The salIne RefoRmeR

My lawyer is gonna kill me . My accusers dont have any evidence but this article is going to give them exactly what they need. Im accused of recording the December 1st union meeting and posting it on my website for everyone to hear. Im also accused of passing out meeting minutes. The problem is that my accuser dont have an iota of proof. My website is registered in Zimbabwe somewhere, to an anonymous person. The Facebook Page could just be a fan, and just because you see a piece of paper that was supposedly written by Aarik Kimberlin doesnt mean that Aarik Kimberlin wrote it. For those of you who are wondering what the hell I am talking about in the first place, let catch you up to what happened. In November, I ran for Vice President. The election got pretty, lets say, competitive and I faced the Retiree, Don Catell in a run off. Don was backed by our President, Malana Hubbard as well as other members of the what I like to call Old Guard or O.G. Despite the lies, despite the fact that people campaigned against me on union on time, despite the fact people used union resources to campaign against me, you guys voted me in. Not only did you guys vote me in, you voted me in so that we can change some things. The O.Gs did not like that one bit. Once

Issue #01 jan 2013

VP On Trial
again the membership threw a monkey wrench in their plans. So the O.G.s just did like they alway do and came up with new plans. And thats what brings us to today--their plan. Their plan, just like all of the rest of their plans, is not a very good one but Ill explain it to you anyway. First off, I did not record the union meeting. Nor did I have anyone else record the meeting for me. Someone posted a link to the recording on the Win the Fight Facebook page. I then, posted the link onto my website. All of the feedback that I got on the Facebook Page and from people on the shop floor was positive. I thought that no one would take the time to listen to a boring meeting and I was actually surprised at the amount of people who listened to it. Personally, I think that its a good idea to record the meetings and allow people free access to them. Many people have had difficulty making union meetings because of our work schedule, because of finance, and because the O.G.s have not been really motivated to get people released for union days. The person who recorded the meeting did it as a response to these conditions, not with any malice or sneakiness.They just wanted to provide people with access to meetings. People see privacy differently in our time then they did in the O.G.s time. People share all types of personal

Win The Fight is the reform caucus of UAW Local 892. We belive that through providing good information to the membership, we can increase activiism and solidarity, thereby increasing our quality of life and the quality of life of our community as a whole.

The next union meeting is jan 26 @10am

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ual rights for the betterment of the whole. I feel that free access to meetings he right not to have your voice heard on a recording. We as union members can make this decision together and stop the O.Gs from limiting information. We all know knowledge is power.

only thing I do is explain to the membership what is going on. Its really ironic that the person reporting the problem is consider the troublemaker, not the people causing the problem. Hopefully, this trial will not be an utter waste of time as I will use it as an opportunity to educate the membership about UAW appeals and trials. The UAW has a wonderfully democratic heritage and has a system in place that does its best to serve justice. In the meantime I am reminded of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King when he said We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Hopefully this foolishness ends or we will all suffer because of it.

We Must Learn to Live Together as Brothers or Perish Together as Fools.

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information on Facebook and think nothing of it. In fact Ive had to block my niece because she shares a little too much. I was not aware that anyone had an objection to the posting until the December 10, Local Executive Board meeting. This is when the O.G.s filed charges against me. Had I been made aware before this time that someone objected to the recording I would have removed the link. In fact by the time that the charges were filed I had already replaced the link with Toys for Tots information. I dont care if people hear my voice on a recording, Ive got nothing to hide, but it wasnt fair for me to make that decision for anyone else. I do, however, think that we as union members can make that decision together. We all have a right to privacy, but being part of democracy means that sometimes we give up some of our own individ-

The O.G.s plan is to silence me. If it was not the link to the recording, it would have been something else. Instead of working with me and for the membership they have decided to stonewall me every chance they get. Remember the charges were filed December 10, the day before the Right-to-Work rally in Lansing. So instead of rallying against Right to Work, the O.G.s were rallying against me. Instead of figuring out how to make sure peoples check dont get shorted any more they were figuring out how to shut me up. They made a mistake. They misjudged me. I campaigned my ass off to be Vice President, but the prospect of being put out of office does not bother me. I would rather stand on my principles and get removed from office than be a sell-out and stay in office. I thought they would have learned this by now. I always get criticized for giving the union haters ammunition. Hell, I get accused of being a union hater myself. The

oming soon....

Whats Next?

The $5000 buy out rumor and why it isnt true Why right-towork doesnt matter Agenda ideas for Jan 26 meeting.

Did you Know?

1. As of Jan. 1st all of paid v acation Faurecia Employees on Jan. 1st 2013. (The cut-off date might be the same as ha 0 Points. ve it w for the signing bonus.) as 2. Employees who 3. Seniority transferred to employees are Faurecia in June eligible for up to should ha ve $5000 in tuition received 80 hours reimbursment
Questions or Comments?

rticle 31 of the UAW constitiution deals with trials of members. I have already been charged and the the Local Union Executive Board voted 4-3 to hold a trial. My next step is to appeal the Local Executive Boards decision to the Interanational President. I believe that my appeal will be upheld and the charges will be dropped. However, at the next Union Meeting the membership can vote to suspend me by a two-thirds vote (2/3) so I need everyone who can, to show up at the meeting January 26. Another thing that can happen is that Paul Quick, Jessica Phillips, and Royale Thompson, the members who charged me can decide to drop the charges any time the feel like it. So we will have to wait and see if they can put politics aside and do what is right for the Local.

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