steveo922:
Hello… so… its been over 3 years… whats transpired since that article?
A lot has happened in the last 3 years. For the most part I got so fed up with trying to play fair in a unfair system that I kind of snapped and went on a mini rampage with helping people file lawsuits…
You see when I formed the Union for pizza drivers I did not have a clue how “Real Unions†worked. Hell I had never even been in a union until I became the national president of one. And I will agree with most shop owners that if the “real unions†ever decided to attack the pizza industry it would probley kill it off.
You see in my situation I was upset that I could work for a company for 20 years and they would rather have me go across the street to Papa Johns to get min wage. All I was asking for was a .25 raise to min wage. I was a loyal dominos employee hell one my most prized possessions is a signed ball cap from Tom Monaghan I loved Dominos pizza
I have pizza sauce in my blood…
I am going to copy a past a response I made on another website to a similar question and let you all in on the way I think… jest so you all know I am not the enemy… LOL
First off I want you all to know that I never stopped fighting for your rights. Even though AUPDD web site is offline and I never posted here I still came here every day and read what the complaints of my fellow workers were. Every day for the last 3 years I have been a labor leader fighting for rights and working conditions.
Question what happened to AUPDD?
What really happened was this. They flat wore me down until I could no longer fight them on my own. It took them 3 years but yea I will admit it I was worn the hell out.
I lost my home because of them, I lost friends, all my free time, count less $$$ from my pocket fighting them. You got to remember it was me a pizza driver who had never been in a labor union ever before fighting this
http://www.laborlawyers.com[/url] and this
http://www.dominos.com and this was my main enemy the dark side of the force
http://www.laborlawyers.com/showbio.asp … &Show=3039 so think about that for a sec really think about it. What if it was you? I am no better than any of you I was jest a dam pizza man only I was pissed that they would take what was mine and got lucky and won a union vote.
I won well over 60 federal charges that I brought against them over the years. As a matter of fact I never lost a charge that I filed. And in 3 years they never once could find me in violation of anything. And they had a lot of people looking trust me. But the straw that broke the camels back so to say was the last charge that I won as AUPDD. The supervisor Kevin White at dominos pizza went around collecting signatures to decertify the UNION. Now this is very illegal and I caught them thank god but for 6 months they would not talk to me they being dominos because they said they deserted the union. Well I won because some brave people came forward and told the truth to the NLRB and they lost there decert. I knew then that next time I would not be as lucky and I knew then it was a matter of time.
Now the union was like my child I have fed, cleaned, and housed for 3 years and Ill be dammed if I was going to let them kill it off. So I put it up for adoption and merged it into the ATU a very large well funded international union. I became a vice president of ATU local 1395 [URL='http://www.atu1395.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=AUPDD20Vice20President20Jim20Pohle']http://www.atu1395.org/?zone=/unionacti … Jim20Pohle
So out of respect I did not post what was going on with the fight because it was no longer mine it became there’s…
Question So now what are you doing?
Well let’s jest say I don’t always see eye to eye with how the REAL unions in America do things. You got to remember a REAL union is a corporation. The soul propose of any corporation is one thing and one thing only PROFIT.
An example- the grievance policy in the contract for pizza drivers would allow disputes to go to Arbitration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitration now here is the real problem and the harsh reality of why no one in there right mind would do what I did. Arbitration can cost the union 10,000 to 20,000 dollars and that’s if they win or lose so lets do some math… 20 drivers paying 20 a month in dues 4800 a year . one driver gets fired illleagley .the union has to vote with its 2000 members weather or not to fight this injustice win or lose they must pay 10,000 – 20,000 want to know how that vote will turn out? Remember a union is a corporation and there for out for one thing and one thing only profit…
So where doses that leave all of you? Let me break it down for you. YOUR ALL FU@KED. Jest as we always have been.
Well Ill be damed if I spent the last 3 years of my life fighting the pig 3 for that kind of justice…
So I am forming a new corporation only this one is a NOT FOR PROFIT corporation jest as my original AUPDD was. This is not going to be a union I do not believe that you should have to pay me to get what was stolen from you. I do it because they took it from me and I want mine… I am jest showing you how I am going to get it…
I have been working with a labor lawyer for the last 3 years and this is a man who I trust and truly believe is a man of principal and not profit. How could I tell this? Well in the 3 years that the AUPDD owed him $$$$ he never once sent me a letter saying PAY this now. He always answered any question I ever had and was always there for me even on the weekends. In other words he was my angel my ace in the hole. I could always call when I could not find the law on my own. I brought my idea to him for a class action over FLSA in summer of 2007. I had started reading the FLSA to know what I as a labor leader should know and I started to notice a pattern.
You see we have been screwed over for soo long that we don’t even know were getting screwed anymore. It has become an industry standard to break the FLSA and no one can get help…
Why can’t I get help you ask? Well read my post about the DOL read the part above about UNIONS and profit and then ask a lawyer to sue someone for your 2000 bucks….
Makes perfect sense when you see it for what it really is, its not in there interest to help us…
Question so what can I do?
Well you see once you know what the other side wants. It really is easy to get them to play ball with you. You jest got to make them see it.
A huge law firm wont help you or 20 people no profit in it for them but they will help 200,000
So I used my contacts I used my knowledge of what the REAL labors leaders thought me. I learned to play ball.
I have a huge law firm filing class action lawsuits across the pizza spectrum. And I figured hell why stop there so my new corporation will help all min wage workers pizza man or burger flipper we all in the same dam sinking boat.
My DOL POST…
For all of those people waiting for the DOL to wake up and care about pizza drivers I got news for you… It is not going to happen… do you really think the DOL cares about the pizza driver? I was a national labor union president and I called the DOL seeking help and answers and let me tell you it was a nightmare.
Not only did they tell me I was wrong that I did not have a complaint, even when I pointed out the law in black and white to them. They all but told me to Pis@ off.
So I spent the last 3 years of my life fighting for better working conditions for pizza drivers in the USA, and looking for answers to a lot of the common problems. I stopped asking the DOL and started talking to Lawyers that specialized in the FLSA (fair labor standards act) that the DOL is supposed to govern. And found out I was right. So I convinced this law firm to take a chance and help the little guy and low and behold they did. So now that I found a law team that I trusted I asked them to help all the drivers in the usa and they agreed. And I got them to do this without cost to you the driver. And in the very near future all drivers will be able to ask a labor lawyer questions for free on the web site I am building for my new labor organization. (Not a union).
Still it takes me posting over and over searching for people. Do you all not want the money that was stolen from you? Do you want all the kids that come after you to have money stolen from them? I am really trying to figure you all out here I really am. I have been reading theses forums for 3 years now almost every day. I hear all the drivers complain about how this and that sucks. I give you a way to fix it. for free I might add giving 3 years of my life to help you get what was STOLEN from you and yet I don’t have 100 people in my inbox going were do I sign for my check?
You know I have helped many people over the last 3 years get there jobs back after the PIG 3 fired them. Spent 1000s of hrs reading laws, talking to labor leaders in the USA, spent 100s of hrs with labor lawyers on the phone. Done over 25 national radio shows many news paper and tv broadcasts all trying to help the pizza driver. And never once have I asked anything from you. WELL NOW I AM ASKING!!! Wake the hell up people this crap won’t change unless you FORCE IT!!! And costing the PIG 3 100s of millions of dollars will fix it I guarantee you that so call 850-393-5413 and say JIMBO my fellow pizza brother I want what was taken from me. what do I have to do to get what was STOLEN from me back…. And I will tell you in less than 10 min and It wont cost you a dime jest 10 min of your time people that’s all I need give me 10 min and we will fix what IS broken……
Jimmy P.
Now jest to let you all know I am not trying to go after the little guys. Under 40 stores. But I saw no other option other than lawsuits to fix my problem. When people stop talking and thinking turns into hate some times things get started.
This is how the lawsuits came to be…
I hoped this answered some of the questions you might have had please feel free to ask me anything I am here to learn not to pick fights. And if you could narrow the question down a little perhaps I could answer it more directly.
Jim Pohle
