County Considering Sale of Health Services Center, Unions Fight for Jobs and Quality Care

With a potential sale of the Camden County Health Services Center looming, scores of hospital employees rallied at the May 17 County Freeholders Meeting in Winslow Township to voice their opposition. The Board previously took action at its April meeting to initiate a process which could lead to a sale. The Center includes a 300 bed long term care facility and a 150 bed acute in-patient psychiatric facility.

Council #10 and AFSCME leaders told Freeholder Board members the unions concerns included member jobs as well as the quality of care for residents and patient if a sale goes forward. They said employees were prepared to offer contract concessions to prevent the sale. Council #10 President Karl Walko said, “The Center is a jewel providing top quality care-something for which Camden County should be proud.” The facility is accredited by the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations). Only 37 nursing homes out of 363 across the state are accredited with only two in Camden County. “The facility has been around since at least 1816 and represents a legacy passed down through generations”, said Walko. The need for a county-run facility “is greater in Camden County than other counties in South Jersey because of its larger population and more urban nature” he said.

Citing a recent investigation by the U.S. Justice Department of dangerous conditions for patients at the State psychiatric facility at Ancora, Walko said the County and State should be concerned that a potential closure of psychiatric facility resulting from a sale of the Center would result in even greater overcrowding at Ancora.

Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli told workers that no decision had been made and that all options were being explored. He said the Board appreciated the unions willingness to offer concessions but the real problem was that Medicaid reimbursements provided by the State for long-term care residents resulted in a $100 per day loss for each resident in the facility.  

The Center is staffed by approximately 500 facility employees and an additional 250 contract service workers.

Both Council #10 and AFSCME will continue the fight to save jobs and quality services for patients and residents through the Center’s governing Board of Managers, the County Board of Freeholders as well as State officials overseeing funding sources for the Center.

(5/18/12)

Wisconsin Gov. Walker, Facing a Recall Election on June 5, Is Caught on Tape Saying Destroying Collective Bargaining for Public Employees Is Only the First Step in Attacking All Unions

New footage was just released of a conversation between Governor Walker and the largest donor to his campaign, billionaire Diane Hendricks, in January 2011. In the video, Walker describes his plan to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin workers.

See more information on the Recall Election in Wisconsin below.

(5/12/12)

Jeff Danziger on Chris Christie in Wisconsin

(5/12/12)

May Labor History - The Pullman Strike of 1894

May marks the anniversary of the Pullman Strike of 1894. It was an event that shocked the nation and resulted in a Senate investigation.

In 1880, George Pullman commissioned architect Solon Beman to begin construction of a so-called "model town" for the production of his sleeping cars and for the housing of his workers A buffer zone was provided between the town and Chicago to separate workers from the evil influence of the city. Those hired were carefully screened to assure industrious, non-drinking, American-born workers, who were not union members.

The town was beautiful, but there was nothing American about it. It was more like a feudal state. There was no democracy in the community or on the job.

Why the Workers Went on Strike

Although there were walkouts and a constantly changing work force from the beginning, serious labor problems developed in 1893 when Pullman reduced wages from 25-54 percent without any reduction in the rents workers paid or in what they were charged for water and gas by the company.

When a committee of workers asked to talk over their grievances with management, several members of the committee were fired. On June 11, 1894 pro-union workers went on strike and the non-striking workers were locked out by the company.

Supporters and Opponents of the Strike

A young Methodist minister, the Rev. William Carwardine, could no longer stand to see members of his Pullman congregation starving. He and Jennie Curtis, a teenage Pullman seamstress, went to the convention of the American Railway Union (ARU) and on June 12, 1894 they appealed for help. Against even the wishes of the ARU President, Eugene V. Debs, they convinced the delegates to back the Pullman workers against the powerful Pullman Palace Car Company. The ARU agreed to refuse to move any train carrying a Pullman car.

The General Managers' Association (GMA), made up of 24 railroads centering or terminating in Chicago, saw this as a battle to the death between labor and management. They came to Pullman's aid by placing Pullman cars on freight and mail trains, thereby creating a national emergency in order to force federal intervention.

The entire nation took sides in the dispute with supporters of the union wearing white ribbons on their labels, and those against wearing small American flags. Jane Addams, Clarence Darrow, and Governor John Peter Altgeld of Illinois would come take the side of the workers.

The Strike Is Broken

The Sherman Anti-Trust Law, passed to control monopolies like Standard Oil, was used against Debs and the ARU. An injunction was issued, and 14,000 federal troops and special deputies were sent to Chicago by the 4th of July!

Debs was arrested and thrown into the Cook County Jail. A trial followed and the jury was about to find Debs not guilty, when one of the jurors became ill. The anti-union judge declared a mistrial, and sentenced Debs to prison for six months based on violation of the injunction. When Chicago workers threatened to tear down the Cook County Jail and free Debs, he was sent instead to McHenry County Jail in Woodstock, Illinois, a conservative farm area.

When Debs was released, hundreds of labor leaders went to Woodstock and brought him back to Chicago in a special train. He was greeted at the Northwestern Station by half a million people. They wrapped him in an American flag and workers carried Debs on their shoulders to the lakefront where he gave his famous "Liberty Speech." He told the audience that it was not enough to just belong to a union; workers had to get involved politically and change unfair laws.

Results of the Strike

George Pullman never admitted his mistake even though leading businessmen like, Marcus Hanna were disgusted with him for not meeting with his workers. Pullman died three years after the strike and was buried under tons of steel and concrete in fear that his grave would be desecrated.

After the strike, the U.S. Strike Commission held hearing and recommendations were made for some type of federal arbitration to be established through a labor board. This would not become a reality for 41 years, until the passage in 1935 of the National Labor Relations Act.

-William Adelman (theunionssteward.com)

(5/1/12)

Henry J. Dunn, III Fund Awards Twenty $500 Scholarships at March Meeting

At Council #10's March 27 General Membership Meeting, the Henry J. Dunn, III Scholarship Fund awarded twenty $500 scholarships to sons and daughters of members graduating high school in 2012. In making the presentations, Scholarship Committee Chair Valerie Castagna noted former President Henry J. Dunn's goal to award a scholarship to every eligible student. The fund has met that goal for the past sixteen years. Council #10 President Karl Walko advised the scholarship winners that the Union knew $500 might only pay for the first semester's books but  the message that came with the scholarships was more important--that their parent's union values education and wants to help the next generation succeed. He asked them to work hard and to become good citizens as a way of paying back the assistance provided by their parents and many others.

The principal source of funding is the annual Henry J. Dunn, III Golf Tournament which is scheduled this year for September 22. Council #10 encourages everyone to participate in order that the goal of providing scholarships to all eligible students continues.

(Pictures of the event) (Full list of scholarship winners)

(3/28/12)

Senate Committee Rejects Gov. Christie's Selection for the State Supreme Court After Council #10, Other Progressive Organizations Oppose the Attempt to Pack the Court

On March 22, a Senate panel rejected Gov. Christie's nomination for the State Supreme Court, Phillip Kwon in a 7-6 party line vote. Along with a large number of progressive organizations, Council #10 signed a letter opposing Gov. Christie's state Supreme Court nominations. The letter states, "For decades, New Jersey's court system, particularly its state Supreme Court, had been seen as a national model for its handling of legal issues and for its avoidance of partisan interference. Every Governor over six decades has appointed members in a bipartisan fashion, to maintain a 4 to 3 split between the two parties and preserve the court's independence. The [Governor's] appointments would break this essential safeguard for the first time in history and instead set a new expectation that the governor simply would appoint nembers of his or her own party.

"Today was a political payback by the Democratic Party for pension and benefits reform," said the governor. "I hope that today they exorcised their union demons." "I have every right to have four Republicans on the court, I won the election," Christie later told reporters. "I believe the court needs to be remade."

(Updated 3/23/12)

Federal Judge Dismisses Union Pension Lawsuit, Unions Will File in State Court

On March 5, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by state public employee unions seeking to overturn the pension overhaul enacted last summer. The suit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds and did not rule on the actual merits of the case brought by the PBA, the New Jersey Education Association, the Communication Workers of America, AFSCME, Council #10 and other public employee unions. Among the portions of the bill the unions were seeking to overturn was the elimination of cost of living increases for retirees and other employees as well as the larger payments to the pension fund required of all current employees.

In dismissing the case, Judge Anne Thompson cited the 11th amendment, barring suits against states or their officers if the remedy requires payments by states for past violations of the law. "After considering the arguments raised by both parties, the Court has determined that Plaintiffs‘ request for relief amounts to—both in substance and effect—a request for this Court to compel specific performance of a contract allegedly existing between Plaintiffs and the State of New Jersey or otherwise compel the state to abide by its obligations in its political capacity. Because claims such as this are barred by the Eleventh Amendment, the plaintiffs ‘amended complaint must be dismissed," Thompson wrote.  She concluded, “Because this Court is without jurisdiction, the other arguments raised by the parties need not be addressed.”

After the dismissal, the Unions considered an appeal option in federal court but decided instead to pursue the issue in state court.

(Updated 3/30/12)

Comptroller Matthew Boxer

New Jersey Comptroller Reports Local Governments Could Save $100M by Enrolling in the NJ State Health Benefits Plan

In a report issued on February 29, the New Jersey State Comptroller found local governments could collectively save more than $100M each year by switching to the State Health Benefits Plan (SHBP). The Comptroller’s audit of four public entities (Essex County, Brick Township, East Brunswick Township and Haddon Township) found all could have netted savings through the state plan and that none had properly evaluated their options.

As of April 2011, 14 of the 21 New Jersey counties and 217 of the state’s 566 municipalities were participating in health plans other than SHBP. Of the four government entities audited by OSC, three had contracted with insurance brokers to assist them in securing coverage from insurance carriers. The OSC audit found the three government entities who hired a broker collectively had paid more than $1 million in broker fees over a two-year period. The SHBP offers medical services and related benefits that are generally comparable to the health plans of the four government entities OSC audited.

NJ Spotlight asked in a March 1 story on the report, “Why are New Jersey's county and municipal governments and school districts spending tens of millions of property tax dollars unnecessarily on high-priced insurance plans and broker fees? It's a politically sensitive question, because the biggest name in the insurance brokerage business for local governments is George Norcross, the South Jersey Democratic power broker and often ally of Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Norcross's firm, Conner Strong & Buckelew, is by all accounts the biggest player in New Jersey's local government insurance market, and could have the most to lose if Boxer's and Pozycki's recommendations start a stampede toward the low-cost State Health Benefits Plan by municipalities, counties, and school districts forced to look harder for cost savings because of the new 2 percent spending cap.”

Citizen’s Campaign Chairman Harry Pozycki pegs the potential savings at more than $200 million if counties, municipalities and school districts would institute competitive bidding and bar insurance brokers from getting paid a percentage by the firms they recommend.

The Inquirer report goes on to say, “Comptroller Boxer's report, coming on the heels of the Citizens Campaign's Best Price Insurance initiative, has put New Jersey's multibillion-dollar government insurance industry on the defensive for the second time in nine months, not only by laying out the potential tax savings, but also by shining a spotlight on the underlying political connections that too often go unnoticed and unreported. Nine months ago, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) attempted to insert a provision in pension and healthcare legislation that would have barred the State Health Benefits Plan from accepting any more county or municipal governments or school districts as members. Sweeney pulled the offending clause after the New York Times charged that Sweeney was trying to help Norcross, his political mentor and childhood friend, whose firm was losing business to the low-cost state government competitor."

Hetty Rosenstein, state director for the Communications Workers of America, said the audit confirms what they have known for years. "The more cities and towns join the plan, the more taxpayers can save," she said in a written statement. "And the more efficient out healthcare system becomes."

Conner Strong & Buckelew Executive Vice President Joseph M. DiBella issued a statement Tuesday disputing Boxer's report. "We examine every market including private market placement and the state health benefit plan and/or state educators employee benefit plan for every public entity account," DiBella said. "Our recommendations are made regardless of any impact to our compensation."

DiBella failed to respond to telephone and email interview requests Tuesday and yesterday, and Daniel Black, the Philadelphia media consultant listed on Conner Strong's website, failed to respond yesterday to detailed questions about DiBella's assertion that Conner Strong had urged the Gloucester and Camden county governments to join the State Health Benefits Plan and about which counties, municipalities, and school districts Conner Strong represented in New Jersey. Gloucester County is scheduled to become the eighth county government to join the State Health Benefits Plan later this spring, but state officials had no information about any plans for Camden County to join the state pool.”

Council #10 has spoken in favor of the Citizen’s Campaign’s Model Ordinance “Best Price Insurance Purchasing” Model Ordinance at the February 14 City Council Meeting. The ordinance would require consideration of the SHBP (as well as changes in the way brokers are paid).

More importantly, Council #10 has proposed enrollment in the SHBP in negotiations with the City as well as with the Health Services Center and County Library. The lower premiums would reduce the amount paid by employees in the premium contributions newly required under legislation passed last summer. The benefits in the SHBP are comparable to the current plans of the City and the County.

(3/3/12)

What Have American Unions Ever Done for Us?

(3/9/12)

This About Sums It Up

Member of the Year - Linda VanFossen

Each year in December, Council #10 selects one of its members as its “Member of the Year”. The Member of the Year award was created to recognize members that made an exceptional effort to improve their work place or to support fellow members. Our intent is to spotlight their service as an example for others.
The selection is made by the Council #10 Officers from nominations received.
The 2011 selection is Linda Van Fossen. Linda has worked for Camden County since October 1990, starting and remaining in the County Pension office. She enjoys her position saying, “I enjoy working with employees. Everyone I work with is nice to me. They all seemgrateful for the services this office provides and my help in guiding them through the retirement process.” She views herself as “friendly and helpful” and believes her work responsibilities are a good match for her personality. She admitted 2011 was extremely difficult because of the layoffs and the extraordinary number of retirements. “It broke my heart to see so many of my friends go, she said. “I tried to treat everyone with the respect they deserve. I feel like they were part of my family. In fact, my family has personal experience with the impact of a layoff. My husband was laid off from his employer after 25 years and had to start over in a new career.”
In reflecting on how she got through this year, Linda expressed gratitude for the support of her co-workers saying she needed their help to keep her sane.
Her nomination stated, “It takes a very special person to care so much for fellow employees, to be willing to give so much of herself in order to help someone else. She is truly a gem and never once complained about how overwhelming it was for her, and for those she enlisted to assist her in providing our employees with as much information as humanly possible. She was focused on those affected by the mass layoffs and wanted them to know someone cared. She was their rock, their sounding board and their "complaint department" all wrapped up in one.” (12/21/11)

Former Gov. Cody Pokes Fun at George Norcross in Video

Former Governor Dick Cody lampooned George Norcross in a video played at the annual Trenton Correspondents Dinner on May 17. The video was subsequently posted on YouTube. For anyone interested in New Jersey politics, the video is worth a look. (5/21/11)

Negotiations Ongoing

Negotiations are ongoing for the County Library Support Staff and Supervisory Units, the City of Camden Supervisory, Non-supervisory and Crossing Guard Units, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office Clerical Staff Unit, the Health Services Center Regular and Crafts Units and the Winslow Township Unit.

Dear Union Brothers and Sisters:

Across the nation, in state after state, unions, especially public employee unions, are fighting their toughest battles in years. The 2010 “Tea Party”-infused elections gave Republicans a number of additional governor chairs and state legislative majorities. These political gains along with a combination of a squeeze on state budgets, high rates of unemployment and the conservative movement’s revived energy provided an opening for Republican efforts, often business-backed, to promote tough-on-labor legislation. The efforts have succeeded in rolling back gains made by unions over decades. Twenty-two states, mainly in the South and the West, have long had “right to work” laws forbidding contracts that require workers to pay union dues. After a decade in which business has ignored the issue, Republicans in more than 10 states over the last year have begun pushing similar laws. The Indiana legislature passed “right to work” legislation earlier this year. In Ohio, Gov. Kasich signed legislation in 2011 which severely restricted the bargaining rights of public employees throughout the state. In early 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Walker jammed through legislation that severely restricted the bargaining rights of state employees. In New Jersey, Gov. Christie signed legislation in June 2011 that reduced pension and health benefits for public employees without negotiation.

Labor has vowed to fight back with newly engaged members shaken from self-described complacency.  Union officials acknowledge this push caught them unaware and unprepared, but say the legislative moves have reinvigorated members, prompting a beefing up of political operations. This contributed to the effort in Ohio which resulted in a 61-39% vote repealing the law restricting workers and has fueled the effort in Wisconsin to recall Gov. Walker.

The center of the storm now appears to be Wisconsin, where Gov. Walker faces a recall election on June 5. On May 8, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett got the nod in the Democratic primary to oppose Walker. The victory sets up a rematch of Mayor Barrett’s race against Gov. Walker in 2010, when the governor won by about five percentage points as Republicans took control of the state — not just in the governor’s office but also in both chambers of the Legislature. As many Democrats had expected, the anti-Walker forces began closing ranks around the new nominee on Tuesday night, with quick endorsements from his leading opponent Kathleen Falk and AFSCME Wisconsin, one of the unions that had supported her. But recent polls and fund-raising totals suggest that the party has little room for distractions in its quest to unseat the well-financed governor. Since the start of 2011, Gov. Walker has raised more than $25 million. Campaign finance reports released by candidates in early May showed that Mr. Walker raised more than $13 million over the past three months alone, dwarfing Mr. Barrett’s $831,000 and Ms. Falk’s $977,000

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, “Recall Walker” bumper stickers dotted the workers’ parking lot at the Georgia Pacific paper mill on Day Street here one recent afternoon, proof of their union’s role in the effort to oust Gov. Scott Walker from office early for his legislation limiting public employees’ bargaining rights. But among the largest donors to Gov. Walker and his cause are the plant’s owners, the billionaire industrialists Charles G. and David H. Koch, the latter of whom has said of the recall election to be held in June, “If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power.” According to Wisconsin campaign finance filings, Walker's gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC during the 2010 election. That donation was his campaign's second-highest. The Koch's PAC also helped Walker via a familiar and much-used political maneuver designed to allow donors to skirt campaign finance limits. The PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn spent $65,000 on independent expenditures to support Walker. The RGA also spent a whopping $3.4 million on TV ads and mailers attacking Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Walker ended up beating Barrett by 5 points. The Koch money, no doubt, helped greatly.

The recall vote in Wisconsin has been billed as a critical test of labor muscle versus corporate money. But it is only a warm-up for a confrontation that will play out during the presidential election, which both sides view as the biggest political showdown in at least 30 years between pro- and anti-union forces — a labor-management fight writ large. The same national groups flooding the streets and the airwaves in Wisconsin — the Koch-supported group Americans for Prosperity on the right, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., teachers unions and the United Steelworkers on the left — are emerging as important outside supporters of President Obama and Mitt Romney, each side empowered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. That ruling is not only giving wealthy donors like the Kochs greater options for pouring tens of millions of dollars into the presidential election. It is also giving unions — many of them representing workers in some of the major donors’ own factories — the ability for the first time ever to spend money from union treasuries for campaigning among nonunion voters.

“The steelworkers will be working harder this year than in 2008, because we can see what can happen,” said Michael Bolton, the director of the United Steelworkers unit representing 48,000 workers in Wisconsin and Michigan — including many hundreds in Koch facilities. Officials for the steelworkers say it has been awkward at times to wage partisan battles against the family that owns the factories that employ them. The union’s leaders recently agreed on a contract with Georgia Pacific that they considered fair. When liberal groups called for a boycott of Koch products late last year, a Steelworkers vice president, Jon Geenen, said it would harm “the wrong people,” writing of a “dilemma and a paradox,” namely, “While the Koch brothers are credited with advocating an agenda and groups that are clearly hostile to labor and labor’s agenda, the brothers’ company in practice and in general has positive and productive collective bargaining relationships with its unions.” But, Mr. Bolton said, that has not stopped the union from telling workers at those companies what it believes to be the goal of the Kochs and their allies. “They want ineffective, weak unions,” he said, adding, “A lot of these bills didn’t directly affect our private sector members, but we realize that we would be the next.”

In an interview, Wisconsin Gov. Walker called that a “bogus argument,” saying he has no plans to pursue right-to-work legislation, as private sector unions have feared. “Private sector unions are my partners,” he said. Mr. Walker said that in restricting collective bargaining rights for government workers, save those in public safety, he was confronting a reality facing virtually all state governments with aging, unionized work forces: “We can’t sustain our budgets unless we make some reasonable changes.” Gov. Walker said charges that he is doing the bidding of wealthy supporters like the Kochs are “the biggest joke out there.” But Mr. Koch’s comments, made to The Palm Beach Post in February, that he viewed support of Gov. Walker as part of an effort to check “union power,” have become a rallying point for unions. And Gov. Walker told CBS News, “"I know that collective bargaining is not a right; it's an expensive entitlement.”

Nearly all of the larger confrontations have taken place in presidential battlegrounds, not only Wisconsin and Ohio, but also states like Florida, Michigan and New Hampshire. Labor hopes the numerous conflicts will lead to Democratic success in November. The steelworkers will be part of a broader effort that national union strategists say will fill the streets in battleground states with hundreds of thousands of their members, who will go door to door telling union colleagues — and, for the first time, nonunion households — why they should vote for Mr. Obama. The A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political director, Mike Podhorzer, said his organization, which reached 25 million voters in 2008, would easily exceed that this year. “These state fights are a jump-start to get people engaged,” said Brandon Davis, political director for the Service Employees International Union. “We’re confident that if we get turnout to vote in municipal elections, they will also vote our way in national elections.” The Koch brothers are so concerned that Charles Koch pledged $40 million and David pledged $20 million at a private three-day retreat in California late January, where 250 to 300 individuals pledged approximately $100 million to defeat President Obama in the 2012 elections. Bob Kelley, a retired union carpenter, agreed as he hammered together a partition for a new call center in Madison. “If you’re where somebody throws down a gauntlet and attacks, what are you going to do?” he said, referring to Gov. Walker. “Maybe he did us a favor.”

(5/9/12)(Compiled from news reports)

Activities Committee Sponsors Dorney Park/Wild Water Kingdom Bus Trip on Saturday, August 4

Council #10 members are invited on a Saturday, August 4 bus trip to Dorney Park & Wild Water Kingdom in Allentown, PA. Tickets are $35 per person including round-trip transportation and admission to both attractions. Members must attend. Bus transportation is limited to members and immediate family (up to 3). Those wishing to travel on their own can purchase unlimited tickets for admission to both attractions for $25 per person. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the Council #10 office (856) 541-4191.

******SOLD OUT******

Council #10 Announces Phillies Game Night on June 21

The Council #10 Activities Committee is sponsoring discount tickets to the Philadelphia Phillies v. Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball game at Citizens Bank Park in South Philadlephia on Thursday, June 21 (Game start-7:05 p.m.). For tickets and more information, contact the Council #10 office (856) 541-4191. Tickets are $30.00 (First base line, Section 306) and include a $10.00 concession voucher. Three tickets maximum per member. MEMBERS MUST ATTEND THE GAME. Only a limited number of tickets are available (first come-first served) so purchase your tickets early.

Longwood Gardens Hosts Council #10 Bus Trip

A May 6 Activities Committee bus trip to Longwood Gardens balanced a cloudy day against the beauty of the gardens. The group enjoyed the gardens without rain and without the heat of the sun. A good time was had by all.

Council #10 Group Sees College Basketball at Its Best

In one of the biggest upsets in men's college basketball this season, the Temple Owls beat the Duke Blue Devils 78-73 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia while Council #10 members and their guests looked on.

(1/5/12)

Henry J. Dunn, III Scholarship Tournament Raises Over $7,800 for Council #10 Scholarship Fund

Henry J. Dunn Scholarship Golf Tournament on 9/22/11 raised over $7,800 for the union's scholarship fund. While the profits from the event were down from previously years, it still was a very successful fundraiser considering the current economy and the events over the past year.

Full list of Chinese Auction Prize Winners

Council #10 thanks each and every individual who helped in making this year's event successful, especially the following:

(9/23/11)

Upcoming Activity Committee Events -

Phillies Baseball (June 21) SOLD OUT

Dorney Park Trip (August 4)

Radio City Christmas Show Trip (November 25)