Downloadable - IA.TSE Local 80

Detroit, Michigan and asked that all
attendees stand in a moment of silence.
President Loeb introduced
Mrs. Therese Magee who was able
to be present in Vancouver for the
Board meeting.
President Loeb advised all attendees
that the General Executive
Board adopted a resolution at a Special
Meeting held in Detroit on July
11th. The resolution pays tribute to
Vice President Magee and announces
that the conference room at the General
Office would be named in his
honor, “The Timothy F. Magee Board
Room.”
INTERNATIONAL REPRESEN-
TATIVE CHRISTOPHER
“RADAR” BATEMEN
President Loeb introduced Chris
“Radar” Bateman who was appointed
as a full-time International Representative
on June 1, 2012, and will be
based in Portland, Oregon. Prior to
his appointment, Radar had been accepting
assignments as a Special Representative
to assist local unions in
various contract negotiations. Radar
International President Loeb, Vice President Gearns
and General Secretary-Treasurer Wood.
is a member of Portland Stage Local
28 and serves as the Advisory Chair
of IATSE District One. He also sits on
the Northwest Oregon Labor Council
Executive Board representing Amusement
Triads. Representative Batemen
has also served Local 28 as Business
Agent for the last 8 years, and prior
to being elected the Business Agent
he was on the Executive Board of Local
28 and worked as a Stagehand in
various Portland theaters.
INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESI-
DENT WILLIAM E. GEARNS, JR.
President Loeb announced that
the General Executive Board had
met in Executive Session and unanimously
elected Tradeshow Director
William E. Gearns, Jr. Vice President
Gearns was elected to fill the vacancy
created by the passing of Vice
President Magee.
A native of Indianapolis, Indiana,
Vice President Gearns has been
a member of the IATSE for 44 years
and began his career as a stagehand
in Local 30. In 1988 he was appointed
to serve as an International Representative
and received assignments
to assist a number of local unions
with great success. In 2000 he was
appointed to the position of Director
of the newly created Tradeshow
and Display Work Department of the
Alliance and through his efforts and
dedication, the IATSE has made great
strides and accomplished a great deal
in providing the best possible representation
to those working in that aspect
of the industry.
President Loeb administered
the oath of office to Vice President
Gearns and welcomed him to the
Board.
JIM SINCLAIR, PRESIDENT
OF THE BC FEDERATION OF
LABOUR
The General Executive Board was
addressed by guest speaker Jim Sinclair,
President of the B.C. Federation
of Labour, whose 54 affiliated unions
represent 450,000 private and public
sector employees in the Province.
Since Sinclair became President, the
B.C. Federation has grown by more
than 75,000 members in affiliated
unions representing teachers, nurses
and Workers’ Compensation Board
employees.
President Sinclair stressed the importance
of working peoples’ solidarity
that knows no national borders.
Over 2,000 members of the B.C. Federation’s
trade unions rallied to support
brothers and sisters in Wisconsin.
Canadian workers understand
the grave dangers and threats to their
livelihoods that mirror the situation
in Wisconsin. He recognized that all
working people face “an assault on
labour like never before.” Recognizing
this fact, the National Post newspaper
noted that “Wisconsin is coming
to Saskatchewan.”
Labour must be united in solidarity
and mobilize their memberships
to political activism to deliver their
votes and participate in democracy –
labour’s tool for political action.
President Sinclair also stressed
the need for organized labour to
reach out and embrace and involve
young people using the social media
tools they understand and use.
Finally, quoting former labour
leader Homer Stevens, President Sinclair
called on union members to remember
two things: 1) “Labour didn’t
get anything it didn’t fight for” and 2)
“Labour won’t keep anything it has
won unless we keep fighting for it.”
President Loeb thanked President
Sinclair for his inspiring message. He
concurred with the message that the
attacks on workers know no borders
– both in the United States and Canada
and beyond to the wider world.
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:
Audited Financial Statements
It was reported that during the
months of May and June 2012, the
auditors for the International were
in the General Office performing the
April 30, 2012 year-end audit. The
final audited statements have now
been completed and in keeping with
past practice they will be published
in the Third Quarter issue of the Official
Bulletin.
All of the Funds continue to be
in the black as they have for many
years, although we are now faced
with one significant challenge. For
many decades, excess funds have
been invested almost exclusively in
conservative fixed income vehicles.
Over time the reluctance to chase
high returns and the resultant higher
risk has allowed the International
to achieve the primary goal of capital
preservation with acceptable return.
It has allowed the International
to avoid what at times can be wild
fluctuations in asset valuation and
is a strategy that has served us well.
However, in today’s artificially low
interest rate environment the investment
income on all of our Funds is
showing a significant reduction from
previous years. The capital appreciation
that resulted from declining
interest rates has now essentially
ended and what is left is a level of
interest rates that provides extremely
low investment income. This is not
expected to change in the near future
and will simply need to be accounted
for in any budget projection
models.
The change in net assets in
the General Fund (before investment
gains or losses) increased by
$921,376 during the past fiscal year
and the total assets of the Alliance
now stand at $46,075,901. This does
not include the market value of real
estate properties. While this year’s
net income is lower than in some
previous years, it is sufficient to
provide a cushion against changing
conditions and is a reflection of both
the reduced investment income and
a conscious effort to spend money
in areas that service our local unions
and their membership.
The change in net assets in the
Convention Transportation and Per
Diem Fund (before investment gains
or losses) increased by $898,552 and
the total unrestricted net assets in
the Fund now stand at $4,765,655 at
year-end.
The Defense Fund saw a change
in net assets (before investment gains
or losses) of $242,951. As with the
General Fund, the Defense Fund is
showing lower net income than in
some previous years, but this is almost
exclusively the result of spending
money in areas to benefit our
local unions and their members.
Whether that be Basic Agreement
negotiations, establishment of the
Training Trust, the fight against Digital
Theft or the dramatic increase in
training available to local union officers,
District Convention delegates
and Officers and Representatives of
the International.
ULLICO
Despite the sluggish economy,
ULLICO continued its successful
turnaround in 2011. While many of
the country’s financial institutions remain
somewhat stagnant, ULLICO remains
financially sound, secure and
profitable and ended the year with a
strong capital base and no debt.
On February 15, 2012, the Board
of Directors declared a dividend in
the amount of $0.50 per share, which
for the I.A.T.S.E. resulted in a payment
of $3,122.51.
Email Communication Update
In today’s digital age, many local
unions are increasing their level of
membership communication through
the use of email as well as other
tools. In November of 2010, the International
requested assistance from
our local unions in providing the
email addresses for those members
for which the local union maintained
that information.
24 Official Bulletin Third Quarter 2012 25