Insofar as the nonmembers of local 706 were concerned, they were not required to pay $3.50 a week working assessment into local 706, but were told that they could make a voluntary contribution into the treasury of local 706 to help defray the expenses of policing the job. This has been discussed previously in my statement and is substantiated by numerous affidavits. In Mr. Mundie's testimony he stated that there were $103,531.79 deposited into the joint venture account in El Dorado, Ark., and that there were a total of 64,111 men employed between August 4, 1951, and June 20, 1953, and that if each one of these men paid $3.50 per week into local union 706 that there should have been $224,388.50 collected. It is upon this basis that he arrives at the conclusion that there should have been $120.531.78 more in this joint account. The assumption which Mr. Mundie makes is incorrect for the following reasons: 1. The figure of 64,111 men employed on the job cannot be used because this is not a true figure of whether a man worked a full week, 1 day, 2 days 22 days, or none. It is necessary to know this because under the rules of local union 706 if a member of local 706 did not work in any workweek in excess of 8 hours, then he was required to pay nothing, even though he was a member of local 706. If a man worked in excess of 8 hours, but not more than 16 hours, in any one workweek, he was only required to pay $1.50 working assessment. It is only if a man worked in excess of 16 hours in any workweek that he was obligated to pay the woring assessment in the sum of $3.50 per week. The above, of course, only applies to members of local union 706. There were many occasions on this job when the men did not work due to inclement weather or strikes, and during such periods of time the members of local 706 would not be obligated to pay this $3.50 per week assessment. Your attention is invited in this respect to the affidavit of Mr. Herb E. Bayer, the field project manager for Blaw-Knox Co., marked "No. 47" among the listed affidavits attached hereto. 2. In addition to the above, many men would leave the project, not giving anybody any notice or otherwise, and go to work on other projects which were working longer hours and at better rates of pay. These people would still be carried on the records of the company for some time in the hope that they would return, and it must be assumed that such persons are included in the figure of 64,111 until the termination was shown for them which may be several weeks after they had actually ceased to work on this project. 3. Another reason is that, if a man would apply for work at the project, pass his security check, and then go seek a place to live and, being unable to find such a place, he would still be carried on the rolls of Blaw-Knox and would be paid for the time that he spent in checking in and passing his various tests, even though he didn't return to work the following day and never returned to the job any more. 4. Another reason why this figure of 64,111 cannot be used is that all of the men who actually worked full weeks on this project did not contribute to local 706. Therefore, for the reasons above stated, it cannot be said that this account is short in any respect. 5. Still another reason the figure of 64,111 cannot be used is that all of the men on the job did not pay any amount, paid only at irregular intervals or paid a smaller sum than $3.50 per week. 6. If my memory serves me correctly, for a while on this project other people than pipefitters had the prefix "12." I believe that these people who were drawing the same rate of pay as the pipefitters were actually inspectors. I was reminded of this fact by one of the persons I have been talking to about this matter when he recalled that some of the pipefitters (people with prefix "12" on their badge) were accused of loafing or sitting down on the job and when the full badge number was disclosed, it was discovered it was not pipefitters who were sitting down on the job. If my memory serves me correctly, this number "12" was eliminated from the prefix of these other folks after a period of time. The reason this prefix "12" is important is that the Army Audit Agency only has a listing of people under prefix "12" and classes them all as pipefitters. Thus, if a certain number of these people were not actually pipefitters, this number of 64,111 could not be used here. II. EXPENDITURES FROM THE FUNDS OF LOCAL 706 FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS It has been a standing practice of this local union at Christmastime to give Christmas presents to the officers of the international union, various officers of other local unions who have assisted in the employment of members of local 706, and other people who have assisted or befriended the membership of this local union in one way or another. These matters have often been taken up on the floor of the local union as is stated in the affidavits of the following people attached to this statement: Furthermore, the amounts of such gifts have been included in the report of the finance committee to the membership of this local union. I invite the Committee's attention to the report of the finance committee for the month of January 1956, wherein Christmas gifts to general officers in the amount of $867.95 were included in the report; to the financial report of February 1957, where Christmas favors in the sum of $361.07 were reported; to the finance report of the month of January 1958, where Christmas gifts in the sum of $4,236.24 were reported to the membership; to the report of February of 1958 where $440.42 was reported to the membership by the finance committee; to the finance report of December 1954, where Christmas gifts in the sum of $1,006.39 were reported to the membership by the finance committee; to the monthly finance report of January 1954, where the sum of $436.88 was reported to the membership as Christmas gifts, and in the month of December 1953, the sum of $490.80 was reported to the general membership by the finance committee as Christmas gifts. Mr. Mundie lists certain expenditures from 1951 through 1959 which he says were purchases unauthorized by the membership and paid for by checks from the local union funds. All of these purchases were authorized by the membership. For example, the items listed by Mr. Mundie under dates of December 10 and December 19 as Christmas gifts from Cobbs, were authorized by the membership as reflected by the minutes of the membership meeting of December 4, 1951, which read as follows: "B. A. Griffin asks that money be appropriated for Xmas presents to the proper persons. Brother Grady Purdue makes motion that B. A. Griffin use his judgment in buying presents for those whom he sees fit. Seconded by Brother Bob Owens, carried unanimously." Another example is the expenditure of $4,218.84 for expenses of a group of contractors to Washington, D.C., in February of 1958. The membership was fully advised of this, and the minutes of the meeting of February 18, 1958, reflect the following: "*** He (B. A. Ermon Griffin) thinks they did some good in Washingtoncarried 18 plumbing contractors with them ***. He tells of talking with Senator McClellan in Washington." The finance officers' report of February 1958 reflects that $5,599.56 was spent from the organizing fund of which $4,218.84 was for the expenses of this trip. The finance reports for the months of February and March of 1958 were read to the body on May 6, 1958, and the minutes of that meeting reflect that the expenses of this trip as reflected by the February and March finance reports was explained. This trip was made to oppose H.R. 7168 while it was being considered by the Senate of the United States. The persons in our industry believed this proposed legislation harmful to the best interests of everyone concerned. These minutes reflect that the finance reports for February and March 1958 were accepted as read. With regard to the flowers sent to Mrs. Earl Griffin and Mrs. Ermon Griffin, this is not an isolated incidence, but one of a general practice of the local union to send flowers to any member or his wife who is ill. This flower fund is taken up by the members on the job and deposited in the general fund as shown by the following receipts. It is thus standard practice when someone is in the hospital or there is a death, then the secretary in the office automatically sends flowers and it is charged to the general fund. This has been and is still the practice of the local union. My wife and Mrs. Ermon Griffin just happened to receive flowers in this way from the local union as do other members and their families. III. AVAILABILITY OF THE FINANCIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION TO THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP The financial records of this local union have always been made available to the general membership. When I was business agent of the local union no one ever asked me to see any of the records of the local union when he was not permitted to do so. Attached hereto are the affidavits of the members of the finance committee, who have the charge and jurisdiction of the records of the local union, and they state in their affidavits that such records have always been available to the general membership. See affidavits of: Affidavit No. and name: 46. Ernest Samuel Peppers (former finance committee chairman). 53. Floyd W. Zylks. 54. N. W. Price. 56. Wesley Ford (see last page of Price affidavit). IV. DEMOCRACY IN LOCAL 706 It is always and has been the privilege of any member of local 706 to get up on the floor and express himself without being discrimianted against in any way. I have never discriminated against anybody for holding views contrary to mine or for disputing questions on the floor with me. The minutes of this local union time after time reflect that I have urged the members to get up and express themselves on various questions or propositions which have come before the local union, and the following affidavits are of persons who testify as to the democracy existing in local union 706: Affidavit number and name: 11. W. A. McMahan, A. A. Malloch, B. E. Craig, and W. T. "Red" Harris 12. H. J. Webb and J. B. Swilley. (See last page of McMahan affidavit.) 13. W. W. Wright and H. C. Bratton 14. M. Muckelrath, Jr., Vernon Burson, and L. B. Priddy 17. Bruce Cottrell 18. Jack Goodwin 19. George Morgan 20. George Wolfe 21. Lawson Reasor Holmes 22. J. R. Burns 23. J. M. Johnny Telford 24. John Henry Armer 28. John W. Garlington 31. R. J. Garrett 32. M. L. "Red" Evans 33. H. A. Tanner 39. E. B. Wheelis 42. James Willie Garrett 46. Ernest Samuel Peppers 53. Floyd W. Zylks 54. N. W. Price 55. Wesley Ford. (See last page of Price affidavit.) In conclusion, I wish to reiterate that the moneys collected on the Pine Bluff Arsenal job were expended for the benefit of the members of local union 706, that no one was forced to pay any money on this job in order to work there and that the so-called joint venture agreement was never carried into effect because it was declared null and void by the international office. The expenditures of the local union funds for gifts were approved by the membership and the membership was fully advised and the financial records of the local union have always been available to the general membership for their inspection, and no one in local union 706 has been discriminated against for holding views contrary to mine. The 54 affidavits attached hereto of some 60 people establish the above facts, and I respectfully request this committee to read each of these affidavits. Respectfully submitted. |