Waiting for the lawyers

Dear colleagues:

I know you’ve been waiting for some word on the pension. At this point, the pension fund lawyer, who is independent, has read the proposed merger agreement and raised a number of questions and concerns. We are awaiting the response from the Company’s lawyers.

We need the lawyers to work out the final language before we can bring it to you. We hoped to do so by early next week. It may have to wait until after the holidays if we don’t get the language worked out soon. (The Dec. 31 deadline, it turns out, is not hard and fast.) We certainly won’t want to have a vote Christmas week, when many people are off.

You will have to be a member in good standing in order to vote. That means you can be no more than 30 days in arrears in your dues. Please make the effort to catch up now. We would like all our members to participate in this very important vote.

We’ll keep you posted when we have more information. We know the delay is frustrating.