OCTOBER EBOARD & MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

The October E-Board and Membership meetings will be held on Tuesday, October 1st.

Executive Board meeting 5:30pm

General Membership meeting 6:30pm

Please come and bring any questions, comments or concerns that you may have. We will also provide updates on a few things, as well as other information.

LUBBOCK CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL ANNUAL LABOR DAY PICNIC

The Lubbock Central Labor Council will be having their annual Labor Day picnic out at Mackenzie Park on Monday, September 2, 2013 beginning at 4:00pm. They have graciously invited all of Local 6203 members, amongst other union locals, out for an evening of free food, fun, and comradeship.

Directions: Go into the Mackenzie Park entrance off of Broadway. Go by the Horseshoe Pits to the Rock Gazebo.

Have a wonderful holiday!

SEPTEMBER EBOARD & MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

The September E-Board and Membership meetings will be held on Tuesday, September 10th. The E-Board meeting will begin at 5:30 PM, with the general Membership meeting scheduled to begin at 6:30. The change of dates is due to the Labor Day holiday week.

AUGUST EBOARD & MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

The July E-Board and Membership meetings will be held on Tuesday, August 6th.

Executive Board meeting 5:30pm

General Membership meeting 6:30pm

Please come and bring any questions, comments or concerns that you may have. We will also provide updates on a few things, as well as other information.

JULY EBOARD & MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS REMINDER

The July E-Board and Membership meetings will be held on Tuesday, July 9th. The E-Board meeting will begin at 5:30 PM, with the general Membership meeting scheduled to begin at 6:30. The change of dates is due to the July 4th holiday week.

CWA’s National Town Hall Call

The next National Town Hall call is next Thursday, 3/21/2013 at 6:30 PM Central. You can register online.

William Richburg responds to Kevin Kollmeyer

CWA 6203 Member William Richburg sent the following brief response to Kevin Kollmeyer’s letter as an iMessage from his phone. He asked me to take care of any minor formatting issues that arose as a result of that, so the paragraph breaks are mine, not his. The rest is the statement as I received it.

Mr Kollmeyer, with respect for the office you hold, after reading your letter carefully I am compelled to ask if the West Region did not in fact get a better bargain for their members? They fought hard for not just a few days or weeks but for months after their last contract expired finally resorting to mediation after refusing to cave in to the company and settle for less. They did this in the same environment you cite as the reason our leadership could not do better. They fought longer and harder and the members got a better contract. Imagine that!

You quoted Mahatma Ghandi at the conclusion of your letter. Consider this quote from him also, “They can beat me and torture me. They can even kill me. Then they will have my dead body. But they will never have my obedience.”

That kind if leadership will mobilize folks into a movement that produces positive change. Not the kind of leadership that hopes someday a parade will beeak out so they can jump in front of it and take the credit for making a parade happen.

William Richburg
An Educated Member with the freedom to express his opinion

President Patton’s Response to President Kollmeyer

In the interest of full transparency, CWA Local 6203 President David Patton has requested that we post his e-mails to President Kollmeyer as well. The following e-mails are from President Patton, unedited.

From: CWA Local 6203
Date: Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: Curtis Martin
To: Kevin Kollmeyer

Hey Kevin I will give this a proper response tomorrow, I just got in from Dallas but, didn’t want you to think I didn’t care. I appreciate your opinion & I appreciate you thinking your friends are needing an apology, Sorry Buddy, I think our members need an apology, too bad an apology wont be good enough. I sure hope your rite but, of course I don’t agree with you- you can take all the offense you want, also my friend if you call what Curtis wrote an attack, you have one hell of a lot more to learn than I would have thought.
In fact any time you would like to sit across the table from Curtis I would welcome that as well. I say lets move your little response here to my locals website and facebook page and just see how many MEMBERS agree with you. I have no problem posting my opinion or my members either. So how about you? I’m not sure when you became such a partyliner but I guess you have your reasons-Hope they pay off for you. Oh by the way do you wear union made shoes & socks Curtis does, how about drive a Union made vehicle on union made tires? Curtis Martin does, how about from underwear to the backpack he carries all Union Made – the most dedicated unionist that I have ever seen, yes he pays a little more but to him its worth the price, When is the last time you went to wal-mart? Curtis doesn’t go there. Can you say the same to any of this? As for your comments about me, to silly for me to waste time or breath on if I gave a shit or thought it mattered what you thought about me I would have let you know long before now.
Have a nice day call anytime, your opinion is valid & appreciated although not really well thought out. (my opinion) David Patton President CWA 6203

From: CWA Local 6203
Date: Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: Mr.Martin
To: Kevin Kollmeyer

Hey Kevin, word around the campfire is there is gonna be a cst surplus announced in the next day or 2 since you have me and my members in your crosshairs I would like your opinion on this. If you have an original opinion on a cst surplus if it happens, send it to me, if you have to wait until your opinion is given to you well I understand that too, never the less lemme know what you think, when you can of course. However, I will give you and everyone else my opinion now. If a surplus is announced in the next few days, first of all the timing is very convenient, with the contract being just ratified and all, and if it happens and CST,s are offered a lateral to become a prem tech some folks will probably claim hero status cause they get to keep pay etc that was so hard fought for, I don’t think there would be a surplus of cst’s if it hadn’t been bargained for – here in Lubbock our csts have been cut to the minimum and are covered up all the time so we could only have a surplus if their work is moved somewhere else, oh ya we bargained that too didn’t we, & made an exception of a lateral to a prem tech, now that really doesn’t sound like tuff diligent bargaining to me, mostly just sounds like it was dictated from the company, now the pay even for surplus cst’s is nice @ least for the next four years, shall we make a prediction on that, I don’t think that’s necessary our members are not dumb, detached, or in need of someone to decide what is best for them, that’s why they get to vote (sometimes) rite. Some folks in our organization obviously know more than others, for the record I don’t treat my members that way & never will after all they pay the tab, I figure that gives them the rite to know everything that concerns them, some people seem to have forgotten that, by the way are you still trying to bail? All we can really do now is wait for the other shoe to drop and it ain’t gonna be good only time will tell I don’t think we will have to wait to long. Maybe you can share some words of wisdom if this happens and can help me convince my cst’s of how good this is for them, what do you think, brother. I patiently wait your response. thanks david patton president cwa 6203