Re: RE-Listing The Echo   
     By: TIM RICHARDSON to NICHOLAS BOEL on Mon Mar 18 2013 10:05 am   
      
    TR> I'm reading in th epaper and seeing on TV news broadcasts all these new   
    TR> casinos and hotel complexes gettin' built in Vegas...Reno...and come to   
    TR> find out...the main financing behind a lot of them is pension fund money   
    TR> from unions! What the hell! When was the last time you were Vegas or Reno   
    TR> and got `comped' in a hotel\casino? Me neither.But if you belong to one of   
    TR> the big international's.....it was OUR money that built a lot of them! And   
    TR> I couldn't even get a lousy job out of the teamster's local.   
      
   You know how they get that extra pension fund money? I know of one reason,   
   which is probably a major one. When you die, if you haven't started collecting   
   on your pension yet, your wife (if you have one) is only allowed like 60% of   
   your pension. Where the hell does that 40% go? If you're not married, the next   
   in line (any children or beneficiaries) are allowed even less!   
      
    TR> The union paid the hospital bill, his follow-up and a stipend. One week   
    TR> after the doctors told him his working days were over, the union notified   
    TR> him his benefits were at an end! He had to go on disability, which wasn't   
    TR> a whole lot of money. About a year later he was losing his mobile home   
    TR> because the disability amount didn't cover the space rent per month. And   
    TR> while that process was going on he had a fatal and died. I went over to   
    TR> see him one Saturday morning, his front door was half-ajar...his truck in   
    TR> the driveway.. but I couldn't get an answer. Thought he was maybe at one   
    TR> of the neighbors, so I went home. That Monday morning I went back and the   
    TR> door was still ajar like it had been, so I went and got the manager and we   
    TR> went in the side door together. Found him laying on the living room floor   
    TR> just in front of the breakfast counter. He wasn't yet 50 at the time.   
      
   Yeah, there's definitely a whole lot wrong with that. Luckily I haven't heard   
   any stories like that in regards to our local. The worst of our local is   
   probably that one of our past business managers somehow built a very expensive   
   log home, threw our local's money at M&I Bank, and is now a VP for M&I.. so you   
   know there was some fishy shit going on there.   
      
   On the other hand, my step-father died when I was 13 -- he was 37, I believe.   
   He was a Laborer (113, Milwaukee) -- of multiple cancerous brain tumors. My   
   mother still receives pension checks, as well as 3 separate bank accounts for   
   each of his and her children. That's one of the reasons I actually decided to   
   put a little trust into a union. Hopefully it works out. If not, I'm still at a   
   young age where I could change up my career and work 30 years, collect some   
   kind of pension from there, as well as have whatever I've accrued in the   
   Ironworkers union on top of that, so I'm not super worried.. YET! :)   
      
   Regards,   
   Nick   
      
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