|
Brothers and Sisters,
There will be a called meeting of Lodge 126 on Wednesday September 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Berwyn V.F.W. Hall 1529 S. Harlem Ave. Berwyn IL. Due to the deaths of Brothers Albert Mayer #1751, E. Smiegowski #1758, Ted Suderski O/A, Gerhard Fohlmeister #1759, Charles Burgeron #1760 and Duane Burt #1761, the respective assessments are now due.
There are two issues being debated in the media and I would like to bring your attention to them to separate some of the fact from the PAID fiction on TV, the newspapers and the radio. I have mentioned the Employee Free Choice Act more than a few times. It is a very important issue and it is being fought in the media by those with more money than loyalty to our great nation or its employees. Here is a quick rundown of the facts;
- The Employee Free Choice Act DOES NOT TAKE AWAY THE RIGHT TO A SECRET BALLOT VOTE! It does take away the ability of the employer to demand an election (which they have complete control over). If 30% of the Employees want an election, they can have one at any time during the process.
- The CEO’s say that they are worried that Unions will intimidate employees into joining the Union. That is completely unfounded and, in fact, the opposite is true. In the first 70 years of the National Labor Relations Act, there have been 42 cases of intimidation or coercion by Unions. There were 27,000 cases of intimidation and coercion BY EMPLOYERS in 2007 ALONE. So who should we be worried about? There is also a study that was released by the U of I, Cornell University, University of Oregon and Rutgers which shows that there has been almost no intimidation by Unions.
- The CEO’s also say that the arbitration required by the Employee Free Choice Act, if there is difficulty in getting a first contract, would cost jobs. Once again, this is completely unfounded and in fact the opposite is true. 7 of the 10 Canadian Provinces have this first contract arbitration provision and their unemployment is lower than ours!
The second issue everywhere in the media is Healthcare reform. There has been a lot of money spent to make us fearful of “socialized medicine”. Unemployment, Medicare, as well as Social Security, are all socialist programs so this is not a new concept. Canada has a socialized healthcare program and, while no healthcare program is perfect, the life expectancy in Canada is 2 years longer than in the US. Canadians also do not worry about losing their healthcare if they lose their job or go on strike. Their healthcare is not tied to a job. This obviously gives the Canadians more power at the bargaining table and the US CEO’s want to prevent that.
The core of the issue is once again money and profits. The healthcare providers have been known to support the richest lobbyists in Washington. They do this to protect their profits and salaries which make other CEO’s jealous. If healthcare reform is done right, these guys will lose their salaries and their profits. So what do you think they will do? They will fight any meaningful reform with everything they have……and they have plenty of money to do it. Right now they are funding front groups to put up deceptive media campaigns, just like they are doing with the Employee Free Choice Act. I see the TV commercials trying to scare us into opposing any meaningful healthcare reform and it is disturbing because they are not being honest. They only care about profits.
One of the key components of meaningful healthcare reform is referred to as a “Public Option”. This means you would have the option for a government healthcare plan and the savings that would go with it. Medicare is a similar idea and that seems to work just fine. Why not do the same thing for all and not just seniors? The healthcare companies are fighting this hard because their profits would end up in your pocket as savings. The healthcare CEO’s would lose their profits as people would sign up for a government healthcare plan. Go to our website www.iam126.org for more info. Click on the Working Families - Support Real Healthcare Reform link to look into the issue. Read it over and send your Representatives a message if you are so inclined.
Your response to my request for donations to the IAM MNPL (Machinists Non-Partisan Political League) has once again been very encouraging (over $1800.00 to date). Thank you to everyone who responded early and for being so generous. While I requested $25.00, many of you gave $50.00. Keep up the great work! As I previously stated, I will donate $10.00 to MNPL for each $25.00 donation we receive for MNPL and it looks like the members are going to make me pay. I say, “Bring it on!”
I want to thank all of the 88 members employed by the City of Chicago who showed up for the last minute meeting on Saturday June 20th. The input and support of the membership is greatly appreciated in these most challenging times. Even though the Members could have focused on the short term, they chose to focus on what we should do to insure that all of our members have a job now, as well as 5-10 years from now. All 126 members should be proud as I am to be a part of this Union. The members have never disappointed me when I have presented the facts regarding the direction of this local.
Once again, Thank You for your continued support and participation.
Fraternally,
Joseph M. Pijanowski
PS There will be no meetings in July and August.
|
