By: Duane Ballard

Recently, we held the swearing-in meeting for all our newly elected and reelected members here at 659.

This election cycle seemed to go on and on forever. I want to thank all the members of the Election Committee and the members who raised their hands to run their district elections. Elections are a huge responsibility and most of the time a thankless job. It takes a true love for their Union to say I will help run this election and will make sure it runs fairly and correctly. Thank you again to all who helped out.

There are quite a few members who have stepped up and are taking new positions this election cycle, and I want to thank them all. I also want to remind everyone that there is a new learning curve to all these leadership positions. We are looking at educational classes for all our new bargaining reps and our new Executive Board positions. Hopefully, we can get with the Region and get some classes here in grievance handling and parliamentary procedure classes.

To the members who have elected these people to their new positions, remember the learning curve for them. They are not going to know everything right away, so please be patient. With some education and guidance from the seasoned leadership, they will get there.

June 6th was our 4th Annual Get Kids Outdoors Day. It was the biggest yet that this Local has put on. We ran out of 400 fishing poles around 11:00 o’clock. That is amazing considering we didn’t open up until 9:30 am. The kids had a lot of different outdoor activities to participate in – bow shooting, kayaking, BB gun shooting, bird house building, bird feeder building, a huge blow-up obstacle course, bird dog demos, dock diving, and a host of vendors promoting outdoor activities and safety.

This event would not be possible without the group efforts of UAW Local 659, Union Sportsman’s Alliance, and Genesee County Parks.

International UAW Vice President Mike Booth and Region 1D Assistant Director Scott Zuckschwerdt showed up to give a hand to help out at the event. A huge thank you goes out to the just over 40 volunteers who came out to help make this event run flawlessly.

I love seeing the smiles and curiosity of all the young people experiencing new activities that they may have never witnessed, or participated in.

This year, we had a bird of prey session. The bird lady brought a bald eagle, hawk, and an owl, and did a session on each bird. Watching those kids gather around and ask questions was a big hit.

Speaking of experiencing new things, I am going to do the same thing. The first six months of this year has been super busy with all that has been going on. With that being said, I am doing my first cruise tomorrow. Going to the heat is not my thing, so we are doing an Alaskan cruise. I am really excited about going.

Of course, I have a fishing excursion lined up, as well as a train through the mountains. I will let everyone know how it goes when I get back. Until then, the weather is great, so get a kid outdoors.