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March 24, 2010
Dear Members,
A member wrote a
new change to the Constitution and By-Laws;
The recording
Secretary has read the By-Law change at the last two meetings,
therefore we will be voting on the change of the By-Law after
the 3rd reading which is at the next Union meeting
April 8, 2010, at the Union hall 5032 SE 26th, Avenue
Portland OR 97202.
The proposed
modification to Article IV Section 12 page 12;
Roofers Local
#49 shall acquire 2 mid-size 4-door automobiles for use by
Business Manager and Field Representative.
Said automobile
shall be built in America by union labor, should provide gas
mileage of at least 20 MPG city/30 MPG highway.
The cost of gas,
insurance, maintenance and upkeep shall be provided by Local
#49. These vehicles shall be for official use only. They shall
be kept on the premises during off business hours. It shall be
the responsibility of the Business Manager and the Field
Representative to maintain a mileage, and usage log as well as a
scheduled maintenance and damage log. Said logs shall be
presented to the Executive Board at the monthly executive board
meeting. The Executive Board has the obligation to hold the
Business Manager and Field Representative financially
responsible for any mileage or damage incurred not in the course
of official union business or not properly documented
immediately by the user of said vehicle.
The Constitution
and By-Laws are the blue prints for running the Union. It is the
responsibility that each and every members of the Union makes
sure that the Constitution and By-Laws are correct and are
functionally sound.
So please attend
the meeting to vote on this proposed modification of the
By-Laws.
PENSION
I attended the
Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Plan Trust meeting on March 17,
2010.
It was not a fun
meeting! I know that a lot of you are out of patience! I am very
sorry that I have not had any kind of answers about the Pension.
The Pension and the economy (which goes hand and hand) has been
the worst part of my job.
Where are many
Americans that have lost their whole pensions? There are many
pensions that are so far under funded that they have no way out
and not a clue to fix their problems. There are Americans
finding out everyday that they will not have a pension when they
retire. There are a lot of non-union roofers in the Portland
area that will never have a pension.
What I did
learned at Pension Trust meeting was is our pension is still in
big trouble and that we have to either put money in the plan,
which wouldn’t go towards benefits it would just get us out of
debt. Cut benefits. We might have to do cut benefits and put
money in the plan.
The Pension is
the reason that we haven’t started negotiations with the
Contractors.
UNION MEETING
I have been a
member of this Union for 33 years. I believe the only way a
roofer can better his or her life and the lives of their
families is to have a strong Union. Everyone wants to blame
everyone else for a weak Union. I always believe we can all do
more to help our fellow roofer. When was the last time you went
to a Union meeting? Do you really think it would hurt you to
attending a Union meeting? The 30 to 50 members that do attend,
we need to ask ourselves have we asked a Sister or Brother
roofer to come with us. I do think we can do better and be
better Union members. We did it before and were rewarded with a
great Labor Agreement. Remember two hours a month has never
killed anyone.
I will always
fight for you to have a voice at a Union Meetings, even if I
don’t agree with one word you are saying. Have a voice attend a
Union meeting and if you didn’t like it come up to me after the
meeting and tell me why.
Jim King
I attended Jim
King’s memorial service on February 26, 2010.
The memorial
service was a class act just like the man we were all
honoring...
I was very
impressed with the service. The employees of Snyder roofing that
spoke on behalf of Jim did excellent jobs. I was overwhelmed by
their speeches, for I have known some of the speakers for over
25 years.
There is so much
to say about Jim King, a man that gave so much to our trade.
I had been in
meetings with Jim, with Doctors, Lawyers, CPA’S, CEO’S,
Trust
Administrators, Actuaries, and years of negotiation meetings. At
every one of these meetings if Jim wasn’t the smartest person in
the room you thought he was. I don’t remember in the thirty
years that I knew him, in all the meetings we attended, way to
many meeting to count, that he ever took a back seat to anyone.
He always was the person that ran the meetings, even if he
wasn’t the chairman.
Jim and I served
on the sub committee for 12 years. Our job was to make decisions
between Health and Welfare meetings for the Plan. We had to make
some hard decisions, when a participant appealed to the Trust.
We agreed on all the appeals but two.
Jim called me in
2009 to talk about the Union and the Health and Welfare Plan,
here was a man dying, and he cared about the Union and Health
and Welfare Plan more than himself. He accomplished so much in
his life and I am very grateful to have known him. I will truly
miss my friend Jim King.
Thank you,
Michael A. Thompson
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