V-CAP Rep Commended At October Meeting

Billy Brown	Dr. Luther Castillo

Local 848’s October 18 meeting unanimously commended Billy Brown for excellent work on this year’s political fund drive. Brown said the praise belongs to the many members who pitched in.

Jeff Benge asked all members to contact him when there is a need for the new Chaplaincy Committee. He attended a UAW conference in Shreveport and is eager to help serve our membership. Reach him at 214-925-8874.

Gene Cates was nominated for our "Union Samaritan" award for his work with the National Alliance for Mental Health.

Here is Local 848's resolution:

WHEREAS The national AFL-CIO and an impressive number of unions have taken the side of democracy in Honduras, and

WHEREAS the big issue with Honduras is fair trade instead of what they call "free trade", and

WHEREAS all three major union federations in Honduras are on general strike for the return of democracy

BE IT RESOLVED THAT WE, the Executive Board of UAW 848, support the return of democracy and fair trade in Honduras.

In solidarity

Gene Lantz, Editor

UAW 848

 

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Retirees Relax Together

Retirees Pitch In

By Gene Lantz, Retiree Chairman

Local 848’s retirees had a robust discussion at our September 10 luncheon. Tony Fantroy talked about the way that con artists seem to target seniors. He reminded everyone that they should not give out their Social Security number, Texas Drivers License Number, or other personal information to people who telephone them.

Most of the discussion was about the outrageous lies being told to America’s seniors about health care. People who want to sabotage the reform are actually telling seniors that the government wants to kill them! Others are saying nonsense about undocumented Mexican workers getting free government benefits.

The health care issue has made Local 848’s retirees increasingly aware of just how vital our union political program has become. We have always known that anything we won at the negotiating table could be taken away at the ballot box, but the situation has grown especially critical today. Because we are more aware, our contributions to the V-CAP fund are growing far beyond any amount of money we have ever raised before.

Local 848’s retirees are the only ones in the aerospace industry with a pension deduction program for V-CAP. We can sign up for small monthly deductions that we never miss because they come out of our pensions before we ever see them. The Local’s V-CAP Rep, Billy Brown, initiated a letter to retirees this year to increase donations. A number of retiree activists volunteered to call up to 100 of our members. They were: Mable Casey, Gene Cates, Wallace Manuel, Rex Redden, Neal Sloan, and Gene Lantz. We do not have phone numbers for all members, but we managed to call an estimated 400 retirees.

New signup cards were still arriving on the day of our luncheon, but the local is already raising three times more than the highest amount we ever raised in any year before this one! It is likely that we are among the top retiree fund raisers in our industry!

Local 848 retirees will continue their commitment to union politics when they attend a special meeting at 4 PM on Friday, September 25, at our hall. The President of the Texas AFL-CIO, Becky Moeller, will talk about what working people and retirees can do to fix the economic crisis we are living through.

Becky Moeller	Tony Fantroy