Below is issue #49 of The Barking Dog. It is dated November 26, 2002 and is put out by Caroline Lund, a Trustee of UAW Local 2244 at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA.

How Low Can You Get?

   Yesterday a FAKE "Barking Dog" was distributed around the plant. It had my little barking dog logo and headline, and was signed with my name. But it was not from me.

   I thought I'd seen everything, in terms of low-down, cowardly mudslinging politics, but this was a new low. I've seen attacks against me by cowards who won't sign their name. But never before has someone signed MY name to attack both me and a lot of other people.

   Make no mistake, the real Barking Dog would never contain the gossip, personal attacks, and gutter accusations that this flyer contained.

   Who wrote this flyer? Since it attacks both me and supporters of the United Alliance, I think it's safe to say it's by the Administration Caucus leadership.

    From clues in the text, it is written by someone who is both on the Executive Board (he claims to know who speaks up at Executive Board meetings) and hangs out in the Labor Relations office (enough to know who is supposedly dating who). That narrows down the possibilities. You figure it out.

   The flyer is also disrespectful to deaf people. Here's how it attacks Sergio Santos - the flyer says, "I could have sworn he graduated from CSD (California School of the Deaf)".

Why  Now?

   This flyer came out because general elections are approaching. Next June the Membership will get to elect all our union officials. The Administration Caucus is worried. Their candidate for Bargaining Committee, Johnny Gonzalez, just lost the election to Sergio Santos.

   Maybe Sergio doesn't say much in Executive Board meetings, but he sure spoke up convincingly enough to members in the plant to get elected to the Bargaining Committee in a plantwide election!

   Also, at the Membership meeting last Sunday, George Nano won a vote on his motion to go to day shift, in line with his seniority, with Art Torres speaking against him. The cowardly flyer attacks George's "negotiating skills", but George was articulate enough to win the vote at the union meeting!

Support for FMLA

   The cowardly flyer attacks me for supporting the FMLA law! I plead guilty. Only pro-company people would attack other union members for exercising their lawful right to take time off to care for their own serious medical condition or the serious illness of a family member.

   What kind of union member would accuse other members of faking the strict FMLA documentation???

Excused for Union Business?

   Maybe another thing the Administration Caucus worries about is a letter I cosigned to UAW District Director Jim Wells.  I asked Brother Wells whether a local union president has the right to grant members time off work for so-called union business, unpaid, with no accountability to the Executive Board or Membership.

   Tito told the Executive Board he didn't have to tell us what union business he grants people time off for. If that was true, he could give extra (unpaid) vacation time to all his friends and loyal supporters. (I know he doesn't give paid time off because I am a Trustee and can look at all the books.)

Drive a Wedge

   I think the purpose of this cowardly flyer is to try to drive a wedge between supporters of "The Barking Dog," and supporters of the United Alliance. I know "The Barking Dog" has supporters in both caucuses. Please don't any of you believe I would write these kinds of gutter attacks.

A Real Union

   A real, democratic, fighting union is going to have differences inside it. But we need to deal with differences in an honest, brotherly and sisterly manner. Flyers like this fake Barking Dog turn off the members and make them not want to participate in the union.

   I am an independent. I don't belong to either caucus. But I vote for the United Alliance candidates, despite differences with them, because they don't hold the majority power in our union. The Administraton Caucus does. In order to change our union for the better, independents and United Alliance people need to unite in a bloc to win the majority power.

   I appeal to both caucuses to reign in their factional members; to stop these unsigned or forged leaflets with personal, gutter attacks.  I hope rank-and-file union members will create an atmosphere where these dirty flyers will be thrown down in the trash cans.

Caroline Lund