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Brothers and Sisters,
Now that the holidays have died down and work has resumed at its normal pace,
the Union is left to make some very hard decisions. Our membership is down, our
funds are down, budgets have been slashed, income to the local is down and we
are looking for new solutions daily to streamline our operations and save money.
The Local has implemented a virtual spending freeze.
The Union is saving, on average, over $300 a week on salaries. We have come in
over $30,000 under the 2009 allocated budget. We saved money changing vendors,
renegotiating our contracts, retooling our business practices, and streamlining
our operations, but it’s not enough. The backslide from our dues being at 1% for
2 quarters has depleted our funds enough to cause another dues increase as per
the bylaws.
Working dues will be raised in April to 1.7%. Base dues will remain unchanged.
As you may recall from previous newsletters, I was hoping to get the dues locked
at 1.4%. It seems that even this will not be enough to run the Local and fully
represent the members. A dues committee was assigned to assess what the Local
needs in order to correctly function. Their report should be available shortly.
In comparison to other similar local unions in the area, our dues are the lowest
and based on net. The rest are higher and based on gross.
With everything stated above, I remain hopeful that the Local’s financial
setbacks will be quickly solved provided members pay dues in a timely fashion.
Many members are falling behind in payments and many more have been dropped. In
order for us to provide adequate representation to our members, our members must
pay their dues on time.
Negotiations are in progress, others will be starting in the summer. All of our
available resources will be allocated to these processes which leaves very
little available for other needs. When the dues committee comes back with its
findings, we will be able to more accurately assess our position and come up
with reasonable solutions.
John
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Live Shots
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Freelance contracts signed
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Over the phone dues pmts. ending
2/26/2010
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Working dues to be raised to 1.7%
effective 2nd quarter
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BM Rizzo to supply refreshments after
every union meeting
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