!!!Notified Meeting!!!   Please be advised our next scheduled union meeting November 5th, 2009  will be notified We will be discussing and voting on our $.50 wage increase for December 1st, 2009    

  Dear Members,         I would like to update you to what has been happening over the last couple of months within L.U.490.       #1. Gaming: We fought extremely hard on the attempt to bring expanded gaming to the State of NH. Had our efforts been successful we would have been constructing the $450 million expansion of Rockingham Park. Unfortunately our state legislators didn’t think gaming should be part of our budget process at this time. Although we were unsuccessful this year, the issue of expanded gaming received more serious attention and debate than ever before. I have been in contact with Millennium Gaming and they have assured me that they will continue their quest for expanded gaming. With our State budget woes still not fixed and the Governors creation of a committee to study gaming, we will have to continue to fight for gaming to pass and be a part of the major construction that comes with it!

IUPAT General President Jim Williams and Esstern Region VP Bill Candelori attended District Council #35's October 15th Delegates meeting. President Williams updated the Delegates and Local Union Officers (who were also invited to the meeting) on the current IUPAT national agenda and answered members questions.read more

Click here to view and print a copy of the QuEST '09 brochure.  The registration form can be typed in and then printed out to be sent in.

Please be advised that prior to the start of the October Membership Meeting, representatives from the Funds will be present to answer any questions regarding the Pension, Health & Annuity Funds. The question and answer session will be from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.  The regular Membership Meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.  

Start: 10/22/2009 - 10:00am End: 10/22/2009 - 4:30pm

Kudos to Senator Maria Cantwell, AIS pledge signer, whose leadership pushed the inclusion of an amendment in the health care bill that would push for a public option similar to Washington state's Basic Health Plan. Please contact her office and tell her thank you. Here is the release from her staff:WASHINGTON, DC - Today the Senate Finance Committee passed an amendment to theAmerica's Healthy Futures Act of 2009 sponsored by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell(D-WA) that will for the first time provide states with the ability to negotiatewith health insurers in order to provide high quality health care coverage at alower cost. Rather than handing tax subsidies to insurance companies, Cantwell'samendment directs this money to the states, and lets them use their purchasing powerto negotiate with private insurance carriers. Modeled after Washington state'sBasic Health Plan, which has a 20-year track record of reducing costs and providingquality care, Cantwell's plan could provide coverage to 75 percent of the uninsuredpopulation."We know that the individual insurance market doesn't work for people making lessthan $50,000 a year," said Cantwell. "This proposal is about giving federal dollarsto the states and putting them in the driver's seat. It is a public plan, butnegotiated with the private sector. We are going to everything we can to drive downthe costs of insurance for the citizens of this country and at least this amendmentis a start."Under the original Chairman's mark, people with income between 133 and 200 percentof the poverty level would have been eligible for tax subsidies to help them affordindividual insurance coverage. Cantwell's plan, redirects these revenues to thestates so they can negotiate and cover this group in a more cost effective way, allwithout sacrificing the level of benefits.Right now, these people are the most disadvantaged in the individual insurancemarket and would be left to fend for themselves against the insurance companies. According to data released in July 2009 by the Commonwealth Fund, a privatefoundation: adults with low incomes who sought coverage on the individual marketwere the least likely to enroll in a health plan; 85 percent of adults with incomesunder 200 percent of poverty who tried to buy coverage on the individual market,never purchased it; and, more than one-third of adults who had ever sought coveragein the individual market were turned down by an insurance carrier, charged a higherprice, or had a specific health problem excluded from their coverage.The states' negotiators know the number of people they need to cover and the benefitpackages they need to get, and therefore are able to bargain on behalf of this groupwith insurers to get premiums as low as possible. Insurance providers are apt tonegotiate with states because it provides them with a new pool of customers.An independent trust would be established in each state to handle the funds. Stateswould be encouraged to negotiate with multiple providers, including any publicoption choice that becomes law, so individuals would have a choice of multiplestate-negotiated coverage plans. Any money left over after negotiations would notbe transferrable into the state's general fund; and this proposal is not anexpansion of the Medicaid program."Hard-working Americans deserve choices for better coverage in the private insurancesystem," said Cantwell. "My proposal in no way substitutes a robust federal publicoption, which I will continue fighting for, but clearly demonstrates how powerful"the government can be in negotiating on behalf of consumers." 

Start: 11/20/2009 - 10:01am

Effective immediately, anyone who has lost their OSHA card and requires a replacement will have to pay a $10 charge.There has been an overwhelming number of members who have requested replacement cards.  Due to the administrative cost associated with it, the JATC is imposing this charge.Please put your certificates and completion cards in a safe place!

  Sisters and Brothers:

BOSTON — The Patrick Administration announced today that the Department of Youth Services (DYS) and its educational provider, the Hampshire Educational Collaborative, have been awarded a $470,000 grant to support physical education programs for youth in eight DYS residential facilities across the state. The U.S. Department of Education’s Carol M. White Physical Education Program grant will support the Healthy Opportunities, Positive Effects (HOPE) initiative, which will promote physical activity and nutritional instruction for youth in the care and custody of DYS. The Department of Youth Services and the Hampshire Education Collaborative will develop a comprehensive wellness curriculum that provides students with the tools they need to adopt lifelong fitness goals and healthy eating habits. This curriculum, which will be integrated into each student’s individualized learning plan, is designed to increase the number of DYS youth achieving the recommended amount of physical activity each week.

UNAP nurses checked the blood pressures of more than 200 festival-goers at the Rhode Island Labor & Ethnic Heritage Festival on Sunday, August 30 at the Slater Mill Historic Site in Pawtucket, RI.  The festival pays tribute to the many ways in which working people, unions, and immigrants have contributed, and continue to contribute, to our State's vibrant cultural, political, and economic life. Festival organizer and lead singer of Pendragon, Mary Lee Partington, read a stirring poetic tribute to unions from the Festival's main stage. Slater Mill Tribute for Labor Day Gathered by the river nowAre sons and daughters of the plow,Sons and daughters of the loomLong banished from the factory room. We stand here on a summer dayAnd stop the fiddler set to playA tune or some old melody From Slater’s time and memory.

The Institute of Medicine has released a report highlighting the special precautions that healthcare workers should take to avoid the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus (aka, "swine flu").  Click here to read the report.

Rhode Island Federation of Teachers & Health Professionals Educator Quality Issues The RI Board of Regents adopted the RI Professional Teaching Standards in April, 2009. Additionally, the Regents are proposing adoption of the RI Educator Evaluation System Standards and the RI Educator Code of Professional Responsibility. Each document represents very laudable goals and standards to which we believe our members aspire. However, it is important for our leaders and members to be familiar with the standards and their indicators as well as their potential use in evaluation, support, continued employment and compensation. It is also important for RIFTHP leaders and members to advocate for the conditions and supports necessary for educators to achieve these standards and act upon these beliefs. read more

Start: 11/06/2009 - 12:00am End: 11/07/2009 - 5:00pm Save the Date QuEST '09 RI Convention Center Providence, RI Keynote Speaker - AFT President Randi Weingarten

IBEW Local Union 223 Electricians and Apprentices, along with Alfonso Electric, teamed up to wire a Habitat for Humanity house in Stoughton. We would like to thank all those who donated their time for this worthwhile project. Take a look at some pictures from that day.      

Start: 08/18/2009 - 8:00am End: 08/20/2009 - 3:00pm Rhode Island Convention Center For information call Carol at 401-273-9800 or e-mail RIFTCS@aol.com

For years, activists and organizations have been calling for reform in health care. For too long people have been dying, going bankrupt or seen their quality of life negatively altered because of lack of insurance, access and spiraling costs have kept Americans ill. AIS has hosted town halls, met with our elected leaders and been a voice for working families on this issue.Finally, things are starting to move. Five active bills are working their way through the Congress to change the way America does health care. But there is noticable resistence from the insurance, pharmaceutical and big business lobbies who could see their outrageous profits cut to right-wing Republicans who see this as a poltical opportunity to stall Obama. Recent town halls have beem mobbed by "tea-baggers" intent on disrupting democracy and discourse.

Dear Member: Local 103 is proud to once again offer the SAT preparation classes administered by Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions for college bound students to the children of Local 103 members. read more

I.B.E.W. LOCAL UNION #490 SUMMER OUTING Saturday, August 22, 2009 from 11:00 am to 4:00 PM At The Sugar Shack, Route 4, Barrington, NH Burgers – Hot Dogs – Beer Games for the kids!Prizes!Retiree Pins! Bring your families for a great day of summer fun!