Anyone in attendance at the September Membership Meeting that didn't know about the dimwitted and desperate effort of TommyBlitsch and Wayne King to rule Kevin Hardison ineligible to run for President in the upcoming election of Officiers at Local 631 would have never known that over the last 30 days the King-Blitsch Unity Slate was repeatedly bitch slapped into submission. There was not one mention in either the Executive Board minutes or under new business that during the June , 2008 Executive Board meeting King, Blitsch and the rest of the Executive Board had voted to suspend Hardison from membership for two years and fine him $5,000. With that type of suspension and fine I expected to find Hardison being held at Guantanamo Naval Dentention Center with the 80 or so remaining Al-Queda detainees.
Expecting the worst, I requested a copy of the Executive Board decision from Local 631 and Joint Council 42 without success. At that point I heard Hardison was forced to file a law suit in Federal District Court in Las Vegas to overturn the discipline and restore his eligibility to run for President of Local 631. I poured over page after page of legal documents and found that Hardison was suspended from membership for two years by the Executive Board for attending the ratification meeting and speaking against the proposed new contract at Republic Services. That's correct dear readers a two year suspension for exercising his federally protected right to freely express his views on the Republic Services contact. King and Blitsch sure aren't taking any chances that members of 631 will start understanding that they enjoy free speech rights. If you look at the documents in Federal Court it becomes even more bizarre. Blitsch chaired the Executive Board panel that held the hearing and recommended the discipline to be imposed. Apparently, Blitsch wasn't concerned that Hardison was never served with the certified mail notice of hearing because he held he hearing without Hardison present at the hearing to defend against the trumped up charges. I think even Stalin afforded the accused the opportunity to hear the charges before they faced the firing squad . I guess Blitsch missed civics class the day his teacher talked about due process and equal protection.
As soon as Hardison and his lawyer filed suit in Federal Court events began to move fast. I'm sure it was just a coincidence but General President Hoffa immediately ruled that the suspension and fine imposed against Hardison were stayed until Joint Council 42 ruled on the appeal filed by Hardison. In an unprecedented action, the Executive Board of Joint Council 42 granted the appeal of Hardison without even conducting a hearing.
If you attended the September Membership meeting you would have never learned that the Unity Slate was stopped dead in their tracks in their effort to disqualify Hardison from running for President. I wonder how much of your dues money King and Blitsch spent on attorneys fees unsuccessfully defending their effort to disqualify Hardison from running for President? Maybe you should ask that question at the next membership meeting.
