Monday, June 16, 2014

A Message from Local 157 President Mitch Sonntage

President’s Agenda for Change


Brother and Sisters:

In construction, if you don’t produce you’re down the road. When a carpenter is given a job to do, and there is no change, you are out the door. Since I was elected as President of Local 157, I thank you for your confidence, I thank you for your support, I thank you for the opportunity to work for you, to produce for you and make positive changes for you. Brothers and Sisters, change began in March 2013 and I want to tell you about it.

39 comments:

  1. Bill Walsh Local 157 Founding member, The Fraternal Order Of Woodworkers & The Job Steward Alliance.June 16, 2014 at 6:01 PM

    Mitch, thanks for your dedication in being firmly committed to preserve the future of Local 157. I have witnessed your wise and unselfish actions over the last 28 years. This is serious business and many families depend on proper leadership. Thanks for caring and steering the ship to the future.

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    Replies
    1. Congratulations on your retirement Billy, you are right this is a serious business and we do not need guys running who could get the election thrown out again.

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    2. I am semi-retired working one week a month, like I am permitted by Federal law and the UBC Constitution. By the time I get my pension check with all the deductions after 28 years, I can bearly pay my rent. You will find out some day.I have also been vetted by all the proper parties. The past is the past so lets move forward. Please post your name like a man so we can have a real conversation, if you really want one.

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    3. Are you going out as a steward Billy?

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  2. Mitch has done an outstanding job. Under Pat Nee's leadership the e-board was a chaotic mess with members fighting among themselves. When Pat, levi, Pete and Gauntlett were vetoed Tommy McGonnigle brought common sense and stability back to the e-board. He appointed Mitch as Recording Secretary and Mitch stepped right up and got the job done in a professional manner. Unfortunately due to pressing family matters Tommy couldn't commit the time to the e-board but stepped up and endorsed Mitch for president of the local. Under Tommy's and Mitch's leadership we were able to make the local business our number 1 priority and not peoples personal political agendas We have really turned things around as far as getting the business of the local done. As a personal note I bring 30 years of union membership as well as a bachelor degree in finance to the table. That's 30 years of active participation in our union standing up for our rank and file working men and women. My opponent on the council ticket Anthony Madeo. In 30 years I never saw him at a union meeting until he became a Council Rep. I have been going to union meetings since June of 1984 and I didn't even know who this guy was until after he became a Council Rep. I don't think he was ever a shop steward or ever went went to a meeting. I ask: What qualifications does he or my other opponent have to be Treasurer?
    Consider this, the Members Voice team has no one working working on the District Council Payroll and we have no interest in working for the District Council. Our only interest is working for our members to insure the local is run in their best interest and on their behalf.
    In any event It has been a pleasure serving the members of local 157 and I look forward to serving you in the future.
    Fraternally, Greg Kelty

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    Replies
    1. Pay it back GREEDY GREG. Stop ripping off the members here in NYC, you have been robbing the members here for thirty years and you say it like it is an accomplishment. You sued the local and stole our hard earned money. You used to attack Thomassen and Sheils for double dipping and now you are doing it yourself. PAY IT BACK GREEDY GREG.

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    2. Revisionist history. How long did it take for Tommy to QUIT.

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    3. Didn't Mitch quit too? you have two quitters (tommy and mitch), two double dipping retirees (greg and billy) and one guy who would not run with the members in the last election and ran with the council (Hercules reid) and your claim to fame is that you gave out 2100 tee shirts, 800 hats and 40,000 hardhat decals while the floorcovers stole nail down wood flooring from the carpenters?

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    4. Please explain how I am and have ever double dipped you moron? Why don't you go after all the out of towners who work in NYC and go home to NJ? Are you a delegate or just a jerk from the sidelines asked to stir up bullshit on the Internet? If you were a Delegate you would know that your concerns are a Delegate Body issue.

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    5. that is the problem with you guys, you think that the members should go to meetings for raffles and stickers and have no say in their union. You have drank the kool aid billy and think that there are "delegate" issues and "member" issues, well billy the members have the right to weigh in on any issue because this is our union, it is not the councils union, it is not the delegates union, it is the members union and you should remember that.

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    6. Get your facts straight, "Real" Member Slate. Pete, why are you and Cigars lying to the members? Only dishonest, ignorant and desperate men reduce themselves to rhetoric that insults the intelligence of our members.

      STOP YOUR CHILDISHNESS AND ACT LIKE MEN!

      Run on your record, and not lies. You are proving to the members that The Real Members Slate are NOT fit to lead.

      And to the Brothers and Sisyers of Local 157: This behavoir is what destroyed Local 608. Do you want the same thing to happen to 157?

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    7. So, you have two guys who have proven they will quit if the going gets tough, two double dipping scumbags and one council puppet running on mitchs ticket and you think that they are a real choice???????????????????

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  3. Gift cards and stickers and tee shirts and polls and bringing people in to try and sell us stuff and all that happy shit. Meanwhile we are getting screwed by the council and no mention of any of that. Or that we just had an election thrown out because they ran an illegal election and now they have two retirees running with them. What is that? Backup in case one of them is found eligible they can throw out the election over the other one?

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    Replies
    1. Hey Pete! Use your head. The leadership of Local 157 have no control over the Counsil. Your fight is wotj E.S.T. Geiger and his people.

      If you want real change, RUN AGAINST GEIGER! And your lying crap against 157 President Sonntag.

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    2. I agree with you, the current eboard has no influence with the council, they are too soft. Vote for the Real Members Voice.

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    3. what do you have against retirees? some have alot of experience and tremendous wisdom.and by the way RETIREES MAY RUN FOR OFFICE,SO LONG AS THEY ARE NOT COLLECTING AN INTERNATIONAL PENSION. again you morons dont know the fucking rules you listen to all the happy horseshit that flies around this district council.

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  4. Mitch did write about voting against every PLA and fighting for member ratification of contracts. How was the election illegal when the lawyers ran it? Mitch explained it and I still have a handout from the November meeting. The man is doing a solid job for the local and he earned my vote. I'm voting for Mitch and the guys.

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    Replies
    1. The proof is in the pudding, the election was rerun because the original election was illegal. I still have the handout too where McCarron said that the election was illegal because Mitch had not done his job.

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    2. I was vetted by the Election Committee, Local Lawyers, The Review Officer, Judge Berman, President Sonntag and the NYCDCC Executive Board. Get your facts brother/sister and lets wait until the Dept of Labor has a final ruling. You must cut Doug McCarron's grass on the weekends. He obviously doesn't want members who get the rank and file to vote for them and maybe upset his plan to get rid of the Consent Decree in NYC so he can come to take our 5 Billion Dollars. Please post your name you loser!

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    3. The Judge ruled it was none of his business, the local lawyer seems incompetent and said you were eligible last time, the review officer said it was none of his business, mitch found you eligible in the election that was thrown out over you, and the NYCDCC eboard has no say in this. so what that you and mitch are doing the exact same thing and praying that it will somehow turn out differently. the dol ruling even if it were in your favor is years away and this election is in a couple of days, one objection and we are in the same mess as the last time. But you are right billy, I am the loser in this because I and all of the other members have to foot the bill for your ego.

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  5. Two guys that are retired, One guy that got fired and then later quit, and another guy who got a Pro-tem position , sided against the two retirees , against the sitting President. Now they all run together ?? What ?

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  6. The proof is in the pudding, the election was rerun because the original election was illegal.

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    Replies
    1. I was vetted by the Election Committee, Local Lawyers, The Review Officer, Judge Berman, President Sonntag and the NYCDCC Executive Board. Get your facts brother/sister and lets wait until the Dept of Labor has a final ruling. You must cut Doug McCarron's grass on the weekends. He obviously doesn't want members who get the rank and file to vote for them and maybe upset his plan to get rid of the Consent Decree in NYC so he can come to take our 5 Billion Dollars. Please post your name you loser!

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    2. The Judge ruled it was none of his business, the local lawyer seems incompetent and said you were eligible last time, the review officer said it was none of his business, mitch found you eligible in the election that was thrown out over you, and the NYCDCC eboard has no say in this. so what that you and mitch are doing the exact same thing and praying that it will somehow turn out differently. the dol ruling even if it were in your favor is years away and this election is in a couple of days, one objection and we are in the same mess as the last time. But you are right billy, I am the loser in this because I and all of the other members have to foot the bill for your ego.

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  7. ahhh Mitch, point of information, I was at the meeting where you asked for approval for $680,260 to pay the Council for the 608 pension plan, and Pat Nee got up and explained to you why the 608 pensions had nothing to do with Local 157, and how this had already been dealt with and to look at the records and Mitch you were on the 157 eboard from 2008 until 2011, you were appointed to a position again in 2012 when you suddenly discovered that most of the office equipment was outdated and needed replacement, does the office equipment only last a year or what? because one would assume that at worst it was the same office equipment that had been in the office when you were on the eboard in 2011.

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  8. you gave out 2100 tee shirts, 800 hats and 40,000 hardhat decals, that is what you consider an accomplishment?????????????? have you really done so little that you need to include this??????????????

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  9. GREG: under Tommy and Mitch s leadership? ??? Get your facts straight.
    Daly? What has He done for the Local?
    Only thing these two guys do is start discord. Finally, you, Reid, Gaussman wher ALL on the Council ticket at one time . Facts. GREG.

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  10. To all Local 157 members:

    This election has proven that the "Real Members Voice" are NOT fit to lead. Lies, slander, false promises, etc., are all the Real Members 608 Slate offer.

    I know President Sonntag. I also know his father Brother Bernard Sonntag (Local 257). Mitch is cut from the same cloyh as his father: Honest, decent, and truthful hardworking Christian. A real man of his word.

    Those of you who remember Mitch of Local 257, know I am telling the Truth.

    Also, the behavior and mindset of the Real Members Voicr is of the same that destryoed Local 608. Do you want the same to happen yo Local 157? These guys will cause so much choas, they will give McCarron the ammo to take away our charter. Do we really want to go regional under 395?

    You are the fitire of this Local. PROTECT YOUR FUTURE! Vote For The Members Voice.

    Vote for the colors that UNITE us.

    VOTE RED, WHITE AND BLUE!

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  11. Weren't you one of the guys who destroyed Local 608 John Daly? You, Tommy McGonnigle and Gerry Gausman?

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  12. Do we really want to go regional under 395?


    T0his election, one slate or the othèr, is irrelevant to the issue of local 395. Sure the crime heavy 608 contingent of candidates are sure to screw things up but even the members voice side can not stop that train.
    ev

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    Replies
    1. I think that the membership know this and that is why no one is going to vote for the McGonnigle/ Daly slate, the 608 guys know what these guys did to local 608.

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