In fact, I am pleased to report to you that we have turned the corner and our consolidated funds balance is now operating in the positive for the first time in three fiscal years. Your International Executive Council has met the challenges of increased expenses and reduced revenue with a cost reduction response that has clearly put us on a more sound financial footing going forward. But we are not out of the woods yet.

There is more that must be done to build up our reserves, to bring all divisions into the black, to carry us into our next 125 years of service to our members. So your International officers ask you now for your help.

Faced with declining membership numbers, we need to reduce the number of International officers going forward. To this end, we will be asking for your support of the Law Committee's report to downsize a number of International officers through International Executive Council action, upon the retirement of the next several officers between now and the next convention.

Just as you would want for your local members, we feel that this method of reduction is fair to each individual who has dedicated his life to the service of our union and its members.

We will also be asking you to help correct a major problem in our per capita based revenue system. For many years we have maintained a system that allows for the payment of $1 in per capita for out-of-work dues and $0 in per capita for sick dues. Each month, literally, thousands of members pay $1 in monthly per capita and thousands pay no per capita at all. Yet we must continue to administer their membership at significant cost to our International Union.

Both the local lodge and the International work just as hard for members who are on layoff as for those on the job. Loss of revenue from this dues structure is significant. For example, in the month of January, we typically find that over 13,000 members are paying only $1 in per capita to the International Union and several thousand more are paying nothing at all. Out-of-work and sick dues result in an approximate loss of over $2.25 million in per capita revenue to our International Union each year.

We could ask this body to recoup that loss by raising the per capita for all members, but we do not think that would be fair. Instead, we will ask you to support the Law Committee in eliminating the out-of-work dues provisions from our Constitution and modifying the sick dues provisions by setting those at the effective per capita rate.

Our resolution also provides for several options for local lodges to assist sick members in the payment of their minimum sick dues. Correcting the sick and out-of-work provisions and the anticipated reduction of International Officers, represents a potential revenue enhancement to the International of over $3 million a year, without increasing the per capita tax.

Coupled with an expected increase in construction man hours for most of the next decade, the additional field dues revenue that increased man hours generate for our Construction Division, will contribute to a significant turnaround in our financial condition. In addition, other divisions will be addressing shortfalls in their supplemental divisional revenues.

We urge each of you to support the necessary corrections as reported by the Law Committee, so that all divisions will be able to operate in the black. Brothers and Sisters, over the past 125 years, we have had to call upon you for help. And you have always delivered.

Your International officers believe that your support of these initiatives is critical to our future and to the service we provide to our union members. And we continually look for ways to improve our service. In this 21st Century, that often means taking advantage of new technologies.