From President Dave Jackson’s Desk,
I hope this newsletter finds you, your family, and friends healthy and safe. As we adapt to this “new normal” way of life, we continue to do our best to represent BAC 3 members at work, home, and in our communities. This includes everyone living up to new safety guidelines to keep this COVID-19 pandemic under control. One small way of keeping some normalcy is continuing our regularly scheduled Chapter meetings on video conferencing platform Zoom. We held our first Zoom Chapter meetings in May and they have been successful. Thank you to the many members who have participated. To those who have yet to join us, dust off that laptop or tablet and sign on to a meeting. Many sign on with smartphones, and some call in on their flip phone; please let us know if you need help signing on to Zoom and I look forward to talking to you soon.
This pandemic is affecting all our lives, and we will get through this together. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you through these trying times. Please review more information on our website (www.bac3-ca.org).
I am happy to report we have organized a large tile contractor in the Sacramento area; Northern California Tile and Stone has signed our Tile agreement after a long campaign. NCTS has offices in Northern California and Northern Nevada and we have signed up 20 employees in Local 3 with more to sign soon. All parties recognize this relationship will be mutually beneficial and we look forward to working with NCTS and owner Roger Leasure for many years to come.
Our BAC 3 Sullivan-Kraw Scholarship fund continues to grow and provide much needed help with rising tuitions to our members families. I always enjoy reading the short essays each applicant writes titled “What organized labor has done for me and my family.” The following are a few priceless quotes in a couple essays from this year’s group of outstanding and deserving students: “Without Unions, the conditions of workers,…their pay and benefits would remain unchecked, leaving many under the mercy of their employers. Yet, unions help protect these workers and create a better working environment for them. But it’s not only at job sites where the work of unions is found, but it’s also at home…I have come to value the medical help that union provides workers and their families. Having come from a very active family, the contract with our healthcare provider produced by BAC Local #3, has come in very useful for us…Thanks to a healthcare plan the union was able to get for its members, throughout this nerve-racking ordeal, we were able to rest easy when it came to medical and focus on what was important, my mother’s health…They also include retirement funds for their members, that way they can rely on the money they have worked for through the years during retirement. I am happy to know that thanks to the union my father well be taken care of when he retires.”
Another scholarship applicant writes “The Union has undoubtedly allowed my family to achieve academic success and earn stable careers. Therefore, I am beyond grateful for the positive impact organized labor has played in my life. My family and I would not be able to achieve and accomplish anything. Organized labor has allowed my family to become financially stable, alongside the health opportunity it gives for my family. Both of these allows for my siblings and I to receive educational opportunities as we are able to pursue higher education and flourish from our academic achievements.”
Our next Volunteer Organizing Committee meeting will be on September 15th on Zoom. As it seems most meetings scheduled for 2020 will not be held in person, our next General Meeting in November will most likely be held on Zoom. Our IUBAC 2020 Convention in September will be held on a video conferencing platform as well. We are all looking forward to start operating normally and meeting in person again as soon as possible.
Work Safe and Honor All Pickets, Dave