Greetings Local 47 Colleagues!,<\/p>\n
As we promised, here is our conversation with Barbara Markey,
\nthe 15-year employee fired in a most embarrassing and
\ndemeaning way.<\/p>\n
It’s a bit of a read, but please take the time. This is important
\ninformation about the conduct that is being allowed by our
\nExecutive Officers. From what we gather, much or most of the
\nboard has been out of the loop on these actions. <\/p>\n
Please read this and send it far and wide. This conduct will not
\nbe stopped until we stand together and demand accountability!<\/p>\n
Thank You<\/p>\n
THE COMMITTEE<\/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<\/p>\n
Our conversation with Barbara Markay.<\/p>\n
We recently had a lengthy conversation with Barbara Markey, a
\n15-year employee and business rep for Local 47 who returned
\nfrom vacation to find out she’d been fired while she was out of
\ntown! <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is a summary of what Barbara told us: <\/p>\n
\u2022Bill Creelman, her immediate supervisor told her by phone on
\nthat Friday to contact President Hal Espinosa’s office before
\ncoming back to work. She left several messages with the
\nPresident but never received a return call.<\/p>\n
\u2022On Monday morning she came to the Union, was stopped by
\nSecretary-Treasurer Serena Williams and told to wait in the
\nhallway until \u201cGeneral Manager\u201d Doug Caine came down to
\nescort her. Barbara could see her office was already being
\nphysically dismantled. She had not received a letter, a notice, a
\nphone call, an e-mail, nothing, nada! Caine arrived and, in front
\n of other employees, said they were letting Barbara go because
\nthey could not justify paying her salary with her “limited skills set”
\n \u2013 skills that have served the members of this Local well for 15
\nyears, and skills that have received high praise from the
\nExecutive Board.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Here\u2019s a quote from Barbara about that Monday: \u201cWhen Doug
\nCaine was standing by my space talking to me about the final
\nseverance pay agreement, he didn’t have it written up yet. I said,
\n “So are you going to give me anything, two weeks pay, a months\u2019
\n pay, what? anything? You just want me to go away now?”
\nHe said in front of everyone, “Well, what do you want?” Then I
\nsaid, “Well what are you offering?” He said again, “What do you
\nwant?” It\u2019s then he tried to get me to go upstairs with him to
\ndecide at that moment. I said I wasn’t ready to decide anything
\nnow. It wasn’t until the next day, Tuesday, that he had his little
\nagreement printed up. Everyone in the office (at least the people
\nin front) heard him in this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022Caine also told her that day that the Union was taking a
\ndifferent direction to handling ALL the departments. According
\nto Doug Caine – If someone couldn’t do two or three jobs then
\nthey had to go. He apparently didn\u2019t know that Barbara had
\nalready done five! In fact, it was Barbara and her “LIMITED SKILL
\nSET” that created or helped to create several long running
\nprograms at the Local, namely the recording studio, the video
\nprogram, CD Sales, the Radio Airplay program and industry
\nseminars. All created with her “LIMITED SKILL SET”. <\/p>\n
\u2022Barbara\u2019s \u201cTip Sheet\u201d, actually a small book, written and
\ncompiled by Barbara, was a wealth of information to guide
\nmusicians in establishing a career in the industry. So, the office
\nthat she spent so much time creating had simply vanished.
\nErased in one day!<\/p>\n
\u2022Caine tried then and there to get her to sign a severance
\nagreement (a confidential legal document stating the terms of
\nthe termination). Remember \u2013 this humiliation is taking place in
\nthe main office in front of the staff employees! She refused,
\nstating that she would not sign a settlement on the spot because
\nshe wanted to make sure the package was fair. She was told she
\nhad 21 days to decide.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A FINAL INSULT: In a final act of insult to Barbara, as she was
\nleaving on Tuesday she asked Hagny to give her a membership
\nbook and a copy of the By-laws. Caine stopped her and asked
\nBarbara if she was a member! This unelected person who had
\nthe gall to tell Barbara that she was being let go because of her
\n\u201cLIMITED SKILL SET\u201d didn\u2019t even know if she was a member or not!
\n We have seldom heard of such ignorant arrogance from an
\nunelected local 47 employee. <\/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<\/p>\n
So then, dear colleagues, who’s next under the axe? Through
\nthe Freelance Musicians Association we hear that Al Rubalcava\u2019s
\nhours might be cut, a LIVE business rep by the way. The studio’s
\nalready been marginalized, as has the referral service. <\/p>\n
At general membership meetings and board meetings Vice
\nPresident Trombetta numerous times has said that services like
\nCD Sales\/Radio Airplay, the recording studio, and the referral
\nservice should have no place in our union. All three of these
\nservices according to the Bylaws are under his control.<\/p>\n
Vice President Trombetta\u2019s statements have been confirmed by
\nformer and current employees of Local 47, plus other members
\nwho\u2019ve heard the same from Vice President Trombetta.<\/p>\n
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD WAS ELECTED TO SERVE THE ENTIRE
\nMEMBERSHIP. Should anyone who holds such distain for the
\nneeds of the membership as a whole be allowed to serve as an
\nExecutive Officer? <\/p>\n
WHO REALLY FIRED BARBARA? Who was Caine acting on behalf
\nof? Not the board, because when we spoke with several board
\nmembers about this issue, they had no idea that Barbara had
\nbeen fired. Who then decided to terminate her? <\/p>\n
By the bylaws, it is the Board who hires and fires business reps,
\nbut there seems to be some question. Was it Creelman, her
\nsupervisor? Trombetta, her officer-in-charge? Espinosa, the-
\nbuck-stops-here president? Or was it Doug Caine? (an unelected
\n hired hand) On whose authority did Doug Caine terminate
\nBarbara? <\/p>\n
Through her office Barbara has helped innumerable members
\nmake smart career decisions. Should not the membership have
\nbeen consulted if the closure of her office was being considered?<\/p>\n
We will continue to investigate and report to you.<\/p>\n
GET INVOLVED! Let the Board know what you think of the
\nconduct of our Executive Officers and their hired help!<\/p>\n
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greetings Local 47 Colleagues!, As we promised, here is our conversation with Barbara Markey, the 15-year employee fired in a most embarrassing and demeaning way. It’s a bit of a read, but please take the time. This is important information about the conduct that is being allowed by our Executive Officers. From what we gather, […]<\/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-93","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\/93","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=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}