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Local 1753 Retiree Chair Laura Clark Archive
May 24, 2011

February 2023

Dear sisters and brothers:

I want to tell you how nice it was  to see all of you at last months' lunch and meeting. We held this meeting at the World Buffet and Grill where you can pick out just what you like. Whether you come to all the meetings, or your favorite meetings, or the ones your friends drag you to, we are aways glad to see you, and or your spouse.

 In the last election I wrote to all of you the importance of voting and having your voice heard and your ideas out there! I've always felt that way, since my first lesson on American history. You must remember, like I do, "no taxation with out representation". This common sense idea fueled the American Dream and made it a reality. Women also liked the idea; they could think just as well as the men.  Unfortunately, it took about seventy years to make it so. Many states and territories recognized womens' suffrage rights before 1920, and I'm happy to say Michigan was one of those! People with formerly enslaved ancestors wanted to get on board as well, for they had the same ideas. You will hear all about it, this month of Black history and their struggle to secure the vote. I myself have felt like you out there. I also felt like I had your support when running for different offices. One of jobs I ran for and won was con con rep. This was not the 1st,  not the 2nd or 3rd time I ran for this office. I only ran for con con after I had a good understanding of how things worked or didn't. So it is too early for me to know if this sending your own vote for yourself as compared to a concon delegate voting for you is good or bad for us, but it is the decision made for us. A variety of people ran for Con Con for different reasons. I was serious, went to all meetings, and studied votes before casting mine. I'm not there now, so you need to be our voice in this election! Look at the candidates. You can go to the UAW web site to see the debate and then vote. You can still make the deadline. The delegates before you thought you could handle it. Show them they were right! You do want to decide your own fate: VOTE.

Our next meeting and lunch will be at the World Buffet and Grill, March 9, 2023 at noon. I hope to see you there.

Obituaries:

Duane Alan Bohnett

December 2022

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I feel like I should just call you family after we all survived the danger and hardship of the long election cycle! We did it together, all those calls, signs and all the commercials ! No matter who you voted for, Michigan turned out! I would like to thank everyone who worked on the election. Your big or small efforts in volunteering, along with all the hard work by our election staff, made our state shine. Most of our candidates did well and all three state proposals passed. Our Secretary of State said voting was up six percent from the last election. We can feel proud of that, though there is always room for improvement. I would like to have a state where 80 or 90 percent of the people vote. Our Lansing city clerk has made voting easy in the city, not like cities or states who enact repressive and restricting voting laws. He is able to do so within the structure set by three of our great leaders: Secretary of State Benson, Attorney General Nessel and Governor Whitmer -- congratulations on a smooth election and strong campaigns!

The December 8th meeting will be our Christmas open house from 1 to 5pm. You only have to bring yourself. Try inviting your old coworkers to meet you at the Union Hall. We can all eat, drink and be merry together!

I have a lot to do before Christmas. How about you? In between planning the big dinner, buying gifts and sending cards, now is the time to think, "How can I bring joy to the world?" Think a bit outside of the box: maybe a card to a service person, in this day of self-serve (and self-serving) everything. Let those helpers around you know we appreciate them! Don't forget our charities, especially the Old News Boys, who support children in need of footwear.

Our next meeting will be January 12th at World Buffet. Lunch at noon with the meeting to follow.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Note: In my last column, I called out some of the pillars of oppression and racism working to dismantle civil rights in the U.S. today. I would like to reiterate that a separation of Church and State is crucial to any free society, especially among the judiciary. This is not a judgement of Catholics or other Christians, as the Constitution grants all people the right to practice their religion, so long as they do not impose those religious beliefs on others. Secondly, in referring to people who have been enslaved, it is important to recognize their humanity first and foremost, rather than use any term of oppression or suffering to define them. Going forward, I will refer to those impacted by institution of slavery as "people who were enslaved" rather than "slaves". Last but not least, if you were confused by my reference to the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and the former president's acts of criminality under that law, I encourage you to look it up and educate yourself!

Obituaries

Robert Cross
Elze D. Harris
Charles R. Jonckheer
Larry Mahan
Roger Wauch
Lillian Tayor
Mike Shumway
Johnie ( JJ ) Jones
Greg Lynn Arras
Robert Van Vleek Jr
Ulysses Embry

September 2022

Hello survivors, retirees, members and families:

Well the numbers of Covid are down! Your retirees part of our Local has been getting back to normal meetings. Our last two meetings and lunches were at the World Buffet. We had our choice of lunches and two short meetings. It was nice to see so many of us! Thank you to Tim and Pam  for bringing in tomatoes from their garden; every one liked that! Our next meeting is September 8th at the hall. We hope for nice weather since we will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers!

Time to start thinking of elections in November. We have some signs at the hall. Even before they arrived we were lucky enough to have our Representative Elissa Slotkin stop in to speak with our executive board for a give and take meeting She is on our side and does support union people like us. I  mentioned that if you took off the cap on Social Security, you would have the money needed. Why should only the poor working folks continue to pay, when all should? Forbes doesn't put millionaires on the covers any more; I'm  not sure of billionaires on it, now that we have gazillionaires!

 Don't be fooled by red herrings... All Presidential papers belong to we the people. President Roosevelt started it when he left office. It was the thing to do, just like the peaceful transfer of power. They only codified it after President Nixon, when they realized some presidents didn't understand being presidential! Did you watch any of the judicial hearings? I did, so I was somewhat surprised at their rulings. I could hardly believe the judges let themself get caught in open aired lies! Should we have people like that on our court? They have eroded  a majority of American citizens' rights, most of whom probably pay taxes and vote. If any did not vote before, now is the time to start. Think: who do I want running my life, me or Catholic judges? Do you think this is why they have trouble knowing the difference between church and state? I could go on but not past the gun ruling in New York. The judges said that they wanted to get back to the Constitution, but that is not true. For if that was true they would rule that only flintlocks and limited rifles could be brought in to the city!  What they meant was, they want their slaves back. If you think about that time and our authors of the constitution, they were all men all men of wealth, land owners all. Many were from a variety of countries, most ruled by royalty. It was all they knew. So there was no thought for indigenous people, Mexicans, Spanish all who had history going back generations and of course no consideration for their chattel wives or slaves. That's not right, the constitution is for everyone! That is why there are so many amendments. It is a living document for all of us! When looking at news reports check all the angles they present!

The next meeting is for October 13th. We have scheduled a meeting with representatives of the VEBA on the 10th of November.

Obituaries:
Robert K. Rathbun
Sherry Hernandez
Dennis Edward Little

In Solidarity, Laura

April 2022

Hello sisters and brothers:

It feels good to have time to write to you today. Things are better on the home front now. I hope things are going well for you and your family. I appreciate everyone's concern and calls. One of the calls was about benefits. Your benefit Representative Gabriel Gonzales wanted you to know about your new over the counter benefit worth $150.00 for regular coverage or $50.00 for traditional care network. You can call 877-218-9951 or go on line at uawtrust.org/otcbenefit. This is for items like Listerine, bandages and other things you might need from the drug store.

I also attended the Region 1-D Retired Workers Executive Board meeting, where we discussed returning to having meetings, and how our people felt about that. Very few of the locals are having monthly meetings yet. We are watching closely for the information we need to give us the confidence to resume retiree meetings safely. Covid is up in ten states, many in the Northeast, so we will continue to wait. The region is tentatively arranging the Region 1-D Retired Workers Conference at Black Lake, free for dues paying retirees and spouses. With luck it will be May 31st thru June 3rd, 2022. We will not be providing buses. You must arrange your own travel. Contact me as soon as you can so we can make the May 2 deadline. Laura Clark, at (517) 484-0507, for the form to attend. Leave a message with your name and phone number on the answering machine, and I will return your call. Please call me with your ideas or concerns about returning to regular meetings, as well. I'd love to see you at Black Lake.

We have tentatively scheduled a meeting with the VEBA representatives at Local 1753 on November 10th, 2022, as they have been anxious to see us for the last two years. Hopefully the health of the nation, and especially our state, will improve so we can start having meetings soon.

Meanwhile, keep your chin up, and be kind to yourself and others around you. Be aware of phone, computer and other scams that are trying to fool you. If you see something, say something. If  problems or incorrect action are not fixed, they become ingrained. As you venture out, keep your eyes open for ways you can improve the world. I was reminded of this when watching the Benjamin Franklin documentary on PBS. We can all learn from his example. I was reminded of how many groups came to the original colonies for religious freedom. We had a diverse mix of religions besides Pilgrims! Like Puritans, Anglicans, Congregationalist, Unitarians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, Jews and many more. The great and well read Father of our nation had a large library with books about and for studying other religions. He started out a slave owner and ended up an abolitionist. He worked long and hard to make those meager colonies a Nation! Like him, we could all learn more, and be more. Help others out in this time of turmoil and conflict.

Obituaries

Tom L. Huver
John L. Hooks
Ted Kingsley
Terri Lee (Trumble) Husted
Frank R. Bishop
Dinah Leah Tyler
Cora Lee Duncan

December 2021

Merry Christmas Sisters and Brothers

I mean that for all of you, whether you are one of us or you just happen to be reading this! Even if we were best friends at work, or if I never got to speak to you since you were one of 1200 and some people, I hope for the best for all of you.
Your wonderful E-Board is still working to help you and everyone.  We are keeping up on our food bank donations and the yearly Old News Boys! We do this, because we know better than most when all boats rise ours rises also. We are the folks that figure out that being in the community of our international Union we did better in our wages, safety and health. We also decided to live in a society where if we get in trouble, we can get help. We enjoy life this way. You know that if you have a fire you can call the Fire Department. If you have a medical problem you call for an ambulance or a big problem, the Police. These and many others are reasons why we pay taxes, why we vote, and why we do things together! These are signs of a healthy group of people. Right now there are some of our friends and relatives who seem to have lost their way or forgotten this lesson. By now we have lost almost as many people as the Civil War. This should be in the rear facing mirror like the smallpox! As long as people are not getting vaccinated we can expect more variety in the pandemic. This is the time to have the uncomfortable discussion with your friend and or relative. I don’t want to do it either, but it’s my (your) friend or relative.  Ask them kindly why they have not gotten the shot. Be prepared to listen, really listen you may find something out that you did not know. There are some, very few medical reasons not to. Then if that’s not them. Explain to them just like I did to you. If not a union member, remind them of other good decisions that they made in the past. They are your friends and relatives; we do not want them chased out of town to a leper colony, we don’t want to reinstate the tuberculosis sanitariums for Covid patients. We know the Insurance companies are going to figure out that they had a preexisting condition of unvaccinated! Eventually they will not pay unless you are vaccinated. People will get sick and tired of a child’s appendix bursting instead of being treated. People dying of a heart attack while trying to get into 50 different hospitals. It will not go unnoticed how many times an elective surgery is postponed. Or not even considered because of Covid. Let us all try to do more! I know all the doctors, nurses and front line workers are doing all that they can.
I am going to try to get the E- board to stamp the calendars for next year, even though we have no date to re-start meetings (You can pick-up a new calendar next year). I will try to keep you in the loop. I am missing all of you, the ones I run into all the time and the ones I haven’t seen since you retired Keep your chin up! FYI don’t get scammed, your address is fine for UPS!
Obits
Wanda Jean Conner, Billy L Jenkins, Kenneth Raymond Fairman, Frederick Charles Kuhtz,  Jill Ann (Meyers) Barner, Delean K McCullough, Doug Fred Lee, Denise Delores Fennell, Jennifer R Tissue, Terry Mangels

September 2021

Dear brothers and sisters:
What a rollercoaster ride we have been on! Earlier this month your Executive board and I were planning a meeting for all of us in September. This was brought on by the VEBA people wanting to go over changes to our coverage. Since the then, the region, after seeing the mutated Delta version coming our way, sent a letter saying to go by the CDC recommendations. The VEBA people canceled the next day, so we are also canceled. They said they would send postcards to everyone to let them know that they will be working on a way to set up a zoom or conference call so we can all get in on it and thus deal with questions we might have. I have spoken with Kelly a few times so I asked her to give me a clue on what changes we could expect.  She said they would all be good ones, so I was pretty pleased.
I send Apologies to all I called, texted, E-mailed or those who went on our face page. I hope I got the new word out to all about the canceled meeting. It’s hard to say just how much we all rely on you members. You are our local’s influencers, since the meeting was to be before the paper came out. We really need you all to get the word out. I thank you and the local thanks you. You know we will continue to keep in touch.
On to the Facebook page reemerging after so long. Thanks go to Doug Fox of the Labor News who spent two hours working on it after our officers had given it the old college try. Facebook has no tech support to help you with any problems. You cannot even communicate with them. Even if talking to you could help them find weakness in their own systems. I learn of that in the news about some of their users getting hacked. The hacker then took over the real user’s page! Still no communicating!
You can always get hold of me though, so let me know if I can help, glad to talk any time. You know the answering machine is on and ready to have you leave a message. I always need your help keeping me updated with the latest obituaries. Please cut out the obits you see for the scrap book or you can try to text me, I’m trying to get better at that.
Remember to fight the virus not our friends or family. Get the vaccine shot, get the booster if needed, and wash your hands often, were a mask in crowds, keep safe I want to see you next year or as soon as I can. OBITS Wanda Jean Conner, Billy L Jenkins, Kenneth Raymond Fairman, Frederick Charles Kuntz and Jill Ann (Meyers) Barner

May 2021

Greetings brothers and sisters

I hope you and yours are healthy and happy, with all family members vaccinated and now our young people on their way. I finally got to hug my Mom after being vaccinated. It made Mother’s Day even better.  It was a relief to get it done. I feel freer to go out and about please consider it if you haven’t received it yet. I have enjoyed running into some of our members all over town. Some I  recognize  some I don’t, I apologies if I missed you  and good spotting to those who spotted me, under my masks . Thank you to all the folks who have called, I am always glad to hear from all of you, but please leave your name and phone number so I can call you back.

On a sad note I just read an article that said our mostly female health officers are under attack, just under half of the nation’s health officers as our previous election official, have quit, will quit or will be done at the end of the term. We all have faced some disappointment in life, not every call goes the way you want. You can ask for someone to change their mind. You have a right to protest.  You have the right to bring it to court, and even appeal the verdict! When you call or go on line and threaten them, their life, home, their family, kids and pet that’s too far. When you then go to their house alone or with a mob, with guns, body armor, torches. That is too far! When you trespass, bang on doors, window and vandalize, it’s too much. All these people are only in it to save our fool lives! Kind of like our good governor who had this said about her: “From her living room Gretchen Whitmer has led Michigan through pandemic, an economic meltdown and even a dam collapse – all at a time when government itself seems broken.” This high praise from the New York Times Magazine!

While all this has been happing what have Michigan legislators been doing?  Anything but their job. Telling the Governor how to do her job, telling the Secretary of State how to her job and even telling our health officers how to do their jobs. All the while not doing theirs! The Federal government gave our state a huge amount of money that sits while they pass bills along among themselves, that they know she, the Guvnor will veto. What a waste of time and resources. We don’t want to forget that they also got on the band wagon, like 43 other states, to restrict voting rights. In the nation there were at least at this time 253 changes proposed or changed to limit voting. This in spite of the fact the 43rd president’s own handpicked man said it was the most secure election on record!

At this time many people still need help, that Federal money would do us good right now. As we are a right to work for less state our numbers have dropped, we are the lowest in many lists like food, school, safety and of course transparency. Your local Retirees group, though not having meetings, is still trying to help by giving to the area food bank. If you have good ideas to help, by all means please get hold of me.  Leave a message at the hall with name and phone number. Also, you can leave a phone number for other retired members we have not reached, or a note if you (or someone else) do not receive this paper. Obits- Betsy Durham, Elizabeth Goins, Jesse B. Brown the 2nd

February 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Have you recovered from the horrendous action at OUR Capital January 6th? That was deplorable! I alternatively sat and stood, with my heart in my throat watching all day transfixed. I'm still shaken by those events. The newscasters that day keep saying, this isn't us, but more and more it is looking, like it is.Very little change is happing it the top! Now, we know some Repuplicans, most are fine upstanding people, but it's time for them to do something difrent.This is not the party of Lincon!

Thank goodness we have a good exsample of just what to when the election is, actually stolen from you! When your opponent is, running the race you are both in. When he throws your voters off the rolls, closeses polling places, and has more money in backing than you can imagine. You pull on your big girl pants and you go to work! You remind people what happend, no body thinks stealing is right, not even good repuplicans. You register every voter, young and old. You go and organize every group there is, and if that is not enought you make more groups. You use every avenue open to you, then, you think of a few more. That is how Stacy Abrams won the two Senate seats she delivered to the state of Georgia and us,Thank You!

Speaking of thank yous. I need to thank stores who said at the begining of pandiemic said that thay would pay extra to front line workers. Then call them out now that its a year later and most doubled or more ther profitis. They have droped off on paying extra, except these good companies. Costco, Lowe's, Home Depot and Pubblix, we have three of them in our area.

Thank you for calling me, I;ve heard from maney of you as we have been off, call if I can help 484-0507. I too, can'et wait till we meet again.When we get togather we will work on getting those tee shirts out. We also could work on our list of retiree phone numbers. This list is just for retiree to retiree since the local can't give out phone numbers. I was dispointed when this happened recently, especially since we have nothing but time now. The member called and I looked in the book, the name was not there.The best I could think of was to have him write a letter. Fortunately he was able to get it from another one of us.The Obituarys always needs our help, if you see a retirees obituary clip it out of the paper and send it to me at the hall. I will add it to the book. Magt. will not comunacation.

We have made another donation to the Lansing Area Food Bank and at Cristmass we gave to Meals on Wheels, Office on Aging, the Old Newsboys and Eaton County Pallutive We wish them all good luck, as I wish for all of you!

By now you could probly remind me of White Shirt Day February 11, it has been 30 years of me telling you. We must rember our history, this was how we got the bosses to respect the worker and workeforce. All of our gaines are reflected in workers everwhere in the US. We are not just the people who gave you the weekend! We are also the no child labor people the ones who demand a 8 hour day and safety. So much more, if you study labor you will see it is the story of Ameraca. The Region will post in facebook and at 11 will have the drawing, good luck. 

December 2020

Hello Brothers and Sisters:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Considering this year, you can get looks and or discussion on how merry or happy it is! 2020 has not been the best, but vaccines are coming, and we will get through this like we have other epidemics. It is rough, but when you're down and tired of it all, you/we should have a heart to heart talk with yourself. Laura (your name here). We have survived the election, and we will survive Christmas! We did not lose our jobs, and we did not lose our lives. We have friends, family, neighbors, pets and coworkers. They love and miss us, just as I love and miss all of you.

Speaking of discussions, on police unions becoming part of public unions, I heard this: if we installed red light cameras for traffic, we would avoid harmful interactions, make money on fines and free police to do the tough jobs they signed up for. That would be protecting us and rounding up criminals.  We still have unsolved murders and other crimes.

You can be proud though, while we have not been together for our monthly meeting and lunch, we have made sure each month that others in this area might eat, with donations to the food bank. Even though we are not having a Christmas party, you should. If you live alone, you really should! it's time to do a turkey breast. You can buy just one and cook it up. You are worth it, have your own celebration of the season. We will make sure to still donate to our top four charities. We will still have calendars, though they will not be stamped. We still do not know when this will be over and we can get together again. To help, wear a mask and distance yourself from others in public situations. You can stop at the hall and pick up a calendar if you wear a mask and apply social distancing.

I wanted to leave you with a thought. After the death of the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsberg, her rabbi was extolling her virtues and all her accomplishments and she said Ruth was one person. We all have that same power of one person. Local 602 was collecting material to take to their leader Marta; she made over a hundred masks. We give to the food bank, what can you do? What can your local do? If you have a great idea call me (517 484-0507) or leave a message at the hall.

September 2020

Hello Brothers and Sisters

How does it feel living in historic times? If your reading this you are already surviving and fighting your way through the corona virus, which has taken so many of us. I hope for health to you and your loved ones. Some of our members have limited their time away from home. Many shop on line to only have delivery. You have to be as safe as you can! Remember to wash your hands, social distance from others and wear your mask please! I try to do it for my Mother, an Aunt in a nursing home, and the rest of my family and friends. Of course, all of you and friends I haven't even meet yet, and for all of America.

The next challenge racism. A "picture is worth a thousand words" has never been more true than those 8 minutes that all of us watched. Not just here, but all over the world. Most of us were already aware, but for some it was eye opening. Remember the words of the late great John Lewis, "when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. I myself don't like racism, sexism or too many of the other ism's that there are with the exception of unionism. When I first heard about defunding the police I was shocked. Then I looked in to it. I researched what other communities do. Some cities take 20% to 30% of police funds and fund social workers who go on calls where police are not needed, but help is. Whether its a friend or family member in crisis, sometimes a gun is not the answer. Reading more, I see police have qualified immunity, three days grace before discipline, and many other police bias written into their contract that they don't even write themselves, but buy from a former policeman. Then, when that city is sued for wrongful death the former policeman, for a price, will defend them using the contract. Which is full of things that should not be. “Should” instead of “shall”, which is stronger. “You should not shoot the black man” instead of  “you shall not shoot the black man”. So what if we did defund and only rehired Peace Officers? Instead of belonging to a police union, they join established unions within our community. State police would become Peace Officers with the state of Michigan workers 6000 and have the same contract that all state workers have. Lansing police would become city peace officers. It would really change their perceptions if their actions carried the same weight as ours. Something to think about!

The next challenge is the election, VOTE, it is too important not to. The UAW web page has personalized it for you to enter your zip code to get endorsements for your area! Having been on endorsement interviews, I can tell you the folks who get our vote are very well vetted. Consider voting by mail. Why stand in line and get germs! Vote as soon as you can to make it easy on the postal workers!

With all UAW activities on hold until we get a handle on the Covid virus, we obviously can't have the VEBA people come to a meeting. They have set up a conference call so that we can all hear the latest changes. The trust, blues and express will be on the line with you. Call 833-656-5001for meeting by phone on October 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th,and 7th. You need to do this ahead of time so they can clue you in on the phone number and code for your day.

As always I'm missing you and wishing this will be over, so we can get together again. Call me almost any time. The answering machine is on and I'm looking forward to speaking with you. If you would like to receive e-mails, leave the address with the hall, Al Vincent, or my self.

Recent obituaries-
Elze D Harris, Dick Cole, Brent Robeson, Raymond (Ray) Schneider, Roy Felpausch, Daniel Malinowski, Randall ( Randy) Janetzke, and Ken Pasick.

February 2020

Greetings brothers and sisters,
I hope you and yours had a happy holiday! I am sure we and our sister Local 1618 feel good for help-ing many people this winter feel warmer and happier with all the socks, hats, scarves, and mittens collected from the giving tree. Thanks to all who worked on that. Two bags went out before Christ-mas because of the cold, four af-ter. What a great showing for our effort, thank you so much. We al-so received many thanks for our end of year donations to all of our favorite charities. The Christmas party went very well. Good turn out , though not as big as when we first retired. We can do better next year because of all the new retir-ees who just left! We want to wel-come you.
I also want to thank all the retirees who helped the members working the strike. Some dropped hot food and supplies to the hall. Many went to our two gates and fed the people while they walked. I appre-ciate all of you, your support, and your car horns!
January and February lunch and meeting went very well and easy for we went to Buffet World. They of course, take care of everything and we don't have to bring a dish to pass. They have a nice variety of food including sushi and a BD Mongolian Grill type area! Of course they still have some of my favorites like chicken and macaro-ni and cheese. The executive board wanted to make sure you could get in to the meeting with out worrying about snow plowing the hall or the sidewalks. The first two months are usually the worst but as you have probably noticed, global warming means extreme on both ends!
Speaking of seasons, the busy election cycle is upon us. I hope you have not been daunted by the last three years of coverage to get involved, or to watch the debates. Some were not that good, some were dynamic and entertaining!
Please think about receiving a mail in ballot. It will save you waiting in long lines this election. Also, it is one way to be sure your vote won't be hacked. It is the paper trail. Many states already use this meth-od for every election. As we in Michigan should now consider, you have more voting because it is easy and if you don't trust the mail you can still drop it off.
Our next lunch and meeting is March 12th at the hall, back home! We are lucky enough this month to have Rob from Swedes cater a St. Patrick's themed dinner for us. If you remember, he and his group do such a nice and delicious meal we want them to do lunch often! I can't wait to see you and yours there. Obits - Vic Larsen, Tom Setter, and Shirley Albright

April 2019

Greetings Sisters and Brothers

Were you at the trend setting lunch in March? The World Buffet and Grill seems to win by a mile Everyone liked it, we all picked what we liked, when we liked it. What a variety, they had- sushi a Mongolian gill, regular fare and oriental. This lunch the E Board  got something they liked, no planning, shopping, preparing, or clean up.
A big Thank You goes to our Vice Chair Dennis Slowinski and the E Board for the planing and running of our April meeting. I was on vacation, witch seems odd to say as a retiree. I did hear that the local provided ham and turkey on Hawaiian rolls and fried chicken for non sandwich people, and some side dishes. Some of the potluck dishes were lasagna and and a home made fruit pie. Plus a short meeting, I know how hard that is to do. This is the agenda they came up with.
Thusday, May 9th will be 12:15 at World Buffet and Grill. Thursday June 13th is our summer picnic at our Hall. Everyone can bring a dish to pass, but if you want to win a prize this is the time to shine. Join our homemade dessert contest. We give away prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd places. Though passed practices shows all entries are eaten. Volunteer for Judging and eat dessert first. That one way to get out of grilling with the boys. Remember we cook a lot of dogs and burgers!Thursday July 11th will be at 12:15 at World Buffet and Grill. Tuesday August 13th noon is our luncheon at Royal Scott. This is a sit down dinner with all Lansing area UAW Retirees invited. You could win a door prize just for showing up and having a nice dinner. Thursday September 12th  back at our hall for a pot luck dinner bring a dish to pass if your able. Sounds like a fun and busy summer.  
Remember next meeting Thursday May 9th World Buffet 12:15 hope to see you there!

February 2019

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
I hope you hopped into the New Year with ease and no health issues.  I say this because some of you missed our fabulous Christmas party.  We were glad to see a few more active workers!  We had lots of fun and pizza plus lots of extra dishes to share.  Some of our group are very generous and are great cooks! I was especially pleased with how full the Christmas tree was.  It was a giving tree originally started by Local 1618, with hats, scarfs, mittens and gloves.  We had all sizes from infant’s mittens to men’s gloves.  The very talented Marcie had handmade some items and Rosie even made a preemie cap.  If I was taller I would have put it on the top of the tree. The good Brothers and Sisters of Local 1618 delivered items to kids at the schools and I took some of the used items to the homeless hotel.  I must tell you how proud you made me feel. This was our second year doing this and I hope it goes on.
The weather lately has been something. So, to cheer us up and add a little change, we decided to eat out!  At the January meeting we voted to try Buffet World for the March meeting.  The address is 5002 W. Saginaw Hwy., #3, Lansing, MI 48917.  We try to eat at 12:00 noon but you can still show up early for tea or coffe
I am saddened to tell you of the death of two of our previous Presidents, Hollis Barker and Ray Whitford.  I attended Hollis Barker’s visitation and Ray Whitford’s celebration of life.  I never worked shoulder to shoulder with either of them as many of you did.  I could not really speak to that, though they were both Presidents to me. One thing that we all felt was how much we cared for the retirees.  Both men made sure to attend some of our meetings and Ray, even as a Retiree when his legs were shaky came to our meetings.  He would pull up for the meetings and we would haul him out of the car and walk him in. After Ray could no longer drive, I believe it was Bill and Gabe who took turns driving Ray to meetings from the country side.  Salute, they are two of the good guys, Thank You!
When we get back to our regular meetings at the hall you can pick up your retired workers card from me or pick up this year’s calendar and add your old glasses to the Lions box for the less fortunate.  Also, this year’s Lansing Euchre Tournament is April 26, 2019 at UAW Local 602.  Arrive early so you can be in your seat at 10:00 am.  There is no cost to play and you do not need a partner.  You could have fun and win.  Remember, next meeting is out to lunch out at the Buffet World 12:00 noon, March 14, 2019. I hope to see you there. Obits: Deborah D. Goodman, Ottis Raymond Whitford and Hollis R. Barker




December 2018

Hope you enjoyed the fall that flew by.  Did you get to go to the last September, October, and November meetings?  Great lunch, whether having old favorites like Mancino’s or our new favorite, Swedes.  We had asked Swedes for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and fixings.  Not only did we get turkey but ham also!  We had a fabulous dinner and great pies from the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  We also did a little business.  We presented the Region 1D trip, Mystic, Foxwoods and the Newport Mansions.  Having been on one of the Region 1D trips, I can tell you that they are a lot of fun.  This one is from May 4-9, 2019.  If interested, call Connie Garner-Dunn at 517/323-2146.
The Lansing Labor News comes out 4 times a year so we wanted to address everyone and not leave anyone out. This is hard to do as some are off the grid and others just forget to update their addresses with Nancy who can be reached at 517/484-7408 for updates. Leave your information on the answering machine and Nancy will either get back with you or make the change of address or add it to the LLN distribution if you leave it for her.  
The Veterans Chili Cook-Off was this year’s annual fund raiser held at Local 652 and supported by all including our own Local 1753 Secretary, Mandy.  It was once again funded through the Veteran’s Committee.  There were so many cooks in the contest.  Some people upped their game this year.  Mandy was still able to take 4th place without a side dish.  It was so nice seeing our folks out and about at the Chili Cook Off, phone banking or walking in contested districts.  Good Job getting out there.
    President Vincent came to one of our meetings and reminded us to use the UAW GM Legal Services: 1-800-482-7700.  She said they were told that it is an underutilized service. Now that it is back please make those wills, check those contracts and make sure of the fine print.  If you don’t know, ask the lawyer who does.
    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you from the Retiree Executive Board and myself. 

September 2018

Hope your summer was safe and happy: we enjoyed ours here at the Local Hall. We have the Executive Board, Mary Gatner, Mike Sealy, Al Vincent, Mary Brown and our many volunteers to thank, whether you worked on the hall clean-up day or helped arrange the back log of photos into scrapbooks. We think all help is good help so plug in where you can. If I failed to list your name I am sorry and open to corrections. We had a great day for the summer picnic. We got the grill out and cooked up a storm of hot dogs and hamburgers, and of course side dishes. We may have added a few pounds with the wonderful samplings of desserts offered up during our annual dessert contest. Thank you to all that entered and special thanks to the winners. You all made us happy and full.

We were able to return to Black Lake again for the Retirees conference, one of my favorite places on earth, it could be your favorite next year. Mary Brown, Iona Jackson and myself enjoyed it this year. They did not need to miss a work out either, since there is a great new work out room, with all the necessary equipment in the full-size gym. You can play basketball, volleyball or pickle ball. I don't know what that is, if you know you can teach me. There is an Olympic size pool and sauna. Don't forget the 1000-acre compound. We have outside volleyball, bikes to rent, plus the whole lake. You can bring your own boat. We had great speakers, including James A. Surrell, MD author of SOS Stop Only Sugar. Rules from his book -1 Low Sugar, 2 High Fiber, 3 No more rules. Great talk with a guy who loves Michigan. Some of our speakers reminded us to vote in upcoming elections. Vote with your wallet not your heart, was the view from our Reg 1-D Retirees chairman Jessie Collins, I agree. I say, don't lose your vote on just one issue. Remember WHO taxed YOUR pension? WHO wants to take away YOUR Social Securities though you paid enough into it? Who wants to take away YOUR Medicare though you deserve it? So many speakers, such a good time. 

Not sure if you heard the sad news our friend and financial secretary Nancy Munchbach suffered the loss of her only son. Nick, not only a friend of mine, but a past employee at the warehouse. He was summer help and made a lot of friends. He will be mourned by family and friends. Thanks for all the love. We all enjoyed the Reg.1-D Lansing Area Retired Workers Council Annual Luncheon. I really liked not doing the shopping, like we do for our luncheons. We may try to do that at our hall, fingers crossed. Great prizes were given out, many from our UAW vendors, some locals and of course Reg. 1-D Thank you to them and congratulations to all winners especially 1753 winners! It was good to see new people and some folks who had been before and liked it enough to return, maybe they won previously or just liked lunch with friends. If you would like lunch with old friends our next meeting is September 13th coffee at 11:00, 12:00 lunch, 1:00 is the meeting, you can bring a dish to pass. Bring your spouse, a friend, or yourself. Hope to see you soon.

May 2018

Dear Retirees finally spring has sprung. Time to get moving.
June 14
th is the 1753 Retirees Picnic. Hopefully good weather to be on the lawn. Bring your Frisbee and lawn jarts. August 14, Royal Scot, Lansing's UAW Luncheon. September are the Euchre Tournaments: September 14, Saginaw UAW 467, September 21 Lansing UAW 602, September 28 Flint UAW 659. October Region 1-D's travel committee is going to Niagara Falls twice and next year Hawaii. If you want to go call Joseph Couturier 810-743-9943 or Stacy Kilburn at 810 -695-6170.
Plug into your local, we have get together's, lunches and meetings. Volunteer in your community. Politics always needs attention and action. Mid-terms elections are coming up. Work with your favorite candidate to get them elected. Not into groups? You can contact you representative about saving Social Security and Medicare. Remember that's your money you paid your whole work history. FICA is the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. It was Insurance set up for you. At the time it was implemented we could not imagination all these billionaires. All we need to do is take the cap off then there will be enough to cover all. There is no need to cut when everyone pays there share.

February's meeting went well. We reported that we were able to help three of our local’s charity's after our fund raising at Christmas. We were able to sign up a couple of members to go to Black Lake. Maybe next year it could be you. We had a speaker from American Income Life, a Union insurance co., and of course good food.

March meeting was pretty simple. Many thank you's from charity's. Announcements for International Women’s Day celebrations around town. Reported a number for help, it is the Voice for Quality Long Term Care their number is (202) 332-2275. Maybe that can help you or someone you know.

April meeting was very nice Pres Vincent was able to attend and give a report. We heard two of our members attended the Fla Picnic. Hope we can have a better showing next year. Announced Euchre tournaments, bowling and Con Con. Linda tried a new chicken dish on us, we liked it any time Linda! I went to the Euchre tournament at 602. It was good to see three more of our members there. We all had a good time and a great lunch, but no money. Maybe next time you boys will have better luck.

Our next meeting is May10th coffee and donuts at 11, lunch is at 12 meeting is about 1'o clock. They are the second Thursday of the month we usually do potluck, so bring a dish or your partner or both. We have Benefits Reps. there and would like to talk with you. You will also be able to pick up your Union ID card at the meeting, so be sure to stop in and grab your ID at the meeting

March 2018

Greetings and Happy New Year:

Hope you had wonderful holidays. We sure did, and we extended it by having our tree up for two months so we could help our sisters and brothers at 1618 decorate the tree with hats, scarves and mittens. The tree was beautiful, you can see how full it was on our 1753 Facebook page. The collection was given to disadvantaged children at many schools, and to seniors. Thank you to all who participated. We liked it so much, we will try it again next year. You can start now, maybe learn to knit. The tree was a feature at our Christmas Open House, along with the fire at the hearth. Some of us were huddled around it, that day was so cold, thanks for showing up. We warmed up with food, drink and of course our friends the people, no song this year. Good turn out this year in spite of the cold, more active workers were able to come. Looked like some fast cards were being enjoyed in the corner. A good time was had by all.

In January we went back to our usual way of coffee and donuts at 11:00 am, and lunch around 12:00. The Local provided the main dish, in this case Mancinco’s: four different grinders and side dishes to pass. We had chips and dip, fruit salad, so much candy, delicious cookies, red velvet cake, and wonderful Joannie berry pie. Sorry if there’s more that I’m forgetting. We then started our regular meeting with Al reading the minutes. He has been doing a great job in that position. Thanks Al for filling in.

February lunch and meeting was small. Did everyone remember all they were getting was soup, or was it just too cold? We must have had four or five soups, corn bread and apples. It is the month we celebrate our forefathers’ ingenuity in figuring out you have more strength in numbers. You can easily break one stick but you can’t break a whole handful of them! They gathered together in the plant and all sat down. They held on until GM was forced to talk to them and negotiate terms. It was a long strike, which is why we have meager fare on our White Shirt Day. Glad to see people in white; when we worked we tried to keep as clean as our bosses. It was not as hard to do in retirement. All we did was visit, eat lunch and have a meeting, Ha, Ha!

Just got back from sharing a big roaster with corn beef and all the appropriate Irish vegetables, and many great dishes to pass, at our March lunch and meeting. There I was reminded to turn in this article. Therefore I’ll close with: Remember we meet every 2nd Thursday of the month, except August, at the hall. Coffee is at 11:00 am, lunch is at 12:00, meeting is at 1:00 pm. If you know of someone not getting their paper, have them call and leave their address with Nancy. If you would like to receive an e-mail reminder before the meeting, leave your e-mail address with Nancy.

December 2017

Greetings from the hall! I’m writing after our November meeting and lunch. What a good time, seeing people we hadn’t seen in a while. We had a great turnout for our second dinner catered by Swede’s restaurant from Mulliken. This was melt-in-your-mouth turkey, very moist. The first time, we had delish chicken and pork, and we enjoyed letting them cook dinner for us. Also, thanks to the members who brought dessert dishes—so-o-o good!
At this meeting I reminded folks of the Region 1D trips that are coming up. April will have the Pigeon Forge and Smoky Mountains show trip. Or you could go in October to Niagara Falls and Toronto.
If you are in Sparrow hospital, you can have help to navigate the health system from our Labor Community Liaison, Claire Corr.
Local 1618 is collecting gloves and mittens to dress up the Christmas tree. I asked if we could have our members join in on the giving tree, and they said to bring them!
You can still support GM Parts by calling 1-888-484-0553 and having them send parts to your house.
There could be some good support in local government. Three of our candidates came to the CAP meeting to thank us for our endorsements and votes that helped them win. Congratulations to them.
You now have a friend your personally know on the Region 1D Retirees Executive Board. I’m proud to say I’ve been elected Sergeant-at-Arms for the board, thanks to all members.
This seems like a good time to give thanks. I’ve so enjoyed being retired and working with all of you. Lots of fun visiting, meeting, and traveling with our members and the Region 1D members (especially the New Orleans trip). But it started long ago with some members getting together for breakfast and talking about benefits. Many hard-working chairmen before me helped to get this chapter started. I got involved when we were told to meet if we wanted a Retirees Chapter. Thanks to all those people who attended, and especially you who stepped up.
Thank you to all who attended rallies against the Right-to-Work-for-Less. Many of you attend meetings, some just showed up when you heard of all the different rallies at the Capitol. It was good seeing so many and all kinds, all shapes. A big thanks to all the members who are activists, who are willing to step up and help with whatever this Local needs. We need you all.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Please come to the Christmas open house on Thursday, December 14, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. You can bring all the gloves and mittens you want, they will go to the needy. We will light the fire, have food and drinks, and enjoy fun with co-workers of the past. You don’t have to bring a dish to pass. Maybe we could sing some Christmas carols. This open house is for all members, retired and active. This way we can hear new work stories. I’ll be thinking of you.

September 2017

Hello, everyone. The leaves are turning, the fall is almost on us. I will fill you in on what we have been up to. Annually, we have a picnic, and we did this year. Traditional style, we had burgers and dogs on the grill. Thanks as always to the chefs and all the people who helped make it a fun day. Dale won the dessert contest; as you know, chocolate is always a favorite. We also had some raffle prizes.
We’ve had meetings with great discussions on fraud against seniors, including the IRS or the police calling you for money. In fact, they won’t give you a cold call, only if you have previously dealt with them on a specific item. Many folks gave examples where they thwarted wrongdoers. The best was a call about a hurt child, possibly a niece. Because of what was taught at our meeting, Norm asked, “Do you mean Suzy?” And the voice said yes, so he knew he had them, for his nieces did not have that name. You can do that also. Be sharp, don’t give info or money over the phone.
We also have some shared interest in some of the news items we see on TV or the internet. When they were talking about cuts to Social Security and Medicare we sent postcards to our representatives in Washington saying hands off! This affects everyone; this is our future.
August saw the luncheon at the Royal Scot. This was our fourth time there, and each time we see more of our 1753 retires come out. Is it their great food (succulent chicken)? Or our fabulous cookies? And bonus this year, we had cake that was provided by Costco. They’re moving into our area and we hope they will unionize here and join us in brother- and sisterhood. Also attending were the wonderful vendors from our health providers and credit unions. They provide prizes for our raffle as well as our host, Royal Scot. These are the people we trust and rely on every day, thank you.
At our September meeting, we had a great sunny day for getting the grill out and finishing off leftover dogs and burgers. With the help of Denny and many of the members we made a hotdog bar with chili, cheese and guacamole. Linda brought sauerkraut to top it off perfectly. It all went so well with the salad dishes and fixings that our members brought to pass. Walt donated back to the local a free bowling card he won at the August luncheon, thanks. The raffle was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, we heard of more senior fraud alerts from our friends at AARP. There were so many I made copies for everyone to take home. You should also pay attention to the Equifax security breach, follow the steps to see if you may be affected by it.
Next month on October 12 our retiree lunch will be catered. We wanted to do something a little different to encourage more attendance. It’s also a nice way to say goodbye to some of our snowbirds and get out of cooking lunch. We will still meet at 11:00 am for coffee and donuts, 12 noon lunch, and 1:00 meeting. Hope to see you there.

May 2017

Summertime, let’s get the barbecue and the lemonade out. I know you are busy this summer. I hope you will have time to occasionally check in with us.
Did you know May is older Americans month? Enjoy.
A lot of folks we had not seen in a while stopped in for our pizza lunch and the May meeting, or stopped in to vote, or called us to be put on our contact list though they could not be there. Thanks for all of your input, I appreciate all of you.
We also sometimes hear from some retirees just to update us on what they are up to. At the meeting I mentioned that Dennis Slowinski, Rick King, Doug Jenks and I were at the euchre tournament and using great skill, Rick King placed  fourth in a tie.  Congratulations and thanks for representing us, guys, hope you liked the lunch that went with it. 
The UAW retirees travel committee is always posting new trips. I’ve been on one, they’re great. 
Get your calendars out for some updates, as follows:
June 3, Labor Holiday 80th Anniversary in front of City Hall in downtown Lansing.
June 8, retiree picnic at the hall. We will grill hot dogs and hamburgers. And of course our dessert contest. Good luck to all, though I hope all our previous winners will be there, too.
June 10 is our Hall clean-up day, from 10 am to 2 pm. I would love to pull everything from storage and go through it all.
June 17, 9 am to 3 pm, flea market, a first for us. We are planning on inside tables for $10, outside space $5, outside tables $5. Call 517- 487-1753 and reserve by June 8 at 4 pm 
June 24 is the Local 1753 picnic here at the hall. You are invited, and of course we are looking for help.
August 8 is The Royal Scot luncheon for all Lansing area retirees. Coffee at11, lunch around noon. They put on a good spread, hope to see you there. NOTE: this replaces our regular August meeting.  
Sept 15 is another Euchre Tournament at 602. Sign in 9 am, 10 am play begins, noon is a free light lunch. I can’t wait to see you again.

March 2017

Greeting and salutations, brothers and sisters. This spring is acting like it has already sprung, I hope you are enjoying the early nice weather.
The Retirees really had a fabulous White Shirt Day soup lunch, with half a dozen different kinds of tasty soups for us. I am so proud of how far this little local has come, this was the best one ever.
The February meeting went well. We had good news in the obits department. We had Sally (Clara) Siebert call and say there was a mistake in the Labor News! Although she did die on the table, they revived her and she is alive! Of course her church is still doing the salad luncheons; we are all invited. (I’ve been there and they are good).
We all talked about a spring cleaning out at home and bringing it in and having a garage sale here at the hall. We have a great location. You can rent a table or, when they run out, bring one and rent a space for yourself. Think about it. We will also have a table for donations to the Local, please only good stuff! All proceeds from the Local will go to charity! The date picked was Saturday, June 17 , from 9 am to 3 pm. Let us hope we have good weather. 
The Lansing CAP was offering community service class on scholarship and I took it, will report at our meeting.
Get your calendars out and mark May 11. There will be a Retirees Executive Board and the General Election at the hall. Remember, you can run and vote except for Bargaining Committee positions! (See Election notice in this edition.)
Meanwhile, I need to thank the five retirees who stepped up to serve the Local on the Election Committee. They are Joan Edmonds, Sharon Knopf, Walt Mansfield, Linda Nichols and Al Vincent. These people will save the Local lots of money since they don’t require lost time. 
Reminder: new legal services plan to begin opening cases. You can call them toll free at 1-800-482-7700.
What does everyone think about ham for April, sort of an Easter nod?

January 2017

Hope you are all enjoying the new year! By the time you read this we should have already watched the peaceful transition of power from one party to another. This equality and fairness as well as many other high ideals are what make this a great country that others look up to. These are good traits that we can strive to keep.
Now that the new year is here, a reminder for new and old retires: elections will be held in April or May. Think about it. We would love to have you run and join us, please come to a meeting. As you may remember, the local buys the main dish and a side dish and you bring a dish to pass. Lunch is at 12 noon, we have coffee and donuts at 11 a.m., our meeting follows lunch. There you may pick up a stamped calender. Thanks to our wonderful e-board, who had a stamping party for both retirees’ and active workers’ calenders. They are available at our meetings, the second Thursday of the month.
The retirees also keep a phone book. The local can’t give out your phone number, only you can by writing it in the book. This is only for other retirees.
We have other resources for you, like a UAW file concerning your estate papers. Also a national identification program kit.
The retirees meetings are for you; they can be as fun or as informative as you want. We usually have a benefit representative at every meeting to help you through the red tape.
At the last meeting we announced the next UAW trip to the Myrtle Beach Show Trip and Charleston, SC.  Also, the explore Alaska trip. Paperwork was handed out to all the folks. You can tell us where you would like to travel.
Announced at the meeting, the annual Capital Area Community Service’s Walk for Warmth. The funds collected go to utility bills. This year’s walk will be February 25. For questions, please call 203-5027.
At our regular meeting on February 9, we’re going to do a soup lunch in honor of the sitdown strikers who sat down all those years ago for us. It’d be nice to have a variety of soup, since that’s probably all they could afford when they were on strike. Bring your favorite. We’ll have apples, too.
Good news, the UAW/GM Legal has given us a new number for the end of the month; it is 1-800-482-7700 
Obits: Geneva Hodge, Tom Gilmore, Burt Bohnett, Marcellus (Mark) Love, Mike Miller, Sally Siebert, Lynn Sedelmaier, William(Andy) McFarlan and Hal Andrews. Remember, I can only report the Obits that I hear about, I’m in the book.

December 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters, we made it through the most grueling 18 months in political history. Congratulations, though a majority of the folks are not feeling like winners. I think the best quote of the season was that he may not be good for the nation but he is great for CBS. I am paraphrasing here, but you may agree it was a lot of TV coverage that the other 25 or so candidates did not enjoy.
Review and restructuring is always talked about after any election but this one was so bad, I feel we should all work for change. Many people could not even watch the news in their own living room.
I’ve always thought equal time for each candidate (even those little parties) would be the American thing to do. One idea could be a platform talk on PBS. All the presidential candidates could speak for, say, 20 minutes. The Senate and Representatives maybe 15 minutes, the rest of the Supervisors, Trustees, Commissioners and Prosecutors lesser times for smaller jobs right down the line. No interruptions, no posturing, just their position on their platform. That way you could look up races of personal interest to you and not the others. That would allow the big corporate news to go on with entertainment news coverage, which seems to be their favorite.
At the time of this writing they were still counting the votes, so I can only speak to the last few times that a candidate won the electoral college but not the popular vote. In 1824, John Quincy Adams; 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes; 1888, Benjamin Harrison; and 2000 George W. Bush. That’s four times, some people say five, with the four-way cluster that Woodrow Wilson and the others shared in 1912.
As a group I think we are smart enough for each person to cast one vote and that your driver’s license and/or state issued ID should be your registration. Think how easy it would be to vote by mail, no worry about hanging chads or a computer hacking of your vote. Oregon, Washington, and Colorado have been voting this way for a while with no problems; their clerks count it once and they’re done. Do you have better ideas, please talk to your Representative.
The Halloweenie Roast happened and both shifts enjoyed deluxe dogs or coneys to taste (since they fixed their own) plus chips, pop and candy treats. We were very lucky with all our volunteers in the plant and of course our retirees Nancy Munchbach, Dennis Slowinski and I. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday.
Point of interest for Star Wars fans: there will be a fundraiser for Freedom Farms on Saturday, January 14 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. At VFW 4090 at 1324 East Bridge St, Portland 48875. Questions, call Nancy at 517-566- 7380
Also another fundraiser is the Festival of Trees, happening at the Turner Dodge House, Dec 3 through January 3. Hours are Saturdays 12-8; Sundays 12-6; Tuesday—Friday 10-5. Holiday family fun.
Our December meeting was not a meeting, it was a party! The annual 1753 Christmas Open House. I can’t think of a group more deserving to have a party. The Local paid for pizza, drink and treats.
Merry Christmas!

September 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters, it looks like the election is finally arriving after all that fanfare—make sure that you are in it! Many UAW members are busy calling you at home, walking to drop off literature at your house, all trying to remind you to vote. If you see the UAW logo, open it and read it. The UAW leads the fight for working folk; let’s support our endorsements. You have to be in it to win it, it’s our future.
The spring Euchre tournament went well with these winners: Kevin Lincoln 467, Dave Lwanski 735, Dale McClellan 652, Ed Short 599, Chris Balog 599. From our local, Denny Slowinski, Rick King, Doug Bachelor, Doug Jenks and I were in attendance.
I was also in attendance for our local 1753 hall clean-up day. A big thank-you to Mike Shumway; because he came, I was not the only person from our local. Eight people were working and eating pizza. Thanks to Local 1618 and their Connie and Curtis Dunn, Judy and Jerry Hunt, Sue and Dick Torgerson. Good job, folks, you are the cream at the top!
The Hall looked great for our 1753 picnic. We had good weather and a good turnout. Greg Hutchinson and Denny Slowinski did a great job flipping burgers and rolling the dogs, as they usually do.
It’s always a good time seeing old friends sitting back in the sunshine, eating too much good food. We gave away 10 door prizes, this was a first time and people who won liked it. Let us know what you think, and any other ideas. The dessert contest was pretty and tasty. Linda Nichols won with pretzel and cherries; second place was Peggy Snell with carrot cake; and third place was Shirley Abright and her wonderful pineapple upside down cake. Good job to all and of course the winners. Please enjoy your prizes, folks, and everyone think about next year’s goodies.
September’s Euchre party sounded great with a 10 a.m. start. The winners were Dave Lwanski-IAC, Ken Pratt-602, Joyce Kloeckner-652. There was a three-way tie for fourth place and guess who caused that? Our own Dennis Slownski was not going home without the money, the same for Dale McClelland-652 or Bill Michike-602.
Our next meeting will be on October 13. Coffee and donuts and chat at 11:00, lunch around 12:00, meeting to follow.
Don’t forget the seventh annual Veterans Charity Chili cook-off. That will be on Saturday, October 22 from 1:00-4:00 p.m., hosted at the Local 652 hall.
For November’s meeting we are thinking of having a veteran come in and give a short talk of his experiences. Looking forward to see all of you soon!

May 2016
Hello Local, happy spring. Are you feeling the burn or do you think she is on her way up? Maybe you’ve been trumped out already, or going on a cruz. Whatever you feel, we have seen more coverage of politics than ever before. It may not be the professional League of Women Voters debates or substantial policy positions, but I think it will be a big turnout. That is one great reason to be an absentee voter. The other is the changes they have made at the polling place. The lines to check you in will be long. Plus, you now can’t vote straight ticket anymore, which will make longer lines.
Most of us know how important it is to vote, and most are willing to stand in line no matter how long it takes. But remember how little time you felt you had when you worked, had kids, or were in school. Let’s not be the reason voters are turned off or walk away.
February’s meeting fell on White Shirt Day; thanks to the folks who remembered to wear theirs. We all enjoyed the soup and apples, but because of those previous members for whom that day was named, we had a good meeting and great desserts!
March’s lunch was corned beef and cabbage cooked by our Financial Secretary Nancy Munchbach. It was very tasty. At the meeting we congratulated Walt Mansfield for running in the Local’s election. Though he did not win, we appreciate him and his continued interest in the Local and all of our futures.
In April your Executive Board and I took the easy way out and just got Mancino’s for lunch. Thank goodness for our great chefs in this Local: with all the deviled eggs, side dishes and three—count ’em, three—homemade pies, you made our store-bought feel homemade.
Mentioned at the meeting was that our past president Ray Whitford was
in the hospital. We all wished him the best.
On May 7 we will have a hall clean-up day, starting at 10:00 a.m. Workers may be cleaning inside and/or outside, depending on the weather. Pizza and pop will be provided for lunch.
June 9 is our own Local 1753 picnic here at the Local. There is a big yard here and I have a Frisbee.
The August meeting is changed because of the Lansing Area Retiree Workers Council having a luncheon for all of us in the area. That’s Tuesday, August 9. 11:00 sign-in followed by lunch at noon. See the box on this page for more info.
The breakfast bunch meets at Spuds at 10:30 on the fourth Monday of the month. We will try this time until at least the next article comes out. Hope to see you soon.
January 2016
Happy New Year! Hope you had a great time with friends and family over your holidays. We generally stay busy at that time. This year was no different. There was the big Christmas open house from 1 to 5, which allowed people from both shifts to stop in. The tree was up, the fire was roaring. Attendance for active workers was up, and retirees really appreciate hearing the latest info from the plant. Of course the visiting with folks you have not seen in a while and having the finger foods from the local and the great food brought in by our members is pretty good, too. I’d say a good time was had by all.
We did our annual Christmas charity and even got thank-yous back to the meeting in January. The local would like to thank all the members who supported the Old News Boys whether you bought the paper, voted ahead of time to put our name into it or sold them in the plant, like Al Vincent, Harry Emmons, Nancy Munchbach and me. We helped Josh Webb and Brian Wesley from the plant, they were fun to work with.
The January lunch and meeting had a lower turnout, as we expected—the snow birds were in their warmer climates. Which left way more roast for us! The reward for hanging tough in our own state is to have the secret recipe a la Roast Nichols, they do it low and slow. Thanks to Linda and her husband Lyle, who are great chefs. They repeated what they did last year. Instead of the local buying the main dish, or the executive board or Nancy Munchbach, we gave the check and the shopping list to her and waited for dinner to come to us, yay!
We’ve had other members do lunch for us, like Peggy Goins with those tasty turkey roll-ups and other dishes. You remember the summer fish fry! Bruce Savage caught and fried all of them. We know there are great chefs out there, let me know if something like that sounds interesting to you.
Next month, White Shirt Day, February 11, falls on our lunch and meeting day. Please remember to wear a white shirt in honor of our original sit-downers who were just looking for respect when they sat down. “We always tried to keep our shirts as clean as our bosses when we worked.”
For February lunch we would like everyone to bring your favorite soup. This was a sit-downers regular meal for when you don’t have much you can add water to stretch it. Don’t worry if you can’t make soup, bring something else or we have a donation can. The main thing is to bring yourself. Come to the lunch and meeting, we start out with coffee and visiting at 11:00, lunch at noon and a short meeting follows. Generally every second Thursday of the month; don’t stay home and get cabin fever.
Another way to beat the fever is to join your Walk for Warmth. This is a statewide program that raises funds to help low income families with utility bills. 100% stays in your city or county. If you don’t want to walk, you may still donate. Call 205-5027 for info. I know many other groups who need volunteers, so let me know of you’re interested.
The breakfast group wondered if they moved the breakfast around to different restaurants would they see more members, besides trying fun and new places and new food? The idea would be talked over at the retirees meeting and the restaurant would be picked. We will meet there on the fourth Monday of the month.
In this election year, please remember to vote. You can tell just how important it is as you see our legislators thinking of more ways to slow us down from voting, like voter ID. The city clerk had previous checked you out when he or she gave you your voter registration. How about getting rid of straight ticket party voting? That’s a way to make the voting lines longer. You know these attacks on working folks are also union attacks. Like Senate Bill 280. It’s crafted to say you don’t get your committee-person till after work, on your and his personal time. Please consider writing to your reps and senators on this and other matters that affect you, especially against the TTP which will hurt all Americans and the actual country!
Reminder: The 1753 June 9 meeting is a picnic at the Local. You can still bring a dish to pass.
Region 1D Lansing Area Retiree Council will hold their annual luncheon for retirees on Tuesday, August 9 at the Royal Scot. More information in the next issue of the Labor News.
December 2015
Hello everyone. Hope you had a nice Labor Day, whether you went to a parade or just enjoyed the holiday that the Labor movement created. We want to remember all the people and hard work that went into making the gains in life we now enjoy.
In September we also had the Retirees Euchre. I was very pleased when our own Luther Dickerson won first place and then, icing on the cake, Denny Slowinski came in third place. Congratulations! Both placed in the money, as they say.
We must give a big thank you to all the folks, active and retired, who came and helped out on our local work day. The hall is so much cleaner and brighter. I think we will save a bunch of energy (hear money) with the installation of automatic lights.
At the September meeting we used up all our leftovers, which made it real easy to try something new and different for the next couple of months. As you may remember, the local usually buys the main dish plus one side dish for people who aren’t able to bring a dish to pass.
In October we had DeLuca’s pizza and in November we had a catered dinner of chicken, lasagna, taco salad, rolls, green beans, potatoes and gravy. This was not a cheap date! Please let me or another Executive board member know what you thought honestly.
It was nice to see a few new faces at the meeting. One gentleman hadn’t been to the hall in about 25 years. What fun, things like that make me feel better about things like reporting on obits.
We had a few members, like me, who went on the Region 1-D Travel Committee’s New Orleans trip. We all had a good time. The Travel Committee is already working on new and bigger trips. I’ll bring new flyers to the meetings.
I attended the Veterans’ chili cook off. This was its fifth year, another wonderful year for a tasty fundraiser! It was great to see Ray Whitford’s granddaughter enter, as well as Mandy DeMars who is an active worker representing our local. I believe she won third. We would also like to thank Dotty Danahy for attending the CAP conference downtown and giving the political report back to us. We see every day how important politics is to us, from the potholes we drive in to the lead we drink.
December is right around the corner. Let’s all remember to be kind to one another; people are under stress at this time of year. Helping others makes you feel better; it’s one way to help.
The Old Newsboys special edition goes on sale December third, Thursday, at the warehouse and around town. Money raised goes for shoes, boots and socks for Lansing area kids. We also have a Lions box at the hall to collect and recycle old glasses and hearing aids. Help where you can.
We are looking for updates for addresses. If you have address changes, please call the Local at (517) 487-1753. If you know of people who are not receiving the Labor News, please have them call the Local with their address.
The Christmas open house is Thursday, December 10, 1-5 p.m. (NOTE TIME CHANGE)—or longer if the refreshments hold out.
Correction to my September article: the third place winner was not Larry Bohnett; in fact it was Mary Bohnett. Sorry, Mary.
In closing, I hope you all enjoy this holiday season with friends and family.
September 2015
Busy summer, how bout you? I must start this article with a couple of corrections. The first is from our retiree meetings. We usually start our meetings with announcements of any deaths that have occurred since our last meeting and pass around the obits. Well, this time our respected friend and fellow retiree had spoken to our respected friend and fellow retiree who got it from the Facebook of a respected friend and fellow retiree that Febe Velasquez had passed away. This was kind of embarrassing, of course, when Febe showed up at the next month’s meeting. He said that they had recently posted the tragic passing of their beloved dog Fifi. Maybe I should check out this Facebook just to keep an eye on y’all. Please continue to call and to bring in obits and other news we should have, here at the Local.
The other was in my last article to you when I spoke of the passing of our dear friend Ed Ledvina. I mistakenly used the word “count” and the word I should have used was “efficiency.” Back in the day that was the name of the ever-moving number you were given for your rate per hour. They did not care if you got hurt, so as you made that number, it was always raised, it never stayed the same. So for safety reasons, Ed was on time. He checked each part, packing each part carefully according to our SOP. He did every thing just the way that they wanted but he did it in a safe manner. Ed always counted with us!
I would like to thank the retirees’ Executive board for their fine work on this year’s picnic. July is a great month for a cook-out. The burgers and dogs were great, hot off the grill, thanks, guys.
The prize winners at the picnic were: First prize, Joyce Davis; Second prize,  Peggy Snell; Third prize: Larry Bohnett
August saw our annual UAW Lansing Area luncheon at Royal Scot. It was great, no dish to pass, the food was delicious, there were prizes and you got to see your friends. I spoke in between on the 36 reasons why you should thank a Union. We did not have enough prizes to list them all but if you get a hold of me I’ll give them all to you.
This year we are having a work day at the Hall, September 17 at 12:00. Last year we ended up with a cleaner, brighter and a fresher smelling Local. Let’s do it again. Please bring cleaning supplies, tools for inside and outside work. Does anyone still cut trees on the side?
September 19 is the date of the Local 1618 pancake breakfast here at 1753 from 8:30 to11:00. It’s $6.00 or $3.00 for kids.
Retirees Euchre is Friday, September 25, 12:00 at the 652 hall. Please arrive 15 minutes early for registration, cash prizes given.
Our Local will have our regular September meeting on Thursday, September 10. Coffee and donuts at 11:00, lunch usually starts at noon with meeting to follow. We will grill to use up leftovers and add Polish dogs if needed. Bring dish to pass, a friend, or just meet us here!

May 2015

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter with your family and friends. Here at the Local we tried to get away from the traditional ham and fixing dinner so we ordered Mancino’s. We had a variety of sandwiches that we cut down in size. That way we could sample lots of different types. We are grateful to all our fabulous chefs for all of their “dish-to-passes.” I know we don’t give prizes during the year but I think they deserve to get one.
Speaking of a deserving person, that’s you! You put in your thirty years, you paid your dues, you are a member in good standing. You should be going to Black Lake! All retired folks are eligible and those who signed up with their Local will be going at the end of May.
If I were to plan a talk at Black Lake, I would start with moves to expand Social Security benefits that ensures solvency of the program. Like our friends Bernie Sanders-I, Elizabeth Warren -D and Joe Manchin-D tried to do. The cap could be lifted above the current $118,500.
Then there is always the darn Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which would likely raise our prescription drug cost, though we Americans already pay the highest drug prices in the world. Not to mention that it could effectively negate any laws in your city, state or even our nation. Do you remember NAFTA and the drain of jobs? I (and the UAW and AFL-CIO and Trade watch.org and others) believe this is more of the same and this could end our race to the bottom! Why can’t they put the word FAIR in the agreement instead of just on title on top of the agreement? We should have them come up to our standard just as we should to theirs, if theirs are higher.
This reminds me of my good friend and co-worker Ed Ledvina who passed away April 2. Ed was probably the first person to join me in our Union Label Committee. He was anti-NAFTA like me and, of course, talked Gary Folkringa into joining the committee. We started small with raffling hams or turkeys to raise money for “Buy Union, Buy American” bumper stickers in our Local. Because of Ed and other good union people, we were able to take Union Label to the Tri-County level, to the Region level and even the State level. Before he retired we had billboards on the highways.
Ed lived by the motto Buy American in all of his purchases and he supported Union Labor whenever he could. I hope it cheers you up to hear that Ed got the most reasonable American-made coffin. Eddie always made me smile, as he found time to smile at all of his co-workers. He might not always make the count but he worked in a safe manner and had good quality always. Ed’s wife Joni asked in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the 1753 Union Label fund. It is indeed an honor that we will be able to oversee such a wonderful and thoughtful memorial. I sure will miss you, Ed.
Region 1-D travel club has come up with two great trips: New Orleans, 7 days 6 nights, $529; and Pigeon Forge and Smoky Mt. Show Trip $525—both October 4-10. If you are interested, call Connie Garner Dunn at (517) 323-2146. 
Did I see you at the Euchre Tournament April 17? No, I did not, unless your name begins in a D. I will give you the list of people who won first through fifth: Marlene Courser of 652, Jerry Degner of 652, Vince Lettam of 652, Dale McClelland of 652, and Lyle Elsenheimer, just to be different, is from 602. They were in the money, though we all won ourselves a good time and a great lunch and some fun camaraderie for free, thanks to our Regional Recreation Committee.
Personal hygiene product collection to be distributed to homeless veterans at our 12th Annual Capital Area Stand Down for Homeless Veterans on May 20 at Adado Riverfront Park, Lansing. If you have products that you would like to donate, please bring to our next meeting, I’ll turn them in.
Reminder of note: this is a change of our picnic from June to July 9 here at the Local at noon. This change should allow car show folks a chance to come on down to the hall. Possibly get in the best dessert contest, win a prize, visit with people you haven’t seen in a while.
Also of note, we are changing our August meeting to the Lansing Area Retirees Luncheon, August 13. This will be at the Royal Scot, 4722 W. Grand River Ave. Doors open at 11 a.m. for coffee, lunch at noon.
Thursday, May 14 is our next meeting here at the hall lunch at noon; coffee and donuts at 11:00. Please bring a dish to pass.

January 2015

Happy New Year! Hope you had a nice holiday. We here at the local 1753 Christmas open house had a bash. Nancy had a fire in the hearth and carols were being played. The local provided cold cuts, meatballs, dishes of all sorts and we have very nice members who brought extras. We saw many members that we had not seen for some time. It was nice to see the number of active members was up from last year. We tried to encourage everyone to attend future meetings by handing out calenders for this year that are stamped with meeting dates. If you do not have yours, come to the next meeting to receive it and you can get with the times (as they say).
Attendance at the monthly retirees meetings has been up; as you may remember the local usually buys the main dish. Now we have taken to adding a side dish. This is so all people will know that it is OK if you forgot it at home. It’s OK if you made cookies for us and then the grandkids showed up and you let them eat them! It’s OK even if you just can’t cook! Come to the meeting and eat lunch and visit. Bring ideas for activities. I’ve suggested Bingo in the past. Maybe you would like to play cards during coffee or after the meeting. Is it time for another card party? These questions and more may be discussed at the next meeting.
Our Region, now 1-D, is into cards and continuing the euchre party on Friday, April 17 at the 602 hall. Remember, you must show up early to register for the 9:00 a.m. start time. There will be cash prizes awarded. If you would like to volunteer to work it, call me.
This year is the 25th annual Capital Area Community Service’s Walk for Warmth. The Walk for Warm is a state-wide program for assistance for utility bills. This year’s walk will be Saturday, February 28. If you can help or have any questions, call 203-5027.
Next meeting is February 12; this will be a soup lunch in honor of our sit-downers who ate not much more. We are looking for all types. Bring your favorites. Looking forward to seeing you–bring a dish to pass or bring yourself!

December 2014
Dear Retirees, I hope you and yours had a good Thanksgiving. The retirees at the November meeting enjoyed pork loin from the local and a feast from all the wonderful chefs. Some of our people can really cook, and we had some great dishes to pass.
For you at-home readers: We are seeing more people stepping out and showing up. Some come early for a visit, coffee and donuts at 11:00. Most people arrive at 12:00 for lunch and camaraderie. Nowadays people are quite engaged when the business meeting starts at 1:00. We try to let everyone have a voice and a vote.
The two things I like best are: 1) If we can bring new info to you. Please feel free to take paperwork home. 2) More people are staying after for clean-up. Whether you’re sweeping the floor, Swiffering spilled coffee, or just doing a sink of dishes, every little thing helps. More hands make light work! This helps our hard-working E-Board.
Speaking of work, great job on the Hall work day. I was so impressed by how many were able to come help; some even brought their own tools. This was on very short notice, brought up between our meetings. Half of the group was made up of retirees. We took back the yard, which had started to turn to jungle.
Of course, we could not forget the inside and all those chairs. We also cleaned and changed lights. Vents which never to my knowledge had ever been cleaned before got cleaned. Sharon got into organizing the kitchen so much that she came back the next day to finish. It might’ve been our fault she didn’t finish, because we probably forced her to stop and eat pizza. It was a great, day I hope you enjoyed it and recovered as well as I did.
If you have been thinking of stopping at the Hall, this is a good time. December 11th, between 1:00-5:00, will be the Christmas Open House. We will have snacks and beverages from the local. The fun and songs you must bring with you! If you want to bring anything, remember, it can sit from 1-5. Do not come early; doors will open at 1:00!
Regular coffee, lunch and meeting will begin again next year. The same second Thursday of the month. You can recycle your old glasses and hearing aids; we have a Lions box at the Hall due to a member who belongs to this great group.
I believe our meetings are informative with a benefit rep there to answer all your     questions, but others missed having our October benefit meeting. Because of that I well try to fit one in the first couple of months.
Meanwhile, remember all retirees are getting eye and dental coverage back next year without you doing any thing. This is through the VEBA that the UAW set up. Not GM if you have questions, call your benefit rep at 517-885-6534. Retirees, we are putting on the Christmas party for ourselves and the active workers, so let’s make it a big shindig!

September 2014
Happy Days—the UAW 1753 June Picnic came off without too many hitches. For those not there, we got the grill out, and Hutch and the boys manned the grill. They produced hot dogs and hamburgers for the gang. Jim (Sharon’s dad) ran the popcorn maker. Shirley Albright came all the way from Ionia to win the dessert contest (it looked good ). We rented the tent from Tom as we have in the past, but we (the Executive Board) are wondering if we get enough use of it. Should we play croquet, horseshoes or bean bag toss? Please let us know of your thoughts on that and any others that could improve the picnic.

Special thank-you to the retirees for those who made the extra trip to the active meeting in June in support of Nancy against the election protest. I believe their speaking out really shifted the balance in her favor. The general membership voted against the protest 19 to 3 with the majority for the election and run-off results.
The Lansing Area Council of Retired Workers had their election in June and I was re-elected their chairperson; thank-you to everyone involved. I mention this because I helped spearhead the move from their annual picnic by this group to a luncheon instead. The lunch was held August 12th at the Royal Scot. I believe it was OK since 85 people more than last year attended, but we will find out when we read the suggestions for next year. I would like to hear from you, my friends: did you like it and would you go again?
Neither of these luncheons would have been as successful without the help of either of our wonderful executive boards.

May 2014
What a busy, fun-filled month. The executive board checked out the grill just to make sure that it wintered over OK. Great dinner, folks. People at the April meeting found that it worked very well on brats, even better on hot dogs. Fun was had by all, though we heard that Flint won the Euchre tourney. We had a couple of fellows who played in it. Next year we can try again, practice!
We also had retiree elections, everyone won by acclamation, thank you for returning a great Executive board and thanks to the board for running.
The active Local also had their election, as many of you know. If you did not, you may not be receiving your Lansing Labor News; call Nancy at hall and leave your address. We had two retirees in the running, Nancy Munchbach and Al Vincent. We are sorry Al was not reelected. Nancy was in a runoff and won. Thank you to all of you whose effort made that possible.
Apologies to those whose personal space I infringed on. I was glad to see you so I hugged you, but I can back down to a hand shake at the next meeting. Everybody knows how excited I get at elections.
Speaking of the next meeting, the 1753 picnic this year will be Thursday, June 12 at noon, right here at the hall. We will be renting a tent again and having a dessert contest with prizes. Please let us know if you have new ideas or plans concerning the picnic.
The Lansing Area Retirees Council has worked hard this year to improve the Region 1-C picnic (more banquet than picnic). This year it will be at noon, Tuesday, August 12 at the Royal Scot. Come EARLY to sign in and get a ticket for a door prize. This will be a totally catered affair. You will not need to bring table settings or a dish to pass. This should alleviate the bunching around the dessert line. It will be inside so we can meet regardless of weather and I think you will be able to hear if you are called on to win a prize. Hope to see all of you there.

March, 2014
This month I’ll be updating you to picnics and the Euchre Tournament besides catching you up. Last month we warmed up with homemade soup and self-made sandwiches. Thanks to the Executive board members who always come through for us. You are always invited to bring a dish to pass, it adds the personal touch besides what the local provides
We also need to thank Lamar Knox. He reported on the Community Service classes that he is attending thanks to the UAW CAP Council. This is great for the Local and a first for our retired members, to be informed and involved.
Speaking of CAP, they had the annual drawing and once again I did not win the car. Though there were three lucky winners in the local. One of those being our retiree George Nelson. Congratulation! George knows you can’t win if you don’t play. I’ll be in it to win it again next year, hope you will also.
Reminder May is when we usually have elections for the local’s officers. Please watch for the date and support any retirees running like Nancy Munchbach, Al Vincent, Linda Nichols and Mark Daniels. I would like to thank all these retirees and Steve Carr who have given their personal time and energies to have served this last term. 
The Euchre Tournament this year will be Wednesday May 7 at Local 602. Start time is 9:00 a.m. but I would be there at 8:45 to sign in and get seated. Remember, you do not need a partner, this is progressive Euchre. Retirees this is a good deal: free play, with lunch and a cash prize for winners, you can’t lose!
The 1753 picnic this year will be Thursday, June 12 at noon at the hall. We will be looking to rent a tent again this year. Let us know if you have new ideas or plans concerning the picnic.
The Lansing Area Retirees council has worked hard this year to improve the Region 1-C picnic (more banquet than picnic). This year it will be at noon, Tuesday, August 12 at the Royal Scott. This will be a totally catered affair. You will not need to bring table settings or a dish to pass. This should alleviate the bunching around the dessert line. It will be inside so we can meet regardless of weather and I think you will be able to hear if you are called on to win
a door prize. I hope to see you there.
Keep your eyes peeled for election information. Voting in the local election for retirees helps the Union save money and we all know that’s a good idea.

January, 2014
Hello everyone, Happy New Year!

Thank you to the retirees executive board and all the holiday revelers who attended the 1753 Christmas party. Special thanks to Sharon Knopf, Denny Slowinski and Nancy Munch-bach, who came early to set up. Also, thanks to members active and retired who brought treats and helped clean up. Brian Fox, former executive board member, deserves a huge thanks. He got to the party late, but he too brought refreshments.
Brian was not the only elected officer past or present who was there. The retirees enjoyed seeing and visiting with the officers and representatives they have voted for in the past. We did the whole eat, drink and be merry.
Many got photo books out and reminisced sitting by the fire. The fireplace was furnished by Pam and Hal  Andrews, and the fire by Nancy Munchbach. Pizza was ordered as needed, Christmas carols sung on the hour. All agreed it was a splendid Christmas party.
We should all be proud of our members both active and retired who were involved in fund-raising. Both local charities, St. Vincent and the Lansing Area Food Bank, will benefit from our busy brothers’ and sisters’ generosity, thank you.
Last year we had an out-reach to retirees and their spouses to join the membership. We were pleased so many of you responded and were nice enough to include your share. Thank you.
If you pay and have not received your “Proud to Pay MY Dues!” button, see me at the next meeting. Every month is a good month to pay your dues, but the first of the year is a good reminder if you and your spouse were thinking about it.
Reminder, the Florida picnic is coming up! Tuesday February 18 in Bradenton at the American Legion, 24000 75th Street West, register at 11a.m., eat at noon. Call 517-626-2398 for more info, snowbirds.
Speaking of picnics, we are looking to shake up the Region 1C Lansing area-wide picnic. The parks are now charging a fee for each car entering on top of a pavilion fee.
So if you know a nice area or a good caterer please let me know. For all that cost we deserve a nice venue and a catered meal with no muss or fuss (no dish to pass) for our retirees.
It’s hard to believe that spring will ever come back, but if it does ... think about retirees up north. If you have not been to Black Lake since retirement you and your spouse are eligible. Put yourself on the list. Educate yourself on all manner of issues important to retirees and their associates. Call me or leave your name and number at the hall.
No date is set for elections but look for them to be in May. Remember to vote and support your retired brothers and sisters.
Next meeting is on the second Thursday of the month, February 13. Generally we have coffee at 11:00 a.m., lunch at 12:00 noon and a short meeting to
follow. I do hope to see you at the next one!

December, 2013

I hope Thanksgiving found each of you enjoying your home, family and friends. We as union members have this plus the Union to be thankful for. So many others are suffering through this downturn.
Thinking of the season, at last month’s meeting we decided to donate to Toys for Tots; the previous meeting supported Old News Boys. If you bought one of these spoof papers on December 5, you can see our local’s name in it as an early contributor. When you buy the paper the money goes to shoes and boots for
kids, letting them go to school. We can all be proud of the efforts of our group to help others in the area, especially children.
We like to have fun in between meetings, too. A small crew of us traveled up together to Uncle John’s Cider Mill, and met there for a tasting. Uncle John’s produces wine, cider and baked goods. We of course tried all of their wares and brought some home. Not straight home, of course. We did a car caravan following each other. We hit Bellingar’s for turkey jerky, Shepardsville party store for chicken salad and Tom’s Western Store for doodads. A great day was had by all.
Your officers were well represented at this year’s Halloweenie Roast in the warehouse. Nancy Munchbach, Dennis Slowinski and I, helped along with a great group of active workers, cooked and handed out hot dogs and treats to both shifts. This yearly event is a great way for the local to “treat” the membership.
Our local also had couples on each of Region 1C’s three buses to Branson, Mo. We think this will be only the first of many: Vegas, Cape Cod and New Orleans. All of our people loved it and gave glowing reports, even our first timers.
I can’t possibly list all of the things we’ve done. There is so much unsaid and more if you like, it’s up to you. We have covered everything from benefits through camaraderie. You can pick what is next!
We are stronger in a group, and get better rates. Tell your co-workers and friends when you see them to come to the meeting the second Thursday of the month. Ask them if they are getting the Lansing Labor News? Tell them to meet you at the hall for the open house and take a marked calendar home so you won’t miss a meeting. December 12 is the 1753 Christmas Open House from 1-5, hope to see you there.

September, 2013

“Attention, ladies and gentlemen” … this was the way I addressed the folks at the Region 1C Hawk Island picnic. I felt  like a circus ringmaster with the mike. Directing attention around the big top—or, in our case, the big pavilion—filled with retirees, guests, and friends.
You will be glad to know more people from our local came this year than last year. When Nancy and I looked at both lists, we thought if all those people showed up, we would have a heck of a party. Let’s try to do that again next year.
Thank you to all the helpers who made this picnic possible; there is a lot of prep that goes into making the picnic happen. I could not have gotten through it without Dennis Slowinski and Nancy Munchbach, who both sit on the UAW Lansing Area Council of Retired Workers Committee with me. Thanks!
Earlier this summer we had our own picnic at the hall. We rented the tent from Tom and, as in the past, he handled it as well as always. We had good weather, food and friends. Thank you to the Executive Board and to all who worked so hard to make this happen.
The winners of the dessert contest were Mary Bohnett, Bonnie Leak and Tim Loveland. Thanks to the awarded chefs and all others who brought so many fabulous desserts and dishes. I was pleased and proud of the talent shown. Thanks for coming. Hope you had a good time. Please let us know your ideas for next year.
In-plant silent auction September 14, 25 and 26. You can go bid on an item or call Kathy Bone with a donation. It could be a white elephant gift still sitting in your closet, or something you made. It’s all going to help a good cause. For questions, call Kathy at 490-3369.
This is something that you will not want to forget: at the regular October 10 meeting Colleen Allen from VEBA will be there. She will cover any upcoming changes in benefits. Please bring your policy questions. If you have benefit questions now, please call your representative now. Chuck and Joe are always available and willing to help you.
At our next meeting on September 12 we will be cooking on the grill (trying to stretch the summer). We will do hot dogs and burgers. Please bring a dish to pass for our end-of-summer hurrah!
The Lansing Area-Wide Region 1C Retiree Euchre Tournament is Wednesday, October 2, at 1:00 p.m. at Local 602. Local 602 is located at 2510 West Michigan Avenue, Lansing. There will be no luncheon. There will be no playoff with Flint. You do not need a partner.

May 2013
Spring has sprung, hope you are out and about enjoying it.
As of the time of my writing this article the court case against the “Right to Work for Less” is leaning towards Labor. The judge rebuked their attorney for not being ready twice. You may have heard Sen. Hopgood has introduced SB 95 and 96, bills that would repeal right to work. Remember, those bills were rammed through last year’s lame duck session without public hearing while thousands of union
activists like us were locked out of the State Capitol.
Union workers are under attack, fighting off both government and corporate factions who want worker protections and rights taken back so they can make more money or further their agendas.
Speaking of agendas, is the NRA getting you down? Maybe you’re a hunter or a fisherperson, or into conservation … think about joining the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance “USA”. In five short years they have put on some wonderful ‘Boots on the Ground’ events and entertained us with a great sports show “Brotherhood Outdoors”. They also send out a great informative journal quarterly. I liked USA so much that I joined it! You may like it too.
The Region 1-C’s Euchre Tournament is May 8 at Local 602. You should arrive at 8:45 am to sign in. You don’t need a partner and it’s free to play. We have a nice lunch afterwards and you could win a prize.
Our own Local 1753 picnic is June 13 at the hall. Coffee will be ready at 11:00 am. Come help us set up for lunch at noon. We won’t do a meeting that month. Instead, at the picnic we plan to grill, make popcorn and you of course bring a dish to pass. We also do the dessert contest. Be sure to use your best recipe, you could win a prize. We are opening the picnic to active members of 1753. You may remember before we had a retiree chapter, the active members put the picnic on for the retirees. This is a great way to return the favor and encourage more interaction between the retired and active members. We also voted to fund the Christmas Party in total.
We canceled the August meeting, so if you only do one thing a month it may be the UAW Region 1-C Retirees Picnic. It’s at Hawk Island Park August 12 at 11:45 am to sign in. Please bring a dish to pass.
I know I’ve said it before, but let me know, or call the hall if a brother or sister passes. I can’t report it unless I know.
Reminder, next meeting is May 9. Coffee at 11:00, lunch at noon, and a meeting about 1:00. We voted to have grinders that day. Please bring a dish to pass.
Hope to see you soon.

January 2013
Happy New Year! Are you feeling older and wiser? After last year, I know I feel both. Older after living thru the impact of school and weather tragedies and wiser knowing just what the Governor meant when he said Right to Work is not on my agenda.
Thank you to all retired members who gathered together with Dennis, Pam and I at the capital to voice your concern. It is your right, for your voice to be heard and not to be locked out of the process. I know we won’t be locked out of the next election process.
Thanks to Region 1-C for providing lunch and a place to warm up. The last day of the rallies was very cold! If you were one of the strong activists who were there and I did not call you, put yourself on the list.
Call the Local or me to leave your number for further action, so you won’t miss lunch and other activities. I was pleased and proud when I heard thru Facebook and pictures, about how many members participated.
We heard about a lot of action, fun and just checking in, at our Christmas Open House. The place was packed tight at the end of the day. It was so nice to see about one hundred of our brothers and sisters celebrating the season. Did you have enough time to visit with everyone you wanted to? I did not. Think of ways to improve next year’s party.
A BIG “thank you” needs to go out to the Executive Board and volunteers. I could not do this without all of their help. They come early, stay late and help you and I in so many ways. They make our Local feel like home, so much so, some come back!
We have recently welcomed back some members from other Locals. If you are retired and you would like to transfer your membership back to 1753, welcome home! As to the rest of you, are you signed up for your dues? Are you on the list to share your phone number with other retirees? Did you receive your calendar for upcoming meetings and lunches?
For all this and more, come on down to the next lunch and meeting, Thursday, February 14. We have coffee at 11:00, lunch is at 12:00, and a short meeting will follow. With clean up, visiting and/or games.
Last month we set a record for clean up time, more hands make light work! I know this day is Valentine’s Day, but we will also celebrate White Shirt Day. We do this by wearing traditional white shirts and eating the bean soup that was a staple of the Sit Downers. Come join us! Bring your spouse or a coworker and a dish to pass. See you there.

December 2012

Congratulations go out to all endorsed candidates and a hearty thank you to everyone who participated. You know who you are … callers, walkers, and of course the voters. I think the message of Hope was nationally well received and now is the time to pull the entire nation together, starting locally.
We are going to start with the 1753 Christmas Open House on December 13 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Snacks and drink will be served. Call the people in the old department and invite them to meet you there, or bring your spouse—or both!
Remember, we have a special meeting at the local on Tuesday, December 4 at 2:00 p.m. for those who are interested in Health Plus, a new HMO now available to some.
Our next meeting is Thursday, January 10. Coffee at 11:00, lunch at noon, meeting at 1:00. See you there!

September 2012

Retirees, how are you enjoying your retirement? Mine has seen ups and downs. Right now, I don’t feel the majority of lawmakers in Lansing or Washington are on my side or that of the average American citizen. Once in, they said their job was to make sure that President Obama did not get reelected! Unfortunately, their way of doing this was to wreck the country, and its standing on the world stage (i.e., education, health and wealth).
We the people can see that ideas like reinventing the Civilian Conservation Corps would have been great. But we don’t have lobbyists to talk them into it like big business does. Big oil companies have them and of course they’re getting big tax breaks and giving us big oil spills.
Now, to afford this, they want to get rid of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is like our pensions: we made them by paying into them. They’re ours, hands off! We need to stop this kind of theft—that through changing the rules and weighting the dice against the regular guy, they are trying to kill the American dream
It’s important for all of us to be involved in this election. Investigate for yourself which side is compatible with you. We need to fight for the leader who will fight for us. Barack Obama had our backs, it’s time for us to have his.
This year’s Christmas open house is on Thursday, December 13 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Hall. Please note the time.
The picnics, both our own local’s and the area retirees’ at Hawk Island this summer, were great successes. We had so much fun and a good time talking together that we decided to see more of each other. On the second Thursday of the month the Hall will be open at 11:00 a.m. for coffee, donuts and talk before our 12:00 lunch and 1:00 meeting. Please bring a dish to pass. We would love to see you.
Obituaries
Juanita Williams, Pat Dies, Jim Bancroft, Nola Haines, Doug Gilliland, Norther Templeton.

May 2012

Hello everyone, I hope you feel the ‘spring’ in your step, this spring has been wonderful and warm.
We have kept busy. Besides our regular second Thursday lunches and meetings, we tried something new and had a Euchre party at the Local. What a blast! I haven’t played in a long time. I thought that I would act as hostess, but since people could come together or single I played to make the count even so we could play with more people. It was great and we all played host since it was bring a dish to pass.
Reminder: The 12th Annual Pride Ride Friday is May 18. All motorcycles are welcome at UAW Local 652. Registration is 8:00 am to 9:00 am. Any questions, please contact Linda Mogyoros at 517-694-7914.
Also coming up is the Annual Capital Area Stand Down For Homeless Veterans. It will be May 23. They’re looking for travel- or hotel-size products. Like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, feminine products, shaving cream, razors, socks, undergarments, healthy snacks and other practical needs items. Please give; for more info please call the Volunteers of America at 489-5278.
Big reminder here: our own Local 1753 Picnic will be on Thursday, June 14 at 12:00 and for a new twist … It will be at our hall! Some of you know this is one of those old-new ideas that we are revisiting. We will still bring a dish to pass and of course the Best Dessert Contest. We are planning good weather for our outside picnic. Still looking for volunteers with pop-up tents to come early—we will help set up your tent with you. We will need help with setting up tables, chairs, grill and what-have-you.
Plan to come early and help, enjoy the lunch and all the people we worked with and their families, stay late and help clean up. Make it a full day that you can remember fondly.
One thing I’ve learned on this job is just how quick the time of your life clock is ticking, whether or not you are paying attention! I see all the obits coming in and I appreciate you calling me with them. It does make me hope all of you enjoy everyone and everything you can while you still are able to.
On Monday, August 13, Region 1-C will hold its Area-Wide Retirees’ Picnic at Hawk Island Park in Lansing. You will want to be there early before 12:00 to make sure to get a raffle ticket and a good place to sit. Please bring a dish to pass. We are always looking for help; if you have extra time before or after, jump right in.
Annual UAW Region 1-C Retirees Golf Scramble, Tuesday August 7 at the IMA Brookwood Golf Course, starting at 7:30a.m. The cost is $40 per person. Please call 810-742-4920.
Though the union is always working to better our lives, here are two campaigns that deserve our attention. One is to amend the state constitution to protect collective bargaining rights. The proposal is that no existing or future law of the State or its political subdivision shall abridge, impair or limit collective bargaining rights, with the exception that the State can continue to prohibit or restrict strikes by public employees, as provided in current law. I don’t like the sound of the last bit but I love the sound of the first part and it seems necessary with all the attacks on unions. For more info go to www.protectourjobs.com.
The next is the “99% spring.” As it says on the Region 1-C site: We’re at a crossroads as a country. Will you rise with us and join a 99% Spring action training? More info can be found at http://the99spring.com/

January 2012

Happy new year, I hope your holidays went well and you are ready to jump into the new year. We probably have similar resolutions: be more productive, save time, end debt and save money, lose weight and get organized. Let’s do it together as a union!
I want to thank the hard-working group who put on the Christmas Open House. What a great success, you can see their resolve. What a shindig, the hall was full! People parking on the lawn—if you had trouble parking or other crowd issues, please bring them to me and we will address them.
Thanks to the fundraising, in between pizza and song we raised $175 for charity. This was with the help of all retired and active workers during the party.
Just before Christmas some of us heard of the fire and losses at St. Vincent’s, and the executive board voted to send that money to them to help them through this time. You all did such a good job fundraising, maybe we should do some this year. It makes you feel good if you do well for others.
Note on your calendar, which you should have received at the January meeting (if not, come to February’s meeting to pick one up): March 10,
Euchre Party at 6:00 p.m. This is a good time to practice for the regional’s and to have fun with friends. Bring a dish to pass and your own beverage (adult or otherwise). You don’t need a partner, just come to the hall and play for yourself.
Be sure to check out the summer picnic pictures that Jerry Kadera put on the Lansing Labor News site. (lansinglabornew.org – click on the Photo Gallery button on the top, and our picnic gallery should be the first one up or near the top.)
Now that a new year is here, we are affected by over 200 new laws that the Republican-led legislature in Michigan has put on all of us. Maybe some of us will finally notice how adversely we are being affected. Many of you received your pension checks minus $130 in new taxes. Is this enough to make you think about being a labor Democrat? Please join us in the political arena to protect your rights.

December 2011

I would like to start and end with a reminder of our Open House on Thursday, December 8 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Local 1753 hall. We hope that this time range will work with all shifts and, of course, retirees’ timetables. It’s a great way to kick off the season’s festivals, let’s deck this hall. We will have finger food and adult refreshments. I can hardly wait. Maybe we can sing Christmas carols!

Our last month’s lunch and meeting started with song, thanks to the golden throats of Ruth and Al Mix. Thank you for starting off our Thanksgiving dinner so well, it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when we all sing together. We had the regular baked turkey, we had barbequed turkey, and even turkey roll-ups! We loved seeing the variety of all the homemade dishes our folk brought to share. It was a big turnout as well. Thank you, everyone.

As long as I’m handing out thanks, I must speak to a special group: the retirees who always run to help their brothers and sisters. Volunteers (we had a great turnout for the Weenie Roast on Halloween), organizers, cooks, and prep workers. Both active and retirees on both shifts, with “box lunches” for our midnight shift workers. We had a lot of fun and we got to visit with a lot of nice people.

The same goes for political action. Bob Monschien, Arnice Stephenson, and I attended the Region 1-C CAP Conference. Arnice is 1753’s new CAP Chairperson, and it was great for all of us to see some of our area leaders in person.

I spoke to the Mayor about the 99% occupying Lansing. I thanked him for his patience with the group. He said it made more sense than throwing them in jail (the cost).

I think we all got something out of it. I found out the Democrats’ vision of when a company has the same rights as a person … when one is executed in Texas!

It was Bob’s first CAP Conference and he said he enjoyed it.

I want everyone to know that whether I call with a question I can’t answer, or I call for an action when I need help, or I call for support—I rely on our great 1753 retiree volunteers and Executive Board. You know you are a part of the best group around. We are in a group I’m very, very proud of.

Reminder to watch for January’s Labor News paper, as we are planning a local Euchre party for early next year. If you like to play, help, or just party, get a hold of us.

I hope we will see you at the Local 1753 Open House on Thursday, December 8 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Let’s get together and eat drink and be merry.

September 2011

Hope every one had a great summer. A lot has happened since the last paper. Here’s the news.

*We have the leading Republican Presidential candidate saying companies are people.

*You may remember the recent Supreme Court decision allowing companies to contribute to campaigns, since they have the rights of people.

* This is not the only Supreme Court decision that allows a company to be recognized by the federal government as a citizen, it happened in1886.

*You could remember talks such as “I like Ike;” everyone did. He is the one who on leaving office said, “Beware the Military- Industrial complex.”

* As UAW members we all need to hear and understand Walter Reuther’s words. “Prices and profits are up in the stratosphere, and purchasing power and real wages are being depressed more every day. Unless we get some balance in this economic machine of ours we are hell-bent for another depression.”

History is today, to be forgotten tomorrow, and repeated the next, unless you remember, and make the change you want! Educate yourself on political issues and vote to support those who support labor!

In local issues the Lansing Area UAW retirees’ picnic went well. Slowly we are getting more 1753 folks to come. Of course, we had many more attend our own 1753 picnic, some from far enough away to camp overnight.

The Region 1-C Euchre Tournament gathered ten of us from the local. This inspired discussion for a party at the last meeting, so volunteer to work on the committee for our own Euchre party.

Nancy has been very busy lately; she has put 1753 on Facebook, look for it.

Fundraising for Lansing Labor News will be an American Muscle and Antique Auto Show on September 10 at Local 652 and 724 parking lots from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Next meeting is on September 8 at the local, with lunch, at 12:00. We are cooking brats on the grill; please bring a dish to pass (something to go with brats).

May 2011

Spring has sprung. It invigorates all, even 1753 retirees and members.

Were you at the fourth and largest rally (about 6,000!), or did you see your friends and neighbors on TV demonstrating against Governor Snyder’s anti-union, anti-retirees, anti-student and working poor state budget?

Whether you were with us at all the rallies or not, whether on the bus or with friends, I want to thank you for coming out and showing the public how important it is. These are the people that I know were there (my apologies if I miss anyone): Chuck Walls and wife, Gary Williams, Al Vincent, Rosie Vincent, Richard Stairs, Steve Smith, Dennis Slowinski, Jim Shaw and son, Dan Phinney, Conrad Morrison and brother, Mark McDurmon, Walt Mansfield, Ed Ledvina, Mary Fournier, and Pam Andrews. I heard that Fritz Burke was in attendance, too.

I especially want to thank Pam, she e-mailed and Facebooked her friends. I called the volunteers list (except the snowbirds), and I can call you if you want your name added to the list.

The regional office should have sent you a V-CAP sign-up and another letter to let you know how to get on their list. Please fill these out and return. It helps all of us in the 1-C area.

During our retirees’ meeting, we had nominations for the election in May. A motion came from the floor to re-elect the incumbents. All were re-elected by acclamation. Jerry Kadara volunteered to be our Recording Secretary. Thank you to Jerry for volunteering and all those who supported the executive board.

Coming events

Euchre tournament May 4 at Local 602. Sign in at 8:45 a.m.

Election, Thursday, May 12 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the hall.

Meeting, Thursday, May 12 at noon.

Open house at the plant, Tuesday, June 7. Sell cars and parts.

Retirees picnic, June 13 at noon.

Area-wide retirees picnic, August 15, Hawk Island park. Eat at noon.

April 2011

Action is in the wind. Thank you to all of the active volunteers who followed the emergency bill through, from the House, to the Senate, and to the Governor’s desk. 1753 was well-represented at all three rallies.

Thursday, April 14 is the next luncheon and meeting, at noon. Please bring a dish to pass if you can.

Monday, April 18 is our “Clean Up Day,” all hands welcome at 11:30 a.m. Pizza will be provided.

Euchre Tournament is Wednesday, May 4. Show your skills!

Don’t forget the election, Thursday, May 12, at the hall from 9-11:30 a.m.

Tuesday, June 7, is an Open House at the warehouse. Bring your friends and family, tour the plant, let’s have fun and sell cars!

Monday, June 13, is the Retirees Picnic at Hawk Island Park. Lunch is at noon.

We had a scrumptious dinner of corned beef and cabbage with all the fixings at our last meeting, prepared by Nancy Munchbach and yours truly.

REMEMBER! It’s important to vote, May 12th at the Hall, 9-11:30 a.m.!

The retirees’ breakfast is at 8:30 a.m. on the fourth Monday of the month at Jackie’s Diner, 4421 W. Saginaw Street. Come join in the fun!

January 2011

   Hello everyone, Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were warm and bright! It was all that and more at the Local 1753 Christmas open house. The local furnished pizza and drink. Some members did even more! We ended up with a full dinner with all the food and treats. Thank you very much to our wonderful folks and some of their spouses who brought goodies to share! Special thanks to all the members who helped on our fun fundraiser. Because of all your help our local was able to send the Greater Lansing Food Bank $213 for Christmas.
   The hall was warm and full of good cheer, for we had a great turnout: active workers before and after their shift, retirees sprinkled throughout, elected and appointed officers as they could.
   Most of our retiree Euchre Tournament players were there. Thanks for the picture, guys! You and the trophy look good together. Do you think we could do as well this year, boys and girls? Now that we have won, it is up to us to host the next event. Please volunteer, we will need players, relief people and all around helpers of all kinds. You do not need a partner as everyone plays for themselves and 1753. If you are lucky enough to have a spouse who plays, or would like to help, bring them or other retirees. Lunch is provided during break and to make it more fun, there are cash prizes.
   Last paper we asked for your thoughts and prayers for two of our members who were in the hospital. Well, it worked! I’m glad to report at this time Nancy Stone and Gabrielle LaBelle have been released and are in good health. Thanks to all and good luck, girls.
   Last year was tough on all of us, but as union workers it was not bad as it could have been. Last year many lost their jobs as many more businesses closed. These people have no pension or health care. They need our help. Singly, we try; together, we can do it.
   Have you sent your retirees’ V-CAP tickets in? These tickets pay for outreach in the community. Not only do they strengthen us, they help bring everyone up. Did you know your V-CAP tickets could not only win you a new car or cash, but because of the red “retired” on it you are in an extra drawing?
   How about your union dues? Did you sign up before you retired? We can check that at the next meeting. Do you volunteer at the Local? The Election committee always needs help.
   Nominations for the Election Committee are at the January General Membership Meeting. Please consider serving on the Election Committee, as it saves money for the Local, and it’s fun too! Do you invite coworkers to come to lunch and meetings when you run into them in the community?
   It looks like it will be another rough one this year. I know that if we all pull together, we can do better. We can be stronger, healthier, and happier and help others do the same thing!
News from the breakfast bunch
   I got a call, and they’re going to try a new spot. The new Jackie’s Diner at 4421 W. Saginaw, formerly the Ponderosa Restaurant, 323-6512. We will meet on January 24 at 8:30 a.m. They will save the front room just for us! Please come to breakfast, it’s fun to see friends you haven’t seen in a while and I hear they have a great breakfast deal.
   The Election Committee Nominations are on Sunday, January 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the General Membership Meeting. Please attend.
   The next lunch and meeting is, as always, the second Thursday of the month, February 10, 12:00 lunch, 1:00 meeting. Please bring a dish to pass; if not, please bring yourself.

December 2010
   Hello everybody. It’s been a busy autumn for all of us. If you attended the last meeting, you know that some of the retirees have been very active. We were lucky enough to have the results of Bruce’s fishing expedition. He caught, filleted, and saved for us over 200 bluegills and crappies. We had delicious fish fry with crinkle fries and with chicken for those who didn’t care for fish.
   This was enjoyed by the whole local and was soundly rewarded by a huge applause for Bruce. Now we’re thinking about a wild game dinner someday, where some of our hunters might be able to provide us with venison, turkey, rabbits or whatever. Please give me your feedback on this.
   After that fabulous lunch, business was discussed as usual. Since it was Veterans Day, our Veterans Chair and Local Vice President Phil Hnatiuk stopped by. He spoke on the past projects of the Veterans Committee and all the support they’ve given veterans. They raised so much money that they were able to buy a TV for every veteran in the veterans’ home that needed one. He told us that ABC Warehouse, where he gets his TVs for the vets, is pleased to extend Phil’s discount to you. Please call Nancy at the hall for details.
   We thanked Conrad for inviting in a financial representative to our last meeting to talk to us about rolling over our PSP plans. We learned more things for free in one meeting than you can usually get in a paid session. Most of the retirees really liked it and asked many questions.
   Our next meeting will actually be an open house for Christmas on the second Thursday, December 9, at the Local from 1:00-5:00 p.m. This is for retired and active employees. Please come and let all your co-workers know about it. We will have snacks, beer, and wine. You are not required to bring a dish, but you are welcome to if you want. Please make sure it is something that can safely sit out for a while.
   We have had many questions about the Christmas Bonus. We have received word that the bonus will be paid out on December 13. If you received it last year, you should be eligible for it again this year.
   Our next meeting will be on the second Thursday as usual. In January, that will be the 13th.
   The euchre tournament is coming up. Because we won this year, we will be sponsoring it in 2011. Make sure you’re practicing so we can hold on to the title! I will bring decks of cards to our Christmas party so you can get in super shape for the tourney. In a future issue, I will have more information about the time and place.
   I attended the “One Nation” rally in Washington, D.C. It was great to see so many of our Local members there, as well as fellow UAW members from other Lansing and Region 1-C locals. Especially the active members from our Local whom I met there and who helped me get back to Lansing.
   Nancy Munchbach thanked our retirees for the get-well card when she was in the hospital. Please remember all she has done for us and tell her thanks.
   Please keep Nancy and Jim Stone in your thoughts and prayers. As you may know, Nancy was in an auto accident and is still in Sparrow Hospital at this writing. Also pray for Gabrielle LaBelle (Peggy Music) as she is not well.
   If you are having problems with medical coverage, call Chuck or Dotty at our Benefits Office, 517-885-6534. Or you can call Joe Sagy, Region 1C Retiree Benefits Rep, at 517-372-7201 or 1-866-782-6513. You have earned your medical coverage, you deserve it, so you shouldn’t be afraid to call and pursue your rights.
   UPDATE: The local general membership meetings have been changed to the third Sunday at 6:00 p.m., effective in January.

September 2010
    We are having fun at the local and around town. Some of you got very involved with the Region 1-C euchre tournament. I was very pleased with the turnout of the fellows in the local. The boys “hit it out of the park,” as they say. Everyone did well, had a fun time, and enjoyed the lunch sponsored by our friends at Optiview. Winners went and played the winners from Flint. Ta-da! The champ from Region 1-C is our own Doug Jenks. We are so proud, keep up the good work. Girls, I hope for a better showing next year. I know you can play!
    The June 14 picnic was a blast, good job by everyone. It was great to see so many turn out, the food was great. Thanks, guys, for the great grilling. Everyone brought a huge amount of dishes to pass—what a tough choice! The dessert contest was out of this world. The judges had a hard decision, but named Bill’s wife Joyce Dawson as the winner. We thank Jennifer Tissue and her company for supplying gifts for prizes.
    Thanks to our wonderful E-board for running July’s meeting and lunch. Thanks, Dennis, I appreciate your covering while I was away. I got back in time for a good lunch and meeting in August. It’s good to be back and see you all. Randy, we heard you broke or sprained your foot again, we are sorry and hope you heal real soon. Cards can be sent to Randy Jenetzke at 5661 N. Canal Rd, Dimondale, MI 48821.
    It looks like you and Randy missed the Lansing area 1-C retirees’ picnic at Hawk Island. I was glad to see some of us enjoyed the new caterer. I was glad to see so many brothers and sisters from around town, the new Region 1-C Director Norwood Jewell, Michigan Representative Barb Byrum and U.S. Representative Mark Schauer.
    At our next meeting on September 9 at 12:00, we will be cooking outside, burgers and hot dogs. Bring a dish to pass or just bring yourself.
    Obits: Chester Henre, Paul Bailor
    I want to send out get-well wishes to all my executive board members. As of this writing, Nancy Munchbach was still in Sparrow Hospital.

Laura Clark's May 2010 column
Hello and happy spring. It is so nice to feel the gentle warmth of the sun, hope you are getting out to enjoy it. I must tell you this last few months of chilly weather I have been sustained by the caring and warmth of our 1753 retirees, spouses and of course our wonderful E-board. I can’t say enough how great you all are. Volunteering to help out, coming early, getting pressed into service making coffee, cutting up food, cooking, bringing in new people, making them feel at home and including everyone and of course cleaning up! I want to especially thank the retirees who found extra time to attend the general meetings – it means a great deal to me and to the local. Keep up the good work. 
Things to remember
April 28: Region 1-C Euchre Tournament at Local 602. Be there at 8:30 a.m. to sign in.  You do not need a partner to play. Go win a cash prize, make your local proud and Lansing as well. Sponsored by our good union friends at Optiview.
April 29: Local 602 invited us on their bus trip to the casino in Mt Pleasant. It is $20 and you receive $30 in chips to play and $5 for lunch. Thanks, Dorothy and 602. Call me.
   Contact Al for tickets to the Region 1-C Blues and Barbeque on May 1 at Local 652. Tickets are $20. He also has more “Friends don’t let friends drive Toyotas” bumper stickers.
   Retirees can vote in the Con-Con election on April 29 from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the hall and volunteer to help with the election at the local.
   Pride Ride May 21 at Local  652, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. For info call Linda Mogyoros at 517-694-7914.
RETIREES PICNIC: Monday, June 14 at Hawk Island Park at 12:00 noon. Please come early before the park gets full. Please bring a dish to pass or a dessert if you want to enter the dessert contest. I’m happy to say I’ve already got one talented gal who wants to furnish prizes; if you would also, call Nancy or me at the local.
August 16: Lansing Area Retirees Picnic at Hawk Island at noon. Bring a dish to pass and silverware and plates.
   We want to send get-well wishes to Jerry Davis and Norther Templeton from all the retirees here at 1753.
   Next meeting we will be grilling dogs and burgers and party inside and outside with our new grill. Bring a dish to pass if you are able. If not, please bring yourself.

Laura Clark's April 2010 column
Hello Everyone:
    I hope you had a nice St Paddy's day. We sure did, it was very traditional. I was able to help our secretary Nancy cook up a boiled dinner. We had it all: corned beef briskets, heads of cabbage, some parsnips, bunches of carrots, and three kinds of potatoes. I even brought in a horseradish mustard sauce. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.
    As always, our members brought great sides to go with it. We set up the tables with green and white shamrock decorations. It was a very nice lunch to go with a nice meeting (by which I mean short).
   Some of the things discussed at the meeting included benefits, with many questions for Chuck and Joe. Remember, you don't have to wait till the meeting to talk to them. Call them, they're very helpful.
    For all you players or volunteers: Euchre Tournament April 28 at Local 602, starting at 8:30 a.m. Please call me or our local hall to sign up.
Region 1-C Blues and BBQ fundraising party on Saturday, May 1, starting at 3:00 p.m. at Local 652 - $20.
    Look out! Our 1753 retirees' picnic is on a new day: Monday, June 14 at 12:00 noon at Hawk Island Park. Bring a dish to pass, or a dessert if you want to enter the contest for the best dessert. The most important thing is to bring you or you and some friends.
    There were many other things, but of them the most important is that Richard Hopkins (Hoppy) is in the hospital. You may call, write, or visit at Ingham Regional Medical Center, 975-9282, room 602, bed 2. I went to visit him and he is getting better, but I know he would like to see you. It's just like when we say, "bring a dish to pass or bring yourself;" the most important thing to remember is "us," and each other.
    Our next meeting is on April 8. We will have subs and chips. You may bring a dish to pass also if you like.

Obituaries -- Vic Bozzo, George Winslee, and Adam Pretrovic. Our condolences to their families and friends.

Laura Clark's February Update
Melissa Stahl, Age 70, passed away Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Born June 2, 1939 in Eaton Rapids to Harold and Jennie Stahl, Melissa was a former Stock Chaser in the Automotive Industry. She was a NASCAR enthusiast, and a fan of Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Melissa is preceded in death by her parents; brother Fred Stahl, two brothers and two sisters. Surviving are her companion of 10 years Ron Arras; daughter Annette Harrington; son Dan Scutt; grandchildren Daniel Scutt, Christinia Scutt, Keegan Harrington; sister Audrey Dillin; and sister-in-law Alma Stahl. Services will be at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, February 7, 2010, at Tiffany Funeral Home, 3232 W. Saginaw, Lansing, officiated by Rev. Dr. Carol Spangenberg. Visitation will be from 2-4 and 6-8 Saturday, February 6, at the funeral home. Friends may sign the online guest book at www.tiffanyfuneralhome.com

January 18 Update regarding COBRA

After our January meeting and lunch where COBRA was discussed and everyone gave their opinion, we ended with this: every member should sign up separately from spouses.  Deadline isFebruary 9.

    Kristy and Pam both called, and they confirmed that signing up separately was possible, though difficult. Be persistent with the Fidelity representative. Ask to speak to someone else if necessary. This will protect you in case something happens to the policyholder, the other will not lose coverarge. Thanks to you gals for sharing this helpful info. Other married couples can use this for themselves.

    Remember, February 11th meeting is pizza and white shirt day. This is the anniversary of the sit-down strike.

    March 11 is potluck.

Peace and Love, Laura

 Laura Clark's January 2010 article:

    Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope your holidays were warm and bright! The tree at the hall finally went up, before our lovely Christmas Open House.
    It was a fun-filled day. We had a pizza party; let me know how you liked it. Whether you came early at 1:00 pm or late before 5:00, we were glad to see you and your family.
It was a good turnout. I think John came the farthest, from the UP. Can anyone beat that? I hope to have pictures from the party for the Lansing Labor News online. If you have not seen this, check it out. Try going to our 1753 web page at www.lansinglabornews.org (in the address heading, not the search box). You will feel like a pro. Then try others like www.unionlabel.org, which has lots of products and services by people just like us. I plan to do more updates and pictures.
    I did put one update online, before this paper came out, about the COBRA papers that should have come to you. Your COBRA paperwork is due February 9. This is a one-time offer, and a good one. It can be taken from your check.
    The New Year is a good time to take care of business. Now is also a time to make sure you are a dues-paying member. Again, this will come right out of your check. The January meeting (second Thursday of the month) is on the 14th. It will be a potluck. We will have stamped calendars at this meeting. Come and get yours! Bring a dish to pass, or bring yourself.

Laura Clark's December 2009 article:

This just in (Dec 3) re COBRA: 
    I received a call this weekend from Region 1-C's Art Luna. He reminded me that the benefit info is coming soon. The COBRA offer on extending dental and eye care is on its way. He liked the plan and thought everybody would! Please look for it in the mail.
    Have you received your new UAW Medical Benefits Trust card? I just got mine.

   To some this is the December edition of the Labor News, to others this is the first look at the new 1753 retirees online. Please give it a glance. Just type lansinglabornews.org in the address heading (not the search box). When you get there, all the locals will be listed on the left. Click on 1753, and choose Al's or my page. The Labor News will still come out in paper form four times a year, but we will be able to update the web page all the time. In the future we could have pictures of our lovely potluck lunches.
    At the November meeting, the Executive Board was buzzing with talk of just how tasty our lunch was. We truly have some of the finest cooks around, and I so appreciate you being there and sharing.
    Speaking of which, our Community Service person Sandy Marry spoke to our group and asked for help on some, any, or all of her projects. Whether you want to give food, coats, money or time, please let her know. Nancy at the Hall has contact info, or you can drop them off at the hall on Tuesdays or Wednesdays (call 487-1753 to make arrangements).
    We have all probably had our fill of letters on all kinds of offers since changes in our coverage. That's why it was nice having Art Luna at our meeting. When you have a question you can ask. The same with Benefit Representatives, we try to have one there each meeting. They answer a ton of questions and do a great job. So give it a try. Come on out to the Union Hall.
    Our next meeting is replaced by the Christmas Open House, December 10, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Local will provide food and drink. We the Retirees voted to help and pay half. You may bring donations to help others. Please grab a friend and come!
    Remember, a good way to spread holiday cheer is to help others. Think about bringing a canned or packaged food item, or new or gently used coats, hats or mittens for the less fortunate. Think how fun this would be with one of your old friends (they might have a can also!).
    The January meeting will be on the 14th and it will be a potluck. Please bring a dish to pass or please bring yourself! New stamped calendars should be available. See you there.
    Peace and love, Laura

 Laura Clark's September 2009 article:

Did you miss the Lansing Region 1-C Picnic? What a good day for a picnic! We started early with volunteers setting up tables, sound, and the game plan – which was stuffing as many retirees under a pavilion as we could, and adding food, just to see how loud they could get.
    Art Luna, our service representative, spoke as well as Chuck Walis from benefits. Also in attendance were Joe Sagy and Bill Faust. Many door prizes were handed out by raffle; you only had to sign in and get a ticket! The prizes came from the Region or some of our regular vendors.
    For the volunteers who stayed all day and helped with the cleanup, a big pat on the back. And from our local that person is Denny. Thanks again. The overview is: good day, good food, good fellowship for area UAW retirees.
    Lunches before our meetings and picnics like this are great ways for your good friends from work to meet your good friends from home (your spouse).
    Speaking of meetings, ours is the second Thursday of the month at the hall. At twelve o’ clock is lunch, meeting is held at one. I’m sorry I was not able to be at the last meeting in July. It sounds like I missed a good time. Our Vice Chairman did a wonderful job. Thank you and all the other board members.
The Region 1-C bowling tournament is November 7-8 at Nottke’s Bowling Alley in Battle Creek. If you have questions, please call Marcia at the Flint office (810) 767-0910. So knock down those pins, come to lunch or a meeting. You could meet us for breakfast at Spuds on the fourth Monday of the month. See you soon.


 
 
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