Reviewing Membership Services
This issue of News & Views spotlights three special services available only to Teamsters and families ñ our Local 638 Health & Welfare Plans, as well as our Service Bureau and our Credit Union. The Service Bureau and Credit Union are both operated under the auspices of Joint Council 32, which includes 15 Locals throughout Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa.

Local 638 Health & Welfare is one of Americaís best Union plans and we want to keep it at the top. In this issue of News & Views, we review the benefits provided so you can see for yourself how we compare.

I encourage you to join the Credit Union, and take advantage of the great counsel, career training and family help available through the Service Bureau. Both are staffed by good, knowledgeable people completely dedicated to our union and its members.

Remembering Duane Johnson ñ a Great Teamster
With that in mind, I want to pay special tribute to a great Teamster and a wonderful friend. Duane Johnson, our Joint Council 32 Research Director and Newspaper Editor, passed away in a tragic accident in New York City on Sunday morning, February 10. He was 82.

You may not have known Duane personally. But you knew him through the JC32 newspaper he almost single-handedly produced for 19 years after he officially ëretiredí in 1989 ñ a publication that goes to more than 60,000 Teamsters throughout the Upper Midwest.

Duane began his Teamster career in 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, where he started the pension and health and welfare funds for Teamster giant James R. Hoffa at Local 299. He worked at IBT Headquarters in Washington DC until moving to Minnesota to work for Joint Council 32.

Duaneís lifelong loyalty and selfless dedication reminds us all of what it means to be brothers and sisters in this great Union. May his strong spirit abide with us as we continue the fight for working families.

2008 is All About Politics ñ So Letís Get Involved
This year, that fight for working families is aimed squarely on the ballot box. Our Joint Council 32 DRIVE (Democrat-Republican-Independent-Voter-Education) Committee has already endorsed and screened a number of candidates.

Be sure to check the list at www.teamstersjc32.org/drive.html or phone 612-331-3456 for the most current list of endorsed candidates. Then volunteer, contribute, pass the word, do whatever you can to help elect these worker-friendly candidates.

And remember, thereís no better time to grill candidates for public office than in the weeks and months prior to the election. When you attend DRIVE candidate forums, or meet candidates at parades, picnics and other events, make it a point to ask their views on health care, fair trade, immigration, wages, worker safety and other issues important to working families. Then make your judgments accordingly.

Iíll close now, as I always do, reminding you that when we Teamsters stand together in union, we are unstoppable. Please donít hesitate to contact me, or any of our hard working officers, business agents and stewards with your questions, suggestions and ideas.