDC’s, as they want you to believe.
While we are on this subject, let me tell you a MAJOR FACT they left out. I was working as an outside carpenter before being elected to this new position by defeating another 1635 member running for it, by a majority vote of the 1635 membership. I was getting outside carpenters scale & benefits just like everyone else working outside. When I became 1635’s Mill-Cabinet & Industrial organizer in 1989, I SLASHED my own wages & benefit package to Cabinetmaker Shop Foreman rate & Cabinetmaker fringes. This amounted to more than a $5.00-$6.00 per hour CUT for me to take this job, I had no YUKON to drive. I drove my old beater pick up, no GAS allowance… only mileage, which was restricted by a very tight budget, and my expenses were tracked weekly by both the UBC & 1635. They amounted to office supplies, postage, phone, bills, etc. I did not receive any $850 in gas allowance, large expense account, car, etc. that the CDC staff gets now. I received ONLY pension & fringes, at Cabinetmaker Foreman rate, paid for me while I had this position & NO UBC PENSION at all!
Yes, I held local union office as Fin. Sec./Treas. of 1635… and yes I was also a 1635 CDC delegate. I had been ELECTED to these offices PRIOR to taking this newly created position, so why would I have resigned. It was never suggested that I do so by 1635 or the UBC who set up the program? Paid vacation now that’s funny I don’t care who you are but, untrue! Cabinetmakers & Industrial members are the LOWEST PAID and have the LOWEST PAID fringes in the entire CDC areas. If you go to the CDC website you will NOT even find them listed on their wages & fringes page like everyone else who make up our trade members! There are two reasons for this 1. Terry does not even recognize that we exist. 2. He does NOT want you to KNOW that we are the LOWEST PAID members of this CDC because you might ask WHY? Since he heads the “hardest working full time staff in four States”. LU1635 is the ONLY, local and the ONLY industry, which shows not only ZERO-GROWTH (with a full-time staff of CDC paid organizers), but also, LOSS of market share since Terry Davis took office! Information is power and he does not want you to have either.
3. Their contention that I am after Terry’s high paying salary is false too. Yesterday on the BMA jobsite a Brother Carpenter asked me about that. I replied to him that if I took Terry’s pay, I would be the same as he was! I will REDUCE my own salary if I am elected to office asking for CDC delegate approval at the very next meeting of the CDC. I SLASHED my own pay & fringes when I became Mill-Cabinet organizer because I believed it was the right thing for me to do. Why should I RAPE those I am suppose to represent, I was honored that I was chosen to represent them. MONEY & GREED are NOT my motivation for running against TERRY. Informing the membership, RESTORING your rights, empowering the locals, ending the nepotism, and ending the DICTATORSHIP & BULLYING MEMBERS is my motivation!
I make NO apology for looking like a “biker”, or as any working carpenter, working in our trades. I do ride a Harley to work and have done so for more than 30 years now. I can CLEAN UP as well as anyone. And I won’t need the $600.00 p/mo. Clothing allowance that Terry has in his contract. At least I’ll say this; I worked for every Harley I own! Sweating on the same jobsites, just like every other member who owns a bike, or any vehicle.
4.Terry left 1635’s entire UBC convention delegation at home without funds, hotel rooms, airfare, or anything else provided to EVERY other CDC local delegation or GUESTS that attended the 05 convention?
5. I do NOT judge my brother & sister members by there looks, race, sexual preferences, education, or political affiliations. This is NOT the way Terry or his no-name supporters do though. Oh let me respond to the idiot asking me where I got the money to pay for my campaign, you NO BALLED accuser, I EARNED IT, just like the rest of the rank & file members do and I have NOT asked or accepted any monies from members or union contractors to fund my campaign.
One of the features of my website allows direct e-mail to be sent to me, the other allows members to post them on site for everyone to see. The one directly to me is a secured site, for my eyes ONLY. I am asking for ANY working member to log on to this site to report any ILLEGAL campaigning they have witnessed either before my mail out or afterwards. Any local union meetings where Davis or his paid CDC staff campaigned against me too, I need the time, place, date, who was there, and what was reported or said about me. You can send to me without being exposed to Terry or his supporters.
This is ILLEGAL ACTIVITY and violates FEDERAL LAWS of the LMRDA & possible other Federal statues if members were harassed, threatened, verbally or physically assaulted, or bullied during these illegal events or meetings. There is nothing FAIR about this upcoming election since TERRY already has 45% or more of his PAID VOTING Delegates in his pocket. ILLEGAL campaigning on union time, or what I already mentioned above, shows that THEY are scared and desperate! THEY will try by ANY means to ensure that the MEMBERS are DISCOURAGED to ATTEND in mass or that CDC delegates can be encouraged to vote for ME on SAT. 8/26/06! He has already sent out a SECOND campaign letter to all the delegates, received yesterday, promoting his TEAM. I am NOT running against the TEAM, I am running against TERRY only! Please HELP me STOP these ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES by reporting them directly to my e-mail site ASP or to the Department of Labor! You will be protected for turning them in and will be PROTECTING the democratic principals on which OUR UNION was founded upon! Do the RIGHT THING! Turn the RATS IN! Thank you for your time & support, it’s ALL about YOU & YOURS! It’s all about THE MEMBERSHIP!
Douglas M. Cornett/ Candidate for the WORKING MEMBERS!
TUESDAY AUG. 22, 2006 - BMA BUILDING JOBSITE
A Brother Carpenter called me Monday night that was working on the remodel of the BMA Towers Building, located on the corner of 31st street & Southwest Traffic way KCMO. It’s a large project and he was working around a lot of brother carpenters employed by Allied. He asked if I would come and speak to them about the upcoming election Aug. 26, 2006 at our Carpenters District Council offices at 9:00AM. I told him that I would be there and arrived at 11:55 AM, where he met me and took me down to the Carpenters break room. At noon about 20-25 Union members arrived to eat lunch and hear me speak and ask me questions.
We had not gathered more than 10 minutes, when two CDC Business Agents came through the door, BA Jack Early LU # 61 and BA Dave Simmons LU # 1904. I was in the middle of speaking when the business agents began to challenge what I was saying to the members. To their surprise several Brothers stood up and said that I had been invited there to speak to them. And they should not walk in and begin interrupting our time or me. I asked them if they were here campaigning on behalf of EST Terry Davis, on union time? Jack Early replied no he & Simmons were just expressing their opinions on what I was telling the members. When one Brother asked how was it that they just happen to be here at the very same time I had arrived, they said they were suppose to meet someone (I didn’t catch that someone’s name), that had called Jack last Thursday. One Brother asked Jack why would you be here, when the man you want to talk to is down at the Cold Storage building? They didn’t have an answer for that one. Jack did say he was sorry for interrupting my time and I accepted it and continued talking and answering questions asked by them.
It seems though that they could not keep quite trying to interject excuses about how our voting rights had been taken away. It was NOT Terry’s fault that it happened, it was the UBC General President who took them away starting at the 1995 UBC Convention. If you have gone to my website you will find that the 1995 UBC Convention was the one that LU# 1635 was prevented to attend by Terry and action of the council. We had filed a Federal Lawsuit over that & many other actions taken against us (read documents provided on this site). Our lawsuit was based upon that existing UBC Constitution & Laws and we beat them to death with it! They had violated their own RULES and that’s why they wanted to settle the case almost two years later, plus the fact that we wanted a trial by jury, you know WORKING PEOPLE! They realized that the MEMBERS had RIGHTS guaranteed by their own constitution, so they set to work to REWRITE IT!
Jack Early, is right the UBC began its dirty work at the 1995 UBC Convention and has added to it (baby-steps so you would not notice it,) at the 2000 UBC convention and finally at the 2005 convention held in Las Vegas! This was done with the FULL COOPERATION of EST Terry Davis and his convention delegates & SUPPORTERS! I will post both of his campaign mail outs that he has sent to the voting CDC delegates for the upcoming election so you can see HIS WORDS. You might ask yourself why he and the UBC General Office are so close and WHY our Council is so honored at conventions? Because, he delivered your right, to run your Union, to the UBC on a silver platter. He did not protect your rights; he helped them take them AWAY! So lets tell the truth here the UBC took them but, TERRY & his TEAM gave them away and have enjoyed the high life ever since on your dues money & sweat! The other new SCARE tactic being used by Terry’s paid staff is this, if Doug Cornett is elected to office the UBC will come into Kansas City and MERGE our District Council out of existence! What kind of crap is that coming out of a Ba’s mouth? You mean if I win, the UBC will take out a 10,742 member District Council, just because Terry Davis LOSSES the election? Anyway, these fine Brothers did not buy their crap and raked them over the coals!
Toward the end of the meeting BA David Simmons LU# 1904, just could not debate me like a man or maintain any self-control. He could be the POSTER-CHILD for what’s wrong with the TERRY DAVIS LEADERSHIP! BA Simmons went into BULLY-mode, getting up into my face saying, “Lets get it on.” It was provoked, as usual, by my words of dissent and underlines the “PACK” mentality used by Davis supporters when they face any difference of opinion by any working member who has the guts to disagree with them or CDC policy. Before anything could happen two Brothers jumped between us and began telling both business agents that they were tired of this kind of action and that it has been done before against other dues paying members. The men told them that they wanted their rights back and if they were there to work for the members, they had better start representing them this Saturday by voting for a change of leadership and quit threatening those they are suppose to work for.
I would like to thank BA Simmons, for making my point that it’s TIME for a CHANGE! Most of all I want to thank each & every Brother Carpenter present at that meeting for allowing me to speak to them, for their time, and most of all for standing up and doing the right thing for another Union member! I will do my best to SERVE the working members of this council and keep my word. I am not running against the BA’s, Organizers, or staff, as Terry’s supporters have tried to portray. I am running against only one man and if I defeat him this Council will survive it, better men than him have left it’s service!
Douglas M. Cornett
VOTE FOR A CHANGE OF LEADERSHIP
TELL YOUR DELEGATES
DEMAND YOUR RIGHTS AUG.26TH!