I. DECEPTIVE NOTICE OF CAINE’S FIRING ON LOCAL 47 WEBSITE
II. SITTING ON THEIR HANDS FOR EVEN LONGER?
III. REFERAL OFFICE APPARENTLY BEING MOVED BACK TO MANDATED LOCATION
IV. MEMBER COMMENTS ON LAST EMAIL
I. DECEPTIVE NOTICE OF CAINE’S FIRING ON LOCAL 47 WEBSITE
At the April 16th Board meeting, members brought to the attention of the Board Mr. Caine’s Felony convictions for FORGERY and GRAND THEFT. Though his two and a half page public record rap sheet had numerous drug charges, convicted or not, the drug charges in and of themselves did not necessarily constitute a threat to the members’ private information.
THE MEMBERS DID NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM MENTION THE DRUG CONVICTIONS AT THE BOARD MEETING, because it was the Forgery and Grand Theft that mattered.
Why do we mention this? Read the full statement of Caine’s firing from the Local 47 website under the heading “for immediate release”. Though they don’t mention his name, the employee fired was Mr. CAINE.
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It is with deep regret that I announce to all Local 47 members the immediate termination of our General Manager.
At the May 16th Board meeting, the Executive Board was shocked to learn from a Local 47 member that our General Manager had allegedly been convicted of a drug-related felony back in the late 1990’s. According to federal labor law,
any individual convicted of certain felonies, including those relating to controlled substances, within the past 13 years cannot serve as an officer or an employee of a union. After learning that the allegations were true,there was simply no choice in the matter and the law had to be followed.
As you know, our General Manager has been a valuable and loyal administrator and friend to the elected officers and members of our Local. As your president, I often have to make difficult decisions. This is certainly one of them. We wish him all the best and thank him for all the good work he has accomplished for Local 47.
Hal Espinosa
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The problem is, according to President Espinosa, Local 47 Counsel Lewis Levy wrote the statement, not the President. He should have read it before allowing it to be posted. The counsel wasn’t even at the meeting and had NO IDEA what was presented. The Counsel should have known what was presented to the board and should have known that the only convictions mentioned were the forgery and grand theft.
Misrepresenting what happened only makes the President look bad if he’s going to put his name on statements he hasn’t read. We have suggested to the President to make sure he reads EVERYTHING to be presented with his name, since his reputation is on the line if there is misinformation shared with the impression he wrote it.
The Counsel doesn’t mention Caine’s name; and the LOYAL ADMINISTRATOR comment makes it all the more clear that the despicable games, intimidation, threats and conduct he put our employees through were sanctioned by at least the Executive Officers.
—ONCE AGAIN, when given the option to come clean and give the straight pertinent info to inform our brothers and sisters of a real danger to their private, sensitive information, this administration allowed statements that spun the info and told half-truths about the crimes committed, leaving a false impression of the seriousness of the situation.—
Since our conversation the notice has been removed from the website, with no mention of Caine’s firing anywhere to be seen.
II. SITTING ON THEIR HANDS FOR EVEN LONGER?
We have learned that on April 14th, information was sent to the board
members via email telling them they had a possible felon working at the
Local, with clues as to where to look without giving names, to see if they
would follow up.
They didn’t.
As we all know by now, they had 10 days (from April 14th to the 24th) to act BEFORE the meeting and did nothing. After the meeting, and the passing of a motion requiring investigation, they had 22 MORE days (April 25th to May 16th) to at least start inquiries while President Espinosa was on Vacation for two weeks.
They did not.
Who’s lookin’ out for you? Apparently not this board.
III. REFERAL OFFICE FINALLY BEING MOVED TO MANDATED LOCATION!
Now we need Errol and Barbara back!
On May 16th, David Schubach spoke to the Executive Board to inform them that the Referral Service office had been moved in violation of the mandate of the membership, and requested that the office be returned to the designated location.
According to President Espinosa, the Referral Office is now being moved back to the mandated front office. Let’s hope they don’t have the gall to attempt to move it a third time!
When we work together and have those such as David and others willing to stand up and be a voice for the membership we can make things happen! Let’s keep our momentum going!
On the one hand, we can thank the board for moving the office back to where it belongs. On the other hand however, we should be tired of having to threaten, cajole and force them into doing the right thing.
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IV. LOCAL 47 MEMBER COMMENTS
A sincere thank you from the one of the greater membership for all you have done and continue to do for your brothers/sisters in the community of professional musicians.
It seems to me, in a more perfect world, the Union Board would BE the
de-facto “committee for a more responsible local 47”. If this is not the
Board’s goal, perhaps we have the wrong Board in place?
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It is my personal opinion that the Board should be replaced in it’s
entirety and that the person who hired Doug Caine should also be
replaced asap. This kind of outrage perpetrated on people doing their
job should never be tolerated. Once again this situation reveals how
paternal and corrupt the union execs and in particular the board can
be. I found out a long time ago that the board in particular was
often ineffective and in my particular case actually hostile. They kissed
ass to Warner Bros. and treated me like dirt. Time to clean
house!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thank you, thank you. The membership of “Committee for a More Responsible
Local 47” should be applauded by one and all (even the RMA members) for
uncovering these ugly truths about Doug Caine. He should have never been
hired for a position with access to such sensitive information. His
tactics of intimidation were tantamount to those of gangs and much more
in-line with organized crime. May those responsible for his hiring be
rebuked at the ballot box.
I hope those loyal employees that were fired by Caine are immediately asked
to resume their positions and at the very least, they’re given letters of
apology signed by the president and all board members.
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The whole board should immediately explain their individual roles in this
surreptitious attempt to dismantle the union and its resources, then
apologize for their obvious incompetence and resign without further delay.
We need a clean sweep to restore order. By now there can be no doubt
that board members were using the office they created for convicted felon
Doug Caine to accomplish their own devious purposes.
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I would like to know who was responsible for hiring this punk.? They
should either resign or be fired for negligence of duty.
Please let us know .
Thanks for the job you are doing for the union members.
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On April 24th at the Professional Musicians – Local 47 General Membership
meeting, these two statements were made when queries were made regarding
Doug Caine in his capacity as General Manager of the Local:
1) Doug Caine does not do anything these guys (referring to the President
and Vice-President of the Local) don’t know about. (Said by a former
employee of the Local.)
2) Doug checks with me. I still have to give final approval on anything Doug does. Hal Espinosa (I believe it was Hal who said this)
I wrote down these two statements on my “resolution” sheet as I KNEW this would come up eventually.
It is unconscionable, irresponsible, reckless and lazy for Hal (and whomever else!) to have turned the running of our Local over to someone like this!
Culpability lies at the top.
[Readers – While the quote attributed to Hal may not be his exact working, he most certainly made clear that as President he was responsible for what Doug Caine did while at the Local.]
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i read this twice …so interesting….
can we have barbara and errol back now?? pretty please????
thank you for you hard work!!
soooooo grateful….
——
Thank you so much for all your efforts on behalf of the membership. I for
one feel very vulnerable since Doug Caine, a known felon, has had access to
my personal information, not to mention the havoc he has reeked among the
employees of the union. I think corruption and negligence of this magnitude
should be cause for completely new leadership at local 47. I don’t know
when the next election is, but perhaps we should institute impeachment
proceedings…
Is the Federation at the national level aware of this scandal, and if so,
what are they going to do about it.
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unbelievable….
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BRAVO – now lets talk about another project I just lost because the
producers forced the composer to sign a no AFM clause
we gotta stop this s***
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We’re trying to line up some explanatory information about Health Plans for you. We’ll keep you informed.
Thank you for reading and please make plans to be at the July 24th meeting!
There is much to do!
Until next time,…
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47