Jack, I know things get a bit heated during an election, but to refer to McWilliams as an “employer disguised as a union official” is stretching things a bit. Someone who shuts down the port in Oakland twice, or at least doesn’t interfere with locals that do in support of union members being victimized, because of their exemplary action, in solidarity with striking dockers in Liverpool, England hardly fits that discription. In case you forgot I’m referring to the actions around the ship the “Neptune Jade”, sometimes referred to as the “Flying Dutchman”. Someone who has but together one of the best organizing teams, of any union, at the international level, hardly fits that description. . Someone who publicly speaks out on behalf of the disenfranchised of this society, and there are millions, and who forthrightly blames corporate greed for this state of affairs hardly meets that description. Someone who played the role that he did, during the anti-World Trade Organization actions in Seattle, including speaking out in defense of those arrested, hardly neets that description. There are many more examples I could use, but for brevity’s sake I won’t. Oh yes there is one more. McWilliams principled action in oppossing the 50% pay raises for union officers, at the international level, which was pushed by his detractors. As for some of the issues you raised, they appear to be Longshore Division, issues, which, I confess to knowing nothing about. Responses to these are best left to those of you in Longshore Division.
Ken Morgan
Local 6, San Francisco
