February 2020

Greetings Brothers and Sisters.
As you read this Spring will be on our door step. I recently had the honor of representing our Local in Washington as part of our Capital Area CAP Council. We had the opportunity to visit our elected officials and lobby them on important legislation that affects the working class and our members. Some of the legislation that was discussed is the PRO act (H.R. 2474/ S. 1306), The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act (H.R. 3463/ S. 1970),and the Lower Drug Costs now Act ( H.R. 3). All of these pieces of legislation affect working class people every day. The purpose of our visit was to show our elected officials that we hold them accountable and our Union expects them to do the right thing and to stand up for working class people. The PRO act passed the House on February 6, 2020 and now goes to the Senate. On the Local front our Kirchhoff unit is beginning negotiations. There current contract expires in June. The bargaining team has been working hard to address the concerns of the membership. Hopefully the team can negotiate a contract that addresses the needs of the membership and provides the type of contract that our members deserve. With a number of our Units facing new contract negotiations this year it remains a priority to negotiate fair and equitable contracts for all of our members.  The Local Triennial elections are this year for all Local Executive Board positions. Please see the Nomination and Election Notice later in this issue. All Units will handle Unit respective Nominations for the Unit positions separately. All elections for the Local and the Unit positions will be conducted on the same date (see notice). As always I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve the membership of our Local as your President!  
“All Labor that uplifts Humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence” Martin Luther King Jr.