Abner Merriweather is the first African American president in Local 1858’s history and the only elected president to have his union powers restricted by U.S. Army. Although Merriweather won his case against U.S. Army officials at Redstone Arsenal, AL, concerning the restriction on his union representational duties using official time they have steadfastly refused to reinstate 800 hours of official and personal leave he used to represent the employees he was elected to represent prior to the judgment in his favor. Merriweather should be afforded the same “official time” privileges given previous presidents of this local.