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Greetings from Local 33                                                                                          January 2011

I hope you all had a pleasant Christmas and New Years holiday season. I enjoyed taking a few days off and just hanging around the house and spending time with my family. Don't tell them that I said that or they will actually think I like them. I am wanting to post some information to make sure is correct going into 2011. To start off small, I just want to remind everyone that the IRS announced the new mileage rate for 2011 and it is $0.51 per mile. All of the employers have been made aware of this change, but you all still need to make sure that the correct rate is being paid.

A second item I want to touch on briefly is in regards to FICA withholding in your paychecks. The extension of the tax cuts also had language cutting the tax rate on FICA that is witheld from your paycheck. The FICA tax rate has been at 6.2% for many yaers. The Congress passed and the President signed legislation that changed the rate to 4.2% for 2011. That means more money on your paycheck. Please make sure that the employer makes this correction on your check. The government gave the employers until January 31st to comply and they are responsble to pay you retroactive pay back to January 1st. This does not seam like a lot of money, but if you earn $1,000.00 a week, that means $20.00 on the check which over the course of a year is over $1,000.00 in your pocket. This is your money, please check to make sure your employer makes this correction.

My last topic to touch on before I close this article is vacation pay. As in past years, I want to stress to all members to make sure their vacation checks are correct. One item we had a lot of issue with last year was the language contained in Article XII, paragraph 1 item c. This language affects you if you worked 1750 hours or more but less than 2000 hours from January 1, 2010 thru December 31, 2010. Please make sure that you were paid 120 hours of vacation pay if you have been in the industry for less than 5 years and that you were paid 160 hours of vacation pay if you have been in the industry for 5 years or more. I can almost promise you that you have been shorted vacation pay if you have worked for more than one employer during the calendar year. If you have any questions on this, please give your business representative a call.

Jobsite safety continues to be a serious concern for the IUEC. The employers stress jobsite safety every day and so does the IUEC. I know that many say the employers use safety as another avenue to discipline our members. My question is if we are following their programs to the crossing of every "T" and the dotting of every "I" what are they going to discipline us for? I know that proper jobsite safety takes additional time. I also know that the employers are already breathing down our members necks to cut job times. Is cutting a corner worth risking your life or the lives of those working around you? We must take the time to perform our jobs in the safest fashion possible. Please take the time to WORK SAFE AND WORK WITH UNION PRIDE!

Fraternally,

Wayne Sims
Business Manager
IUEC Local 33

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