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Is it Time?Is it time? Is it time for us to give a littlemore to our union? I’m not talking aboutdues; I am talking about your time andyour support. All of us must understand thatif we do not stick together, then the benefitswe enjoy now won’t be here in the future. Iam the eternal optimist when it comes to ourunion. As a leader, I always see the glassas half full, not half empty.I understand, from the top to the bottom, eachand every segment of union membership. What Idon’t understand is why our ownmembers bad mouth their ownorganization; our contractors,leadership and fellow union brothersand sisters.It goes without saying that thiswas a busy year for the labormovement. The recent action byMichigan Governor Rick Snyderto force feed Right-to-Work legislationdown the throats of his constituents,and the same battles inWisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.As a good member, we can’ttell ourselves that those battlesdon’t affect us because we don’tlive there. The old saying is true;an injury to one is an injury to all. I know the goodwe do as union members, and I know the things thatour district councils are doing to help our members.The sharing and caring for one another is extraordinary,but we need to do more.This week, I addressed the leadership class at ourInternational Training Center. When I spoke to them,I saw it in their eyes that they had the drive to makea difference in our union. However, they can’t makeJames A. WilliamsGeneral Presidentthat difference happen without you, the members.All of our gains over the many years can be wipedby the stroke of a governor’s pen who justifies hisactions by saying that they’re pro-union. Leaderslike that take us for fools. That’s why we must sticktogether now more than ever before.Over the last year we faced some of the biggestbattles in our history. We won some, and we lostsome. When we worked together we never lost. Iwould truly like to give more of myself to our efforts,but I know my days as a leader are coming to anend. We need young men and women to step up andsupport local leadership.Although the last five years were the worst in historyfor our members in terms ofemployment, we were quite successfulin making all of our councils fullyaffiliated. Our district councils havegained over $69 million to trainand serve our members in thesetough times. We also establisheda relief fund to assist our memberswho fell victim to disasters likeSuperstorm Sandy. Can you imaginewhat we could have accomplishedin a strong economy?We accomplished this despitetaking measures in the Internationalto limit per cap increases which leftnearly $70 million in the pockets ofour members.On the political front; not only did we successfullyput a pro-working family president back in office, weelected one of our own from Wisconsin to Congress.We can and will survive the challenges ahead ofus, but with more members participating in the process,we can do so much more than simply survive– we can thrive. Let’s all be a part of the solution, notpart of the problem.Continued on page 104OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2012 • J ournal