Greetings Local 47 Colleagues,<\/p>\n
The following are correspondence sent from Errol Henry to the Board and Officers of the Local, plus an update for the membership at the end. He asked us to share these with you, the members of Local 47.<\/p>\n
For those who don\u2019t know who Errol Henry was to the Local, he was an employee for 9 years. For the last few years he had run the referral service.<\/p>\n
When reading the correspondence below please keep in mind that Errol in his entire nine years at the local NEVER filed a formal complaint against anyone. He also increased the jobs created by the referral service every year he was there, his last year being a record year.<\/p>\n
This fine and loyal employee to the membership for nine years was in the end driven to lodge the
\ncomplaints below because of the inexcusable conduct of Doug Caine, conduct we\u2019ve already seen in action with the treatment of Barbara Markay.<\/p>\n
Examples from Errol below:
\n\u2022\u201cDon\u2019t f\u2022\u2022\u2022 with me Henry! I\u2019ll have your job in a heartbeat!\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cYou\u2019re fired\u201d, \u201cCan\u2019t you take a joke Henry?\u201d
\n\u2022\u201cThis conversation is over! You\u2019ve told me everything I need to know!\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cHave Miss Boston Boobies help you with it.\u201d
\n\u2022 He once stated to me that he\u2019s here because it \u201camuses\u201d him. That\u2019s his attitude. He wants to see how far he can go for amusement sake.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long read but you need to know what\u2019s being allowed by this administration to go on at our
\nLocal. LET YOUR VIEWS BE KNOWN!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s let Errol tell you in his own words:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
To: Titled Officers and Executive Board:<\/p>\n
Prior to the termination of my employment from Local 47, I had hoped that you would have called me into a meeting to openly discuss the recent issues concerning General Manager Doug Caine. In this hope I had taken the time to prepare a written statement to you that I’d intended to present to you at such a meeting. However, since your decision was to terminate me without hearing my side of the story, I\u2019m sending that written statement to you now via e-mail. Detailed therein are descriptions of such behaviors as:
\n\t\u2022 \tEmployee intimidation.
\n\t\u2022 \tUse of profane language.
\n\t\u2022 \tHarassment.
\n\t\u2022 \tSexual innuendo \/ lude reference to female employee.<\/p>\n
For the sake of the remaining Local 47 employees and the Local\u2019s membership I believe it is
\nimperative that the unprofessional conduct of the General Manager be made known to all of you, and I hope that you will deal with it accordingly and appropriately.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,
\nErrol Henry, formerly Referral Service Department<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
STATEMENT TO TITLED OFFICERS:<\/p>\n
Dear Hal, Vince, Serena,<\/p>\n
I am here today not to seek the removal of General Manager Doug Caine from his position of
\nemployment, but rather to seek redress of certain deeply troubling issues of conduct witnessed by
\nme with regard to Mr. Caine. Further, I am here today to ask all of you, the Titled Officers of Local 47, to help Mr. Caine to help himself by ceasing such habits of conduct that do not foster or promote any good sense of professionalism or respectability.<\/p>\n
Previously, I\u2019ve taken the time to document some of the behaviors to which I refer and have
\nsubmitted them for your perusal and consideration \u2013 and I trust that you have done so. Contained in the document to which I refer, were statements made by Mr. Caine in my presence which could, and have been, construed as intending to intimidate and to harass. Here are excerpts from that document:<\/p>\n
To: Titled Officers:<\/p>\n
For the record I wish to make it known to the Titled Officers of Local 47 that General Manager Doug Caine has, on no less than three separate occasions, threatened, either directly or by innuendo, to have me removed from my position with Local 47.<\/p>\n
\u2022The first such occasion happened in the year 2005 when during the course of a phone call to my
\noffice Mr. Caine made the following statement: \u201cDon\u2019t f\u2022\u2022\u2022 with me Henry! I\u2019ll have your job in a
\nheartbeat!\u201d The comment was entirely unprovoked and seemed to come out of nowhere. As I am
\nnot quick to file formal complaints, I allowed this remark to go unchallenged in the hope that it was an anomaly in the behavior of Mr. Caine, or perhaps a moment of uncharacteristic arrogance, and that it would not be repeated. Unfortunately, my hope was in vain.<\/p>\n
\u2022The second occurrence was in January of 2006 shortly after the firing of Assistant to the President Mark Casillas. One afternoon General Manager Caine came into my office, found me busy at work, sat down in my office and flatly stated: \u201cYou\u2019re fired!\u201d I gave him a puzzled look. He smiled wryly at me and said: \u201cCan\u2019t you take a joke Henry?\u201d I found this event troubling, particularly since it came so closely on the heals of the actual firing of another Local 47 employee, the shock of which was still affecting many remaining Local 47 employees who had worked closely with Mark Casillas. Once again I decided not to report this incident figuring that it may have been meant as only a joke \u2013 though in very bad taste. Perhaps, I thought to myself, this is just Mr. Caine\u2019s unique sense of humor and nothing to be greatly concerned about. I did feel quite unsettled however primarily since he had once before threatened to \u201c\u2026have my job\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022The third episode occurred today, Thursday, February 23, 2006, at approximately 3:15pm., during a discussion in my office regarding the Referral Service and the proposed new website. He said to me that I have the \u201cwrong attitude\u201d concerning the \u201cavalanche\u201d of jobs (gigs) that he anticipates the new website to generate for the Referral Service. I told him that while I agree that the website is a great idea (at least to the extent that I understand how it will pertain to the Referral Service \u2013 which is very little since Mr. Caine admitted to me that I\u2019ve purposefully been kept out of any discussion, meeting, planning event, etc. regarding this issue), I reserve the right to wait and see if in fact the website does perform as he expects. Never once did I say or indicate in any way that I doubt that the website will in fact be a fine source of increased potential work for our members. I simply reserved the right to wait and see \u2013 as very few things in life are 100% guaranteed. Nevertheless, the General Manager became visibly irritated with my position and stood up out of his chair exclaiming \u201cThis conversation is over! You\u2019ve told me everything I need to know!\u201d, and marched out of my office. Well to me the implication of this behavior seemed clear. To me it meant that he believes that I am somehow in opposition to him regarding this matter \u2013 an assumption that he has clearly ill-conceived. More importantly, the abrupt manner in which he ended the conversation and exited my office caused me to infer that he intended to promote the idea to the Titled Officers and the Executive Board that I be removed from my position of employment (a less ill-conceived notion on my part given his position of authority as General Manager and the previous two instanced referenced above).<\/p>\n
Given this third threat to my employment by Mr. Caine, I now feel compelled to report these
\noccurrences to the Titled Officers. I now have no doubt that these occurrences represent a pattern of intimidation and harassment, and must not be allowed to continue. I do not, nor have I ever once questioned Mr. Caine\u2019s authority as General Manager, but I do believe that this type of intimidation is neither proper nor appropriate for someone in his position. <\/p>\n
AT THIS TIME I NOW WISH TO SUBMIT TO YOU YET ANOTHER EQUAL, IF NOT EVEN MORE, EGREGIOUS AND INFLAMMATORY STATEMENT UTTERED BY MR. CAINE TO WHICH I WAS UNWILLINGLY FORCED TO BEAR WITNESS. I WILL NOW PASS OUT TO YOU ALL, COPIES OF A MEMO THAT I\u2019VE PREPARED FOR YOU ABOUT THAT STATEMENT. THE MEMO READS AS FOLLOWS:<\/p>\n
March 2, 2006<\/p>\n
To: TITLED OFFICERS:<\/p>\n
I wish to officially report to you one deeply offensive occurrence that took place in my office, during business hours, involving General Manager Doug Caine. During a conversation between Mr. Caine and me regarding Referral Service matters, he made the following deliberate, filthy, shocking, and chauvinistic remark to me concerning [While the female employee\u2019s name appears in the document received by the board, we decided to remove her name and position here to spare her the embarrassment and humiliation]: He referred to her as \u201cMiss Boston Boobies\u201d.<\/p>\n
The discussion was regarding the re-registering of members of the Referral Service. I was explaining to him what a time-consuming task that truly was. He then remarked: \u201cHave Miss Boston Boobies help you with it.\u201d I looked up at him and said: \u201cDid you just say \u201cMiss Boston Boobies?!!\u201d His reply was equally as shocking and offensive. With the fear of realization in his eyes he hurriedly replied:
\n\u201cYou heard that! I didn\u2019t say that! You heard that! I didn\u2019t say that!\u201d He actually had the indecency to try to deny having said it. I thought to myself that this guy had
\nmissed his calling and should have been one of those slimy defense attorneys who defend criminals they know to be guilty. I also decided not to mention his remarks to Nancy to protect her from the pain of it. However I can no longer justify remaining silent about this indecency.<\/p>\n
I request that the appropriate disciplinary actions be taken against Mr. Caine to insure that it is not repeated and to send a message that this type of behavior is neither sanctioned nor condoned by the good Officers of Local 47.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Errol Henry, Referral Service Department<\/p>\n
At this point I\u2019d like to stop and get an affirmation from Doug that he did in fact make the statement
\n\u201cMiss Boston Boobies\u201d referring to Nancy, and that he will issue an apology to Nancy for making her the subject of such a remark, and to me for having to witness his remark. How say you Doug?
\nAffirm or Decline? According to Lewis Levy (if I recall correctly) an affirmation here would not be
\nconsidered sexual harassment, but it would be very dignifying and respectable.<\/p>\n
Hal you\u2019re a very busy president. You\u2019re not always able to keep vigil over all the goings on here in the office. But sadly this is some of what\u2019s going on outside of your vision, and some of it is
\nreprehensible behavior. I know you depend on him to stand in for you when you\u2019re not here. But at times he represents you poorly. He once stated to me that he\u2019s here because it \u201camuses\u201d him.
\nThat\u2019s his attitude. He wants to see how far he can go for amusement sake. Again, I\u2019m not saying he needs to be removed from his position, but he needs to be told that this kind of stuff won\u2019t be tolerated by you. And remember that the devil does like to put a halo on his axe.<\/p>\n
IN THE EVENT HE SHOULD ATTEMPT TO ACCUSE ME OF ANY MEASURE OF INSUBORDINATION, I
\nMAINTAIN THAT THERE IS A VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRING REPREHENSIBLE ACTS OF CONDUCT MADE BY A MANAGER TO LIGHT, AND BEING INSUBORDINATE. A VAST DIFFERENCE INDEED. IN FACT ANY SUCH ACCUSATION MADE BY HIM AGAINST ME MUST BE VIEWED AS HIM TRYING TO PROTECT HIMSELF AND HIS JOB FOR FEAR OF HAVING TO FACE UP TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACTIONS. NOT TO MENTION A FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT CASTING BLAME ON ME.<\/p>\n
\u2022Regarding the Referral Service re-registration issue, I was trying to give him the benefit of my
\nexperience. He had suggested a mailer. I told him that that had been tried once before and turned out to be a colossal waste of time, effort, money (about $925.00 in postage alone) and other resources. Over 2500 mailers were sent out and the response was miniscule (about 50 total
\nresponded). I explained to him that the job of preparing such a mailer was more involved than he
\nrealized. It requires preparing and printing the large number of letters; then printing out each
\nmember\u2019s existing Referral Service Profile to accompany the letters; then also getting enough copies of the Referral Service Rules & Regulations document to accompany each letter; then stuffing the envelopes including a return envelope; then getting them stamped and mailed, either in-house or by West Coast Mailers, etc., etc., etc. All in all a very time and resource-consuming effort that in the end will only deliver a very small bang for the buck. It also serves to shift my time and attention from the far more important tasks of getting jobs for our Referral Service musicians. <\/p>\n
I believed it was my duty as the Referral Service Administrator to give the General Manager my
\nhonest, experienced opinion in this matter. I also explained to him that I have a far more efficient way of re-registering members. He insisted that the mailer was the way he wanted to do it. In the end I told him fine, we\u2019ll do it your way (he said something about setting up a team of people to get it done.) Fine by me.<\/p>\n
\u2022Finally, it has been brought to my attention that during my recent absence due to illness, Mr. Caine was allowed free and unfettered access to my office to search and rummage for who knows what miniscule scrap of evidence to attempt to incriminate or to implicate me in who knows what sorts of contrived wrongdoings which he deems fit to accuse me of. I wish to make it known that I object to this type of frantic witch-hunt, especially as it was allowed to happened while this situation remained unsettled. <\/p>\n
I called Secretary Williams on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, and expressed to her my concerns about this. Further I wish to point to this particular behavior as yet another glaring example of the shifty behaviors of Mr. Caine\u2019s that first prompted me to bring these events to light and to which I\u2019ve been referring so far today. What I mean is, what exactly could he have been searching for in my office that was so important that it had to be done so urgently and in such a fashion and in my absence? And what could have been so dreadfully imperative for him to \u201cdiscover\u201d in my office? And if he were in fact not up to some mischievous no-good, would not a simple phone call to me have been the best, most professional approach to finding whatever he was looking for? I find all of this highly suspect indeed because up until I wrote the memo (dated 02\/23\/06) describing his foul actions not he nor anyone else expressed a need to search my office and place me, in effect, under investigation \u2013 seems like more intimidation and harassment to me. Therefore, if as a result of his scurrying about in my office he has \u201cuncovered\u201d any \u201csuspicious\u201d items or has prepared any questions to which he will attempt to seek answers from me today, I request that I be given at least the same amount of time to investigate the answers as he has had to prepare the issues, or to trump them up as the case may be.<\/p>\n
Respectfully,<\/p>\n
Errol Henry, Referral Service Department<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
An update from Errol \u2013 Tuesday, March 16th 2006<\/p>\n
FYI<\/p>\n
Hi folks, a couple of things have been brought to my attention that I think you should be aware of. <\/p>\n
\u2022The first is that the union has unilaterally decided to move the location of the referral service from the big office near the lobby to a much smaller location in the main office area. On the surface this may seem like no big deal, but in fact this move is a direct and blatant violation of the wishes of the highest authority of the union, i.e., the membership at a general membership meeting. <\/p>\n
As some of you will recall, at a general membership meeting in 2004, the membership voted to pass a resolution requiring that the referral service be located in the big office near the main lobby of the building. Now I\u2019m no parliamentarian, but I did consult with one regarding this and was told that the officers do not have the authority to overturn a resolution or a motion that was duly passed by the membership of the local at a general membership meeting. Yet, that is exactly what they have done here. In my opinion this should not be overlooked without mention. This matter should be brought to the attention of the officers and the executive board and dealt with in proper fashion.<\/p>\n
\u2022Second, when I was hired as the referral service administrator, one of the major qualifications was that I was not a member of the union and also not a professional musician. The ad hoc committee (Vince Trombetta, Michael Grego & Gary Bovyer) had made it a real \u201cbig deal\u201d that the administrator should not be a member of the local in order to help insure that the temptation to take gigs for him\/herself was nonexistent. This qualification seemed to make a lot of sense to me and to the executive board at the time. However, the new administrator is not only a professional musician, but is also now a member of the local. I\u2019m not saying that this development is bad or good, only curious and perhaps worthy of further investigation. Why are the members of the ad hoc committee not objecting to this? Again, it was touted as a critical requirement when I was hired.<\/p>\n
\u2022Finally, it pains me to say that I truly do not believe that the current administration even cares
\nwhether or not the referral service flourishes. <\/p>\n
I say this because during my time as the administrator I brought in more contract gigs than ever
\nbefore. Each year I\u2019d set a personal goal to double the income made by members in the referral
\nservice. I was successful in reaching these goals each year thanks to lots of hard work and cooperation by the many talented musicians who are part of the referral service. For me, this was the best part of the job, seeing the members getting employment. <\/p>\n
Anyway, this year, 2006, I had planned on making the highest grossing year ever. Yet I was
\nsummarily dismissed without any consideration for all the obvious progress I\u2019d made with the
\nreferral service. In fact, not once had anyone told me that I was doing anything other than a great job. Now I can only hope that the new administrator will work at least as hard as I did. Personally I\u2019d hate to see the referral service become marginalized. It is far too important and useful a benefit to the members of the union who participate in it.<\/p>\n
Sincerely, -Errol Henry-<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u201cDon\u2019t f\u2022\u2022\u2022 with me Henry! I\u2019ll have your job in a heartbeat!\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cYou\u2019re fired\u201d, \u201cCan\u2019t you take a joke Henry?\u201d
\n\u2022\u201cThis conversation is over! You\u2019ve told me everything I need to know!\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cHave Miss Boston Boobies help you with it.\u201d
\n\u2022 He once stated to me that he\u2019s here because it \u201camuses\u201d him. That\u2019s his attitude. He wants to see
\nhow far he can go for amusement sake.<\/p>\n
All statement perportedly by Doug Caine, the NON-ELECTED employee in the position of Office
\nManager and President Espinosa\u2019s Secretary. This certainly is in line with his conduct with Barbara
\nand a statement we later heard of Caine calling workers on the rehearsal rooms P-Brains.<\/p>\n
Please remember that Errol in nine years NEVER felt so wronged as to file a formal complaint.<\/p>\n
Not one cent of our dues should EVER be used to pay someone who uses such blatant intimidation,
\nharassment, threats, bigotry or other inexcusable conduct to turn the Local, OUR LOCAL, into such a hostile work environment. There should NEVER be a place at our Local or any other reputable
\nbusiness for someone who uses such methods.<\/p>\n
Did President Espinosa know that the Office Manager was so callous in his treatment of our
\nemployees? Does he care?<\/p>\n
Every member should write to the titled officers and board members and ask those questions, along with what they\u2019re going to do about it.<\/p>\n
Our next Membership Meeting is Monday, April 24th. Please make time NOW to be there.<\/p>\n
Until next time,<\/p>\n
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE 47<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greetings Local 47 Colleagues, The following are correspondence sent from Errol Henry to the Board and Officers of the Local, plus an update for the membership at the end. He asked us to share these with you, the members of Local 47. For those who don\u2019t know who Errol Henry was to the Local, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-committee-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}