Vol. XXXIX, No. 10 October 2016

The President’s Report

Seniority

As we work our way through contract nego-tiations one of the issues

that continues to plague this membership is the super seniority granted a select few individuals by the previous administration. Seniority given simultaneously in more than one classification is called super seniority. An example of super seniority is a Full Time Operator continuing to earn seniority as a Part Time Operator. In doing so, an oppor-tunity was created for members to receive seniority in a clas-sification they did not earn, and former officers took advantage of this when they returned after serving as officers of Local 587.

Members who went Full Time twenty years prior, returned to Part Time within a few months, and then went back to Full Time were granted super seniority for time they did not serve in the Full Time classification as if they never left. When this occurred, it allowed these individuals to jump over members who had worked nights, weekends, holidays, combos and less desirable shifts

By Kenny McCormick

This has been a wedge issue for this membership since it happened.

news reviewATU Local 587

for decades. This also allowed in-dividuals, like the former officers that created this breach in senior-ity, to return to Part Time Opera-tor status with super seniority and jump ahead of members who had put in the time. This has been a wedge issue for this membership since it happened.

Our International Constitu-tion and General Laws Section 33 addresses seniority in classi-fication; this is why I have asked President Hanley to look into this issue. I believe this is wrong and needs to be addressed and clari-fied so we can move forward. This will help with the issues of Rail seniority too, in that people going over to rail lose their seniority and go to the bottom of the list; if and when they return bus side, they would only be entitled to seniority

previously earned. So upon their return a new seniority date would have to be created: a day for a day, time served in that classification, instead the current practice of gaining seniority in more than one classification at a time.

The impetus of this violation in seniority was self-serving and these individuals worked other jobs, went to school, ran busi-nesses and were not available to work nights, weekends, and holidays like the people they displaced. Knowingly wronging this entire membership for a per-sonal gain is not what unionism is about. Seniority is sacred and must be protected. In this case the International ruling will help put this issue to bed and hopefully reunite this membership.

2016 OutStanding Service award

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a Helpful facebOOk page fOr all Of uS

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Help determine wHere tO add recOvery time fOr cOmfOrt

StatiOn uSe

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letter tO tHe editOr

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atu 587 cOOkOut a SucceSS!pOwer Of cOmmunity!

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587 electiOnS, paSt and preSent

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atu bulletin: cHemicalS, dieSel fuel and exHauSt HazardS

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cOlin kaepernick’S prOteSt

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wHat iS unreaSOnable?

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

2 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

Weingarten rights statementI request to have a union representative present on my behalf

during this meeting because I believe it may lead to disciplinary action taken against me. If I am denied my right to have a union repre-sentative present, I will refuse to answer accusational questions and any I

believe may lead to discipline.

business of the membership membership meetings

arbitration update

At the September cycle of me e t i ngs , t he fo l low i ng business was addressed:

MOTION: to take the griev-ance of Lia Fetui to arbitra-tion. MOTION CARRIEDPROPERTY YES NOKCM 54 2JTA 5 0CTS 4 0

MOTION: by Tyler Zimmer-man to table discussion of the challenge to the Special Election until the October meeting cycle. MOTION CARRIED: 17 yes 6 no

Tentative Agenda

CHARTER MEETINGThursday, October 13, 20168:00 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA

SATuRdAy MEETINGSaturday, October 15, 2016NoonMachinist Hall9125 15th Pl S, Hall BSeattle, WA

JEFFERSON TRANSITMonday, October 17, 20167:00 p.m.Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler Street, Port Townsend, WA

CLALLAM TRANSITTuesday, October 18, 20166:30 p.m.Vern Burton Memorial Bldg Port Angeles, WA

AFTERNOON MEETINGWednesday, October 19, 20163:30 p.m.Machinist Hall9125 15th Pl S, Hall BSeattle, WA

Among Topics to be discussed: Negotiations Update

unfinished Business: Challenge to Special Election;

MOTION: by Chuck Lare that the membership be allowed to vote on the two previously submitted bylaw proposals on contract ratification. Motion carries through the October Charter meeting.

The Following Business was conducted at the September Executive Board Meeting:

MOTION: by Ninus Hopkins to take Kevin Kochman’s grievance to arbitration.

MOTION: by Eric Butler to join the Kitsap County Labor Council.

1. Mark Kelly: Grieved union work being performed by a subcontractor (bus wraps). Postponed pending Bus Wrap ULP filed by Metro; PERC of-fered meditation on this issue, the Union accepted the offer, KCM rejected the offer, and the hearing dates are set for November.

2. Kimberly O’Neal: Grieved 5 day suspension for a serious infraction; currently the Union and KCM are discussing the issue and setting a new date.

3. Tara Mullally: Grieved termi-nation for unexcused absences; schedule pending.

executive board reportSeptember 27, 2016

All members of the Executive Board were present except Mi-chael Shea, Kevin Banks, and Ken Price.

MOTION: by Ninus Hopkins to take Kevin Kochman’s griev-

ance to arbitration. Motion carried: 9 yes, 8 no, 5 absent.

MOTION: by Eric Butler to join the Kitsap County Labor Council. Motion carried: 15 yes, 0 no, 7 absent.

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ~Thomas Campbell

Please notify the union office of any member’s passing so that this information may be shared with the rest of our union family.

in loving memory…

Retiree Charles McCraney Jr passed away on September 2, 2016. Brother McCraney left Metro in 2005. His service was held September 10th.

Retiree Francisco dictado passed away unexpectedly on August 22, 2016. Brother Dictado left Metro in 2011.

Steven Rowley passed away in a motorcycle accident on September 14th. Service was held on September 21. Brother Rowley had over 14 years of service with Metro.

Retiree George Schwartz passed away on September 22, 2016. Brother Schwartz joined Metro in 1992 and retired in 2015 after 23 years of service.

MOTION: by Chuck Lare that the membership be allowed to vote on the two previously submitted bylaw proposals on contract ratification. Motion car-ries through the October Charter meeting. Current vote count:PROPERTY YES NOKCM 7 32JTA 0 4CTS 0 4

POT dR Aw w I N N ER S: Charter: Janet Novotny; Satur-day: Gary Granquist; JTA: Paul Hausmann; CTS: Robert E. Lee; CTS Rolling Pot: no winner; wednesday: Tamieko Cook.

3October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

Published monthly in Seattle.

Official publication of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, AFL-CIO, representing employees of Metro/King County, Clallam Transit, Jefferson Transit and Seattle Personal Transit.

2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, Washington 98121Telephone: 206-448-8588.

Affiliations: Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, Northwest Joint Conference Board, ATU Legislative Council,

Olympic Labor Council.

Articles/Letters to the editor

Letters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, ad-dresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is 5:00 p.m. on the 15th of each month, if the 15th falls on the weekend/holiday, cut off is close of business on the following business day. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprint-able by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish.

Send letters and articles as original Word documents to Cheryl Rowe at: crowe.recsec@atu587.org

Kenny McCoRMiCK Pres/Business Agent email – kmccormick.president@atu587.org

MiChAeL SheA 1st Vice President/ Assistant Business Agentemail – mshea.vp1@atu587.org

MiKe WhiteheAd 2nd Vice President/ Assistant Business Agent, Maintenanceemail – mwhitehead.vp2@atu587.org

PAtRiCK BRAdy Financial Secretaryemail – pbrady.finsec@atu587.org

CheRyL RoWe Recording Secretary/ Editor News Review/Correspondent to ln Transitemail – crowe.recsec@atu587.org

oFFiCeRS oF the AMALGAMAted tRAnSit Union, LoCAL 587:

Web site: http://www.atu587.org

Minority Affairs Officer ESTHER HANKERSONVehicle Maintenance Position #1 CORY RIGTRUP Vehicle Maintenance Position #2 MIKE ROCHON Vehicle Maintenance Position #3 JEFF STAMBAUGHFacilities Maintenance LISA CARTERSupervisors KEVIN BANKSSpecial Classifications ERIC BUTLERKing County Units Outside KCM NINUS HOPKINSTransit Operator Position #1 MIKE BURR Transit Operator Position #2 TZUR WILFANDTransit Operator Position #3 TYLER ZIMMERMANTransit Operator Position #4 LOREN COOKTransit Operator Position #5 KEN PRICETransit Operator Position #6 RANDY LEWIS Transit Operator Position #7 MARY J. NEWTONTransit Operator Position #8 LORRI KURTHClallam / Jefferson County ED STANARDRail Representative STEWART NEVLING

news reviewATU Local 587

major religious and Secular Holidays

October 20161st navarati begins – Hindu3rd Hijra – islamic new year rosh HaShanah begins –

Jewish4th rosh HaShanah ends –

Jewish St. francis day – catholic blessing of the animals –

christian5th do Something nice day6th national poetry day7th national diversity day10th navarati ends – Hindu thanksgiving – canada11th dusshera – Hindu12th day of ashura – islamic

12th yom kippur – Jewish15th Shardad purnima – Hindu17th Sukkot begins – Jewish19th karwa chauth – Hindu20th birth of the guru granth –

Sikh birth of the bab – baha’i national Suspenders day23rd Sukkot ends – Jewish24th Shmini atzeret – Jewish25th Simchat torah – Jewish30th diwali – Hindu, Sikh31st all Hallows eve – christian new year – Jain Halloween

*This list was compiled from information found online. Any errors are unintentional. If there are dates you would like included in upcoming months, please send an email to: crowe.recsec@atu587.org

2016 Outstanding Service awardThis was giv-e n b e c a u s e Mike Rochon closed numer-ous grievances whi le act ing VP, taking us from 180 total open that the previous ad-ministrat ion had in abey-ance or pend-ing action to 71 current.

a Helpful facebook page for all of usBy Morgan Michaels #3717

There is a FB page called ATU 587 CDL MED CERT issues. This page is for helping fel-

low co-workers who need a medical certification in order to do their job. This forum shares personal stories, and reviews of medical clinics who work against us, and many good ones who work with us. We would like to invite everybody to join in the discussions and to add your own experiences with us. This is a closed group and I am the administrator. There are NO chiefs on this site, so it is a safe place to talk. Please go in and put in a request and I will get you in ASAP. Please give your

name, job, base, and ID #, so I will know who I am dealing with. I do my best to make sure I know who you are prior to the invite. Operators, mechanics, supervisors and leads, all are welcome. I almost forgot - Light Rail, Street Car, and other sites represented by Local 587. This request from me is to keep this site safe and continue on with its integrity and dignity.

Note: THIS IS A NON-uNION SITE!

Thanks to all current members who have offered their knowledge; that has helped many others going through this tangled web of trauma!

4 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

Metro is working to add time into ser-vice schedules across

multiple areas. As part of this effort, the Comfort Station Program has service hours allocated to adjust schedules

and improve comfort station breaks. This will be a gradual process, but you will see the adjustments beginning in the March 2017 shakeup.

Metro needs to identify routes that are consistently

running late and costing valu-able time to access the comfort station. The feedback you can contribute is valuable in de-termining the points in your routes/runs that cause you to run late; your real-time knowl-

Help determine where to add recovery time for comfort Station use

By Ruthann Dunn, Comfort Station Coordinator

edge of what is happing on the route is vital.

Please look for the sched-uling comfort station alert distributed to each base. The Comfort Station Report has been revised to include a sec-tion to report on scheduling issues and is available at the base. The online Comfort Sta-tion Report at MetroOpera-tions.com has also been revised to include a scheduling issues section.

important remindersDid you know…not all busi-

nesses who participate in our Comfort Station Program re-ceive financial compensation? They are offered compensation, but some prefer to participate out of a sense of giving back to the community.

Please keep this in mind when interacting with their staff and using their facilities. If you encounter issues with access, please call or email the Comfort Station Coordinator first. Metro has lost valuable comfort stations due to con-frontations between employees and operators. This can have a lasting impact on all operators, now and for years to come.

For example, Metro just opened a new terminal and due to multiple negative encounters three years ago, the manager of the establishment 100 feet from the terminal refuses to participate. The comfort station for that terminal is now over 900 feet from the terminal, and there are no alternatives for late night operators.

Please help us help you. Your input matters!

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ATU Local 587

We are better together. Let us celebrate the ways in which our

members support one another and make a difference in the lives of our entire community. There is strength in being a member of ATU 587. And our members are a catalyst and an inspiration.

Our membership like the communities we serve are rich in diversity. Both Ethiopians and Somalis have formed as-sociations of transit workers.

We have members helping members through the forma-tion of the “ATU 587 CDL Med Cert issues” Facebook page – assisting and informing members on obtaining their CDL Medical Certification.

Historically when ATU587 members are organized, we

have demonstrated remarkable collective strengths, e.g.:

1990 – Organized All ATU 587Members meeting shut down the City of Seattle’s tran-sit system;

2007 – Organized Rank & File stunned negotiators with an overwhelmingly defeat of the negotiator’s proposed contract;

2010 – Organized the Shop Floor 587 Caucus for demo-cratic unionism, where the union’s strength derives from an informed, educated, and active membership and shop floor;

2011 – Organized ATU 587 members with riders demon-strating in support of Fixing Schedules – on-time service, more lay-over time and opera-tor’s adequate rest periods;

2012 – Organized ATU587 members where riders testified and petitioned the KC Ex-ecutive and Council to oppose Metro’s unfair customer com-plaint system - not allowing the accused to face their accuser;

2013 – Organized at the shop floor, ATU 587 KC Mem-bers defeated the negotiator’s proposed contract with an unprecedented 80% “NO” vote and defeated negotiator’s sec-ond proposal overwhelmingly with a 64% “NO” vote;

2014 – Organized at the shop floor, at election time, ATU 587 members voted to remove from office all those officers who sup-ported the rejected contract;

2015 – Organized Rank & File on the issue of operators not having adequate access bathrooms. This organizing

culminated in KC Metro being cited and fined by Labor and Industries, forcing KC Metro to hire a bathroom coordinator;

2016 – Organized at the shop f loor, a Group Griev-ance has been filed on lack of Pre-trip time constituting KC MetroWage-theft.

Member involvement is now increasing at the shop f loor whereby all members are given the opportunity to participate regardless of their work schedules and other com-mitments. Our power through community occurs best if lead by example, lead with actions that educate, empower and de-liver results, i.e. work actions: Group Grievances, informa-tional pickets and community coelesing.

power of community!By Atlantic Base Shop Steward and ATU International Delegate Chuck Lare

letters to the editor:

new Hope for vm?Dear Editor:

With the dismal John and Randy show thankfully gone in Vehicle Maintenance, there appear to be some really good indications of better days ahead. At the top of Metro, Rob Gan-non has shown a desire to both support and value the services that we provide. It sounds like he will support us with a more than decent contract, unlike so many managers before him. (Such a change in leadership from those with the gall to sug-gest we accept a “concessionary” contract…) Word spread fast of his smarts and awareness when we heard that he actually asked some Leads and mechanics who they would like as our next VM manager. Though the fellow

from Chicago got nixed, Rob made an even better choice in temporarily putting in place one of our own.

Chris Parrott has been well respected in all of the positions he has held while at Metro. Un-like many other managers he actually has great people skills and a vast amount of common sense and knowledge about what we do each day. Many of us have high hopes about his ability to drag this shipwreck off of the rocks. I hope that he has the wherewithal to weed out those chiefs under his command who for decades have singled people out (Some even ADMITTING to this!), ordered employees to fal-sify time, violated labor law, and ignored inspection standards.

Maybe he can even sort out the disasters of LEAN which are massively destructive to morale.

The filling of the new VM safety position is another ex-ample of getting it right. Frank Ripley is a cut above all others in his knowledge, people skills, and desire to do what is right. If he is only half as good a safety representative as a millwright he’s gonna do well. It’s been a pleasure to work with him at NB and we wish him all the best, knowing he’s going to have his hands full in the new position. I hope that he can straighten out the idiocy of not being able to get our pits clean. How is it okay to have mechanics working under buses in the pits but not allow janitors to clean under them?

Maybe Frank will be able to address the NB dayshift chief ’s blatant explanation for when the pits are dangerously dirty? The directive to “Use your personal cleanup time of ten minutes at the end of your shift to clean the pits yourself” is simply asinine.

Lastly thanks to the very competent, hardworking, re-sponsive, and strong team of union officers! Your hard work is so greatly appreciated! It’s quite apparent how you’ve piloted our union back into a very strong position. Our future looks so much better than it did just months ago.

Dave Drew NB Mechanic #46023

6 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

In late spring of the year, President McCormick ap-pointed 3 members to an

Elections Committee to over-see the interim election for Vice President, the election of additional delegates to our International Convention in October and to approve or re-ject the proposed merger with Bremerton Local 1384. Neither the ATU International Consti-tution and General Laws (CGL) nor the federal Department of Labor (DoL) requires that we have an Election Committee: it was added to our Bylaws by the membership due to fairness concerns that arose out of our elections in the 1990s.

There were two main reasons we created the Election Com-mittee: 1) the administrative burden interfered with the Recording Secretary's long list of regular duties and impacted his or her ability to campaign; and 2) members frequently complained that the Recording Secretary was favoring some candidates over others. Indi-vidual campaigns were kind of a wild west, and the proponents of an Election Committee wanted the candidates and members to understand their rights and duties.

Our Elect ion Commit-tee reports to the Recording Secretary, who is still charged with administering elections by our Bylaws. However un-der our CGL, the Financial Secretary is responsible for preserving election material and investigating challenges to the elections. The Financial Secretary is our regular contact with the DoL—largely due to federal requirements to report our financial doings. Most of the day-to-day election mate-

rial is kept by the professional office staff. Another source of information is the material left by previous Election Commit-tees. Finally there are several vendors who provide important services to the union: the ballot-ing company, printers, graphic designers, mailing houses and the US Postal Service.

Among the first puzzles is fig-uring out whose version of "How to Run a Union Election" is best: the International, the DoL, the local officers, the professional staff, the vendors or former Election Committee members. The answers are complicated by the slow drift in labor laws and federal emphases, changes in the CGL and Bylaws and even changes in postal regulations. Sorting this out and paying for the services costs $15,000-30,000 per Election Day, up to $60,000 for a standard primary and general election.

For the recent election we made a particular effort to pre-serve our files so that we could generate a procedure manual to help the next Election Com-mittee. This procedure manual will not be completed for a few months and will come with the warning that the laws and rules governing union elections change, as do the services and the contact information for the essential vendors.

annual OlmS workshop

To get the latest on fed-eral rules for union elections, I attended the August 26 DoL Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) annual union elections workshop with Recording Secretary Cheryl Rowe. The good news is that we are covering OLMS's highest

priorities for union elections: Our professional staff main-tains an excellent database of member addresses; our ballots are triple checked for accuracy; we provide members with ac-cess to all aspects of the election process; we maintain ballot secrecy; we strive to keep ad-ministrative rulings consistent; and we have a secure system in place to preserve ballot materi-als for the required one year.

The bad news is that some of our practices no longer reflect the laws and recommended practices of the DoL.

1. Election Committee mem-bers have threatened to remove candidates from the ballot for violation of Local 587 rules. The only allowable reasons to dis-qualify a candidate are that the member does not have two years of membership or the member has been convicted of or served time for one of many felonies in the last 13 years. (This is OLMS's rule of thumb; the actual law—Section 504 of the LMRDA of 1959, is more detailed. Each case should be considered separately with OLMS advice).

2. Election Committee mem-bers have been forbidden to support candidates. While neutrality for the Election Committee makes common sense, LMRDA Title 1 re-quires that all members have the right to participate in the election process, up to and including the right to run for office. The only restriction would be that no member may use union resources to support a candidate unless all members have access to

the same resources.3. we have forbidden candi-

dates from posting slates of candidates. Neither the union nor management can censor campaign material unless it violates a law such as pornography or harass-ment. Poor taste, bad judg-ment, outright lies and un-popular or disruptive views are not grounds for refusing access. During an election, members have greater than usual freedom of discussion in the work place.

4. Several lesser issues hav-ing to do with procedures also need to be addressed. These include that all official mailed material must go to home addresses (not PO Boxes); that there is only one challenge period for both the primary and general election; and that determin-ing qualification for office should be completed at the nominating meeting.

recommendations:My main recommendations

are to clean up our Bylaws and to carefully review the pro-posed procedure manual.

We could return to work-site voting. We began mail-in bal-loting in 2006. The last election cost us about $13,000 per elec-tion day to hire an independent balloting company, TrueBallot. (The entire election cost to date is $45,000+) For this, TrueBal-lot provides the convenience of voting from home, the printing and mailing of the ballots them-selves, up-to-date professional advice on ballot procedures, and a secure chain of posses-sion for the ballots themselves. With work-site voting, much

587 elections, past and presentBy Bill Clifford, Election Committee Chair

continued on page 7

7October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

of this money could go to our members staffing the polling places (approximately $23,000) and members would get face time with their stewards and most active brothers and sisters. However, the critical chain of possession of the ballots gets complicated and the logistics of administering ballot boxes and staffing the polling places requires many more hours of work for someone. We suc-cessfully managed in-house before, but it exposes us to more complaints about mishandled ballots. It is also possible to hire a company such as True Bal-lot to run our work-site polls, but that costs more (estimated $85K) and loses the benefit of training our own members in election procedures.

Someone suggested that the Election Committee be itself elected. OLMS recommends against this but it is not against the law. Most unions that elect Election Committees do so after the nomination process is com-pleted, eliminating concerns about Election Committee members running for office. However this also means that most of the decisions about the election would be pushed back on our Recording Sec-retary. About half of the work of the elections (notifications, candidate packets, vendor contracts) takes place before the nominations. An election committee seated after the of-ficer nominations would mostly handle ballots.

the recent election and the challenges

I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and co-operation of all the candidates in the last election. Looking back over the records of past elections, 587 has been fortu-nate to have generally cordial

and trouble-free elections. They may not seem so genial to the candidates involved, but by DoL-OLMS standards, 587 elections are clean and peaceful. It is not unusual to challenge a 587 union election. Every member in good stand-ing has a right to challenge an election and members cannot be punished for exercising their rights.

The recent election for Vice President was challenged by one of the candidates on three grounds. Whether we rerun our elections on the basis of these challenges is now up to the membership.

We have followed our pro-cedures: The challenges were filed in a timely fashion; they were properly referred to the Financial Secretary; the Fi-nancial Secretary investigated following DoL guidelines; his investigation was presented to the Executive Board; the Ex-ecutive Board voted to uphold the election status as-is; and their recommendation was forwarded to the membership for the September meetings.

At the September Charter meeting, the Executive Board recommendation was segregat-ed for consideration by the at-tending members. After lengthy discussion, it was tabled until the October meetings because a majority of members wanted to inspect the transcripts of the investigations.

The first two challenges (regarding actions of union representatives) are invalid. Even if every aspect of these two challenges was accurate, both individuals were within their federally guaranteed rights to participate in the elections. As long as a member is not using union resources, s/he has the right to campaign as s/he sees fit. Members who are restricted

587 elections, continued from p. 6or punished for exercising their rights can file a civil suit against the local.

The third challenge — that another candidate was cam-paigning illegally on company time — was found to be valid. Our Executive Board applied the DoL standard to this charge: was the effect of the forbidden action greater than the margin of the election victory. I was told that the offending candidate “handed out about 20 buttons at the window.” This is well short of the margin of victory (106 votes) and would not trigger a DOL investigation or ruling. An iron-clad challenge would specify the number of votes affected and offer proof.

If we decide to hold another election, we must first decide if we will start with a primary or go directly to the general elec-

tion. Then we will repeat much of the same process we began in February, including a notice of elections mailed to every mem-ber, ballot mailings etc. This process will take 3–4 months and cost $25–45,000. We will also be open to another round of challenges, which could cause us to run yet a third election.

It is possible that another candidate could appeal to the International. Their typical response is based on whether we followed our own proce-dures. The final word on chal-lenge procedure is CGL 14.8, which leaves the challenge “subject to final ruling by the membership.”

That is the bottom line. Whether we hold another election depends on those few members who vote in the Oc-tober membership meetings.

the membership’s right to vote

By Bruce Tiebout

At an Executive Board Meeting, two bylaw proposals I made were

ruled out of order. ATU Inter-national President Lawrence J. Hanley asked me to “appeal the decision to the local union by presenting it at a local union meeting.” A motion to allow the membership to vote on these bylaw proposals was made by Brother Chuck Lare at the Saturday meeting in September. Voting will continue through the Thursday night Charter Meeting October 13th. The two bylaw proposals are:

article xivCONTRACT RATIFICATION[New] Section 8. Tentative Agreements

All Tentative Agreements

reached in contract negotiation shall be subject to approval by the membership through a contract ratification vote.

article xivCONTRACT RATIFICATION[New] Section 9. Presentation to Membership

All Tentative Agreements reach in contract negotia-tion shall be presented to membership detailing added and deleted language. New language shall be underlined, and deleted language shall be stuck-through. At least 21 days prior to any contract ratifica-tion vote, a minimum of two paper copies of the Tentative Agreement, detailing added and deleted language, shall be

continued on page 12

8 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

9October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

10 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

Here at Metro we are fortunate to be able to work in a diverse envi-

ronment. By being so diverse there are opportunities to learn from each other, to hear differ-ent views or opinions on topics that maybe in the media. For example, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, pertaining to social injustices that has an impact on individuals of color within this nation. Here are my views on this issue. His protest centered on the words in the national anthem and the pledge of al-legiance to the flag. He asked how he can honor the flag when there is not liberty and justice for all, and not all of us are as free as some based on race.

Many in this country can re-member from early childhood they had to pledge allegiance to this nation’s f lag and sing the national anthem each day in school, well at least I can and did. As I remember this started when my father was in the Marine Corps where we lived in family housing on a Marine Corps base in California and I had to go to elementary school on the base. It also continued after we moved to our own house outside of the base until I went into high school. Growing up I did not pay any attention to the words that I was saying to either of the above. However, in the summer of 1968 before I started high school things changed concerning the pledge of allegiance and singing the national anthem for a lot of black students. This change started after the 1968 summer Olympics with the black power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Based on their

protest many black students, including myself, started to question the reality of these words after the Olympics and many other major events, in-volving the treatment of black citizens throughout the State of California, as well as the treat-ment of black citizens in major cities in this nation during the late 1960s.

Being raised around a mili-tary base while I was still in high school in the early parts of 1970, I can remember hearing some black ex-military men who fought in the Korean War and the Viet Nam War protest against the Viet Nam War and young blacks going into the military. Some of them stated that they believe if they went into the military, and fought for this county, they and their off-springs would enjoy the benefits within the Constitu-tion to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, only to find out when they got out of the military this did not hap-pen. I am also a veteran, and I found out my being a veteran made no difference in 1989, when two federal appellate court judges ruled against me, showing that I was no different than Dred Scott when the U.S. Supreme Court made its rul-ing against him in 1857. What Colin Kaepernick is doing is nothing new to those who have been asking where are the liberties, the justice, and the freedom that is promised to all by the Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the national anthem. How can this nation be the land of the “Free” when some inhabitants of this nation are denied the

freedom that others receive and enjoy throughout their life here in this nation based on their race. So as a veteran, and a black citizen of this na-tion, I understand and agree with what Colin Kaepernick is doing. I also respect his cour-age to stand up and speak out against the injustices that he believes are happening to some individuals based on their race. He is lucky that he has an avenue to express his beliefs, even though I believe he will suffer repercussions based on his position. At the same time, I do honor the ones who have paid the highest sacrifice, los-ing their lives, in hope that one day the principles of the f lag will be enjoy by all citizens of this nation, regardless of race.

There is a saying, “A person who does not know their his-tory is like a tree with no roots.” This saying can also apply to the history of this nation. Let’s start with the American Revolution that ended in 1783 and led to the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The preamble starts off with “We the People,” I wonder is there anyone who really thinks these words are meant to include black people, or people of color, who were living in this county at this time and also fought alongside with individuals from this country during the revolution? Now let’s go to the War of 1812, where in 1814 the Brit-ish bombarded Fort McHenry and which led to “The Star-Spangled Banner” that was inspired by a large American f lag f lying triumphantly after the bombardment. The words “Land of the Free” could not

have include people of African ancestry because most of them were looked upon as slaves, non-free people. The above is later supported by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott’s case of 1857. In this landmark decision Chief Justice Tanley ruled, “…person of African descent could not be, nor were ever intended to be, citizens…blacks had no rights which the white man was bound to respect…and that Ne-gro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery…” So by 1857 blacks were not included in the meaning of land of the free. Even with the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1868, the passing to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the voting rights of 1965, and up until 2016, blacks have been asking, “When are the Constitutional rights that many military personal have fought and died for going to be a reality and equal to white citizens of this nation.” Over the years the question has been asked, “Why cannot this nation be true to its Constitution that there is liberty, justice for all, and this nation is the land of the free, where this country’s courts—in both the civil sys-tem and criminal system—demonstrate these values?”

Do not hate Colin Kaeper-nick, regardless of his race, be-cause he had the courage and an avenue to say to America that he is willing to honor the f lag of this nation, when this nation starts to honor and treat all of its citizens equally according to this “nation’s supreme law, the Constitution.”

colin kaepernick’s protestBy Operator Grady Michael Stroman, 21187

11October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

Retirees’ Corner

the view from the busesBy Bob Morgan, Retired First-Line Supervisor

How everyone is doing...

Well the summer started off with a bad e mail from retired 1st line Pete Cameron. Pete is dealing

with both throat and lung cancer. He has completed his radiation visits and is currently on chemotherapy which isn't going well at all for him. Many side effects are slowing the process, so if you find a moment during your day think of Pete, thanks.

Other bad news came in July as former South Base operator Bernie (Barnyard) Fischer passed away. I hadn't seen him for some 7 years and didn't know he was even dealing with any kind of illness. Bernie was a great friend to all who knew him. My memory of him was when I was working the all night shift at the old Atlantic Base. Around 4:10 AM or so the bullpen started to fill up with operators. Most were just waking up it seemed and then there was this large bang. It was Bernie getting his P-I newspaper from the dispenser in the bullpen and taking the door all the way open and then letting it slam shut. It worked, everyone was now awake!

In late June we had the retiree's picnic at lower Woodland Park. There was a very nice turnout and as usual kudo's to Al and Ruth Ramey and also to Dave Carter for hosting the event. Good to see so many folks, which included recently retired #1 first line supervi-sor Dale Anderson and his new wife. I hadn't seen Dale in almost 10 years so it was a nice surprise for sure.

My summer started with a 22 day trip to Europe. 15 days on a Viking river cruise from Budapest, Hungary to Amsterdam. Sue and I arrived 3 days early in Budapest to see the sights and explore all the history and oh the food — very yummy stuff! An interesting city and very beautiful. My one observation was of all forms of public transit that ran max full throughout the day, not to mention all the cars and people on the sidewalks, a real going city for sure.

After the cruise we took the high speed train (200 mph) to Paris where we spent the night and then another train to the Nor-mandy coast. We spent an entire day touring the D-Day beaches and also the German and U.S. cemeteries. It was a very moving experi-

ence. Noted by both my wife and I was the love shown us by the residents of the town where we stayed; they do remember D-Day there and all that was given back to them by the Allies.

I also heard from Roger Cady that they had sold their B.C. place in the south central part of the province. They sold it to find more time for their bucket list so keep your eyes open, you may just see them at an airport/cruise terminal near you!

We also spent much time with Dan and Jenny Sheppard this summer. Also had a visit from Ken Haven and Carole Neff in late August.

Dan Linville was also in the area prior to leaving on a long Harley ride to Sturgis, S.D. and then to Milwaukee, WI and then on to Dayton, Ohio to see some family. As I write this not sure if he is back in Buckeye, AZ or not.

I also attended the retirement party at East Base for Esther Hankerson, nice to see some old friends from the base.

Also heard of a new member to the retiree ranks, 1st line Pete Di Martino who left KC Metro in August.

Well enough for now got to get the RV ready for another trip!

12 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

The 1st Vice President’s Report

paper workBy Michael Shea

Did you have an inci-dent today while you operating your coach?

What should you do? What kind of incident was it? First you should report it immediately to the Transit Control Center no matter what it is. Gener-ally incidents fall into three categories. They are accidents, security issues and all other

observed issues, just an ordi-nary incident. The next step is to fill out the appropriate report when you get back to the base. This only takes a few minutes of time (maybe of few minutes more for an accident report).

Well, you think, why bother to fill out a report? First, it is manda-tory that you fill out an accident report within 24 hours. Next, why

should I fill out a security incident report or incident report? You need to fill these out for your own protection so that if/when a cus-tomer calls in a complaint about you or the incident, you have al-ready documented the situation. It’s better to be in front of these incidents when your Base Chief calls you into his office and that you have already documented the incident beforehand.

Let’s talk about the Security Incident Report for a minute. You ask when I need to fill one out. Well look at the form under the section titled Driver Incidents and Additional Categories; if you have any of these incidents happen on your coach you need to report it. The form is broken into 6 different sections:

1. fundamental incident dataThis section is for general information: Incident Date, Time Rout/Run, Coach #, Work Location, Date of Report, Camera Coach, Em-ployee Name, ID#, Location, Incident Occurred and was the offender on the coach.

2. driver incidentsThis section deals with as-saults and the information needed: Type of Assault, Assistance Rendered and Type of Harassment.

3. additional categoriesThis is the section along with previous one that really determines whether or not you should fill out a Security Incident Report. If any of these

types of incidents happen on you coach it is imperative that you fill out the form for your own protection, since this situation might end up being investigated by METRO. The areas are as follows, but make sure you look at all of the items in the sub categories under each of the main items which are: Passenger Assault or Harassment, Alcohol/Drugs, Disturbance and weapons.

4. Offender dataThis section is for descriptions of the offenders

5. comments SectionThis section is as it states for additional information about the incident. This section also continues on the reverse side of the form.

6. coach and Shelter diagramsThis section is for vandalism/location of offenders during the incident and is also located on the reverse side of the form.

As you can see there is a lot of information that is needed for this form. The more information that you can supply the better off it is for you. Getting this information submitted before that complaint comes in is in your best interest and shows that you were aware that an incident took place on your coach. Stay in front of these issues and fill out this form when-ever you have a situation that occurs in the Driver Incidents and Additional Categories every time it happens. This way you are protecting yourself.

right to vote, continued from p. 7

provided at each operating base and shall be posted electroni-cally on the Local 587 website.

Why? Just before the merger between Metro Transit and King County 30 years ago, there was an Interest Arbitration cov-ering the ENTIRE contract the Union had with Metro. It was a long, tedious, and expensive process. Afterwards, our at-torneys suggested that the rules of bargaining be changed to allow “Tentative Agreements” which the membership couldn’t change or overturn. This al-lowed paragraphs, Sections, and even entire Articles to be “signed off” without a ratifica-tion vote by the membership. In the last contract ratification vote, the membership was not voting to approve or overturn these “Tentative Agreements” such as the elimination of FTOs being able to move to Group D status and pick a part-time tripper or the change in how overtime would be assigned to Apprentices in Vehicle Maintenance. Those were done

deals. Those weren’t the only ones. The first bylaw proposal for a new Section 8 would eliminate those unauthorized agreements.

The membership has the right to see what they are voting on when there is a contract rati-fication vote. The membership also has the right to a reasonable amount of time to digest and discuss proposed changes in their contract with King Coun-ty/Metro. In the last contract, these complaints were made by members, including some of the current Officers. Protecting the membership’s rights to timely and unobscured information is the purpose of the second bylaw proposal for a new Section 9.

The membership has the right to vote yea or nay on by-law proposals. The vote which will take place at the October Thursday night meeting will not be for or against these two bylaw proposals, but only on the right of the membership to be able to vote for or against any bylaw proposal.

13October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

The 2nd Vice President’s Report

the lean pace of recruitmentBy Mike Whitehead

It is interesting to stop and look back at the Vehicle Maintenance Manager hir-

ing process over the last 6 years and reflect on how we have im-proved. 6 years ago, it was the collective opinion KCM hired a woefully underqualified, down-right incompetent manager. When it was discovered that hiring someone with no qualifi-cations did not work out so well, KCM saw the light and hired an Assistant Manager to help. KCM promptly ignored all the qualified and capable applicants we had internally and went to an outside agency and hired yet another incompetent manager who has consistency ignored their management team, has never built any relationships, and refuses to listen to those around them.

Fast forward a few years and KCM is in the positon of having to hire another VM Manager. Learning their lessons from the previous two recruitments, KCM starts the recruitment process by having two of the least respected people in VM on the panel for selecting our next manager. This fine panel rejected ALL of the internal candidates on the first round of interviews. Onto the second round and KCM decides to bag the entire thing and start over. When the hiring authority was specifically asked about the panel selection, the response was “Well, I don’t really know how the panel was selected”. That is an interesting answer

from the person in charge of finding the next section manager.

Fear not fellow Metro em-ployees, for KCM finally saw the error of their ways and…hired a consultant. Even though VM has been in the business of fixing buses since before KCM, before Metro, even before Seattle Transit, 70+ years of experience doesn’t qualify us to know what we should look for in a manager. We certainly cannot be capable or trusted with hiring a manager if we do not even know what we should be looking for in a manager. Thankfully, the consultants will deliver us from this dire state of affairs. The consultants were supposed to be ACTIVELY recruiting for this vacant VM Manager position, yet they never once contacted ANY current KCM VM employee. Although from the last three processes we covered above, KCM firmly established that no one is qualified; however, if you were actively recruiting you would think a good place to start would be with the people who ALREADY do the work. Again the hiring authority was questioned and in this instance the reply was that not only were they not concerned that no internal candidate applied or had been contacted, but that they cared so little they didn’t even give it any thought at all. Hey, at least they are consistent about not caring about their hiring practices.

The light at the end of the bus tunnel is finally in sight. That’s right folks, the consul-tants have given KCM 3 of the most actively recruited, top tier, rising star candidates for our consideration. The first indi-vidual had credibility problems bad enough the Mayor of New York had to back pedal when he tried to hire the candidate. Have no fear, we still have two of the best candidates in North America left for our consider-ation. Behind door #2, we have a job offer! Oh, wait, no, sorry, more credibility issues. Well, I guess we’ll just have to offer it to the third person since he’s all that’s left of the best and bright-est in bus fleet management. Oh, sorry, no, not this guy either. On to candidate #4, candidate #4? Hello? Bueller? (Someone wake up and tell the hiring authority there is no #4).

Ha-ha, sorry, you thought that was for real? Nope, that was just a practice run. DO OVER! Just kidding, or am I?

After a year of trying to hire a new VM manager, we are still no closer, but we have spent a lot of money. We could have skipped the consultants and just asked VM what they needed in a man-ager. I guess the hiring author-ity couldn’t keep PACE with the level of Inclusion VM expected. It’s a big process to handle and I can easily see how alienating all the folks who SHOULD be considered for the job and ruin-ing what little morale that’s left will help. That’s pretty inclusive.

Really, the hiring authority didn’t miss denigrating anyone in VM, so now everyone is more or less touched by the Manager hiring. It’s quite interesting that the Hiring Authority has consistently said that they were listening and they were going to get the person VM wanted and they were going to do the right thing. I’m wondering how you get what VM wants when no one has ever asked?

Disheartened? Disillusioned with all that has gone on? It’s ok, really! I mean KCM has only tried two different recruitments and trying to hire a manager for a year and a half. I’m sure by next September we will… still not have a manager. I do expect to see a lot of change by September 2017. We will no doubt have 5 or 6 more SDA Supervisors, double that in SDA Chief ’s, all filling permanent vacancies. Don’t worry about all the vacancies that will leave. This alarmed me at first, but then I realized I was looking at it logically and saw the error of my ways. Using SDA’s to fill permeant vacancies with a revolving door of people seems like an astoundingly inefficient way to run a large transit organi-zation. Why you ask? PACE says it’s a great way for people looking to be upwardly mobile in their career paths to get some training and practical experience. More-over, since it’s PACE it must be inclusive and equitable, right? Yeah, thought so. Why then are people interested in being

continued on page 16

14 October 2016news review

ATU Local 587

by tHe numberSmembership census:

In the month of August, we received 58 new members and 1 member “admitted by card.” We had 38 members deducted due to voluntary withdrawal, suspension, retirement and/or death. Our total member-ship is now 4299. Last year at this time our membership was 3894. Our dues paying Retiree Membership is 540, up 13 from the month before.

income and expenses for august:

Our August’s income was $376,619, up from the previ-ous year’s August income of $234,676. Once mandatory per capita fees to the Interna-tional ATU and various Labor Councils were taken out, what remained was $298,337 to pay our expenses. August's expens-es were $205,005. The previous year's August expenses were $191,774. With the close of the month with a surplus of $96,332, and a YTD surplus $360,530.

regarding the financial Secretary’s

investigation into the election

challengeWith the approval of the Ex-

ecutive Board I will be bringing copies of my 8/4/2016 findings report tit led, Investigation

The Financial Secretary/Treasurer’s Report

By Patrick Brady

by the numbers for august

of the 2016 Special Election Challenge for the Office of Vice President. After considerable deliberation the Executive Board voted to recommend to the membership that the results of the June 16, 2016 General Election stand. In the discus-sion of this matter the mem-bers attending the September Charter meeting tabled a vote to the October meeting cycle.

preparing for 2020 — purchase vs lease

One of the primary reasons I ran for the position of Finan-cial Secretary/ Treasurer was to change the course of our financial spending and restore our reserves. Strong reserves signif icant ly improve our strategic position as the largest bargaining unit within King County. For our other proper-ties- Seattle Personal Transit, Jef ferson Transit , Cla l lam Transit, Kitsap Transit—our size and strength demonstrates power to the management of these systems.

When we took office 15 months ago our reserves were $405,000. Today they are a million, with a tenth of that coming from the merger with Local 1384. The entire leader-ship of our Local has guided us to a prudent mindset regarding spending and focusing on our overall priorities with a greater awareness of our f inancial health. It has not been easy to keep our monthly financials in the black for 15 months run-ning. In the 15 months prior to 7/1/2015 our monthly spending

SHOut Outfrom morgan michaels

#3717

The 3rd week of August, I ate something on the bus prior to leav-

ing the base on the F-line. I started getting ill. I did a route from Burien and called TCC and told them I needed off the road, but would do a route in order to help with Peak hours and to give the F- line opera-tors the option to pick it up as they were getting off around 2000 hrs. I barely made it the one way when I had to call to say I was unable to get back to Burien, and I would be taking the bus back to base. I want to thank Donovan Baker for picking up the balance and the TCC operator being so kind and compassionate with me. I could not even put the bus on the lane, and only made it to the base door. A driver in the bull-pen just getting off shift

did me the honor of putting my bus on the lane for me. The SIT window guy showed his concern, when I told him “I was dying” — he wanted to call 911!!!! I just felt that way. While going to my car, Debbie Wanner made sure I was going to be okay, she said I looked like I might need help. The following day, I got a message from the controller — it was Greg Woodfill, checking up on me, as he was the control-ler last evening. WOW! What a welcome and unexpected gesture from him. My thank yous go out to Donovan, the guy that parked my bus, SIT, Debbie, and a huge thanks to Greg. It was really appreci-ated, and for once I felt like a real person and not just a number! Thanks to you all!

was in the red 11 months out of 15.

Our largest operating cost is our monthly lease payment for our Union office. Roughly $9,300 a month provides us with a good location and a few meeting spaces. The com-mercial real estate agent who has worked with our Local for over 10 years, Rob Nielsen has offered to guide our Officers in a study of purchase vs lease as

we approach our next decision point. In early 2018 we will be committing ourselves to whatever decision we make re-garding buying vs leasing. Rob is an expert in the challenging market of commercial office space in greater Seattle. With an Officer election coming in mid-2018, unless we do our homework this decision will likely be caught up in “politics.” I’ll keep you posted.

15October 2016 news review

ATU Local 587

what is unreasonable?

I am one of five children; my husband is one of nine. Between us, we have 13

siblings, nieces and nephews who do not earn ANY paid sick time through their jobs. If I was looking at this from my rela-tive’s position, I would think wow, Cheryl is privileged…she makes more than minimum wage and is paid sick time from her employer!

This is wrong. While I can-not fix this issue for our coun-try, I am going to do my part to fix it here in Washington State by supporting Initiative 1433, Raise Up Washington!

If passed, Initiative 1433 will accomplish two things: it will gradually raise the state mini-mum wage to $13.50 an hour over the next four years, and it will allow EVERY worker in our state to earn paid sick leave.

For me, supporting this

Most of the members of ATU 587 work for King County Metro

Transit, so Metro can tell us what to do and how to do it when we are on their property, riding or driving in their vehicles, are on the clock getting paid, and in most cases wearing their uniform. I understand that, but what about when we are off their property, not riding or driving one of their vehicles, not on

the clock being paid, and not wearing their uniform?

I have been legally parking my personal vehicle on a pub-lic street, when off the clock and more recently even out of uniform, yet our employer since May 2016 has given me a Counseling PR, an Oral PR and a Written Reminder PR. The next step, if I was to try and force the issue, will be a PR with a suspension. That could have

The Recording Secretary’s Report

paid Sick leave for allBy Cheryl Rowe

By Douglas Frechin, North Base

happened on August 31, 2016, but since there are grievances pending, I am doing “obey and grieve” and have been parking on Meridian Avenue North, three blocks west of North Base.

I started parking on N. 163rd Street in the City of Shoreline at the beginning of Summer Shake-up 2015 because I live in Edmonds seven miles due north of North Base and didn’t want to get stuck in the stress-ful freeway traffic commute

heading southbound from the Mountlake Terrace on-ramp. I can have a relaxing drive south-bound on 76th Avenue West in Snohomish County which becomes Meridian Avenue North at the King County line. Four months, all quiet. Nada. Fall Shake-up October 2015, one neighbor says I can’t park here. I say I can, she calls and complains.

About a month later, Metro

campaign is obvious. Despite what many politicians have told us over the years, a rising tide does not lift all boats. In fact, wages have been stagnant for 35 years for low- and middle-income workers. If that tide did raise us all, the current state minimum wage of $9.47 would be higher than the poverty wage for a family of three ($9.65). In Seattle, a single parent with two children needs to earn $28.73 per hour to meet the basic needs of food, housing, transportation, child care and medical care. Oh, but that’s Seattle, you might be thinking. But in Pend Oreille County (the least expensive county in Washington State) the same single parent of two needs to earn $18.65 to meet basic needs. Yeah, you say, but this is a raise for the young people coming into the workforce. Not true; 13% of workers over age 55 earn less than the proposed $13.50 per hour compared to 9% of

teenagers. Women and people of color make up the bulk of those earning less than $13.50. Coincidentally, these are also the groups filling the majority of service industry jobs—food servers, baristas, bartenders, sales clerks and cashiers….how many of these people do you see every day?

Everyone gets sick, but ap-proximately 1 million workers in Washington don’t get a single day of paid sick leave. I repeat, 1 million workers in Washington State do not get any paid sick leave. Included in this group are many of the same, low wage people we encounter every day: people working in retail, in fast food and restaurants, in health care—and many of these same individuals also ride our buses. These individuals are faced with a difficult choice: to stay home and care for a sick child, spouse or themselves and potentially lose a day’s pay or to go to work ill, where they are statistically

more likely to make mistakes, leave a bad impression on cus-tomers, and infect all those they encounter. Employees who work sick are also more likely to suffer an on-the-job injury.

The “NO” on 1433 groups wil l tel l you that “giving” employees these benefits will harm small business. This is not accurate. The employees are WORKING for these ben-efits, they are EARNING them. In fact, businesses who have implemented these changes to increase wages and offer paid sick leave actually find the cost to be lower than expected. Em-ployees have higher morale and productivity, and the amount of employee turnover is reduced significantly.

We all have relatives and friends who struggle to meet basic needs. I encourage you to vote “YES” on Initiative 1433 and Raise Up Washington!

continued on page 16

ATU Local 587

16 October 2016news review

vp2—lean pace of recruitment, continued from p. 13

what is unreasonable?, continued from p. 14

the Manager or Assistant manager being told NOT to apply for the SDA because you shouldn’t be given that opportunity as it would be an unfair advantage? Whaaaaaat? Did I miss something? It’s a great idea for these people doing the “grunt” work at the

bottom to get the opportunity to be in SDA’s as a training/mentoring step, but this other group of people NO WAY can we give them that advantage. Seems inequitable to me! I’m sure I’ve missed a memo explaining how it makes sense.

After nearly 2 years of recruiting for a new VM manager and 6 years of VM ex-pressing concerns that we need someone qualified and capable, from inside, who KNOWS how to run this place, there has been an epiphany. Our current temporary division manager has conducted a competi-tive recruitment and discovered the talents, strengths and passion of those who work in VM. Our biggest weakness is those who have been discounting us for the last 6 years with hardly another thought until nation-wide recruitments failed. Does it really take 6 years, multiple failures, doing exactly the opposite of the recommendations of VM, before we even get a cursory glance? Are our talents and abilities really discovered or was this just the only option left? After the tales spun for our pacification during the last few years, it leaves one guessing.

Looking to the future, I wonder how many more times KCM will do the same thing that CLEARLY has not worked (on many levels right down to the floor) and expect a different outcome? Can we really keep up this PACE without stopping and looking at why we keep ending up in the same place? Is it even possible to fix the lack of inclusion at this point? It seems like all the people who KCM should have been talking with about filling this spot, both for the position itself and as part of the hiring panel, are now so alienated and utterly frustrated they want no part. If you push too hard for too long while running LEAN, you’re going to burn a valve or score a piston and there just is no quick fix, it will take time, money and knowledgeable people to put right. Then again, maybe I’m not keeping up with technological changes and should have some consultants analyze the data for me to tell me what I should be looking for?

puts up a sign on the locked walk-through gate from the Mark McLaughlin Park park-ing lot which says:

“METRO EMPLOYEE PARKING NO-TIFICATION. North Base Parking Policy Agreement: NO EMPLOYEE PARKING on N. 163rd ST or adjoining streets east of Meridian Ave N. Also, NO EMPLOYEE PARKING in the South parking lot. South parking lot is for Metro guests and McLaughlin Park users ONLY.”

As I continued to park on N. 163 for the next several months, I was given “Metro Parking Infraction Notice–Warning” slips on my windshield. I was also given a supposed copy of the North Base Parking Policy Agreement, dated June 8, 1991. The pertinent language as it boils down is this:

“You are asked not to park in this area or on the surrounding residential streets. Please park only in the designated employee area accessed by I-5.”

I was given a second document, “North Base Bulletin August 1992.” This had five bullet points, this was number 3: “Good Neighbor Request. When North Base was in the planning stages, the local residents asked that base vehicle activity on the residential street be as minimal as possible. Metro agreed to this by providing enough parking for North Base’s employees and by having coaches and employees use the I-5 ramps. We have recently had some

complaints from our neighbors regarding an increased number of vehicles parking on the residential streets, especially on N. 163rd. We are requesting that each and every one of our employees refrain from parking on the neighborhood streets and please use the parking provided for em-ployees. Thank you for your cooperation.”

I’ve even heard it called a “Gentleman’s Agreement” by one Base Chief. Sorry, not a legal document. Not a reasonable work rule. You have no authority to tell me that I can’t legally park my personal vehicle on a public street.

I’ve checked with the City of Shoreline, which by the way wasn’t even incorporated until 1995, and they have no problem with me parking there. The City of Shoreline has only one neighborhood that has restricted parking in it and that is by Shoreline Community College. It’s called a RPZ, Restricted Parking Zone and if there was really a problem with parking on N. 163rd Street, this neighborhood can use that rem-edy. In my research, one of my co-workers had been parking on the same street that I’ve been parking on for the last five years. Even had a doctor’s note which Metro knew about. I asked this co-worker why this one neighbor never had complained about this co-worker and I was told that it was because they were friends!

Wish me luck at Second Step!