OSF and Blue Cross Blue Shield
Good Morning:
This is to advise that we received the official announcement
from our Provider Networks contracting staff over the weekend that BCBSIL has
reached an agreement with OSF. There will be no disruption in coverage
for your members as a result. The new contract with OSF takes effect on
January 1, 2018.
We apologize for the uncertainty that these negotiations
raised during your open enrollments, but we are pleased that we were able to
negotiate a contract to retain OSF while at the same time broadening our
network coverage in the key markets of Galesburg, Peoria and Rockford.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thank you for your
patience during the renegotiation process.
Mark Sartell
Account Executive, Labor Affairs
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
Local 498′s new Organizer
Ben Scroggins has been appointed to be Local 498′s new Organizer. If your out and about and you see something let him know. We can’t be everywhere, the extra eyes help. Thanks
His contact number is 815-721-5494 and email is Scroggins498@iwlocal498.org
Sadly, Aaron Ackerman has passed away.
He was not a member of the death benefit program.
Final Results of the Election
Business Manager,
Financial Secretary-Treasurer – Mark
Richeson
President – Benjamin
Scroggins
Vice-President – Paul Kauffman
Recording Secretary – Keith Gahl
Pension Trustees – Paul
Kauffman
Benjamin Scroggins
Union Trustees – Thomas
Moraska
Robert Zimmerman
Vacancy
Executive Committee – Richard
Atkins
John Hammack
Nicholas
Helm
John F. Meier
Vacancy
Sergeant-At-Arms – Christopher
Conklin
Examining Committee – Richard
Atkins
John
F. Meier
Jahleel
Price
Election of Officers Saturday 2pm – 8pm at the Hall.
Come down and to the Hall to cast your ballot and exercise you right.
Brother Bill Schonfelder has peacefully passed.
He was a member of the death benefit program.
July 2017
From the Business Manager:
Dear Members,
Sorry it’s been so long since
we’ve updated you. Seems like we haven’t
had time to catch our breath since we had the flood here.
It was certainly good to see
everyone at our Grand Re-Opening we held.
Although we were close to maximum capacity, I would’ve liked to have
seen more of the working members. It’s
always great to see the retirees and reminisce about the “good ole days”. Those stories keep getting better every time
we tell them. LOL
Work has been pretty doggone
good for quite a while now. We had the
big hospital (MERCY) start late last year.
Harris-Davis did the rods with our excellent rod-busters, Area did an
awesome job erecting the structural (as always), and we’ve got an excellent
Ironworker-friendly company doing the curtainwall (Crown Corr). When you have a 500 million dollar project
that gets built with NO problems, that sure says a lot about the value of Union
craftsmen.
As of right now, the Alliant
Energy project is in full swing and it’s off to a fabulous start as well. AECOM (the GC) is doing the bulk of the rebar
themselves. They started out to just do
some of the little preparatory work, but our guys did such a great job, AECOM
took back a lot of work from their rebar sub (SPE, who is also doing a great
job). Steel is scheduled to start
towards the end of this year. Boldt will
be doing the main building on that.
Other projects are in the works
and it looks like we’ll be seeing some exciting times ahead.
I hope everyone has a safe
and fun summer. Talk soon.
-Dave
From the President/Organizer:
Dear Members,I know it has
been a while for the Connector. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the
summer. Work has been pretty good for
Local 498, but that also means the Non-union will be picking up. I am out
trying to reach out to the unrepresented workers that may be interested in
becoming union Ironworkers. Many are
reluctant to even tell me their names. I will keep reaching out. We are
currently picketing Bob Wilcox Construction on a small addition in Sterling on LeFevre
Rd. Precision Building Solutions and
Caliber Construction are also doing some work in Delavan.
Classes will be starting in
the middle of August for the apprentices, which means the shop will be opened
in the evenings (M-Th) for JIW’s who want to practice welding and get
recertified. That is just one more tool in the toolbox for getting work.
Welding classes will be Mondays and Wednesdays, so the instructors will be
there those days. If you need to weld
test for IL or WI, let either Dean, Penny, or myself know. We will schedule a date if we have a couple
who are interested. Dean may also be able to schedule a re-cert on a weekday
evening if his schedule will allow. We
will also be having an OSHA 30 class in Oct/Nov for those who want to get current
on that. First Aid and CPR will available end of Sept or beginning Oct. Let me
know if you are interested.I would like to give a big congratulation to Craig
Nenneman who completed the Instructor certification program for Local 498 at
the Ironworker Instructor Training Program in Ann Arbor, MI. He is our second
Certified Instructor currently teaching our apprentices. I would also like to
welcome Noel Glastetter and Josh Johnston as new instructors to the program.
In addition, I have some
other news regarding Health and Welfare. When we merged with Tri-State, we had
to cover projected deficiencies because our reserves did not fill the funding
gap for our plan to fully merge with Tri-State based on our projected hours. I
am happy to report on July 14th at the last Tri-State Meeting I
found out our hours were higher than anticipated and we have covered our
deficiency early. The amount to cover the deficiency was .32 cents of the
12.27; therefore, the .32 cents will now move to your HRA account. That means
instead of .35 cents per hour going to it, you will have .67 cents per hour. At
our next contract (May 31, 2018), you can change this and move the .32 cents
somewhere else if the body chooses to.
Keep in mind this .32 cents along with the .35 cents are non-taxable and
can be used for any medical including orthodontics, dental, vison, deductibles,
and self pays for you or your dependents.
Just a reminder that this
year is our election on October 7th from 2pm to 8pm. All positions
are open for election:
Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer
President
Recording Secretary Vice President 5 Executive Board Members 2 Pension Trustees 3 Union Trustees
Sargent at Arms 3 Examining Committee Members
There will also be 3 Judges
of Elections elected on nomination night who cannot be on the ballot for this
election.
All members running must be
in good standing and have not been late on dues 24 months prior to nominations
as determined by the International.
Nomination Meeting
Notification will be sent out giving date and time.
-Mark
From the Office Manager:
With deepest sympathy, I regret to
inform you we have had three members pass away since the last Connector.
John Mc Carty 6/1/2017 – Robert Brown 7/1/2017 – Roger Nass 7/19/2017
Only Robert Brown was a member of the death benefit
program.
Local 498 Calendar
August 15th – Regular Member Meeting
September 4th – Annual Rockford Labor Day Parade
September 19th – Regular Member Meeting
October 17th – Regular Member Meeting
November 21st – Regular Member Meeting
November 23rd & 24th –
Thanksgiving
December 19th – Regular Member Meeting
December 25th – Christmas
Reminder, the Executive Board
meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month. The retirees’ meeting is the second Tuesday
of each month at 8:00 a.m. at the Alpine View Restaurant (Charles St. and
Alpine) in Rockford. Contact Ralph
Pedersen – 815/234-8163.
