CHRIS DAY RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF ATU 757UPDATED

Chris Day

Last election he ran for Vice President. I actually endorsed him because I thought if he won, it would hopefully give him some perspective about the inner workings of Unions. It doesn't take a genius but some people need extra help. I thought maybe he'd finally understand what Unions do, how they Operate FOR the members, not AGAINST them. I thought perhaps a new title would perhaps keep him busy with Union business so he'd stop writing Operators up to Management, stop searching public arrest and DWUI records against us and stop filing Preferring of Charges aka blackballing members. Not so. I posted a screen shot below of one of his 'Preferring of Charges' from 2016. A public records search from ATU could possibly produce more.

I wasn't the only one he wrote up but I was the most frequent because I fought back. In my opinion, he has a propensity to 'fit in' with gossip instead walking away or asking for facts. 

He didn't win so now he's running again - this time for PRESIDENT of ATU.  That's fine, he can run - anyone can run,  but with his record of trying to control the lives of members he has personal grudges against by writing them up to HR and and filing 'preferring of charges' against them -  it's  conflictual with what Unions do. It's a contradiction.  Resolution has to be all inclusive whether you like the person or not whether you're an Officer or not. Solidarity over personalities. After all, this's our bread and butter not a bullshit fest! It's as though he's trying to use whatever clout he imagines he has to retaliate. 

I was one of (Chris and John Olsen's) first victims. Their friends and TM customers were reading the blogs and recognizing me in public and on the Buses. He and Olsen wrote me up repeatedly to HR accusing me of 14 separate infractions. I had to endure a constant stream of mandated meetings with management where I had no voice and had to fight reprimands. He even went so far as to write about me on his blog asking the public to vote against me as if they were part of the process. It made my life in the Bus all the more dangerous. If I so much as looked in their direction they ran to HR. He filed preferring of charges against me 4 times.  ATU sent me his first 3 efforts but finally 'got it' and threw the last one out.  I have 2 large boxes of evidence from not just the write ups to Management but documents supporting the fact that he felt the best way to deal with his 'problem with me' was by taking me through the Union Blackball process. It's not just spendy for the membership but degrading to Unions as a whole. People with integrity talk to each other - they don't go running off trying to get your co-workers and customers to take sides. We need more Unity and less division. My lawyer has possession of the boxes. We have until 2019 to file a liable suit. You can file within 8 years. All you need is one witness. Liable is anything 'in writing' as the signatures on the petitions below attest. Each signature will be deposed. 

When all of these write-ups started I had never met Chris Day or John Olsen. They just kinda appeared outta the woodwork. John Olsen got on my bus one night and refused to show fare. I didn't know who he was, he wasn't in uniform. He sat in the creep seat and called dispatch and demanded a Supervisor.  The next night I picked him up at Center Street. He was in uniform. No fuss no muss - he sat down. Everything they presumably knew about me was rumor, innuendo. Chris Day never once came up to me to put the rumors to rest. He talked to me in the bullpen from time to time after he was initially hired but never gave any indication that he knew who I was. The first write up was about an occurrence at Jubitz Truck Stop. One of the deli workers wrote a witness account for me. She attested to the fact that Mr. Day was with her - not John Olsen, when the conflict supposedly happened. Trimet refused to interview her. They also refused to pull camera footage from Jubitz as well as from the Buses on break. Two Operators waiting with their Buses wrote statements saying the actions they observed by Mr. Day and Mr. Olsen was inconsistent with what they told HR. Trimet refused to investigate. But what they did do, which is unheard of, is invite Day (before he was hired) into their private HR offices in the Administration Building and asked him to write up a complaint about me. In 1996 I sued Trimet in Federal District Court. They settled with me. They also spent the rest of my career retaliating against me for suing them. So they weren't gonna help me when these types of things went on. Instead they encouraged them.

Screenshots below are from co-workers who signed petitions to have me blackballed from ATU. It's also important to note that, with the exception of 3 of 'em,  these folks couldn't point me out in a room. Never met 'em - never talked with 'em. One night a Station Agent showed me their pictures on his computer so I'd know who they were.  Even 4 years later before I retired - Co-workers were still coming up to me introducing themselves and telling me that they too were solicited by Chris Day to sign the petitions to get me blackballed from our Union. They refused. He created a hostile work environment for me. HR refused to investigate. My Assistant Manager said she couldn't do anything about it then sent prayers to my e-mail. Highly inappropriate!!  Tom Sullivan, Nancy Kerr ATU members who never met or talked with me tried to BULLY me off the Facebook ATU Union Brothers and Sisters1 site, calling me names trying to take my voice away, trying to invalidate my existence.

Chris lied to Station Agent Fritz Benz who later apologized for signing it. He said he was busy at the time when Chris asked if he would "sign something for the Union". After talking with several members who signed the petitions I left realizing how much anger he has and how he uses it inappropriately. The people who's signatures you see below were asked to "sign something for the Union." They did - without reading it. 

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He posted the charges against me on each ATU 757 property's Union billboard around Oregon and Washington. 

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So I have a couple of stories I wanna share.  

1.) One night after arriving in the bullpen I saw Chris Day handing out copy's of something to  Operators returning from their shifts. I didn't get one, so I asked another Operator what it was. It had Training Supervisor Stewart Jolliffee's picture on it and information about a DWI he received. I previously saw it on Ranting's Blog. They were trying to smear him. I don't know why but a friend told me years ago that Day had searched Multnomah Country arrest records on me as well. If I were running for a Union Office, like one of the top three,  I'd expect someone to do that to me but not someone who just does it because of a personality conflict and then has the balls to stand at the door of their employer and hand these out like candy. Stewart was a personal friend. I knew him years before either of us started working for Trimet. I had much respect for him. It hurt to see someone do this to him - or to anyone else for that matter. I handed the paper to him next time I saw him. 

2.) The next one's about Leonard James. Leonard said he was driving to Clackamas Town Center. Chris Day was on his Bus as a passenger sitting in the back. Leonard made his turn which was, if memory serves me correctly, on a yellow turned red light. When he got to the Bus Stop one of his customers came up and gave him a bear hug which wasn't unusual if you knew Leonard. Leonard's customers loved him. Were always bringing him food or giving him a hug. A day or two later he was notified of a mandatory meeting with Management. The meeting was about the hug and the light. That meeting led to Leonard's choice to retire. He couldn't take the hatred any longer.

Chris Day is not Presidential material. Had he apologized I most probably would've considered it as a learning experience but he hasn't.  He's hasn't because, in my opinion he isn't transparent or accountable.


Make sure you VOTE, make sure you EDUCATE YOURSELF about those you choose to VOTE for!  Don't vote for popularity - vote for time, experience, the ability to negotiate and the ability to live in solidarity. And they need to be transparent and accountable!! The outcome of this election will affect your wages, benefits, pension and working conditions. 

Another Preferring of Charges? Actually there were several. Chris Day bragged about knowing how to get someone kicked out of our Union. He even filed them against our Union President.

There comes a time when someone's gotta put a stop to this crap. Blackballing Union members isn't what Unions are about!!  

*UPDATED

WOW - I keep finding these. What a sad state of affairs that this guy wants to be President of our Union and forgo due process.  

HEADS UP EVERYONE!!

Blackball box - from the old days. They used to vote you out using black marbles. It was all secretive back then, not like todays world where people sign petitions which are then published on the internet and can leave you open to liable lawsuits.