We had a short discussion about the vacation fund way back in the early days of this site. There are quite a few more visitors coming around these days and the vacation fund came back up again… so I’ve decided to open up the discussion again. Here’s a link to the original discussion http://weare344.com/are-you-prepared-for-a-strike

Back in the day we had a vacation fund. $1 was held out of our check for every hour worked. The employers sent the money to the hall once a month and every 6 months the hall would deposit the money into a bank account for us… money sure came in handy for vacations, Christmas shopping etc, whatever.

Now as most of the older members remember, the vacation fund disappeared one summer, right before the regular deposit time, thanks to a former B/M. This left a sour taste in the mouth for a lot of members.

This is one of two reasons I don’t think this local will ever have another vacation fund. The other reason being I don’t think a majority would ever agree to taking money off the check to start a new fund, regardless of how safe it is made to be.

Now, here’s the deal… as a member of this local, you are also a member of Tinker Federal Credit Union. What that means is, whenever you work for a local contractor, you can choose to have money held out of your check and deposited into an account at TFCU. You choose the amount to be held out. You start it and stop it whenever you want. Nobody else handles the money, it goes straight from the contractor to your account once a month.

I’ve been doing this 3-4 years now… it’s working out great for me. If you’re wanting a vacation fund, this may be an easier path, rather than trying to convince a bunch of plumbers and fitters to take money out their pocket to start a fund that was horribly abused in the past.

Curious to know what you guys think… and gals.

The new contract was approved by the membership tonight. We’re getting $2 a year over three years. There’s more travel money- $45 a day for distances over 50 miles and $65 a day for distances over 100 miles.

There’s another part of the contract I didn’t like… the contractors when hiring out of the hall still take the name at the top of the list, but the next name, they can choose from anybody on the list… that one made me uneasy. In fact I didn’t even vote because I didn’t want to vote no, but knew if I voted it would have to be no, because of that clause.

Would like to hear your thoughts about the contract and this new list system.

We also voted on what to do with this years money. $1.70 on the check, .25 to H&W, supposed to get us better dental and vision and .05 in some kind of UA organizing fund. Sounds like something the UA rammed down our throat… supposedly we’re the last local to vote it in.

Let’s hear what y’all think.

Our special called meeting is tomorrow at 7:00. You need to be there. One- to find out what the offer is and two- to let the leadership know how you feel about the lack of info concerning the contract.

It would also be nice to know what happened to Beth from an official source

I had a request to add info about work in other locals to this site. I don’t know much about that kind of stuff, but here is a Yahoo group that is UA members only. It’s supposed to be a jobs board, although they can get a little chatty at times.

You have to sign up to see the message board, it’s ben so long since I signed up I can’t remember if they want your local number, or card number or what… but there is some kind of verification process before they let you in.

It’s a fairly busy board, they do talk alot about current jobs and upcoming jobs. Here’s the link:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/roadtrash/

Here’s another site they use to have a message board as well, looks like it has been moved to Yahoo also. I didn’t sign up for it.
http://theroadsite.com/main.html

As far as I know we are still negotiating with the contractors. I have heard so many different rumors about what’s what I’m not going to list them all here. Just know that I have heard everything from 1, 2 and 3 year contracts to all kinds of different money scenarios. So as usual, there’s not much telling what’s really going on until the hall decides to tell us officially.

There is some big news I heard about this weekend that was supposedly confirmed by another source today. Beth got fired last week. One of the BA’s told somebody it was for misuse of funds. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

Everybody get back on the site and bring a friend with you.

Got a message from my contact today... I asked about clarification on the letter, could it maybe have to do with wildcat strikes etc, here's the answer I got back: "Have copy of that letter. Nothing about wildcat provisions. They speak glowingly about their partnership with WD Manor management" Now I'm interested in knowing if he has backing of UA.

I've added the ability to subscribe to comments. Before you submit your comment, you should see a box you can tick that will subscribe you to the comment thread. What that means is, you'll receive an email whenever new comments are made to the post you subscribed to. Let me know what you think.

Well then, who should we blame?

Blame has been thrown around here lately, from Republicans, the Liberals, the Rich, and Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart was brought up because whats the difference between the Mexican workers and their workers? So WHO is to blame for this mess? Now the last post has delved into ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS and that we should blame the Liberals for that......

The Mexicans take advantage of the freebies our government gives them.If you don’t like the way it is, don’t vote for the people who want them to be able to cross freely. That would be the liberals. They want to get them dependant on the government and be able to take away your work. Wow, where does one begin.... first of all, lay off the Lou Dobbs, its a whole other topic, but I think if you do some real research, this MEXICAN freebie myth may not be what it seems. Name the people who want them to cross freely.... Why would they want them dependent on the government? And not to be an ass, but last time I checked, I dont cut grass, roof houses, or frame them.... not that Mexicans can only do those things, but the Illegals coming here are not fresh out of tech school......gunning for YOUR WORK... Maybe you should lay off the Glenn Beck too......

Actually, the repubs like having the illegals here… let’s their rich buddies hire cheap labor and add more to the bottom line. Admin is dead on here, those guys paying well below a living wage to those Mexicans didn't vote OBAMA/BIDEN......... I was waiting for the right time to finish this post, a way to tie up the debate.....so here it is..... I BLAME YOU The liberals, the republicans , the rich have not one DAMN thing to do with how you spend your money...... Only that you spend it, so I asked earlier "whats the diffrence between Mexican workers and Wal-Mart workers"? You can blame the Mexicans for taking your work, but...... The Mexicans, Liberals, Republicans have nothing to do with you spending your UNION paycheck here....... So I blame you, the greedy, I need cheap shit, dont care that it might be my neighbor getting exploited, because in reality, he is no diffrent than an Illegal just trying to get bye, because "I can live better" and then blame the "liberals" and forget to mention that the Pubs love cheap labor..... So check out this trailer for this documentary, watch it if you can find it, I had to get it from Netflix, if you shop at Wal Mart after watching it then you have no self respect for workers rights......because the cost of shitty wages still becomes a taxpayer issue....WATCH THE MOVIE!!!! Why should you get paid what your worth, while others are treated like crap so you can save a buck? Isn't that wrong? Oh and bye the way, blame a LIBERAL for your Union Job.

Just in case you didn't read your latest letter... For all you service types, Luther is holding a preparation course for the state mechanical HVACR limited and unlimited licenses. Backflow prevention surveying certification course coming in May. 2009 code updates will be offered this summer. Contact the training center if you want to take any of the classes. If you were tested for asbestos exposure before 1982, you can get a free checkup again... check with the hall. And last and least... according to me... the local golf tournament is May 9 at 1:00 pm at Sugar Creek Canyon Golf Club. Contact the hall for more information.