Complaints! Complaints! Shame On YOU!

Complaints!  Complaints!  Shame On YOU!

After over a year of attempting to expose the wrongdoing of the 2014 BTU election, then witnessing it happening once again with the 2015 Election, I realize the pattern of unfair dealings is seemingly entrenched in how things are done in BTU elections.

Recently, as I have exhausted every avenue within my union to find justice, I have had to go to the state of Florida and the United States Labor Board, something I now realize I could have done sooner, and maybe should have.

It never occurred to me that my union, and individuals in it would try to pull the wool over my eyes, but they did, and all I have to say is, "SHAME ON YOU!!!!"

I have found numerous labor laws that were broken during the 2014 election.  Most certainly the main sticking point of the BTU employee who should have been deemed an ineligible candidate, but who ran for office.  Now I realize that many individuals at many levels of awareness knew or should have known that a BTU employee has no business running for elected office.

They knew, and they let it happen anyway.  They manipulated circumstances and their interpretation of the law and used it against dues paying members who just happened to be candidates and complainants.  We are 9.  We have yet to find justice, and we will not forget.

The longer the charade continues the more we learn how many people had to help this process of unfairness unfold at multiple levels, and so all the complainants say... "Shame on YOU!"

Below are some laws BTU Leaders broke that legal teams and unions leaders should have well known.

SHAME ON YOU!

Also included are the original complaints I made.  SHAME ON YOU!

This never should have gone farther than BTU.  It never should have gone to FEA.  It never should have gone to AFT.

SHAME ON YOU!

9 of us were harmed, lied to, ignored, and discriminated against.  Our names are:

Henry Sergey

Christopher Townley

Terry Preuss

Anna Fusco

Leslie Starr

Ann Marie Burgess

Wellington Andreas

Liz Shurak

Anna Marie Pierpont

WE WILL NOT FORGET!!  SHAME ON YOU!!

STATE OF FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RELATIONS COMMISSION HANDBOOK

 Pg. 12 PERC Handbook

Managerial, Confidential, Supervisory, and Professional Employees who have substantial independent authority for policy formation, personnel administration, budget preparation, or who assist in collective bargaining negotiations are excluded from a bargaining unit as managerial employees. Employees who aid or assist a managerial employee by working with confidential information concerning the employer’s labor relations functions are excluded from a bargaining unit as confidential employees. Anyone that a party seeks to have designated as managerial or confidential must be given notice. Employees with significant supervisory duties will be excluded from bargaining units containing employees they supervise, but may be represented in a supervisory unit. Professional and nonprofessional employees may be included in the same unit only if each group votes for inclusion.

SHAME ON YOU!

(2) A public employee organization or anyone acting in its behalf or its officers, representatives, agents, or members are prohibited from:

(1) To interfere with or prevent the right of franchise of any member of a labor organization. The right of franchise shall include the right of an employee to make complaint, file charges, give information or testimony concerning the violations of this chapter, or the petitioning to the union regarding any grievance he or she may have concerning membership or employment, or the making known facts concerning such grievance or violations of law to any public officials, and the right of free petition, lawful assemblage and free speech.

SHAME ON YOU!

447.07 Records and accounts required to be kept.—It shall be the duty of any and all labor organizations in this state to keep accurate books of accounts itemizing all receipts from whatsoever source and expenditures for whatsoever purpose, stating such sources and purposes. Any member of such labor organization shall be entitled at all reasonable times to inspect the books, records and accounts of such labor organization.

SHAME ON YOU!

United States Office of Labor Management Standards states in section Who is Eligible

In certain unions it is customary for members to retain their membership in good standing when they become supervisors. These members may not hold office, however, if their doing so would violate the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended (the Taft-Hartley Act), which makes it an unfair labor practice for any employer (including persons acting in that capacity) to dominate or interfere with the administration of a union.

SHAME ON YOU!!

We 9 are members who deserved fair representation and did not get it in an unfair election in 2014.

Another unfair election (2015) has come and gone, the incidents in that one differ, but are equally as troubling.

THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT THIS TIME, NO MATTER HOW HARD BTU LEADERS TRIED TO STOP THE OPPOSITION... THE OPPOSITION WON!

SHAME ON YOU FOR PUTTING HONEST MEMBERS THROUGH SUCH UNFAIR PRACTICES.

They will also not forget, and are also beginning to file charges against BTU Leaders.

Below are my original complaints.  Like mine there were over 100, as per members of the elections committee.

Of the over 100 complaints AFT "independent counsel" only investigated 3.

SHAME ON YOU!

Complaint:  Feb. 12, this continues:

I am sending in a formal complaint against the group that is called BTU Leaders running in our BTU election for executive officers.  All candidates just received an email yesterday Jan. 26, 2014 stating, no candidates will be allowed to use Union resources. 

The group called BTU Leaders have a Face Book and there are BTU pictures and videos promoting this group. They cut and pasted pictures from the BTU web site and put them on their Face Book.  The cards they are handing out has the BTU Hall behind them.  Based on rule #18 the group is using BTU resources and they are in violation.

To:  Elections Committee

Re:  Complaint

(Preliminary Complaint) 

#1.  I'm filing an official complaint because of the refusal and or failure of all individuals to provide copies of the job contract and of the calendar of events of Kalebra's engagements at various schools, paid for by union dues, leading up to the date of resignation, which I have asked for several times.  This includes President Glickman, Kalebra Williams,  the Elections committee, staff, and the FEA and AFT attorneys.  This information should be forthcoming to any executive board member on any day of the year, whether or not there is an election or an investigation.. 

#2.  I am filing an official complaint because the emergency meeting on 1/21/14, Executive Session, held to clear up issues and ask questions was not an open dialogue and restricted all conversations to people speaking in third person, and restricted the topics we came to discuss to uncover possible elections violations.  We were also told we could not mention names and not discuss the elections.  There was a parliamentarian present, one I am familiar with from other executive committees I belong to, but the suppression of facts and expression, and manipulation of the speakers was counter-productive to our common goal of clearing the allegations made by candidates..  I, for example, was only allowed to look at the president when I spoke.  I was strictly timed, others not timed at all.  The entire process was unfair to many, and was duly noted by many that their free expression was suppressed, not allowing the discussion, nor uncovering of important facts being brought forward to the board, which had been the intent of rescheduling the good and welfare to another night to give full time to discuss conflicts and allegations regarding the elections and candidate facts.  Often President Glickman said, "No, we are not going to talk about that."  The entire reason for the meeting was to discuss the facts we were told we could not discuss.  Now we are forced to go into elections with questions unanswered, and serious conflicts, and allegations muddying the campaign window. 

#3.   I am filing a complaint that the BTU employee, Kalebra Williams, had to violate elections and candidacy rules by working at the BTU until the day to file for candidacy, therefore using union resources.  She had to get signatures, plan her campaign, take campaign pictures, etc. ON BTU time and using BTU resources to one degree or another.  It is humanly impossible to stop working on Jan 9, and be a candidate at the same instance.  It is also impossible to plan a campaign, take election pictures and set up your website in the time period in question.  BTU time and resources had to be used, and an investigation is warranted.

#4.  I am filing a complaint due to the ambiguous and conflicting information surrounding Kalebra William's employment.  Resignation dates have conflicted, employment information has conflicted, job description, dues paying status, etc., must be verified to candidates.  Ms. William's job description has been to some degree to campaign for new members, organizing, recruitment, etc., as a BTU representative and employee.   She was possibly later given managerial duties which might have made her ineligible to pay BTU dues and remain a member. Candidates asking for this information have been denied it, myself included.  She has gone to schools, while other BTU members are teaching, and other candidates have no access to teachers, met with teachers, gotten personal information via FEA/AFT Resources and their time.  (At least that is what happened on 1/23/14 at Olsen Middle School when others doing her same recruitment duties attended my school and I witnessed gifts being given to teachers and food and treats.  Also, I am told by numerous teachers the same occurred at their schools with Kalebra Williams)  The personal information and contacts from the BTU resources collected on BTU paid time can now be used to contact members.  The affiliations made using BTU resources and paid by BTU members, has put this candidate at an unfair advantage, creating a conflict of interest.  Also, members may be misled as to her role, when giving presentations, representing BTU, using AFT and FEA resources, and giving gifts, and food at various schools, all BTU resources, or paid through BTU, and may confuse her role as a BTU employee, now on the ticket as a VP. To my knowledge, based on the little information I can gather given the suppression of dialogue, obstruction of facts, and concealment of paperwork, she worked until either Dec. 19 as per President Glickman, or Jan 9 as per SBBC sources.  I have not been provided clear responses to any questions or requests for information, however, the ambiguous and conflicting information leads me to believe that the eligibility may be in question, that the elections committee might not have done their due diligence is verifying the candidate, and that from a purely ethical standpoint this candidate demonstrates both an unfair advantage and an unethical (NOT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THOSE BEING SERVED) means of arriving at her candidacy since she was essentially paid by BTU to "campaign" for herself, and as a BTU leader and organizer, and Share My Lesson AFT.FEA representative until the day she wrote her resignation letter.

FYI

At this time, since no information is allowed to be seen or discussed, I am writing this complaint in the BLIND without having seen the documents or the calendar of events I requested. As in the complaints above without even being afforded an opportunity to ask questions or clarify the allegations and complaints coming to the executive board, of which I am a member, I feel a tremendous feeling of injustice to the elections process.  This is written to comply with orders that I write a complaint, but I withhold the right to add to and amend these complaints since they are written to meet a deadline and there may be more information and facts to be added at a later time.

At this time I feel that it is highly unethical to run an elections process as it is being done at BTU.  I also feel that it is unethical to allow a candidate who was essentially paid by the other candidates to have access to members, their personal information, their time, their sensibilities,  while presenting as BTU leader, using BTU resources, etc.  This being done while other candidates had no access to members and were performing teaching duties, using the BTU, AFT, FEA Share My Lesson resources and logos, feeding members, giving treats and gifts, etc.,  is highly unfair and unethical, and I am sure it must break some PERC or Florida rules in addition to the rules of ethics.

So many complaints and questions have come in, so few facts have been forthcoming.  I think a full investigation is in order.  I feel that facts are being suppressed without cause. I have served on a number of leadership quorums and committees in both Dade and Broward.  I have never seen anything like this in my life.  The number of allegations and the lack of clarity in addressing those allegations is complicating the elections process and the candidates' campaigns.

Please help!

Sincerely,

Terry Preuss, NBCT

BTU Executive Board Member

Official Complaint After Viewing the contract which contains grievous conflicts of interests and violations.

#1 Kalebra's contract clearly states there is a mandatory a 30 day cancellation notice needed to cancel the agreement.  That 30 day notice was not given, as seen in her letter of resignation.  That would make her contract valid through at least Jan. 14, making it impossible for her to be eligible to run in the elections which would require her to submit candidate paperwork on Jan. 9.  She did not give a 30 day cancellation.  This not only means she is clearly ineligible, it could also mean she is still officially an employee on the books, and contractually, and therefore not eligible for the leaves, and benefits afforded individuals who duly give their 30 day notice.  An investigation is warranted and sanctions as needed.

#2  The committee stated that Kalebra was eligible without viewing her contract, which clearly states she is not eligible to interfere in campaigns, nor is she a "BTU" member in good standing according to the contract.  Either the committee or the legal counsel did not offer the original complaint due process.  Either the committee or legal counsel hurriedly decided she was "eligible" and sent this in writing to the candidates and the e-board.  This is an egregious violation of responsibility that the committee or legal counsel must now answer for.  How can a candidate be determined eligible, when it was the contract that was in question, if the contract itself was never viewed.  This is simple negligence and must be thoroughly investigated, questioned and understood.  If eligibility was determined solely on BTU membership, how was it overlooked that the candidates contract stated clearly that she was not a member and could not be if she took the "management" job.  That is a clear stipulation in the contract and one that can not be over looked under any circumstances because it is a clear conflict of interest clause.  If the Dues were paid, it was in error.  If it was not in error, the candidate was still unable to "interfere" in elections, which she clearly did, and photographic proof is available.  I think that by stating eligibility without due investigation either the elections committee, legal counsel, or both are violating the rights and expectations of members and other candidates.

#3  Kalebra's contract clearly states she is management and unable to be a dues paying member.  She can therefore not be a member in good standing.  Even if her dues were paid, it was in error.  Whose responsibility was it to cancel her dues and has that been investigated?  My complaint would be that dues should have been canceled rendering her unable to run under any circumstances or interpretation of that contract.

#4  Kalebra consistently admits that she used union resources to engage with, and get to know teachers.  She admits this both on her speech and on the BTU Leaders website.  All the positive points she points out were  things done by Kalebra using union resources, and when she herself was a union resource.  The grants she wrote, the help she gave members, all done while she, herself was acting as a union resource, on union time, and using a union paycheck and expense account, as well as union computers, phones, etc.  My complaint is that if union resources are not allowed to be used by candidates, and the candidate herself has been a "Union Resource" for 3 years and was at the time of taking her picture for her campaign, this is a big violation.  Further by mentioning all the things she did using those resources and wile being a resource herself, she further violates the elections rules and her own contract.  All the evidence needed is to view Kalebra's own incriminating literature, and video.  Both should be pulled immediately, and as a union resource, using union resources to promote BTU's agenda she consummately violates the intent of that ruling, that union time and resources should not be used by candidate.  She used them while still a BTU employee in preparing her campaign and uses them still to promote all the things she, as a union resource, did with many other union resources.

#5  Kalebra's contract has a "non-interference" clause.  This specifically prevents her from participating or interfering in campaigns and elections.  The intent of the clause is to insure that  both employee and employer are fully aware that running in an election or interfering in one in any way is a grievous violation.  She did both by inserting herself into a photograph while employed, initiating her intent to campaign and be part of the election while she was an employee, bound by a contract preventing the same.  This was done intentionally and maliciously with the intent to violate the standing contract and then attempting to conceal this violation.

#6 Kalebra and President Glickman (and perhaps others)  knowingly allowed Kalebra to violate her own contract, and knowingly violated her contract along with her.  It is the President's responsibility to oversee hiring, firing, promotions, etc.  President Glickman knowingly violated the contract between BTU and Kalebra in order to serve herself and her election and in order to assist Kalebra to do the same.  By so doing, they were both obstructing justice and misleading the board and the membership.  Violating not only the contract, but elections rules, and the rules of fairness and ethics.

#7  Complaint that the attorney opinions were not provided to us timely, or at all.  In fact the names of the attorneys were not given to us so that we could ask questions that were not fully answered by the elections committee in the promulgation, nor by Alan and John while viewing the contract.  It is our right to know the names of the attorneys who overlooked these blatant contractual problems with Kalebra's candidacy, and who wrongly advised either the president or the committee that the contract could not be viewed by me, which caused a grievable delay in ascertaining the facts.