Some members have questioned the fees involved in our annuity plan. 
The Standard (the record-keeper for the fund), does have administration fees, we also have postage fees, accounting fees from our auditor, ERTS fees from the International Office and various other small charges from time to time.  Since we are a Taft-Hartley plan, we must disclose every fee paid – most non-union plans do not disclose the fees to the participants even though the participants are charged from their accounts.  There was an instance a few months ago that these fees were not paid in a timely fashion by The Standard (which made it seem that fees had gone up), but that issue has been resolved.  We are planning an annuity meeting at the hall in early spring to answer any questions you may have. 

Instead of focusing on all the bad news of the past few months, with the economy, etc., I thought it would be nice to pass along an article I was just reading from the AFL-CIO Label Letter.

“The inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden was all-union from start to finish.  The all-union Hargrove Company provided theatrical stage employees, teamsters, electricians, carpenters and assorted skilled building trades workers and those workers worked for weeks crafting parade floats, and designing and executing décor for 10 official inaugural balls, a prayer breakfast, dozens of formal dinners and 30 other events.  All official inauguration printed materials – programs, schedules, tickets carry a union bug.  President Obama kicked off the festivities, boarding an all-union Amtrak train.  Hundreds of thousands of spectators who used public transportation to get to the ceremony were served by union members operating the city's Metrorail and Metrobus.  All performers except for the military bands were union members and all major hotels and restaurants were union staffed.  All broadcast news coverage was produced by members of NABET and members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.”

Attention Medicare Eligible Retirees:  If you did not receive a notice from New England Electrical Workers yet, please be advised that effective 6/1/07, the rates will change.  If you are on Medicare, your rate will be $50.00 per month per person.
Annuity Changes:  Effective July 1, 2007, the Annuity Fund will change from a Money Purchase Pension Plan to a Profit Sharing Plan.  One of the changes will be a hardship distribution.  However, the reason for the withdrawal of funds must satisfy the conditions set by the IRS, and the amount that can be withdrawn only applies to the money contributed after the Plan changed to a Profit Sharing Plan (July, 2007).  We will be planning an information meeting later this summer or early fall.
                                                                      Kathy Smith

It’s been a couple months since we’ve changed our health insurance, and all seems to be going well.  Just as a reminder make sure you show your new insurance card to your doctors and dentists as we are getting quite a few dental claims here at our office.  If you have any problems at all, please give me a call to give you assistance.  We may be able to buy additional hours for members that had hours in the bank shortly… we’ll keep you updated.

We’ve had a few bad days on the market performance recently.  Over the next month, there will be opportunities for the patient investor to make some tactical trades – perhaps buying oversold assets like equities, especially emerging equities, and selling assets like US Treasuries.  But remember, more strategic investors will sit tight, as they understand that these events would happen when setting their strategic benchmarks, and have the fortitude to ride this through.  It is important to remain mindful of the fundamentals of the market and not be distracted by single day events.

    With great sadness we must report to you the untimely death of Brother Wayne Albert.
Wayne was a respected member and contractor for many years he will be greatly missed by the members of L.U. 490
                                 
Our condolences to his family and loved ones.

                                                                                 Kathy Smith