Election Section

Again I find myself having to respond to a commentary liberally spiced with mistruths and disinformation written by Tim Lubeck, an employee of Berkeley Honda (owned by Stephen and Tim Beinke and Steve Haworth.) Mr. Lubeck claims he is a service writer at Berkeley Honda. This is the person customers count on to tell them the truth about what services and or repairs are needed on their cars. If this commentary represents how he does his job at Berkeley Honda, I would hope he get more training quickly. Perhaps the fact that he acts like an assistant service manager and is being paid a guaranteed wage in the six-figure range when the old service writers were being paid well within five figures may explain some of the statements that Mr. Lubeck makes on behalf of his “benevolent” employers. By the way, nobody walked away from a six-figure job at Berkeley Honda; only the non-union new hires such as Mr. Lubeck were offered that kind of money.  

The employers have stated that merit was not a factor in determining pay rates because they did not have an understanding of individual abilities before, during, or after the interviews were being done. Additionally, the decision to replace highly qualified technicians with training school graduates and experienced service writers with anti-union service writers was made long before the interviews ever took place. It appears that Mr. Lubeck has no experience as a service advisor/manager prior to Berkeley Honda. Yet he was hired at a higher rate of pay that any of the experienced service writers that worked at Doten Honda or were retained by Berkeley Honda.  

Mr. Lubeck remarks about Future Ford are so far off base and separated from fact that I have to call into question his source of information or his honesty. Since the record of any proceedings in the National Labor Relations Board is public information, I would suggest that he does a little research next time. The union was never held to be in violation of any laws, labor or otherwise. The picket line was never deemed to be “illegal and without merit.” Mr. Lubeck quoted something that was the employer’s allegation as though it was a decision of the U.S. government. That decision does not exist.  

When I grew up that was called a lie. Shame on the employer for telling Mr. Lubeck such mistruths. 

Mr. Lubeck has attacked this union and the pension plan that he clearly does not understand or he is distorting for the employer’s benefit. Additionally, the employer refuses to listen to credible information about the pension. Instead his employer elects to listen to the attorney whose obvious agenda for years has been the destruction of all things union, including the pension.  

Mr. Lubeck statement that the pension plan is the only outstanding issue in the ongoing negotiations simply shows that ignorance or deceit is prevalent at Berkeley Honda. The union made a proposal in regards to the pension plan that insures that this new employer will not suffer any un-funded withdrawal liabilities. The employer rejected it and persists in instructing Mr. Lubeck to misinform the readers of the Daily Planet that the un-funded withdrawal liability potential is the only issue outstanding.  

When I grew up that was called deceit. Am I accusing the employer of deceit? 

Yes! The employer cynically displays the last editorial from Mr. Lubeck on the street side windows for the public to read despite the fact the employer knows that it is filled with misinformation and outright dishonest statements. The letter is displayed just under the “strike sale” sign that they put up immediately after the strike started.  

Let’s quit beating around the bush on the issue of Berkeley Honda. Stephen Beinke, through his son Tim Beinke, Steve Haworth and their attorney are engaged in pure and simple class warfare. These extremely rich people have decided to come into Berkeley, wrap themselves up in the potential-for-tax-revenue flag, and pull the eminent domain scam, if needed, to “redevelop” as much of Berkeley as they can for tremendous profits.  

Well some middle class working people working for Doten Honda didn’t like the obvious discrimination and disregard for working people and the public that these folks displayed when they took over Doten Honda. The employer is deliberately delaying negotiations to prolong the strike and “burn” the strikers down. The employer thinks this picket will go away when everyone has gotten a job somewhere else to make ends meet during this dispute. These workers don’t have the mega-dollars that the Beinke’s have to survive the pain of a strike. This “war” is mean-spirited and they are simply using their wealth as a weapon.  

This class warfare and the obvious disregard for the quality of work on the customer’s vehicles and the persistent cynical disregard for the truth and the intelligence of the people in this area should indicate to even the most casual observer that the agenda is not one that deserves anything better that the “RAT.” Indeed it deserves strong action by the citizens of Berkeley and the surrounding areas.  

Many citizens of Berkeley are currently helping with our strike and are seeing the agenda of this employer and are not pleased. I ask the people of the Berkeley area who do not subscribe to the agenda of class warfare and deceit to come to the picket line and spend a couple of hours helping us peacefully convince these wealthy people that the American working person doesn’t condone this insult. 

Michael S. Cook is a proud member of and business representative for East Bay Automotive Local 1546. 

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