Ron Hientzman Former ATU Int. Pres. in the News

What is going on in ATU Local 757, former ATU International President Ron Hientzman's old Local? You will recall that Hientzman served as president of the local from 1988 to 2002 when he was appointed international vice president and relocated to Washington. In the September 2010 International Convention in Orlando, Larry Hanely was elected over Hientzman to the position of international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). Since then Hientzman has returned to his Oregon Local and ran for president of Local 757 in an election held four months ago. In that election Hientzman lost to Bruce Hansen, a longtime TriMet bus driver and past union officer. Heintzman is an ally of outgoing two-term president Jon Hunt, so Hansen’s victory puts a new, largely untested face at the front of the union as it heads into an escalating battle with TriMet management over retiree benefits. Heintzman, who as recently as 2010 served as president of ATU’s international union, had been endorsed by much of the union’s establishment: its retiree chapter, most TriMet executive board members and by the executive boards of the union’s units with Lane Transit, CHERRIOTS and C-Tran. Portland Afoot interviewed Hansen about his candidacy last month. He called for the end of what he called “a dictatorship” within the union by the Hunt-Heintzman faction. Asked what else he would change in the union, Hansen said: “Understanding the membership’s needs by regular property visits, getting out there, understanding what they’re going through, why our buses are dirty, why we don’t have enough buses in service.” Hansen also promised that his presidency would take a $20,000 pay cut, a significant sum for a union that burned through several hundred thousands of dollars from its cash reserves last year. In 2011, federal records show, Hunt took home $108,434 in salary and another $22,105 in disbursements for official business. Al Margulies, a retired operator who supported Hansen and blogs about union issues, said Hansen was “part of the network,” but expected him to use power differently than Hunt or Heintzman had. “This control has been in the hands of these people for quite a long time,” Margulies said. “I hope he’s going to open up things and stop keeping everything so secret. They operate like TriMet, really.” go to link>>>