January 29 will be opportunity to honor Local 2222's Jerry Leary

Happy New Year to all of you and your families.

I am certainly glad to see the end of 2009. It was a year was filled with an incredible number of deaths of both our active and retired members. But none impacted the local more than our beloved Vice President -- Jerry Leary.

Jerry would NEVER want to be made larger in death than he was in life, but his loss to this local reflects just that. He was our organizer, he was our political negotiator and he was our representative at both the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Greater Boston Labor Council. 

We plan to honor Jerry and his family with a fundraiser on Friday, January 29 at Florian Hall in Dorchester, MA beginning at 7:00 PM. 

If you cannot attend, you can make a contribution by sending a check to the Leary Family Fund, c/o Local 2222 IBEW Benevolent Fund, 1137 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA 02124

Jerry would be the first to say, "Don't Mourn -- Organize to Keep the Movement Going." In his honor, we have to move on. I am pleading with this ENTIRE membership to get more involved with your local union. Our only strength comes from membership involvement and our unity of purpose.

You can become involved by getting more active in our day-to-day union work, our political initiatives or our community causes. There is something for EVERYONE. Jerry Leary was active in all three. If you only pick one, with just a little effort you can make a huge difference in the lives of so many people as Jerry did:

• Jerry was our "Go to Guy" to fix things that could not be fixed in the grievance and arbitration procedure. Now others will have to step up to do that work.

• Jerry was our strong voice at City Council meetings and on Beacon Hill. Now others will have to step up to attend those meetings.

• Jerry fought for workers who have no voice at work by reaching out and helping them to build on the job unity and win their rights. Now others will have to step up to meet with Comcast workers, NCR techs, Verizon engineers and many other employees.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "When a great man, dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men."

Help keep Jerry's light shining!