Funds Announcements
Health Fund Headed for Crisis
Hicks hints at cutting Dental Benefits. Increases Co pay for Prescriptions. Seizes January 2007 .40cent raise to put in ailing Health fund. Health Fund NOT merged with Empire Council Health Fund as members were told.
Morin Declares Himself In Charge of 370 Pension Fund
Morin says Empire Council Bylaws give him the right call the shots on the 370 Pension Fund. Despite signing her name to Fund mailings and giving the appearance of being the fund manager Erin Cerrucci was declared to be Office Manager only. Although members are directed to deal with Erin Cerrucci for day to day issues of the Pension fund it was made clear Erin is not the fund manager. Should members have Pension questions that the OFFICE MANAGER cannot answer they are directed to write letters to Mr. Morin. Although the 370 Fund has seated Trustees and is NOT merged with the Empire Council Mr. Morin insists he is in charge of the 370 Fund. This matter has been brought before the DOL for investigation.
229 and 370 Merger Planned For April 2007
Troubled 229 Fund to be merged with 370 fund despite objection of 370 members. Morin blames "Closed Circle" for 229 Pension troubles. Ignores the fact that it was the Empire Council and the Trusteeship imposed by the International at the request of the Empire Council that "Closed the Circle"
Speaking of Circles. It was amazing to hear Mr. Morin speak of the New Plan he had to save the 229 Fund . First he let us know that the 229 Fund was in better shape than our 370 fund. They, he declared, were 64% funded and would help the 370 fund with the merger. Now wait. They are at $20 a credited year and we are at $68 and they are in better shape. They are on the verge of going under due to manipulation by the Empire Council and they are in better shape. They are a "Closed Circle" with no money coming in and they are in better shape. Mr. Morin plans to help the 229 fund by "Opening the Circle" and again getting money coming in. He plans to do this by putting new members coming into Local 370 into the 229 Pension Fund instead of the Local 370 Pension Fund. So if we in the 370 Fund are frozen at $68 until the day, God Forbid, something causes our fund to drop does this not mean the New Members being put into the 229 Fund will be froze at $20 until something happens to make that fund go up. I am not sure who Mr. Morin was trying to talk in circles them, us, himself or all the above.
Doug Blacklock says NO on decrease in Pension
When questioned on the job site at Empire College Mr. Blacklock stated for the record that there is to be "No decrease in the pension benefit rate" to his knowledge. He also went on to tell members that the talk of decrease were "False Rumors" and the talk of a decrease did not come from Local 370. This conversation took place on December 8,2006.
Meet the Funds Night December 19,2006
It is with great surprise that on December 1, 2006 we received a letter informing us that in 18 days we will have a Meet the Funds Night to "Discuss the current status of your Pension Fund". You remember these meetings. Jack Simmons announced that they would hold one BEFORE they stole your funds and moved them to Long Island. Of course we had one AFTER they stole our Health, Vacation and Annuity fund. I say stole because there has been no denial that the funds were moved without a vote of the trustees as indicated. While I applaud MR Simmons for having this meeting to discuss OUR ,as in NOT yours Mr. Simmons, I find the timing to be rather suspect. You have given the membership 18 days notice and you intend to hold the meeting 6 days before Christmas. It seems again you are stacking the deck. An 18 day notice and a meeting 6 days before Christmas just about guarantees low attendance. Please call or write certified letters demanding the meeting to be postponed until after the New Years Holiday. Also demand that NO movement of our pension fund occur until a meeting is held. Mr. Hicks indicated recently that "It was all the same money" in reference to our Fund and the Empire Council Fund. Again with the King Kevin attitude. First Mr. Hicks you ARE NOT the President of our Local as Financial Sec. at this level it is your job to collect dues. NOT make policy. If Mr. Weir had a spine he would object to you acting as the President of our Local. Second. Until the Fund has been merged by a legal vote of the Trustees of the fund, which should NOT include John Simmons, it IS NOT the same money. I would hope for your sake that you have not acted in a manner that violates your fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the Local 370 Pension Fund which is still a separate fund from the Empire Council Fund and will remain so until a LEGAL vote of the trustees is taken to move it. Also Mr. Hicks please explain your statement that John Simmons is now in charge of the Local 370 Pension Fund. Mr. Simmons is a trustee and NOT the fund Administrator and therefore cannot be IN CHARGE of the 370 Pension Fund. Perhaps you can explain to the 370 Rank and File your policy of inserting Council Officers as Trustees on various Pension Funds such as 370,229 and others across the state. It is an obvious conflict of interest when you stack funds with trustees that are employees of the Councils. When it comes time to vote of Fund issues both you and Mr. Simmons are predisposed to vote in the best interest of the Empire Council and not in the best interest of the Local 370 Fund. Do I question your integrity? I think you have already brought that into question when you were taking gifts from Oppenheimer and NWG.
Local 229: The word is that the pension fund will merge with the Local 370 fund at the end of this year 2006. The fund is in serious trouble directly due to the actions of the Empire Council. The fund has fallen to $20 per credited year.
We have been told that the pension fund will merge with the Local 370 fund at the end of this year 2006. The fund is in serious trouble directly due to the actions of the Empire Council. They have gone from $68 to $20 a credit year. It is intention of the Empire Council to merge the fund with the Local 370 fund in the hopes it will save the 229 fund and repair the damage they have done. The way I understand it is that the two funds will not be merged with the Empire Council Pension Fund for about 2 years while they see what happens. The part that worries me is what happens to our fund if it cannot sustain the troubled 229 Fund. If it does not work will our fund be at risk of collapse. If they want to save the fund then why do they not merge it with the HEALTHY Empire Council fund now???It appears they do not want to risk bringing the failing 229 Pension Fund into the Empire Council but they are willing to risk our 370 Pension Fund. The actions of the Empire Council are responsible for the present condition of the 229 fund and now the Empire Council is covering its ass by risking the 370 fund. The facts prove that the Empire Council violated its fiduciary responsibilities to act in the best interest of the Locals it is affiliated with and these "Council" Regional fund Trustees have violated their fiduciary responsibilities to act in the best interest of the funds they have been STACK on. I am amazed that the members of the Local 229 Pension fund have not sued the Empire Council for the damage they have done. If the resulting merger of this fund which the Empire Council has damaged cost me my Pension fund you can bet I am going to sue. You can also bet that before this merger takes place the proper authorities are going to take a look at this.
Action 1 of the Empire Council: As was previously stated the Empire Council seized local 229 on June 11 of 2002 after they fired Phil Allen in May because he would not roll over and play dead while the Empire Council screwed his men and Local 229. He was fired because he did the job he was elected to do. Local 229 was put into Trusteeship for 18 months until December of 2003 at which time by law the Local MUST either be merged with another Local or the Local must resume the Business of a viable active Local. By the actions since 2003 and the words of our Local and Council Officials Local 229 was merged with 370. We know by the 2003 LM2s that Local 370 took $500,000 from the account of the Local 229 and Ron Kent and the Plattsburgh Local 1042 took the other $500,000. So no matter what BS story William Weir has recently told 370 members the Locals ARE merged.
Action 2: The Empire Council ran into a problem with this trusteeship. Usually at the end of the 18 month period the Funds are also merged or taken over by the entity who put the Union in Trusteeship. Local 229 was unique in the sense that its Pension Fund was a stand alone separate Fund not controlled by the Local. For this reason in December of 2003 the Empire Council was unable to STEAL this fund as they had done with so many others. Since May of 2002 which is more than 4 years ago the Empire Council has been involved in litigation and engaging in strong arm tactics in its attempt to take over this Pension Fund. Due to the decision to end the Trusteeship in a merger the Empire Council MUST merge or control this fund. This is why Ronnie Sullivan is answering the phone at 229 even though 229 DOES NOT EXIST. This is what William Weir means when he said recently that the Locals "Were not quite Merged". Ronnie Sullivan answering the phone as 229,sending out men as 229 or any other action she is taking is a clear violation of the LMRDA. These daily actions she is performing can only be done if the Trusteeship is still in effect or Local 229 is back in business. It is neither. It, according to the law, does not exist. The effect of this action has been dramatic.It has resulted in the influx of monies to this Pension fund being severely limited. Due to the fact that Weir and Hicks stated that this area was now 370 and 229 no longer exists SOME Carpenters that were working in the Glens Falls area funds money was turned into Local 370. Carpenters that have worked in Glens Falls since December 2003 have received Local 370 stamps.Other Carpenters have had their fund monies turned into the Local 229 Pension Fund. Even though this fund exists Local 229 does not.
Action 3 of the Empire Council: The Local 229 fund being a separate entity did not feel it was in its members best interest to be taken over and merged with the Empire Council Fund. This Fund put up a fight to remain in control of the Fund which their hard work had made a viable and sound pension fund. Since the time of the actions of the Empire Council began the fund has dropped to $68 and now down to $20. The Empire Council FORCED the Millwrights who have always been a part of 229 to move to Local 1163 in Syracuse. It amazes me that Millwrights from Syracuse are working the shutdowns at Finch and Pryun Paper in Glens Falls and Millwrights from Glens Falls are hanging siding at a school in Albany or worse yet sitting home on Unemployment. These Local 229 Brother Carpenter Millwrights were not only FORCED to join 1163 but they were FORCED to choose whether they were Millwrights or Carpenters. The result is that their fund money is now paid into the Local 1163 Fund which again reduced the influx of monies into this Pension Fund.
Action 4 of the Empire Council. This fund is one of the few that still retains its Trustees with the exception of Patrick Morin. Patrick Morin was never a member of Local 229. Was never a member of this fund. Patrick Morin is a the Financial Secretary of the Empire Council and has nothing to do with this fund. This fund is NOT a member of the Empire Council. It was not affiliated with the Empire Council and yet they strong-armed this fund into putting him on the Board of Trustees. That leaves TWO Council employees (Morin and Kent) who each have a clear Council agenda casting votes that make operational decisions for this fund. How did they do this.?????
Action 5 of the Empire Council. In an attempt to force this Pension Fund to seat Patrick Morin and strong arm this fund to give up its fight to be merged and controlled by the Empire Council. The Empire Council withheld legally allocated monies from member contributions designated for this Pension Fund. The Empire Council blatantly squeezed allocated fund monies designated for FELLOW UNION BROTHERS pension fund in order to force this fund to comply.
The result of these Empire Council actions has been to severely damage the Pension Fund of our Union Brothers in Local 229. They have brought Local 229s viable pension fund down to $20 a credited year. The fund is in danger and the Empire Council has put it there. A Local was destroyed because the DULY ELECTED Officer would not rollover and fought for his men. The officer was removed and his Union was seized in Trusteeship. Since the June 2002 takeover and the December 1, 2003 dissolving of Local 229 the Council has acted in a manner which has resulted in our FELLOW 229 BROTHERS losing future Pension monies they worked for years to accumulate.. These actions by the Empire Council and the UBC have shown to us that they are willing to sacrifice a complete Local of your UNION BROTHERS to assert their power. Think clearly on this. Local 229 NO LONGER EXISTS. Since the International at the urging of the Empire Council targeted Local 229 the amont per CREDITED YEAR has dropped to 20 DOLLARS. Before they started it was at $98.
Vacation
Annuity
Health and Welfare
View the Form 5500 for the funds which are required to be filed every year. These forms have the financial figures for your funds. They do not contain the listing of individual stocks. You really do not want to see how many shares of Labor Friendly WALMARTS the Council and Local own anyways. Go to Free ERISA.com here. When prompted to login use local370voice as user name and Carpenters as the password. Free ERISA only contains 5500s up to 2004. You can view the others at the fund hall by making an appointment. The Law requires them to comply.