Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

I have debated for a short time if I wanted to write my last President’s Message seriously or jokingly. I have decided to be more serious. For the last six years plus, I have held two positions on this Board that I never wanted to hold. After years of being an E-Board member on Campus, with a break in between the early two thousands, I was content with what I was doing and how I served this Union. But due to the needs of the Union I stepped up and did my part. I pushed out my retirement a year and a half to be the President knowing we had three negotiations coming up in the coming three years. All of which were successfully negotiated and ratified. As well as a host of other difficulties to face this Union. With experience, knowledge and commitment, the top four officers moved through the last three years and were very successful in getting a handle on everything that hit us. We took very seriously Article II of the constitution of the Union. “It shall be the purpose of this Union to maintain and improve the wages, hours and working conditions for all its members, and to bargain collectively with respect to such matters with the trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, and the Broad Institute, or such other corporations, partnership, organization or association, for the employees of which this Union is recognized as bargaining agent.” For those that don’t know, we now have no union employees over at Broad (happened years ago) and our numbers are under 200 members on Campus. Slowly declining over 30 years. There is some growth over at Draper, but there are a lot of issues happening there. As for Lincoln, we still have a good relationship there with HR all because of Roger, Denise and Aaron, but it is not without its issues as well. We have tried to stay on top of things the best we can and I’m proud to say this Board, except for some I won’t mention, have done a great job at putting the health and welfare of the Union first and foremost. To quote John Collins, “It’s not about us, it’s about the Union.” As I write this, the elections are next week for the next three years. By the time you read it, they will have happened and a new Board will be chosen. I hope for the future of the Union you have blocked out the misleading flyers, the negative attacks of a few and focused on what is ahead for the future. Negotiations with MIT in a difficult research funding time being one approaching quickly. My biggest fear and yours should be seeing a Union without experienced and knowledgeable leadership, that could quickly weaken us and weaken what we have built over our many years. Out of all the great accomplishments that have been made while being President and a proud member of this Union, it saddens me to only hear… “why is there no Holiday Party?” We are only as strong as our membership, and our strength is on display at our poorly attended General Membership Meetings. By the way on March 4th the Board has listened to the few and the General Membership Meeting and Steward’s Meeting will be in person at the Crowne Plaza in Woburn. Plenty of parking. Maybe we will have a good showing of the membership. But in the meantime, good luck to the Union and the new E-Board and only time will tell. With that:

ELVIS HAS LEFT The BUILDING!

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Fraternally Yours

W.R. Gibbs

President

 

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