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June 30, 2009
 Inheritance
When most people think of the word inheritance they think of money. Did your mother, father, or grandparents leave you something upon their passing? If you are one of these individuals who have inherited a substantial blessing, then plan, organize, invest, and spend it wisely.
Businesses no matter how big or small are also inherited. Unions are businesses. When I took office in January 2009, I inherited all the good and bad that come with being your President. I would like to think that the previous Presidents made decisions and signed the side agreements because they really thought it was best for our Local at that time. It is always easier to sit on the sideline and criticize rather than get involved and help. However, please remember one thing: a union is only as strong as its membership.
I would like to talk about a few issues I have inherited. First, the pension and retiree health care situation. On June 26, 2007, arbitrator Edwin H. Benn signed an arbitration award giving us what we refer to as the Benn award. The award itself (with the significant wage increase and a freeze on the active employees’ health insurance premium) was contingent upon appropriate legislative funding for the CTA to operate the system and to fund our pension and retiree health care. The award outlined the separation of the retiree health care benefits from the pension fund. The following year in 2008, HB656 was passed which created legislation separating the pension and retiree health care obligations. HB656 put $1.1 billion into our almost dead pension fund thru the sale of bonds. This brought our pension fund to $1.6 billion making it solvent again. HB656 also allowed the sale of bonds of about $528 million for the new retiree health care trust fund. Unfortunately, that was only about 50% of what was actually needed. The bill also required all pensioners present and future to start paying for a percentage of their health care. There are many things in and about this legislation that I definitely do not like. But like you, we inherited this situation together. As your trustee on both the pension and health care funds, I will always do what is in the best interest of the membership. Sometimes this means making decisions that will not be popular but the hard decisions (especially when there are those who want to make it a political issue) must be made. If you have any questions at any time, please call me.
Second, I would like to address the issue of side agreements. Over the years, many side agreements have been signed by previous administrations. Did we know about them all? No. Do I agree with them all? No. Unfortunately, these side agreements, in most cases, can only be terminated at the end of a contract. I am in the process of reviewing all side agreements and will be notifying the Authority of the agreements we plan to terminate. Some of these agreements are the issues in some arbitrations that are coming up soon. I will keep you informed as needed regarding these issues.
Next, I would like to address the sick / FMLA issue. Let me start by saying our current system is broke and needs an overhaul. The $200.00 per week you receive for sick pay after being off 7 days is a joke. This, however, will not be able to be resolved with the CTA until the next contract negotiations. There are some things we might be able to do before hand. But until we can resolve this problem, please come to work every day you are able and perform the jobs we are hired to do. If, unfortunately, you do become sick or ill and must go into the sick book, please follow the rules and contact Sedgwick immediately. Regardless if you are off sick or go injured on duty, I strongly suggest you go to your own doctor for evaluation and treatment. Having a family doctor is always important. In the event of an injury on duty, you may need an attorney. If you don’t have one, call the Union office, and we will be glad to help if we can.
Finally, let’s talk about the issue of the Local’s finances. Today, the Local is in better financial shape than it has been since the 90’s. I have asked for, and we are conducting, an audit. What we have found is that some members have “slipped thru the cracks” shall we say. When you are hired by CTA into a Union job, there are initiation dues and monthly dues that are paid by all members. For some employees either no initiation or only part of the initiation dues was paid. If you were off sick or IOD, you may not have paid dues for that particular month. However, just because you are off sick or IOD does not mean you don’t pay dues for that month. As I stated, we are in the process of an audit and merging our records for the last 3 years. For those who we find that owe dues, we will be deducting additional amounts from your payroll check. We will not take the amount all at once but over a few months so it is not a shock. If you feel that there is a question regarding your owing these dues, please contact the Financial Secretary, Marilynn Perkins--Hooker or Assistant Financial Secretary, Kim Mitchell. Speaking of union dues, did anyone notice that we did not raise your dues in January when you received your last raise? Better yet, usually your dues always go up July 1st of each year. At this time, we have no plans to increase your dues. Once we have collected the arrearages, we will reevaluate the entire situation. It is only fair everyone pays the same amount.
In Solidarity,
Robert Kelly
President of Local 308
Email Address: rkelly@atu308.org
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