​President's Report: 2017 Summary & 2018 Plans

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Looking ahead, 2018 looks to be a very challenging year. The United States Supreme Court will soon decide the case known as Janus vs AFSCME, which could affect the entire labor movement. Combining this with a White House and Congress controlled by a very conservative Republican party, Labor will have to fight to survive. Local 2 has prepared with a combination of shop steward training, organizing, and improved communications with our members.​

Greetings Brothers and Sisters of Local 2:

​2017 was an exciting and good year for Local 2. We are one of the few unions experiencing membership growth and financial stability. Thanks to careful attention to our spending by Secretary-Treasurer Linda Bridges, our Finance Committee and Executive Board, we ended the year 2017 with a surplus of more than $200,000. When added to the surplus from previous years, it gives us a general fund reserve balance of more than $1,000,000. Union-eligible members paying dues increased 13% from 6,937 in December 2016 to 7,862 in December 2017.
 
Four of our staff representatives retired in 2017: Mike Cowan, George Kapanoske, Carolyn Lewis and Lou Wolf. Their skills and experience made them hard to replace. However, we believe that we have selected excellent replacements from among our membership: Michael Spiller from AFT Maryland, Rian Howard from Senior Service America, Jessica Maiorca from the Solidarity Center, and Yvonne Ellis from the National Electrical Benefit Fund. They bring to the Local a great combination of youth, energy and strong work ethics.
 
Looking ahead, 2018 looks to be a very challenging year. The United States Supreme Court will soon decide the case known as Janus vs AFSCME, which could affect the entire labor movement. Combining this with a White House and Congress controlled by a very conservative Republican party, Labor will have to fight to survive.

Local 2 has prepared with a combination of shop steward training, organizing, and improved communications with our members. Our new Education Committee Chair, Rian Howard, has prepared seven diverse shop steward trainings that began in February and continue throughout the year. To sign up, please scroll down below to Sign up for Shop Steward Trainings. Organizing Chair Michael Spiller is working on several lengthy projects, including one that recently resulted in the successful voluntary recognition of a 20-member shop. Finally, Communications Chair Jessica Maiorca restarted distribution of our e-newsletter and is working with staff to update our website to ensure that we address more items of importance to members.
 
Local 2 has several standing committees: Communications, Community Services, Education, Finance, LGBT, Organizing, PEP, Rising Stars, Social Events, Social Justice, and Women’s. These committees are at their best when Local 2 members volunteer to serve on them. If you are interested in participating in any of these committees, give us a call at the Local 2 Office at (301) 608-8080 or email us with your name, phone number, email address, and the committee on which you wish to serve. I'll appoint you to that committee and arrange for the Chair to contact you!
 
With the continued support of our members and the hard work and dedication of our shop stewards, I am optimistic that we will continue to grow and prosper in 2018.
 
Dan Dyer
President
OPEIU Local 2