Time For A Change: Many of us have been out of work for a year or longer. We basically call the Mostline daily just hoping to hear about work. Then, we have to hope we have enough money as normal, to get to the location, get a hotel (which is not tax deductable), get food for two weeks, etc. Work and money is very hard to come by. I called a few of the locals in my area. 5 out of 10 local require you to drive to that location and sign the book hoping to be dispatched to the location to work. There is no promise to be dispatched. I have been out of work for almost 2 years. I could not afford my union dues and I got suspended. Now, I have to come up with $538 to get re-instated. I need my Union and re-instatment. This is my career and depend on this as my living. I have a hard enough time paying the dues let alone reinstatement fee. Unemployment does not pay you enough to pay your bills and Union dues. We barely get by. Those of the employees in the office at the home locals depend on they're hands dues to pay they're salaries. Some of those funds go straight to Kansas City. We depend on our Local Representative to help find us work. But, over the past two years, its been the same answer, "We have no work here either". Yes, there is no work, but Union dues still has to be paid to support Local Halls and they're employees. Most of the time, the Secretary won't let you speak to the Dispatch or Business Manager. Most of the time, thy are quite rude. Guess what, we pay for this treatment. I am a Boilermakers and I honor my title. We cannot afford to just drive 300 plus miles to sign an out-of-work book and drive home. Your name stays on the books for a limited amount of time. Then when you get there, they tell you, "your a boomer", "we will put you on the C or D list", "We have our own hands waiting to work too". Why not tell us this before we drive 300 plus miles to sign a book. Save us the time, aggrivation and money by letting us know before. Many different craft have achieve both Boilermakers and Ironworkers Union cards. The problem is, unless you have 6000 hours per craft, the local hall wont work you without those hours. This makes it almost impossible to earn your hours if your hall does not work you. I hope you feel the same way I do about these problems and I believe these issues need to change. The Men and Women in the field are the backbone of the International regardless of what craft you are. Matthew Harris