IUE-CWA Local 81359

Next Steps in Organizing Our Local Retired Member's Chapter

Aug 19, 2013

The Next Steps in Organizing/Forming Our IUE-CWA Retired Members Chapter (RMC)....

Letter to Charter Members & Local 81359 E-Board--8/18/2013

Our Retiree Chapter Charter has finally arrived (attached), got it Friday, 8/16; our official Name is IUE-CWA RMC 81359 (RMC=Retired Members Chapter).

Now we have to have a meeting of the 5 original Charter members to review/revise our Chapter bylaws, and then we will present these at our first membership meeting; a sample By-Laws document provided by CWA is attached. Please read it over (mark it up if you like).

We need to set a date for this first meeting of Charter members to get this going? Please send me days and times you are available; my best time is mornings (9:00-10:00 am) on Monday, Thursday or Friday mornings; we can do it here at my house, if you like. Any Local 81359 Board liaison is welcome to attend this meeting? A lot to cover for our first meeting.

Other things we can discuss are:

We are independent of, yet affiliated with Local 81359. We are a separate entity, with our own Charter within CWA. It is in our (and theirs) best interests that we stay actively involved with Local 81359 (Pension, Benefits, Contract time, other Union Labor Councils/Committees, Alliance for Retired Americans—Local & National, etc.)
The lists (2) provided by CWA—one of members already signed up with the CWA Retirees Council; and the 2^nd list—of “non-council” retired members…I am seeing a ton of problems with this list since some are still working, and some are deceased. Mike Leone…you saw the first ones they sent; they had the same problem. I will need to get this corrected between Momentive and CWA. We can quickly go over this to update it as best we can before I approach CWA or Momentive. I will scan it and send it to all of you very soon.
Our final Chapter Membership list needs to be maintained and a copy sent to CWA National Retiree Director Melinda Gibson; we can provide a copy to our Local 81359. We will try to compile a phone list and email list of all members for future communications.
We must provide a copy of our Charter, the By-Laws, and our Membership List (optional) to the Local 81359.
We need to apply for an Employer Identification Number;
Open a business checking account—3 signatories (2 have to sign)—a voucher type checking system;
We need to discuss Dues—generally up to $25.00 per year for our Local Chapter to subsidize meetings, activities, etc.;
And any Chapter Officers that handle monies/funds need to be Bonded to cover funds in our bank accounts—it is a 3 year Bond at about $135.00 for 3 years.
We already have a Facebook Website for our Chapter -- https://www.facebook.com/CwaRetiredMembersChapter81359WaterfordNy
Discuss Topics and possible Speakers for upcoming Retiree Chapter Meetings?
Other Topics/Promotions provided by CWAin their packet to us—COPE, T-Shirts, and other items, etc.