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JOURNAL

Greetings from Mid-Michigan - The Great Lakes State

The convention is over and the By-Laws have taken affect, we hope the Labor Committee knows how important reducing health care cost for the retirees is to us at Local 85. We (all the locals) came up with a lot of things we would like to see in the next contract and with some luck we will have work and not get pushed around by the companies. I was pleased to see that there were very few over the top resolutions and most of the Locals were on the same page as you can tell by the amount of resolutions covered by one another. We put a lot of trust in our Labor committee to fight and argue with the companies to get the important things into our contract. I know several of the members on the Labor Committee and they will do just that for us. The companies will not want to give us anything as usual, but this time with 2 years of economic down turn it will be worse than ever.

Our Delegates did an outstanding job at the convention; they were heard on the issues that are near and dear to us and kept expenses down; at a time when the work picture is bad and the economy is even worse. It's hard to spend money, but we must look into the future and do what is right.

In Dates to Remember below you will see that we are having another Family Union Meeting in December. We make changes after each meeting hoping to improve the meeting so you and your family will enjoy being involved in the union. I know the last one was long and we did not have anything for the kids, so this time I will be renting 3 movies so each classroom will have different movies going.  Please call the hall or e-mail us once you get your invitation so we know how many people will be coming and to order the right amount of food and also we will need the ages of the kids to get the right stuff for the gift bags.  I know it will be fun and I hope all of you will be able to make it.

Dates to remember:

    November 1, 2011            Deadline State Application

      November 11, 2011          Veterans Day - Paid Holiday   

      November 22, 2011          9:30 am State test

      November 24-25, 2011     Thanksgiving - Paid Holiday   

      December 1, 2011             9:00 am JAC Meeting

      December 2, 2011             Family Union Meeting: 5:00 pm dinner, 6:00 pm meeting

  NEIEP:

We are having a welding class this spring in Grand Rapids.  If you are interested call the Hall and get your name on a list.  If you are interested in Continuing Education classes, please call us so we can set them up also.

The work Picture:

Every month is worse than the month before. Our members will travel; if you have work in your local please call us and we will send you a list or a member.

 Golden Rail Club 

Lansing: 11.16.11  3^rd Wednesday @ Zeus Restaurant @ 9:00 am, 6525 Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing (by the union hall)

Kalamazoo & Battle Creek:  11.04.11 First Friday of every month @ 10:00 a.m. @ Theo & Stacey's Restaurant (by the Airport)

Grand Rapids:  11.15.11 Third Tuesday of every month @ 9:00 a.m. @ New Beginnings      Restaurant, 1455 Michigan Street, NE in Grand Rapids 

BIG BUCK CONTEST

The Big Buck Contest has kicked off.  Please send in pictures of your deer.  Remember to be considered for the contest your buck must have been taken in Michigan this hunting season.  But we would love to see all hunting photos of all animals taken.  Good Luck Hunters!

 Web Site:

The web site and face book page for IUEC Local 85 is always changing to keep you informed, check it out!! Check the calendar if you want to know what is going on daily.

In Unity There Is Strength,

Bill Kogelschatz

bill@iuec85.org