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Camp No Limits is the only camp for young people with limb loss & their families, creating a network of support for all the campers. -------------------------- 
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Bargaining Committee Election Announcement Units A, B and D SMEA General Meeting, Bargaining Committee Election Wednesday 5pm, March 26, 2014 Dante Club (Craige St, Somerville) for more detail click here The City currently offers a wellness program to their non-union employees with some very good benefits. I am pleased to announce that this wellness program will now be offered to our members of the SMEA beginning in 2014. This program is designed to allow all non-union employees as well as SMEA member’s wellness activity release time. Employees will be eligible for up to (4) hours per calendar year. You may use this time for annual physical exams, dietician consultations, cancer screenings etc. It is my understanding that these 4 hours will not be deducted from any sick or personal time. I want to acknowledge the Mayor and his administration for recognizing that everyone’s health is a major component of our everyday on the job performance and in order to perform our daily duties at an optimum level we must take the proper preventive steps to stay healthy. You should also know that this is considered a perk and that this program can be removed if the city decides it would like to discontinue it anytime in the future. We have attached an outline of the wellness activity program as well as a wellness activity release form that explains in detail how the program works. Before using these (4) hours you should consult with either your department head or personnel and they will be able to direct you on what is eligible for wellness time off. Please go to forms link to download the wellness policy as well as the wellness time off form. (http://www.smea.us/SMEAforms.html) Thank you In Unity There is Strength Ed Halloran SMEA President Jim Roderick Vice President 03/01/2014 - Thank you Letter to the membership about the elections 01/20/2014 - Somerville groups look to guarantee local Green Line Extension jobs http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x579270491/Somerville-groups-look-to-guarantee-local-Green-Line-Extension-jobs 12/29/2013 - Somerville Aldermen hold off on GPS plan for City cars Dec 17, 2013 11/27/2013 - Somerville officials mull installing GPS units in city cars 11/24/2013 - New Anti Harassment Discrimination Policy City of Somerville 11/24/2013 - Fairness in the Workplace article Discrimination Dear Members, Although we haven't attached the e mails for these committee members that will be conducting the hearing on Oct 31st on Healthcare reform bill 59,we have pasted their names below. in the event our members would like to go on https://malegislature.gov/People/Search to find their e mail and inform them that they are strongly opposed to this house bill 59. Special Commission Members: Henry Dormitzer, Co-Chair of the Special Commission Anne Wass, Co-Chair of the Special Commission Representative Frederick Barrows Shawn Duhamel, Retired State, County, and Municipal Employees Association of Massachusetts Senator John A. Hart Al Gordon, Designee of Treasurer Steven Grossman Senator Michael R. Knapik Gregory Mennis, Assistant Secretary for Fiscal Policy, Designee of Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez Dolores Mitchell, Executive Director of the Group Insurance Commission Daniel Morgado, Shrewsbury Town Manager, Massachusetts Municipal Association Andrew Powell, Massachusetts AFL-CIO Representative John Scibak, House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Service 10/27/2013 - Letter sent to State Senators and Representatives 11/15/2013 - Reply Letters for local State Legislators Opposing House Bill 59 Healthcare reform proposed by Governor Deval Patrick
Pension-Fund Looters Get Tax Breaks, Too By MATT TAIBBI 
Rhode Island State Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, has declared war on public pensions AP Photo/Steven Senne A few weeks ago, I wrote a feature on pension reform in states like Rhode Island for Rolling Stone. Since the piece was sharply critical of alternative investments like hedge funds, I expected a heated response, and got one right away. In fact, a series of raving/chest-thumping emails from one Manhattan Institute hedge fund billionaire appeared in my email inbox about four and a half seconds after the piece went live on the Rolling Stone website. Click on this link to read the complete article http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/pension-fund-looters-get-tax-breaks-too-20131004 Boston Herald Opinion Article by Charles Krauthaummer is a syndicated columnist http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2013/11/obamacare_s_trickery_laid_bare Home » News & Opinion » Opinion » Op-Ed Obamacare’s trickery laid bare obamasketch dr.jpg 
OBAMA: Believes he and liberals know what’s best for U.S. consumers. Sunday, November 3, 2013 PrintEmail Comments (13) By: Charles Krauthammer WASHINGTON — Every disaster has its moment of clarity. Physicist Richard Feynman dunks an O-ring into ice water and everyone understands instantly why the shuttle Challenger exploded. This past week, the Obamacare O-ring froze for all the world to see: Hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters went out to people who had been assured a dozen times by the president that “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period.” The cancellations lay bare three pillars of Obamacare: (a) mendacity, (b) paternalism and (c) subterfuge. Dear Members How they are stealing our pensions published by Rolling Stone Magazine. Very good read. 
In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took bold action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis. Led by its newly elected treasurer, Gina Raimondo – an ostentatiously ambitious 42-year-old Rhodes scholar and former venture capitalist – the state declared war on public pensions, ramming through an ingenious new law slashing benefits of state employees with a speed and ferocity seldom before seen by any local government. Click the link below to read the complete article http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-the-pension-funds-20130926 5 Very important links concerning our healthcare retirement(see each link) 1) - HALLOWEEN HEARING SET FOR RETIREE HEALTHCARE REFORM 2) - Deval Patrick recommended healthcare reform bill 3) - MWRA Proposed healthcare retirement changes 4) - OPEB Healthcare Reform Outline Changes 5) - HR 59 Healthcare Reform Letter from SMEA to Membership
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Members Email |
"In Somerville, the legislature’s new health care collective bargaining laws allowed the administration to change the rules in the middle of the game, preventing municipal unions from having their voice heard and vote counted at the bargaining table. It’s not fair in sports and it’s not fair in your workplace." Call your legislator and ask them to do the right thing Restore the 70% rule Give voice to all in collective bargaining! (Download the Somerville Labor Coalition's response: "More Than We Bargained For"). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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