Published 30 Dec, 2015
14th Financial Officers Seminar Held
If running a local union is like operating a small business, then local secretary-treasurers are the chief financial officers. As part of our union’s ongoing commitment to developing members’ skills, TWU held a Financial Officers Training seminar at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland in December to offer local officers an opportunity to enhance their toolboxes and collaborate with each other. Financial officers, including Treasurers and Presidents, learned about their fiduciary and legal responsibilities and honed their reporting and budgeting skills with hands-on training designed to be brought back to locals and shared.
Above: Alex Garcia, left, conducts training for local financial officers.
The program focused on the constitutional and legal requirements of office and included practical work to assist the locals in their financial reporting. Bob Wechsler, TWU’s education consultant, outlined the Department of Labor and IRS federal and regulatory union compliance requirements. Each participant was challenged to develop budgets and bookkeeping spreadsheets to bring back to their locals to help streamline reporting processes throughout the year.
At the end of the program, International Secretary-Treasurer Alex Garcia handed out certificates of completion to every participant, emphasizing how proud he was of their work during the week and their commitment to their membership. He recognized the entire International Administrative Committee’s ongoing commitment to investing in every TWU member and officer, and in moving the union forward with an increased focus on training and developing new skills.
This was the 14th Financial Officers’ class since 1991, bringing the total number of graduates of the program to nearly 400.