This is a quote from the UA facebook fan page:

“The bill opens the door…of a power so vast…as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendants.”

Someone on the far right talking about health care reform? No, those words are from a congressman from New York, 75 years ago, talking about Social Security!

Social Security passed and the temple did not fall down.

Work is still slow. Still have several members off work. They still are saying work is coming…. they’re just not sure when, exactly.

We were supposed to have the first reading of the proposed by-law changes tonight… it was put off until next month… no explanation given as to the delay.

Pretty light turnout tonight, would like to see more members showing up at regular meetings, couldn’t hurt.

I wanted to take a moment and wish all y’all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully for those that have been off or missed work, next year will be much more prosperous for you. I know the local leadership still believes there is plenty of work coming, especially when the Devon tower gets up and rolling.

I was reminded this site is quickly approaching it’s first b-day this week when I got the renewal notice for the domain name. I’m pretty sure I’ll renew the registration and keep the site going for another year, just wish there was more traffic here and more participation.

I’ll always believe the premise behind this site is excellent and could be an excellent place for the membership to discuss issues that are important to us. I intend to take some time this holiday season to decide how to best utilize this site and make it a destination for our members. I’ll develop a plan of action and hopefully after the first of the year you’ll begin to see increased activity here… at least on my part.

As always, I’m open to your suggestions.

Have a great holiday season!

Heh, I know, it’s my fault.

The annual December meeting and giveaway was last Tuesday. Had a really good turnout, there were lots of good door prizes and cash giveaways. Unfortunately… I didn’t win anything.

For you Facebookers, I’m on Facebook, your business manager is on Facebook, The UA even has a pretty active Facebook page. So, look us up and friend us.

According to the BA’s there are still a few off… about the same numbers as it’s been for the last few months. Supposedly there is still work on the horizon, just keeps getting put off. Devon bids have been delayed again… December 8th now, I think.

Keep checking back, consistent activity on this site is just around the corner,

Regular meeting was tonight. Not much news came out of it. Still quite a few off. Still waiting for work to break, including the Devon building.

Devon was supposed to bid this week, but has been put off until early next month. Should be a local contractor doing a lot of the mechanical work… according to the BA’s

Who’s interested in seeing this site updated on a regular basis? If you don’t want to reply here… send me an email: fitterman32 at yahoo.com.

Just so you know, if you email me, I won’t take your email and run with it. I typically don’t forward jokes and other stuff. I just want to hear from as many members as possible as to whether this site is important to you… with enough response, I’ll start hitting it on a regular basis again

Here’s a link to a speech President Obama gave to the AFL-CIO. It’s long at around 30 minutes, but very inspiring and worth a look.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1078617450?bctid=40295985001

Enjoy

As you may have guessed by now, I did not attend. Looks like the general apathy that runs rampant through the local has finally caught up with me.

Anyway, I did hear there were 35 fitters and 10 welders on the bench. This is a big surprise because the month before they were talking about full employment being just around the corner. Did not hear the plumber report or how many apprentices were off.

The instructor training is going on this week in Michigan… not sure how many went.

The code updates are going on now. Pretty sure they will be having regular update classes for the next few months. Be sure and get signed up and get it over with.

What else? I think that’s all I got today.

I have a confession to make… I’ve had my head in the sand the last few weeks, so I am woefully behind on current events. In other words, I don’t have a clue what’s going on here or nationally( I know, some think how can you tell a difference )

I watched the news conference tonight about healthcare. I gotta say, what I heard tonight sounds like a heckuva plan.

Health care available to 97-98% of the population. No addition to the ever growing deficit- 2/3 of the money to pay for it has already been found, so to speak, in other wasteful spending practices. The final 1/3 WILL NOT be placed onto the back of the middle class.

Obviously something needs to be done… like he said, the status quo can’t continue.

And, we haven’t had any good controversy on here in awhile >>read<< bring it on resident republican :)

There were 32 members that showed up. That included the officers.

Darren talked about Beth. He said the problem had been going on since 2004. $1755 total through all that time. He was able to trace receipts back to the beginning.

The .25 that we put into H&W… the new benefits took effect on the first of July, with the new contract. Now you can get glasses/contacts once a year instead of every two and dental has a higher annual amount that can be used.

Darren said that Rick needed a new truck, that caused a lively little discussion… then we voted to approve him getting a new truck. The funny part is, Darren doesn’t need a vote to buy a truck… he just asks as a courtesy.

32 members out of 1100 or so… I would call it unbelievable except that one week ago we had around 240 show up to vote on our new contract. 20-21% of our membership decided for the rest whether the current contract was acceptable… that is what is mind boggling.

For those that think going is pointless because everything is predecided… the vote was fairly close > 147-94. Roughly 50 votes from acceptance to non-acceptance. 50 votes, 50 more members to show up out of 1100. 4% more of the membership.

For the overwhelming majority of this membership, this is your livelihood- your life. You won’t be moving onto greener pastures. You’ll die or retire out of this local. It seems you would be interested in having a little more vested interest in what goes on down at the hall by taking an active role in regular meetings, or at least by showing up on the nights we vote on new contracts.

I’ve offered a couple of ideas to the current and former administrations on how to increase attendance… no action has ever been taken… so no way to know if my ideas would work. (to be fair, the previous administration ran out of time before being able to act on any of my ideas).

I guess you can chime in and let us know why going to meetings and participating holds zero interest for you.