Greetings Brother and Sisters,

I am writing you to bring you up to date on some of the issues that I feel our membership needs to focus on moving into 2016 and remind you of our second annual Christmas party being held on December 12 at the Doubletree Inn (formerly Comfort Inn) on Route 59 (Flyer Enclosed). This party was a success last year and I am sure it will be a success this year. We will be using the Membership Event Fund, created two years ago from Dues Supplement, to pay for the party. The enclosed flyer has all the details including that every active member and retiree is entitled to a guest at no cost to them. Please take note that it is imperative that you sign up for the party and ATTEND! The Fund pays over $50 in advance so please do not sign up and then not show. It is YOUR money and it is not fair to all the membership to throw it away. While we are talking about events, I regret that we were unable to do our Family Day at the Ballpark. This construction season has been so busy that it was a logistical nightmare to get a day where enough members were not away, working or busy to make the event work. I hope we can do it next year or a different event involving the whole family. I would also like to add that the Executive Board and I have been kicking around the idea of creating a Retiree Committee to meet quarterly with the Board so we can plan some activities for our retirees as well as have the committee bring up issues facing our retirees so we can have better insight to their needs. If any retiree is interested in being on this committee and is willing to do the work involved in planning events and sitting with the Executive Board once or twice a year to figure out ways to fund them, please contact me after the first of the year.

One more thing before I move on to business. At October's Executive Board meeting, we approved ordering long sleeved "Under Armor" type shirts with our Local's name on the left side. If approved by the membership at this month's Regular meeting, we will submit the order. They are a quality shirt and should be in by the end of November. Each active member and retiree will receive one shirt.

2015 has been a very busy year for Local 754. With multiple Thruway projects, the New TZB and the AIM Pipeline projects being our main hour's generators. We expect next year to be busy as well but at a decelerating rate. Therefore, it is vital to the local and to all members to make sure you take time this winter to make sure you renew any license/certifications that need to be refreshed and/or take new classes to obtain the proper certifications such as scaffold builder and user cards, Haz-Mat, Asbestos, Hoisting and Rigging etc. These skills are essential to filling jobs since the more certifications you have the easier it is to be employed. Many Journeymen have refused to get cards for skills they already have performed for years but the reality is without proper certifications, most employers today cannot hire you. If we do not do these things, we will lose our jurisdiction more and more every year. It is just the way business is done today and we must make sure we comply! I also want to stress that people with O&R gas certification MUST make sure they refresh their skills as required. We have worked hard to get a firm foothold in this market and will lose it quickly if we cannot provide quality fusion people with experience. The next two to three years will see multiple jobs in Orange and Rockland Counties and we have more union companies moving into the market. Many of these companies are from the NYC area and want to use Operating Engineers to fuse since they have them trained. We have the jurisdiction here and I have to be able to provide the manpower or all our work is for naught. I am meeting with our Contractor's Bargaining Unit Representative and Local 17 and 60 to try to revive a separate utility contract for this work. It may be the only way to protect this jurisdiction. My concern is that the outside contractors that do not understand the economics of this market will drive up the costs to a point where non-union companies such as PPS and Environmental will take the work back and we will be where we were in 2010. I will be talking more about this at the Regular meetings. We will also be needing help at public meetings for multiple projects coming up in the future. Please keep an eye on our new website that will be online this month for info. You can also check our Facebook and Twitter feeds for info.

I have been stressing at our monthly meetings that the Local is in good shape overall but we have unique problems due to our small geographical jurisdiction and membership that that jurisdiction can sustain. Our Achilles Heel is our Welfare Fund. We have had multiple large claims in the past two years that have hit us hard. The Fund has recovered due to hours increases and our Stop-Loss Insurance but we are still vulnerable. The Trustees are working to find every avenue to keep our costs in line but it is an uphill battle. At some point, we may have to seek other funds to join together with in order to enlarge our risk pool. In the meantime, make sure you keep yourself and your family healthy with regular check-ups to head off large issues later. The cost of healthcare is rising faster than we can keep up and we need relief in the form of real system reform. The current system is so watered down that it actually is hitting us negatively in two ways. First, there is no limit to what can be charged for care and second, we have to pay the taxes to fund the exchanges that were supposed to help relieve some of our burden. Once the new law was watered down by Congress and the Government, single-payer option was taken out, we became vulnerable. All we can do now is try to lobby for fair legislation and try to keep costs in check.

In closing, I would like to thank all who have been working hard to keep this Local strong and on solid footing for the foreseeable future. I also want to mention that one of our Fund Office employees, Gail Graziano is retiring in November. She will be missed and I hope all members that see her before she leaves wish her happy and healthy retirement. Please remember that we have our monthly meetings every 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the Union Hall. We need your input on multiple issues and remember this is your livelihood and you must take it seriously. We welcome discussion on all topics and want to make decisions that work for the whole Local! I hope to see all of you at a meeting soon and in December at the Holiday Party.

As always,

IN UNITY THERE IS STRENGTH!

Stephen Reich
Business Manager