WE WERE SADDENED TO HEAR of the passing of Retired Brother Russell Pecoraro's wife, Anita.  She and Russell had been married for 50 years and she will be missed by all.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Russell and the entire Pecoraro family.

SPECIAL NOTIFIED MEETING; As stated above, the March 21^st Union Meeting will be a special notified meeting for the purpose of allocating the $1.55 increase effective May 5, 2008.
As we have in the past, in advance of this meeting we will meet with the Trustee's of the various Benefit Funds, as well as the Executive Board of the Union. From those conversations we will have facts, figures and recommendations for your discussion and review.

NATIONAL PENSION FUND; At the February 15^th Union meeting the membership received detailed information and a complete presentation about the options available. After much discussion the body unanimously elected the "Alternative Option". Basically, this means that we will continue to add pre-planned contribution increases over a period of time and our benefit will be calculated on a percentage of the total contribution. The future contributions will be scheduled over the next 10 years, as follows:
May 1, 2008 10%  May 1, 2013 4%
May 1, 2009 7%  May 1, 2014 4%
May 1, 2010 7%  May 1, 2015 3%
May 1, 2011 5%  May 1, 2016 3%
May 1, 2012 5%  May 1, 2017 3%
If the plan works and remains unchanged throughout the 10 year period, the contribution increases through 2017 will total $1.14. The total benefit will be calculated on all contributions received at 1.5% of the first 1200 hours and 0.7% for all hours over 1200. This will also preserve the funds "Special Early" benefit which will allow for an unreduced benefit at age 62 or a 6% per year reduced benefit for retirement as early as age 55.

COMIDA; "The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency" We would like to thank Mike Loewke of the Loewke Brill Consulting group for taking the time to come before the membership at our last Union Meeting. He informed us all of the vital role they play in the inspection process on construction projects. Monroe County is one of the few counties whose IDA (COMIDA) has a local labor requirement and it is their job to help the county administer these rules. If you would like to find out more about COMIDA please visit their website at http://www.growmonroe.org/

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Just a reminder that volunteers are needed for a variety of projects. If you, your spouse or family members can donate some time we would love to have you join us. ALL of our events require committees and volunteers, for example, coming up soon is the annual golf tournament and volunteers will be needed to help out in a variety of ways; either out on the course, with the registration tables or with locating donations and sponsors. Not to mention that this year's election season promises to be filled with opportunity to make a difference. Please call the hall at (585) 254-9151 and throw your name in the hat - please.

The percentage of workers who belong to unions increased last year according to a report dated January 25, 2008 released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). While small and modest, this increase does seem to indicate that the trends of the past 25 years may be on the reverse. The report shows that not only is Union Membership on the rise it did so with the largest single-year increase since 1983. Some highlights from the 2007 data are;


· In 2007, the number of workers belonging to a union rose by 311,000 to 15.7 million. Union members accounted for 12.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers, up from 12.0 percent in 2006. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data is available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent. 

· Workers in the public sector had a union membership rate nearly five times that of private sector employees.

· Education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate among all occupations, at 37.2 percent, followed closely by protective service occupations at 35.2 percent.

Membership by Industry and Occupation

· For public sector workers the union membership rate (35.9 percent) was substantially higher than for private industry workers (7.5 percent). Within the public sector, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 41.8 percent.  This group includes many workers in several heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters. 
· For private sector workers industries with the highest unionization rates include transportation and utilities (22.1 percent), telecommunications (19.7 per-cent),
and construction (13.9 percent). 

2007 Earnings among full-time wage and salary workers;

· Union members had median usual weekly earnings of $863 while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $663.

In response to this report AFL-CIO President John Sweeney had this to say:

"Today's numbers show working people are pushing to form and join unions in order to improve their lives, despite record levels of resistance from employers. They know that a union card is the single best ticket into the middle class, especially in today's economy...
Our unions have been working hard over the last 10 years to build their strategic capacity to help workers join unions, even in this hostile legal environment where a workers' right to organize has been all but eliminated. The fact that our unions have been able to grow despite a slowing economy and a decline in the public sector is a good sign. As we've built political support and held elected officials who oppose workers' rights accountable, more working people have been able to exercise their choice to join unions. But we know so much more needs to be done".