Tim,
Other than yourself, who is going to be on the Occupy 141 ticket? All that is on the website is the same stuff that you wrote here.
PJ,
Right now our focus is on sharing the platform that we built to spring the masses and create intelligent discussion. On the website, we also shared a facebook site that has over 400 members already, many of which are from UA. We created a twitter acount and that's something new to me so we are also doing that. So even though we don't list our candidates on the website at this time, we have created a clear thinking forum in which folks can network and engage in clear thinking discussion, regardless of who votes for which candidate.
Obviously, it takes an incredible amount of time to build a complete ticket that myself and others are comfortable with. Remember, during previous campaigns, the incumbent always had the advantage of only having 10 or 12 spots up for election. Now, because of Delaney breaking the labor laws and kicking a previoius candidate off the ballot because he didn't like him, the Department of Labor is running this campaign and said that practically all spots are up for grabs. In 2010, the opposing ticket only had 12 spots to fill. This time, each ticket will have 27 spots or over 2x as much. This evens the playing field. But, because of it, it is taking alot longer to fill the spots. We had 12 spots filled within the first week, and all of our 4 year AGC spots are in fact full. However, I have 4 spots that we are leaving open and I have 5 committed candidates from UA PCE that we may lose if they vote out the IAM. We have approached numorous candidates and asked them what their situation is and some have said no and some have said yes. But, there are a few things we simply won't know until the UA PCE election on February 21. What we do know is that there are most likely going to be over 100 members running for AGC spots and at least 3 Presidential candidates but likely 4. So, it makes no sense to fill our remaining 4 open spots when we are talking to some strong candidates who will keep their options open until at least February 21.
As far as which candidates we currently have? I believe it is much better to come out as a team after February 21 as it would make no sense to share our slate with you but then lose 5 of our candidates because they are no longer IAM members. I'm sure Delaney, Karen, and the other slate feel the same way since we all are waiting on the PCE election results.
To be sure, the ND is telling everyone that I have nobody and indicated that they will slam dunk PHL, PHX, CLT, ORD, etc. So, I did put forth the candidates from PHL [George, Local chairman and negotiator, and Rik, recording secretary Local 1776] with their approval, and I did mention one person of the several that I had from ORD UA [Dave Pazerekes, 6 year marine, former ramp and store committeeman, graduate BA from the Labor College] who they realize is more than capable of obtaining UA votes for the ticket in ORD. Besides that I think Timmy Nessler, Local Chairman of FLL told Mickey he was on the Occupy slate, and I think Shauna Goodman, Local Chairman of UA SAN told folks she was on the Occupy slate. Overall, we now have over a dozen Local Chairman, some former Local chairman, some former local ramp and stores committee, some local officers, and a few solid shop stewards, including Billy K from CLT who serves as a shop steward and was a district organizer the last 3 years. At any rate, as we move past the February 21 date, we will most definately have the bios, videos, etc of all the candidates so everyone can be kept fully informed.
Onward Occupy 141
www.occupyiam141.com
Tim