Brothers and Sisters

Hope today finds you well. Let me please be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday. You may or may not be aware that on February 14^th 1901 Painters Local Union 294 was officially chartered into what was then known as the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. Now known as International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, so on February 14^th, 2025 our Local Union will be 124 years old! Our Charter was signed buy General President A.L. Monroe and General Secretary – Treasurer Walter T Raftery. 

Our Local Union has survived through a lot through the years, just think about it World War’s, Great Depression, many Recessions. Also, early members were part of establishing labor laws that are really taken for granted today like the 40-hour work week, 8-hour work day, Lunch Breaks, Safety training and the list goes on. 

Now I can’t say for sure if any of our early members actually died or were injured in the pursuit of those Labor Laws but it would not shock me at all if they did. You see many members of all Unions in their early formations were beaten and lost their lives while standing up for the rights to organize and to establish the laws and safety regulations that we today fight to protect and expand upon. 

We must never forget that! We also must be willing to fight and stand up to worker suppression and those who push to take away our rights to Organize and Collectively Bargain! The opposition has already been successful in Texas and Florida where laws were put into place denying workers the right to take water breaks. 

We defined as Unions and the working class are under full attack to destroy our rights to Bargain, Organize and enjoy simple common sense labor laws that were established by those before us and maintained by us. We need to be prepared to stand tall be boisterous and forceful to protect what’s ours and what we need in the future. Be Prepared to Fight!

In Unity,

Jeffery B Roberts

RD/DC16/LU294/IUPAT