Dear Members and your families,

I wanted to write a letter to the Local 2 Membership not to say goodbye but to say how much I have appreciated all of you. I have been blessed to have the most educated and forthcoming Membership in the country.

I have been an Officer for Local 2 for almost 20 years and I have been your elected Business Manager for 5 terms. This last term for me has been the hardest with so many Members out of work, losing their homes, not being able to feed their families and going through divorces. This has weighed heavily on my heart.

I see an upturn on the economy. At one time we had 350 Members out of work, but now we are close to 200. Unfortunately, this is still too many Members out of work.

Thank you for the opportunity to purchase our own building.  We are no longer paying rent -  we are receiving rent that covers the  cost for the upkeep of the building.  We now have QEI testing, windmill technology and we have been ok'd to have our own welding classes held in our own building.

Across the country we as a Membership are what every Local should inspire to be.  We have gotten rid of the infighting and we have learned it’s better to work together to accomplish our goals. I know most of the Membership doesn’t see it like I see it, but we are talked about regarding how much we have accomplished in such a short time throughout the I.U.E.C.

I wanted to tell all of you how very proud I was to be the Business Manager of Local 2.  In my over 11 years as your Business Manager I have had opportunities to work elsewhere but I simply enjoyed being your Business Manager.  My only regret is I still thought there was more to accomplish.

I want to say more than just "thank you",  but I can’t find the words.  I wanted you to know that every one of you were on my mind when I was making my decisions and that I wasn’t thinking of  just you, but your families as well.

God Bless all of you,

Frank J. Christensen

IUEC General President