March Retiree Report

March 4, 2021

Let’s start off with the good news the vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be working and so for we have been receiving good reports of its effectiveness.  We have a large number of our Retirees that have received their first shot and several others have already received their second shot. Further good news is that President Biden has announced that by the end of May there should be enough vaccine available that everyone that wants a shot should have them available.  You may have heard Johnson/Johnson vaccine was released this week and only requires one shot.

We just received notice this week that our UAW Region 8 Retiree Conference (that was cancelled last year) has now been rescheduled for May 3-7th this year. 

As I announced earlier we are scheduling our Local Retiree Meeting for the 2nd Monday in May at 11:am at the American Legion Hall in Decatur.  Please help us spread the word on the meeting.  We will make every attempt to have a meeting with social distancing and require face mask. We will not be providing food at this meeting. If you would like to bring a desert that is fine.  We will have coffee and tea.

As of this report we are approaching 520,000 deaths due to this pandemic.  We have had over 20 million cases where our citizens have been infected.  There are still approximately 50,000 cases per day with an excess of 1,000 deaths per day.  The reason I point this out, WE CAN NOT LET OUR GUARD DOWN IF WE WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO SOME WHAT A NORMAL LIFE START.  Please continue to practice the same safety procedures that are proven....not only to protect you but also your friends and loved one.  The more we do the right thing the faster we return to normal.

We will make a request to have our provider representatives at the meeting, Blue Cross, Aetna and etc.  I have not been notified if the vendor travel restriction has been left or when they will be.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to assist several of our members with various different issues during this meeting blackout, most of you know me,  I'm a hands-on person so I'm looking forward to when we can once again have our meetings. You can always call me if I can be of assistance, 256-353-7893 leave message; I will get back to you.  Emergencies can call my cell 256-874-0850.

There are a lot of things going on in our beloved COUNTRY and I'm sorry to say too much bad has occurred. Many of us never believed we would see an attack on our Capitol and the open threat to our DEMOCRACY.

I would encourage each and every one too seek the truth understand what is at risk and realize where you and your family are with the freedom and rights we enjoy.   Please attempt to stay away from the fear-mongers and people that want to tear our Country apart.  They can talk about all the problems (sure we have many but they never have solutions) which normally just creates and atmosphere of CHAOS.  I will quote what Winston Churchill stated, He was asked about government of democracy, He said, "a democracy is the worse form of government, EXCEPT FOR ALL OTHERS."  So yes we have problems to fix and together they are fixable.

Yours in Solidarity,

Chuck McDonald, Chairman