635 - IATSE Local 8 Philadelphia

was being held near the birth of the
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., a
leading champion of civil rights. He
also noted that this location was replete
with examples of labor history
including the struggles of the Machinists
and the Laundresses in the late
1800’s.
On behalf of the General Executive
Board, President Loeb once again
thanked the host locals for their hospitality
and looked forward to a successful
meeting and enjoyable visit in
Atlanta.
INTRODUCTION
President Loeb introduced Vanessa
Holtgrewe who was recently
appointed as a full-time International
Representative to be based in Los Angeles
at the West Coast Office effective
January 2, 2012. Representative
Holtgrewe is a member of National
Camera Local 600, and serves on the
Local’s Western Region Executive
Board. She is a Director of Photography
and has been working in television
for over 10 years and was most
recently employed on The X Factor
under the IA’s term agreement with
Freemantle. Prior to her employment
on The X Factor she was the DP for
The Biggest Loser and was instrumental
in organizing that show. She also
served as the Shop Steward on that
production and assisted in negotiating
the agreement which ended that
strike.
REPORT OF THE GENERAL
SECRETARY-TREASURER
General Secretary-Treasurer James
B. Wood appeared before the Board
and provided the following update
regarding the Office of the General
Secretary-Treasurer.
Financial Update
In only a few months, the International
will once again complete
another fiscal year. The auditors will
perform their April 30, 2012 year-end
review and in keeping with past practice,
the results will be published in
the Third Quarter issue of the Official
Bulletin.
The International continues to be
in sound financial condition and it is
expected that once again the International
will be in the black when the
books are closed on this year-end.
The total membership continues to
increase, and this growth, combined
with conservative investments and
closely monitored expenses has provided
the International with the financial
stability necessary to prosper in
these financially challenging times.
Real Estate Update
As has been previously reported,
the lease for the General Office will
expire in January 2014. The renewal
of the present lease is not an option
because more space is required.
The International presently owns
buildings that house both the West
Coast and Canadian Offices and after
reviewing the financial options of
purchasing vs. leasing, the General
Executive Board authorized President
Loeb and General Secretary-Treasurer
Wood to explore the possibility of
purchasing the next home of the General
Office.
A realtor was engaged and given a
set of search parameters, which included
price, location, size and the capability
of future growth. Over the past eight
months, a number of properties have
been investigated, but for a variety of
reasons, they did not meet the longterm
needs of the International.
One prospective condominium
property has recently been located
which does have a great deal of potential
and is meeting almost all requirements.
At this time, the process
of due diligence review of the property
is being conducted by a variety
of professionals and should those
evaluations prove positive, the potential
transaction will be brought to the
General Executive Board for review
and approval.
Local Union 2012 Supplies
The process of sending the 2012
supplies to our local unions began in
late November of last year. Supplies
were sent to Locals that had filed their
first three Quarterly Reports for 2011
and purchased the necessary amount
of per capita stamps for 2011.
As of the commencement of this
General Executive Board meeting, all
but 30 of our 380 local unions have
complied with the reporting and per
capita stamp purchase requirements
and have received their 2012 supplies
and membership cards.
Local unions that have not received
their 2012 supplies should contact
the General Office to determine
which issues need to be resolved.
Electronic Communication Update
As has been previously reported
to the General Executive Board, the
amount of email communication with
our membership continues to grow.
We now maintain almost 39,000 email
addresses in our database and regularly
send press releases and other
news related to the IATSE.
The number of members receiving
their copy the Official Bulletin in electronic
format also continues to grow
with the most recent issue sent to almost
2,900 members.
Contracts Administration
Database System
Subsequent to the approval of the
General Executive Board to replace
the outdated system presently in use,
a vendor was engaged to design a
new program that is Internet-based.
Unlike the present system, the new
program will allow access to information
by any authorized user from
any computer and will eliminate the
duplication of information tracked by
various offices and representatives.
Over the past few months, weekly
meetings have been taking place with
staff and representatives in both the
General and West Coast Offices. The
process of designing screens and establishing
input requirements for the
tracking of over 3,000 various contracts
to which the International is a
bargaining agent is nearing completion.
The process will soon move to
the development of reports that will
be required by various Division Directors
and International Representatives.
Once that review has been completed,
the project will move to its final stages.
It is expected that the project will
be completed in early March.
IT Upgrades
In the fast changing world of technology,
our systems are constantly
being challenged to meet the needs
of our staff and representatives as
they strive to service our local unions.
During the past six months, in addition
to providing daily support to all
of our offices and the people working
in them, Jimmy Rainey, the IT Administrator
for the International has commenced
work on a number of important
action items.
The backup system and disaster
recovery system for the International
has been migrated from a tape-based
system, which required daily manual
interaction, to an online service, which
automatically encrypts the data and
stores it in two geographically separate
off-site locations. The file servers
in both the General and West Coast
Office are currently in the process of
being upgraded which will allow for
faster performance and greater security.
The West Coast Office is almost
finished having a 10mb internet line installed
(as exists in the General Office)
to allow for faster downloads and easier
use of email. Finally, testing is being
conducted on new imagining and
deployment software, which will allow
for the installation and software updates
for office computers to be done
remotely from the General Office.
Online Store
During the mid-Summer General
Executive Board meeting in Boston
it was reported that the International
was launching an online store to
make available for purchase by our
members a wide variety of IATSE
merchandise.
Ten different items are now available
on the store site and since the
launch, over 300 items have been
shipped to IATSE members. The most
popular item has been the gray t-shirt
with the complete name of the Alliance
written on the back.
A lot of positive feedback from
members has been received as well
as suggestions as to other items they
would like to see on the site. This
spring, a review of sales will be conducted
with the store vendor and the
introduction of additional items will
be discussed.
In other Finance Department News,
The International continues to receive
royalty payments from both the
AFL-CIO credit card program and various
other Union Privilege programs.
During 2011, royalty payments totaling
$168,302 were received.
In recognition of those present
and future members that communicate
primarily or exclusively in Spanish,
the International is in the process
of having the International Constitution
and Bylaws translated into Spanish.
When that process is completed
over the next few months, the Spanish
version will join the English version
and the previously translated
French version.
The International continues to
charge fees for consultation responses
for INS Visas. During 2011, just over
$550,000 in fees were collected and deposited
in the International’s Building
Fund, which now stands at $6 million.
REPORT OF THE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
International Trustees George
Palazzo, C. Faye Harper and Thomas
Cleary appeared before the Board to
present a review of their audit of the
books and records of the International
for the period May 1, 2011 through
September 30, 2011, pursuant to the
call of the International President. All
records examined were found to be
in order, and the Trustees expressed
their appreciation for the assistance of
the staff in the Office of the General
Secretary-Treasurer in the successful
completion of this review.
The Board accepted the Report of
the Board of Trustees.
APPEAL of BRIEN L. CASEY V.
LOCAL NO. 631, ORLANDO, FL
Brother Brien L. Casey appealed
to the General Executive Board from
a decision of the International Presi-
12 Official Bulletin First Quarter 2012 13