It's that time of year again. CTA, which is legally entitled to my money as my "representative", has to justify what it charges me. To do this, CTA hires an "impartial arbiter" (no conflict of interest there!) from the American Arbitration Association to determine which of its expenses are "chargeable" to agency fee payers and which are not. Next November, I can have the "non-chargeable" money refunded to me.
According to the letter that CTA sends me each year, I'm allowed to request that my contact information be provided to other agency fee objectors for the purposes of coordinating. This year, I not only did that but also requested that I be given the contact information of other willing objectors.
The CTA said I'd have to get this information from the AAA. The AAA said that this information is confidential and cannot be released--even though CTA and individual objectors say publicly that it can be released.
Do you see why I question the impartiality of the arbiter who works for this organization?
100% in agreement wit'cha Darren. I am scheduled to go to Burlingame in late February to go before the "impartial" arbitrator also. Hmmm, the CTA chooses the guy, and pays his $1,200/day fee, and we're supposed to expect any sort of fair decision-making? I gravely doubt it! Well, I've been an agency fee payer for nine years now, and this will be the first time I go into the lions' den. Should be fun! Jeff
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