I have received two regular paychecks since returning to work and on both of them Schindler paid only $4.20 an hour on the annuities. What gives?

Brothers and Sisters, This Sunday, the 17th, is the Rockland County Irish Feis. The grand day starts around 10am and goes till about 8pm. The day is filled with several hundred bagpipe bands competing to win the day's Grand Prize and beer, Irish food and beer, Irish dancing,sports and beer. Our very own Local #1 Bagpipe Band will be competing that day.

   It all happens at Anthony Wayne State park, exit 17 off the Palisades Parkway. Come on out to support these great Brothers and beer.

    Hey I didn't get my bonus check.

I was one of the lucky few, who got to work through some of the lock-out. I worked for Thyssen at the airport. I got laid-off 6/30/05(Thursday). Just before the holiday.

Now I got back to work with Schindler 7/7/05(Thursday), I didn't get a bonus check with Schindler either. I got a vacation check.

     Since Thyssen wanted to keep me at the airport during the contract negotiations and after the contract was ratified.

My guess, I should get a bonus check from Thyssen, Right?

Thank you Gary Riefenhauer.

I went to see Gary today and it will be his last day in this hospital. He is being moved into a rehab center to begin the next phase of his battle. Please keep up the prayers and he will come through this just fine. Take Care, Freddie

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

A Local 638 Steamfitter Joseph A. McManus is running for the empty city on the City Council 13th District up in The Bronx.

He needs labor support.  If you live up there, get out to vote in the Sept. Primary.

 Tuesday July 19, 2005 at 12 noon if you are working near City Hall Joseph A. McManus will be holding a press conference, on the steps of City Hall.

Just a reminder: You will have to pass thru a metal detector to get to the steps of City Hall  so leave the blades on the jobsite.

We will sending out  info on the Local One, PAC fund.

Please get involved Brothers & Sisters.

Work Safe and take care of each other.

Brother Tom Moore, Local One IUEC

Get a Physical Every Year;

                         Brothers and Sisters, at the urging and pestering of my wife,(who is an Oncology Nurse) I finally got a physical at the age of 50. That is when I found out I had Prostate Cancer. It was in the early stages, had surgery all went well, still doing good at present time. If you want to live long enough to enjoy out great pension and annuity, get a physical every year, even if you have to pay for it. If any brothers have any questions concerning prostate cancer feel free to contact me, it is very easy to talk about it once you have been through it. One of my daughters run a support program for woman with breast cancer, at Adelphi University, if anyone:s wife has any questions, contact me I will give you the contact numbers for her. After all, we are a family in Local One, and family is supposed to help Family.

                                       John Palma

LEO THE LION KIBLER R.I.P.HE FEARED NOTHING,GOD BLESS.

First and foremost ....GOD BLESS GARY HAYNES, what a fighter! this kid is something else, prayer is extremely powerful, keep praying!!! He will need all our help for afull recovery. Thanks also to Fred Mcourt and Lenny Legotte for staying involved personally with Gary Haynes and communicating with the rest of Local 1 members I really appreciate the line of communcation.Regarding the lack of actual dollars in the "signing bonus" , I was aware that It would be taxed. Regarding what one of the brothers wrote earlier about being prepared in 4 years??? He was on the right track but you need to be prepared always , not just at contract time or in a lockout situation. They say" any financial manager will" you need to  have saved no less then 6 months in disposable income!!! Yes 6 months, this includes mortgage, utility, food and any phone , car and other payments.You see brothers and sisters we need to be prepared . We need to learn to live off less then 100% of what we make, so WE CAN STAND TALL and really fight for what we deserve. The only way you can prepare for any future problems not only with OUR contract but with our not so promising future with social security and health care across the United States, IS TO BE PREPARED FOR THE RAINY DAY!!! WE need to go foward with this contract good and bad , we need to look out for one another , work safe and stay strong . We all need to reach out to brothers and sisters who we dont ever see at union meetings and get them involved . Most of all we need to continue to be professional , we need to protect our work , we need to take pride. But we must we must get involved with a PAC FUND, A STRIKE FUND and most of all get involved in your own community , your own state politics and your own faith. Please get involved because if you dont all the working families that legally belong here will continue to suffer.Im reaching out not to just the working members of Local 1, but also to their spouses. We need to be involved basically more in OUR LIVES AT HOME AND AT WORK. Thanks for listening and to everyone who has ideas and questions regarding our new contract bring them to our next union  meeting in September, or if they need immediate attention call your business agent. I remain educated,involved, well trained and proud to be member of this union Repectfully submitted Brother Brian Link card #1347

Got my vacation check today [7-9-05 ] along with bonus checks. Why is there more tax [ F I C, NY State ] taken out of a bonus check that was less than the vacation check??? Not to mention no annuity raise, being short changed in hourly rate. When will it stop???

Well i hope everyone is doing ok, i was debating whether or not to say anything, because everytime i say something i get punished!!!! But for the people who know me i can not keep anything in, i say what i have to say and let the cards fall where they fall, so here goes!!! All i am reading is people complaining...Did you really think that it was gonna be UNTAXED MONEY....where have you been? This is america, nothing goes without being taxed...Thats why for the people who voted yes for this bribary money, and thats the only reason, thought you neede money to catch up, thats what you get....Its a DONE deal now forget about it....MOVE ON...When it comes down to it you get one check, and one goes to taxes..So for all the YES votes for the bribe money, you got what you wanted....TO GO BACK TO WORK.....Now i am done with that issue....I am very happy to hear that Gary is responding, and fighting like a champ...i did not excpect anything less from him....He is a fighter, keep fighting, keep fighting!!!!!!

     It's Sunday morning; sitting here, still no check. Brothers calling their supervisors, each getting a different answer. Finally, told that that checks were mailed out thursday, will have it by Saturday. Yeah, right.

     They encourage you to get direct deposit, they put everything else thru direct deposit, but this check they mail?? Why couldn't it be picked up? Talked to a Brother from Kone on Friday, he got the same bulls*** from his company. In the words of another Brother,"JUST ANOTHER UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON THEMEMBERS OF THIS UNION!".

    Why they would want to continue the bitterness, I don't know. But it's their game; so learn to play it. Read your contract over and over and over. When in doubt, call someone. ERASE THE WORD "FAVOR" FROM YOUR VOCABULARY!!! Do your job, and do it with pride, as we always have. But give no extra. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, saying, 'let's be friends". And check your equipment!!!m Found a jumper on a car stop switch Friday!

Check and re-check, and then check again.

         Start putting away 50 bucks a week, and in four years you'll have about 10 grand. Combine that with unemployment, and hopefullly the ability to access our annuities, and at 1000 a week you can stretch that to 21 weeks!!! just an idea...

Greetings everyone.  Well I guess everyone has gotten their "bonus" check by now.  I was quite amazed to see how much taxes they took out.  Having received bonus checks in the past from a former employer, they have taxed you at the bonus tax rate (Which is usually anywhere between 45-50%) Understanding that this was not a bonus this is very unfair, but what can we do?  Prayers to brother Haynes and his family.  GET WELL SOON.

Lori Agnello

Proud wife of Paul Agnello

Everyone should look into why the bonus checks were overtaxed.

My husbands pay check was basically the same and they took out 1/3 less in fed taxes than the bonus check. Whats up with this? I will be calling payroll to find out.

     just opened my bogus check half went to taxes

        thank you

I WOULD LIKE TO INFORM EVERYONE OF THE PASSING OF RETIRED LOCAL 1 MEMBER LEO "THE LION" KIBLER ON JULY 8TH 2005

Hello brothers and sisters, many things have changed since March 17th , but remain strong, remain united. Also I cant stress enough how important it is to ALWAYS WORK SAFE!!!!!We need to continue to look after one another while we are working together. I would also like to ask everyone to continue to pray for brother Gary Haynes. As Fred Mccourt has said he is some fighter and we need to continue to pray for him as he is fighting for his life, my prayers are with Gary for a full recovery. Lets also pray for our soldiers who continue to protect and defend us . It was with great sadness  that I heard about the 37 plus deaths today in London at the hands of terrorism.We need to continue to not only fight the fight for our own concerns but also support and pray for the many fine men and women who continue to FIGHT FOR US . At work continue to be professional , I remain educated,informed and well trained and not only proud to be a member of Local 1 ,but also be a proud citizen of the United States. Work Safe , and work together . Thanks for reading Respectfully submitted  Brother Brian Link card # 1347

I went up to the hospital today with Brother Legotte to see Gary and it was a very special moment for myself and Lenny. Gary was sitting there with his eyes wide open and he definitely knew we were there. He was raising his arm and trying his best to get out of the bed. I spoke to Sissy in the afternoon and received even better news. She told me that he wrote his name with a little help, but he DID it!!! She also told me that he lipped that he loved her on Sunday night. Keep up the prayers because I now know that they really do work!! Take Care, Brother McCourt