Candidate Bryan Zilonis -President

This election has 3 more months to go. Ballots are not counted until July 31. Plenty of time for every member to research all candidates. No RVP, FACREP, committee member, etc should be telling you "who to vote for". They certainly could tell you, WHY they are voting for a certain candidate, but EVERY ONE of them should be encouraging their members to do their due diligence. Research, ask questions, be involved. When you vote for your congressman or POTUS, do you look and go "Joe Smith says he's a good guy, so that's good enough for me". Of course not. This election is not about a map with pins, its about 15k plus members using their voices to be heard. Do the research. If you like Pauls platform, vote for Paul. If you like Bryan's, then vote for Bryan. Same for EVP and RVP elections. But please, for the love of everything holy, please don't vote for a candidate because someone else thinks they're cool or because someone else told you that you have to. It's your vote.
 
I don't like Joe Smith, so I'm going to vote for the other guy as a way to cancel out Joe's vote.
Slightly joking....but it is a perk if I happen to like the other guy instead of Joe's guy.

LOL, exactly though. One friend tells you Joe is awesome, another friend tells you Joe is a complete DB..... Plenty of election left to do the research. :)
 
This election has 3 more months to go. Ballots are not counted until July 31. Plenty of time for every member to research all candidates. No RVP, FACREP, committee member, etc should be telling you "who to vote for". They certainly could tell you, WHY they are voting for a certain candidate, but EVERY ONE of them should be encouraging their members to do their due diligence. Research, ask questions, be involved. When you vote for your congressman or POTUS, do you look and go "Joe Smith says he's a good guy, so that's good enough for me". Of course not. This election is not about a map with pins, its about 15k plus members using their voices to be heard. Do the research. If you like Pauls platform, vote for Paul. If you like Bryan's, then vote for Bryan. Same for EVP and RVP elections. But please, for the love of everything holy, please don't vote for a candidate because someone else thinks they're cool or because someone else told you that you have to. It's your vote.

I'm not telling anyone WHO to vote for. I do have a responsibility though to outline the candidates and their platform and tell them WHY I feel one would be better for the other. I am not spoon feeding them every single talking point but rather I am giving them a basic set of beliefs for them to expand if they so choose.
 
I agree letting members decide themselves who to vote for is the correct way to go about this. It is healthy for our union to open up discussion instead of just following a blind lead. I think Paul and Trish in the grand scheme of things have done a remarkable job of advancing us as a union. If there was no shady business here though, there should be nothing to fear by opening up discussion. I will say that the chance that I did get to personally speak to Bryan, he let me know that he was removed from anything that he was involved in nationally (besides his basic RVP duties). I think that it was obvious he was going to have people not like what he was saying, but this is another problem we have with blacklisting members and that is one thing I don’t like that’s going on right now.
 
I agree letting members decide themselves who to vote for is the correct way to go about this. It is healthy for our union to open up discussion instead of just following a blind lead. I think Paul and Trish in the grand scheme of things have done a remarkable job of advancing us as a union. If there was no shady business here though, there should be nothing to fear by opening up discussion. I will say that the chance that I did get to personally speak to Bryan, he let me know that he was removed from anything that he was involved in nationally (besides his basic RVP duties). I think that it was obvious he was going to have people not like what he was saying, but this is another problem we have with blacklisting members and that is one thing I don’t like that’s going on right now.

Funny isn’t it? Go against the party line and this is the reward. I can respect someone who stands up and speaks when they think someone this wrong.
 
Essentially we discussed that the only people who can stand up and run are those that have nothing to lose. Him for example, planned on retiring this year. Someone else that was involved in the union not near retirement could probably expect to not be involved in the future if it does not work out.
 
Essentially we discussed that the only people who can stand up and run are those that have nothing to lose. Him for example, planned on retiring this year. Someone else that was involved in the union not near retirement could probably expect to not be involved in the future if it does not work out.

Ironic how some of the most successful people were once told they could never accomplish something.
 
print out the threads, tape them end to end, and wall paper the natca office with them.

or I guess a link would work too...

I don't think that a recommendation is that big of an issue. Just follow up with a couple points in favor of both sides and point members who seem interested to information available for each candidate. Some NATCA facilities, people just do not care. It's just a pay dues, hands off member. A little recommendation may give interest to at least inquire.

It's not like you're forcing them to vote in anyway or vote at all. Any way of forcing would be immoral, but I'd like to think we as ATCS are able to make decisions for ourselves or bitch about someone forcing a control move on you.
 
Update 2:

Q- Do you support Term Limits for the entire Executive Board (Not to exceed 2 terms)?

A- While I agreed in San Diego, that elections served as term limits, the hostility exhibited by a vocal minority in this election has caused me to question whether that is true. The anger and hostility towards me from a group of people that I once called friends makes me also understand why we have not had very many contested elections in the last decade. While I don’t know that two terms is the proper number, there needs to be a motivation to get our younger activists trained to serve as National Officers and not just FacReps.
 
Q- Are you running as a team?
A- I am not running as a team. The concept of the President and Executive Vice President running as a team has some benefits, but can create a negative environment that impacts the ability of the National Executive Board to function properly. The NATCA Constitution calls for separate elections of our National Officers. The President and Executive Vice President are not delineated as a team and as such, have distinct responsibilities defined that are separate.

Article IV Section 4 and Section 5 of the Constitution covers this area, stating:
“The President shall be the chief executive officer of the Association and shall be responsible for implementing all policies established by this Constitution, the National Convention and the National Executive Board. He or she, subject to the authority of the National Executive Board, shall be empowered to employ any person or organization he or she deems necessary and to direct, manage and supervise any affairs of the Association. He or she shall preside at all National Conventions and meetings of the National Executive Board, and shall chair or direct the chair of the Association’s Negotiating Team.
“The Executive Vice President shall preside at any Convention or meeting from which the President is absent, and in the case of a vacancy in the office of President, the Executive Vice President shall succeed to the Presidency until the next regular election. The Executive Vice President shall be responsible for keeping the minutes of all National Executive Board meetings and for the maintenance and protection of all records, books, papers and contracts, including financial reports, of the Association, and shall receive, hold and keep a proper account of all monies of the Association, pay all legitimate bills, and render annual financial reports to the National Executive Board.”
The Executive Vice President and Regional Vice Presidents share the responsibility of oversight to the National President. I personally feel that oversight is lost when the two National Officers operate as a team. In practice, this has created a higher threshold for Regional Vice Presidents to check the decisions of the President and Executive Vice President. In addition, it has allowed their power to intimidate and pressure Regional Vice Presidents to submit to their decisions without question.
 
Update 2:

Q- Do you support Term Limits for the entire Executive Board (Not to exceed 2 terms)?

A- While I agreed in San Diego, that elections served as term limits, the hostility exhibited by a vocal minority in this election has caused me to question whether that is true. The anger and hostility towards me from a group of people that I once called friends makes me also understand why we have not had very many contested elections in the last decade. While I don’t know that two terms is the proper number, there needs to be a motivation to get our younger activists trained to serve as National Officers and not just FacReps.


Spoken like a true politician...it sounded like a "yes" but he never actually said "yes."
 
This was sent out to every FAA facility this week. Look for it on your NATCA boards. If it is not posted, post it!
 

Attachments

  • Zilonis Postcard 8.5x5.5.pdf
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Also my conspiracy theory is that if Zilonis wins, Paul will immediately retire and roll early into whatever job you know is waiting for him as a result of all this — then out of spite and revenge spend the rest of his time fighting natca to screw us over. He really is that dirty lol!!
 
From Bryan's website, www.zilonis2018.com

Mentorship and Training
We need to stop paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to contractors/consultants to do jobs that should be performed by current members of the Union. Our membership should be trained by current leadership in order to transition into future leadership opportunities. They should also be given an opportunity to practice and apply their skills in the real world.

In addition, the Union needs to bring training programs to the regions and create opportunity at home for our membership. There are yearlong waiting lists for training courses that could be performed at the regional level, either through video conferencing or computerized training.

My Vision: Mentorship taught me how to best represent our members through hands-on training and negotiating. Over time, these real-world opportunities have dwindled. We need to reinvest in our membership and give them tangible knowledge and skills, such as researching and negotiating national Memorandums of Understanding (MOU). Mentorship programs should focus on our Union's best, supporting our Union's future at the table in real-world negotiations. Our most important resource is our membership. I want to empower you to use your voice and engage with veteran NATCA leaders to learn all that you can.

Several members have expressed interest in getting more involved through training courses but are not always able to travel. I believe we need to have an online, or go-to meeting version of or Basic Rep Training course as well as Secretary/Treasurer Training to bring training back to the region.

We need additional training options to ensure no member is left behind and all are able to become involved. The inability to travel and/or take a full course in the short-term should not prevent anyone from learning something new and possibly sparking a life-long passion.

Additionally, our talented, more experienced members need to be working with newly involved members on small teams, expanding the number of people negotiating our National MOUs. Isolating that activity to a select few has not readied enough of the next generation to take on national leadership rolls in Labor Relations.
 
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