Brothers and Sister,

Since our last contract negotiations with the Painters there has been quite a few members that have asked why we don’t have a strike fund. The reason we don’t have a strike fund is because the Local does not have a fund spelled out in the bylaws where the money would be funded from. All the Paint and Drywall Reps have heard the same question, so we are going to be working on getting some language together to present to the members. This will be called the member benefit fund. We will be presenting ideas of how this will work and will be asking your input in the coming meetings. Please try to attend the meetings in the coming months to learn more about this and the possibility of having a strike fund in place to benefit the members if there were to be a strike in the future. If you have any ideas, you can bring them forward at the meeting when the topic comes up. 

I also want to take a moment to remind all Painters of the required training beginning next January 2025. Please take the time to enroll in the STAR Classes that are being offered to avoid any issues. You can find available classes at the DC 16 Star website, https://dc16star.org/  You will not be able to be dispatched to go to work if you do not have the required certifications. To see what the required certifications are, you can look in at the Northern California Painters Master Agreement under Article 11 WORKING CONDITIONS Section 15. SAFETY TRAINING. You can find the agreement at the DC 16 website under resources,  https://www.dc16iupat.org/resources/ .

If you have any question feel free to contact me directly at (916)696-1106.

In Solidarity,

William Gonzalez