Posted by Lou on April 16, 2010
Last night, Ken DiLorenzo came to our general membership meeting to update us on the recent happenings that affect us.
1) The federal lawsuit filed to challenge the retirees’ health benefit changes has been decided. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in our favor. Ken is going to be reviewing the decision, and keep us abreast of any chances for further appeal.
2) As you may know, the House supplemental budget included a provision to change our pension benefit again. It kept a compounding COLA, but the COLA would only apply to the first $35,000 of our pension, and only be applicable after the third anniversary of retirement or age 65, whichever is later. And the COLA would be either the Urban Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 3%, whichever is less. After this provision passed the house, the Senate rejected the budget due to the pension fund re-amortization, that will spread the unfunded liability over 25 years. The house will not vote on a new budget for at least a week, since they are not in session.
In the meantime, please take a minute and contact your state senator and representative: Keep the COLA!. Also, Council 94 has put together some information regarding the budget, and its effects on state employees.
3) Finally, for those of you interested in social networking, Council 94 has a Facebook page. Right now, there are lots of photos from the state convention, and will be used to update Council 94 members en masse. You might even notice that the page linked to our Local 2881 website! Go to Council 94’s Facebook page and become a fan!
If you have a question or a comment, don’t hesitate to leave us a message!
Posted by Lou on April 9, 2010
Local 2881 Members, we need you to be (or stay) active in this fight to save our COLAs. Please come to the rallies scheduled for 3pm Monday, April 12 and 4pm Tuesday, April 13 in front of the State House, to protest this additional cut in our pension benefits!
Monday, April 12, 3pm and Tuesday, April 13, 4pm!
Be there to let the legislators know that this attack will NOT be tolerated.
In the meantime, from your HOME COMPUTER, take a minute and go to Keep the COLA, fill in your information, and contact your state senator and representative!
Posted by Lou on January 13, 2010
As you may already know, there is a Local 2881 general membership meeting scheduled for 4:15pm, Thursday, January 21 in the third-floor cafeteria at 235 Promenade Street. This is our first meeting of 2010, and it is packed with important topics.
- Meeting the new executive director of AFSCME Council 94, Ken DiLorenzo
- Review of the 2010 Local 2881 budget
- Discussion of Local 2881 subidizing the union dues increase
A note about that last point: AFSCME has increased our union dues by 70 cents. Council 94 has voted to absorb that 70 cent increase for 6 months. Many other local unions have agreed to absorb the increase for the other 6 months of this year. At the meeting, we will be discussing and voting on this topic.
As always, there will be food and door prizes. Hope to see you there!
Posted by Lou on August 20, 2009
Brothers and Sisters, Local 2881 is hosting an open house on the recent pension changes. General Treasurer Frank Caprio and Executive Director of the pension system Frank Karpinski will be attending to discuss the changes and answer questions. The meeting will be held Thursday, August 27 at 4:15pm in the 3rd floor cafeteria at 235 Promenade St. in Providence.
Please make every effort to attend, and feel free to spread the word.
View the announcement flyer
Posted by Lou on July 22, 2009
In my last post, I mentioned that there would be a special meeting on July 30. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, that meeting will not be happening. The executive board will keep you posted about the special summer meeting.
Second, Union Outing tickets will be available by the end of the week. If you haven’t seen the flyer, view it here: Union Outing 2009.
Finally, Brother Joe Carola sends along the following softball team update.
Wednesday, July 8
The RIDEM/Local 2881 softball team endured its worse loss of the season Wednesday vs. KPMG Tax Compliance Center. KPMG jumped out quick and went on to an 18-4 victory. Top offensive performances essentially came from the other dugout on this night. One of the bright spots for RIDEM was their leadoff hitter, Alex Pinto, who went 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored. RIDEM’s record is now 6-2 and they will look to regroup next Thursday at 6 p.m. vs. Disanto, Priest & Co.
Thursday, July 16
The RIDEM/Local 2881 softball team bounced back with a come from behind 11-7 victory over Disanto, Priest & Co. Alex Pinto again led the way with a 3 for 3 night and two more runs scored. Alex is batting .929 over his last 4 games. After a shaky first inning, solid pitching from the father/son combo of Bruce and Ryan Ahern was backed with some inspired defense. RIDEM entered the sixth inning down 7-4 and scored 4 runs to take the lead, never looking back. RIDEM is now 7-2, second place in their division. Next up for RIDEM is a doubleheader on Wednesday 7/22 starting at 7:15 p.m. The first game will be vs. Woodard & Curran and the second will be vs. Deltoro Killer Bees.
