Reasons to Give Thanks This Thanksgiving

Brothers & Sisters,

Happy holidays to everyone! I want to wish you all a joyous time this holiday season.

I’m just back from the 70th annual IFEBP Employee Benefits convention in San Diego this year. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans brings together trustees from labor unions nationwide, with keynote speakers from across the economic, healthcare and pension world to discuss the latest best practices to help our members. Our job is to make sure your benefits are working for you.

I am now a graduate of the Trustees Master Program (TMP), which offers advanced information designed specifically for trustees. These ongoing courses help us explore challenges and opportunities for various funds and what the future may hold for these plans. We learn practical tips and skills and hear from veteran financial experts.

There was a lot of good information for me to bring back to our local. As you may know, as head of this local, I am a trustee on three of our retirement and benefit plans – our health, pension and JAC apprenticeship plans. At the convention, we learned the latest new avenues and vehicles to help you put more money away for your retirements, such as offering a 401k type of self-directed annuity. We will have more news about this in the near future.

A final thought on the election

I want to thank all our members who volunteered and voted in the recent election. Although things didn’t go as we had hoped at the top of the ticket, we had some good local wins, which will create more work for our members in the coming years. You can read about them in this newsletter.

George Whitesides’ win in the Antelope Valley was huge for us and we can take much of the credit. Our members and their families volunteered to knock on IBEW members’ doors to discuss the issues, and why Whitesides was the best choice for our members. We also encouraged our members to vote, and in the end, it paid off.

We also won Prop A and several bond measures that will bring us work for years to come.

Work Picture

With interest rates dropping again this past week, expect more work to start again in the new year. That’s what developers count on – lower interest rates to get their projects up and running.

The holidays are always a slow time, but for those of us who have been on the job for a long time, we know about the cyclical nature of our business. I understand that this may be the first downturn for many of our newer members, who have only experienced growth. But know that there is work in the pipeline that will be coming our way soon. We have infrastructure work on the horizon.

Also, we look to a few of our big projects coming our way: the LA convention center remodel, which will need all hands on deck. Rosendin will be the major contractor on this project. There’s also the Burbank airport remodel, where CSI has a contract. And of course all the ongoing work at LAX.

So be safe this holiday season. As I always say, Kiss the ones you love today, because tomorrow is not promised! Union Strong!

In Solidarity,

Robert Corona
Business Manager