A Message From Your Executive Secretary Treasurer ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION ENCLOSED Enclosed in this edition of the ARCC Newsletter is an Absentee Ballot Application. This is good for all State elections. By filling out the enclosed application and sending it in to the Alaska Division of Elections at least ten days before an election, you will receive a ballot in the mail. You do not need to be out of State to receive the ballot in the mail. By receiving your ballot early you will have all the election options in front of you to research as well as being able to vote at your leisure rather than finding the time on Election Day. There will be the Governor’s race, US House seat, 10 State Senate seats, 40 State House seats, and several initiatives to be decided on. Other issues of importance is the development of one of the largest gas reserves in the United States and the concerns of utilizing the Alaskan workforce with area standard wages (not Louisiana wages). Elections are often very close in Alaska and every vote counts. These forms may be copied or are available on the web at www.ltgov.state.us.ak/elections. ALL MEMBERS AND THEIR VOTING FAMILY MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO FILL OUT AND RETURN THE ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION. All Locals have access to Voter Registrars and a Notary for the member’s convenience. “EXTREME MAKEOVER” IN FAIRBANKS ABC’s national television series “Extreme Makeover” has made their way to Fairbanks. This July Extreme Makeover took the Fairbanks home of Betsy Rogers and her nine children and destroyed it. 106 hours later a brand new home stood ready for occupancy. Carpenters Local 1243 and other ARCC members volunteered their time and efforts. This project is scheduled to be the special premier episode of the new season airing September 24, 2006. MEDICAL AND RETIREMENT TRUST MERGERS If you have not done it already, you can sign up to open your Defined Contribution ( DC) accountant http://masterplan.dpanet.com where you can access your account information and change your options. The member id # is your social security #. Your password, which must be changed after signing in, is the last four digits of your S.S.#. All UBC Locals in Alaska now belong to the same DC and Health & Welfare plans. The increased savings by merging have resulted in better overall benefits and more options in both plans. As with any changes, there will be a few bumps as this comes together. Everyone should have received their packets from the new Trust office which explains the plans changes and gives contact information. PROBLEM SOLVED Contractors need workers? People need training that provides the skills to secure a good job? Carpenters, Millwrights, Piledrivers and Divers looking for fair treatment, good wages, and medical and retirement benefits? “Problem Solved” is the message of the new ARCC commercials airing across the state. Two different commercials are already on television with a third on the way. The television commercials target contractors looking for skilled labor as well as encouraging people to join our apprenticeship program and luring skilled workers to Union. CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE www.ubcalaska.org The ARCC has updated their webpage. Besides being loaded with lots of information, the new site offers links to the various Locals, Apprenticeships, and UBC pages. Millwrights Local 1501 has elected to offer online paying of dues through PayPal. Although this is currently available only for Local 1501 members, if successful it could easily be expanded to all Locals. I would like to thank all those who assisted in updating the ARCC website and making it so impressive. Special mention goes to Mark Crutchfield who dedicatedly followed through, solved all the little problems, and came up with many of the ideas we now have incorporated. CONTRACT RAISES Surpassing last year as the largest one year increase in the last twenty years for Carpenters, Millwrights, Piledrivers and Divers with next year’s even larger, the 2006 wage increase placement has been decided on. The increases have been determined as follows (increases are based on Journeyman rates): Carpenters Local 1243 with a $1.39 increase will have $1.09 go to retirement and $.30 to Medical. Carpenters Local 1281 and 2247 with a $1.78 increase will have $.75 go to wages, $.78 to Defined Benefit, and $.25 to Medical. Piledrivers and Divers Local 2520 with a $1.78 increase will have $.75 go to wages, $.73 to Retirement, and $.30 to Medical. Millwrights Local 1501 with a $1.00 increase will have $.70 go to wages and $.30 to Medical. All Locals will now have the same $5.80 per hour rate for medical coverage which is down from the previous estimates of needing between $6.00 and $6.80 per hour. Cost savings can be attributed to measures taken last year by the Trustees and the current merging of the Northern and Southern Health & Welfare Trusts.