At the General Membership Meeting on Sunday February 21, I announced that I will be convening a Local 245 Constitutional Convention Committee to prepare for the UAW Constitutional Convention that will occur in Detroit on June 14-18, 2010. Due to the importance of this years convention I feel it necessary to go above and beyond to give each member an opportunity to have their concerns heard. This is a committee that will bring ideas from each unit together to be discussed and have that information shared with the elected delegates and taken to the Convention. I expect this committee to meet three times before the June Convention. If you are interested in participating please email president@local245.com or call me at 313-561-7500.
Local 245 is allotted 5 elected Delegates (3 from R&E and 2 from all other units) and they will be elected in a special election on April 14, 2010.
We are also at this time accepting resolutions for the convention. Resolutions must be based on something you would like modified or changed in the blue UAW Constitution book. All resolutions must be to Local 245 Headquarters by Sunday March 21 in time for discussion and vote at the General Membership Meeting.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the 2010 Census Kickoff in Detroit. I wanted to relay some of the information to each of you to prepare you for the census itself and to remind you of the importance of this questionnaire. I have included a list of ways that the census data is used for on the back of this communication.
The US Constitution requires a national census once every ten years to count the population and determine the number of seats each state will have in the US House of Representatives. More importantly the data is also used to determine federal funding for community services such as school lunch programs, senior services and new construction for highways and hospitals. The census bureau is reaching out to all organizations including labor for their assistance in this year’s census.
The census will be conducted again this year with questionnaires being mailed to families in March by US Mail or by being hand delivered. Each census will have ten questions pertaining to your household.
It is important to note that this information is confidential among the Census Bureau and an individual’s responses cannot be shared by law with anyone, including other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.
I also wanted to inform you of the potential job opportunities that the Census can provide with wages ranging from $8.25 to $19.50. If you know of anyone that is searching for work the census does provide temporary job opportunities. We have been told to have interested parties call 1-866-861-2010 or log on to the web and go to www.2010censusjobs.gov to apply.
Finally I have copies of what the census will look like as well as other literature and information available at the local if anyone is interested. If you wish to view this information on the web go to www.census.gov/2010census As always if there are questions or comments feel free to contact me at the local.