Learn more about the WRTA Bus Hub project by clicking here to see it in our online portfolio.

 On April 25, the New England Carpenters Training Center hosted a graduation ceremony for the 2012  New England Carpenters Training Fund Apprentice Graduates. 101 members, representing 15 Locals, completed their training in the apprenticeship program in 2012.  Keynote speakers included: Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, NERCC; William Irwin, Executive Director, Carpenters International Training Fund; David Powell, Director, Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts; and Larry Carr, Dean, Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Congratulations to all of the graduates! 

Learn more about the St. Vincent Cancer Center project by clicking here to see it in our online portfolio.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 New England Regional Council Scholarship Program. Last year 148 students applied and a total of $50,000 was awarded, including the top prize scholarship of $5,000.

To be considered for an award, a completed application package must be received by 5:00 pm on April 12, 2013.

Please review the Eligibility and Guidelines for the program before completing the application. Applicants will be required to write an essay of between 500 and 1000 words on the following topic:

What impact does “Right to Work” legislation have on labor unions, economic development and the standard of living in a state that adopt the law?

To eliminate bias, the scholarship committee is blind to the identity of the applicant. Essays are numerically coded to prevent any reader from having knowledge of the writer. Winners of the top two prizes will be asked to read their essays at the June 2013 delegate meeting. Persons awarded first or second place in a prior year are ineligible for first or second place in subsequent years.

Learn more about the Albert Shurman Center at UMass Medical School building project by clicking here to see it in our online portfolio.

Bryan Bouchard, who serves as Business Manger of Local 1996 in Vermont, Regional Manager for Northern New England and a member of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters Executive Board has announced his retirement, effective March 11. Bouchard is a 36-year member of the UBC.

Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich is appointing John Leavitt to fill Bouchard's unexpired term on the Executive Board as well as his role as Regional Manager for Northern New England.

"Bryan served the members on staff for the Carpenters Union for 26 years," Erlich said. "He has been a quiet but effective leader who always carried himself with dignity and integrity. He will be sorely missed by his members and the Council. We wish him a long and happy retirement."
 

NERCC staff recently spoke to a group of five workers employed at the Botany Bay development in Worcester who were owed more than $25,000 in wages and began making noise about it. Regular bannering was done at the site and last week a rally drew members of Local 107, representatives of the MetroWest Worker's Center, religious leaders and Worcester City Councilor Sarai Rivera.

The event led to pieces in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and Vocero Hispano, which highlighted the wage theft and the unwillingness of the project developer to do anything but turn a blind eye. The bad publicity may force his hand, though, as regular events are gaining attention and the support of the community.
 

The 5th Annual New England Carpenters Ice Fishing Derby will be held Sunday, February 17 from 7am-2pm at Singletary Lake in Millbury, Massachusetts.

Organizer Joe Broderick will be set up at 5am at the lake, which can be accessed by West Main Street in Millbury. Look for a banner with the carpenters emblem by the boat ramp. There is a $20 fee to enter. Twenty-five percent of proceeds will be donated to the Valley Tech Educational Fund

Power augers will not be allowed before 7am and no tickets will be sold after 9am. Awards and a shore drawing will be held at the boat ramp at 2pm. Prizes will be awarded to the heaviest fish of any species, with 40% of proceeds going to the winner, 25% to 2nd place and 10% to 3rd place. Ties will be broken by fish length. All fish must be brought in alive.

For questions, please call Joe Broderick of Local 535 at 781-983-1383.

On January 12, 2010, a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, devastating an already impoverished nation. With much of the country's medical infrastructure destroyed, plans that were in place to build a 110-bed community hospital had to be revamped. The Ministry of Health, along with Partners In Health, launched a far more ambitious plan to build a 320-bed state-of-the-art teaching hospital in Mirebalais, which is located thirty-five miles north of Port-au-Prince in the Central Plateau.

Haiti's building industry, however, was simply unable to meet the needs of the new building design. Massive donations of time, materials and skills would be needed for the project to succeed. Union carpenters and contractors stepped up to the challenge to help secure materials and volunteer their time and labor to help build the hospital while teaching Haitian workers valuable craft skills 

To learn more, check out the piece NERCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich wrote for Commonwealth magazine about this amazing project following a trip to Haiti in 2012.

Registration is now open!

Registration is now open for 2013 Spring Semester. All training is provided FREE to UBC members. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early!

To register, log onto the training website NECTF.org by using your UBC number (found on your union card) and your date of birth.

Check out nercc.org/training2013 for more info. 

Learn more about the Unum Building project by clicking here to see it in our online portfolio.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 New England Regional Council Scholarship Program. Last year 148 students applied and a total of $50,000 was awarded, including the top prize scholarship of $5,000.

To be considered for an award, a completed application package must be received by 5:00 pm on April 12, 2013.

Please review the Eligibility and Guidelines for the program before completing the application. Applicants will be required to write an essay of between 500 and 1000 words on the following topic:

What impact does “Right to Work” legislation have on labor unions, economic development and the standard of living in a state that adopt the law?

To eliminate bias, the scholarship committee is blind to the identity of the applicant. Essays are numerically coded to prevent any reader from having knowledge of the writer. Winners of the top two prizes will be asked to read their essays at the June 2013 delegate meeting. Persons awarded first or second place in a prior year are ineligible for first or second place in subsequent years.

Misclassification has been a serious problem in the construction industry for years, and something against which the Carpenters union has led the fight locally, regionally and nationally. Union efforts resulted first in greater understanding and awareness among elected officials and now regularly lead to enforcement and publicity on the issue that is either directly a result of union action or an indirect result of efforts initiated by the union.

Two items broke this week that reinforce that point. In Worcester, Telegram and Gazette columnist Clive McFarlane wrote about efforts by NERCC Organizer Manny Gines to chase down employers who cheat by misclassifying workers as independent contractors or cheat them out of their wages.

McFarlane's column ties into an announcement earlier in the week by the Executive Office of Labor in Massachusetts that more they had found more than 2,300 workers misclassified by just three employers. Though the three companies were not involved in the construction industry, the eye-popping $11 million in unreported wages and millions of dollars the state should have received for unemployment insurance payments generated new stories that put the issue in front of the general public.

To all staff and local unions:

Yesterday was a good day for union carpenters across New England. Amazingly, all of the Council’s endorsed candidates won election. Obama swept the six states, including winning swing-state New Hampshire by a larger-than-expected margin. In the critical races -- Warren in Massachusetts, Murphy in Connecticut, Hassan/Kuster/Shea-Porter in New Hampshire, King in Maine, Cicilline in Rhode Island – our picks were all winners!!

There is no doubt in my mind that some of the credit for these outcomes belongs to all of you and our members. We worked as hard as we ever have in an election season. We used all the tools available to us – new and old techniques – to educate and mobilize our members. And they responded. Door knocking, phone banks, rallies, visibilities, robo-dials, tele-Town Halls. We had a good story to tell…and we told it well and often.

But it’s important to keep a clear-eyed perspective on where we stand the morning after Election Day 2012. In many ways, we “held serve”. We helped fend off the right wing Republican assault on the middle class. There should be a clear message to the nation’s anti-union forces that their philosophy is not welcome, that the voters do not buy an agenda that favors the wealthy over working families. Yet we still have a divided Congress; we still have a Republican Party that attacks unions. We have some new articulate champions but we also have some old foes. Paul Ryan is still chair of the House Budget Committee and there are no signs yet that the House leadership is prepared to move forward in terms of solving our country’s problems as opposed to scoring political points.

So, as much as all of us deserve to take a deep breath and feel a justified sense of pride in our efforts, we will need to remain vigilant. The economy will not fix itself; it will require more federal and state action to invest in jobs and people. And it will require our continued involvement. Our members need to work; that’s why we endorsed the candidates who understood that the best social program is a job.

Thank you all for your efforts these past weeks and months. It was worth it. Congratulations.

Mark Erlich
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
New England Regional Council of Carpenters
 

Only two weeks ago, an ad for Elizabeth Warren featured Local 107's Jack Donahue. It was the latest sign that Elizabeth Warren and union carpenters share the same vision for the future of Massachusetts and the United States. This week, Donahue takes a backseat to Brother Richard Brow, another Local 107 carpenter featured in an ad for Elizabeth Warren. In the ad, Brow talks about the importance of creating jobs and how Scott Brown has voted no on multiple jobs bills since arriving in the Senate. Take a look and remember to share with all of your friends and family.
 

United States Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren visited the Carpenters Center recently to speak with members about issues of specific interest to union carpenters. She took questions from members and spoke individually with members before and after the event. Thank you to Elizabeth Warren for coming by and thank you to every member who cared enough to come out and get involved.

In new report card, Republican Scott Brown fails to support new jobs and Massachusetts’ middle-class

Today, the New England Regional Council of Carpenters issued a report card on Senator Scott Brown’s failing efforts to support job-creating programs and middle-class families across the Commonwealth. Senator Brown received an F on today’s report card for opposing numerous jobs bills that would have supported thousands of good-paying jobs in Massachusetts, opposing the extension of essential unemployment benefits, and failing to fight for fair wages for working men and women.

"Try as he may, Scott Brown cannot run away from his votes along national Republican Party lines,” said Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the New England Council of Carpenters. “Whether it's unemployment benefits, jobs bills, or standing up for fair wages, Scott Brown is not on the side of working families right here in Massachusetts. The attempts to re-make his image cannot mask his record. He sides with huge corporations and Wall Street instead of the thousands of Massachusetts families still looking for jobs.”

Today, the New England Carpenters gave Senator Brown an “F” for failing to stand up for working families. The grade was based on the following key votes: 

Clive McFarlane reports for Worcester’s Telegram & Gazette

Labor organizer Manny Gines looks like the professional ex-boxer he is.

His clean-shaven head is anchored to a solid, stocky frame with tattooed arms and strong hands.

But it is his eyes that acutely betray his former pugilistic days. They look at you measuredly, as if working out the timing of a right cross or left uppercut.

His battleground is no longer in the boxing ring, however. It is in the local trenches of the country’s underground economy.

For years now Mr. Gines has been visiting and picketing construction sites at which he suspects the presence of illegal work activities.

He is constantly working with clients who come to him with claims of being abused, underpaid or not paid at all by their employers, a role that has placed him on a first-name basis with those in the state attorney general’s office who monitor the underground economy.

A union member fighting on behalf of non-unionized and oftentimes undocumented workers would seem counterproductive, but Mr. Gines sees himself as protecting legitimate businesses from unscrupulous employers.

Read the entire piece here. 

Over Labor Day weekend, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette ran a story about the impact of the recession on the construction industry. While the story mentions that “over the last six years, the construction industry in Massachusetts has lost almost a third of its jobs” it also talks about the success of two Local 107 apprentices, who joined the Carpenters Union in the middle of the recession and have worked steady since. Read the entire article online here. For a PDF version, click here. 

NERCC has reached a tentative agreement with contractors on a new collective bargaining agreement for Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. Details will be given and votes will be taken at meetings for members this Thursday night. Members who have not received a phone call with the time and location, should contact their local union hall.

Three years after a devastating fire forced the Stone Soup community center to close its doors, the rebuilding process has begun. On July 25th, the group held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site located at 4 King Street in Worcester, MA.

As reported in Worcester Mag, “Stone Soup’s organizers wanted the center’s values reflected in their rebuilding.” The organization wanted to find firms that “were community oriented, had policies that had them hiring a diverse group of workers and subcontractors and offered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training.”

This was especially timely given the recent vote by Worcester City Council to move forward with a newly proposed Responsible Employer Ordinance for public construction.

“Stone Soup's main goal for the [groundbreaking] event was to thank all the partners for helping the community center rebuild by generating press about the value of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, the importance of the Worcester REO and the success of community-labor partnerships,” notes David Minasian, Local 107 member/NECLMP Researcher, and Founding Member of Stone Soup.

Stone Soup selected YouthBuild as the general contractor on the project. YouthBuild helps low-income young adults between the ages of 16-24 work towards their GEDs, while learning job skills through training and pre-apprenticeship programs. Before the fire, the community center housed various youth groups; the organization is pleased to present the opportunity to rebuild the facility to youth in the area, through the partnership with YouthBuild.

Carpenters Local 107 and the New England Carpenters Training Center (NECTC) are also an integral part of the efforts to help rebuild this community space. Apprentices from the NECTC are scheduled to start training on site in the coming weeks.

“It’s a great partnership between the Carpenters, UBC Job Corps, and YouthBuild Boston and YouthBuild Worcester,” said Minasian.

The groundbreaking event generated press in the Worcester area and was covered in the Worcester Mag, Go Local Worcester, and on the front page of the Telegram and Gazette. The project was also part of a broadcast on local television WCCA TV's Beacon Hill Chat with Senator Harriette Chandler.

Stone Soup is a non-profit organization that serves as a community resource center for various community-based groups in the city of Worcester. Learn more about the organization on their website.

Brother Keith Wrightson, Local 107, has authored a report about the cost of construction injuries and fatalities to the residents of Maryland. Wrightson is a Worker Safety and Health Advocate for the Congress Watch division of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group.

“The Price of Inaction: A Comprehensive Look at the Costs of Injuries and Fatalities in Maryland’s Construction Industry,” quantifies the estimated costs of deaths and injuries in the state’s construction industry by considering an array of factors.

The report found that incidents of occupational injuries and fatalities cost the state $712.8 million over a three-year period and suggests that implementing a safety component to the prequalification process for public construction projects. Public Citizen suggests that “the system should be expanded to require construction firms to demonstrate that they provide safety training to workers and site supervisors, and that they do not have serious safety violations.”

The release of the report was covered online here at the Huffington Post.

The Worcester City Council this week voted to move forward with a newly proposed Responsible Employer Ordinance for public construction in the city by a 9-1 vote. The result comes after an anti-union contractor association and corporate-backed "research" group threatened long, expensive litigation if the ordinance was passed.

The City of Worcester has had a Responsible Employer Ordinance in place since 2005, but the City Manager had suspended portions of it recently out of concern that the entire ordinance would be eliminated on legal challenge. Councilors worked with various groups to re-write portions of the ordinance--most significantly to retain the language requiring contractors to participate in apprentice training programs--to put it on safer legal ground.

The Merit Construction Alliance, which represents nonunion contractors, has been using the Worcester Regional Research Bureau to back its opposition to standards for public construction in the city. According to GoLocalWorcester.com, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau is "privately funded by a host of corporate sponsors." Their top sponsors consist mostly of banks, law firms and insurance companies. When a City Councilor asked for clarification on who the group was and what function it serves, the head of the organization claimed she was somehow being "attacked" and blamed unions. In arguing that the newly drafted REO wouldn't stand up to legal scrutiny, the group's own work seemed to be less than convincing.

Union carpenters were very active in pushing for passage of the revised REO, participating in rallies, attending hearings and lining up support from Council members. Supporters also got a boost from Susan Mailman, the president of Coghlin Electrical Contractors, who wrote a convincing opinion piece in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette detailing why opposition to the REO was built on false assumptions.
 

Massachusetts Democratic Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren was in Washington this week where she visited UBC headquarters and met with General President Doug McCarron, Secretary-Treasurer Andy Silins, UBC Political Director Tom Flynn, NERCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich and NERCC Political Director Steve Joyce.

Warren will be meeting rank-and-file union members at a Town Hall meeting next week. The event will be held Wednesday, May 9 at 5:30 PM at 1199SEUI's Union hall on Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester. All carpenters are encouraged to attend and bring their families to this important event. Warren will talk to members about herself and where she stands on issues important to us.

Our future is in our hands!

 In recognition of Earth Day 2012 the New England Carpenters Training Fund is sponsoring a FREE electronics Recycling on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the New England Carpenters Training Center (NECTC), 13 Holman Rd, Millbury, MA 01527.

Items may be dropped off between the hours of 7:00 AM and 2:30 PM (any day this week or on Monday, April 23).

Please call the NECTC at 508-792-5443 to let them know if you will participating so they have an idea of when you will arrive and the items you will be bringing.

The following items will be accepted.

• PC’s/Laptops
• Monitors (CRT & LCD)
• Terminals
• Servers
• Wires and Cables
• Fax Machines
• Printers
• Power Supplies
• VCR, DVDs, CD’s, floppies, camcorders
• Electrical Equipment
• Stereo Equipment and components
• Server Racks
• Projectors
• Photocopiers
• Communication Equipment
• Networking equipment
• Cell Phones
• Telecom Equipment

****We will not accept TV’s as there is a charge for them

The New England Regional Council of Carpenters and other industry groups are calling on the Massachusetts legislature to make it a felony for employers to fail to purchase workers compensation insurance for their employees. Senate Bill 915, sponsored by Senator Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) and Majority Whip Ronald Mariano (D-Quincy) also has the backing of Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Operating without workers' compesnation insurance is currently a misdemeanor, punishable by upt oa year in prison or a find of up to $1,500. The new law would make the felongy punishapble by up to five years in state prison, two-and-a-half years in jail or a fine of up to $10,000.

NERCC Political Director Steve Joyce said that although union carpenters are always covered by workers' compensation insurance, they are still hurt by those who cheat.

"In an industry where work most often goes to whoever submits the lowest price, any contractor who does not purchase workers' compensation coverage has a competitive advantage right from the start over contractors who follow the law and have coverage," he said. "That negatively impacts any carpenter that works for a legitmate contractor. We're not looking to hurt all employers, we value the role they play in creating jobs. We just want everyone to comply with the law when they do it."

Even the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), a group that lobbies for businesses, support the bill. In a story by the State House News Service, John Regan, AIM's Executive Vice President described the current situation as unfair to too many.

"Their faliure to have that insurance in place means that if workers working for them get injured, the rest of the employer commnity pays the bill" and that making failure to have coverage a felony "reflects the seriousness of the issue, and conveys how important it is that coverage be in place."

According to the SHNS story, the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents has reported more than 1,000 cses costing the worekrs compensation fund $26 million in the last five years becuase their employer didn't have worers' compensation coverage. In recent years the department has routinely issued Stop Work Orders against more than 3,000 employer found to be operating without workers' compensation coverage.

Information sessions are being held for members who would like to learn more about degree programs available through the union at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Two sessions are scheduled in the coming weeks.

Saturday, April 21 at 10AM: 750 Dorchester Ave., Boston, MA

Saturday, May 5 at 9 AM: 13 Holman Rd., Millbury, MA

Learn more general information about the program by clicking here.

While we love the convenience and immediacy of sharing news and information through the “Council Update” and on NERCC.org and social media platforms, we know not every carpenter is active online. So the New England Regional Council is committed to continuing to produce the New England Carpenter magazine and deliver it to every member’s home.

The latest issue of New England Carpenter magazine has rolled through the presses up in Salem, Massachusetts at Deschamps Printing. You’ll notice some changes in this issue, including some new design elements and more (and bigger) pictures of union members and union projects!

We’re featuring a cluster of stories about member involvement in area standards demonstrations and introducing the Union Participation Program, which will plug active members into ongoing union efforts to protect standards and win more work opportunities.

Keep an eye on your mailbox or check-in at the media center on NERCC.org

This weekend, members of Carpenters Local 107 and YouthBuild lent their skills to a garden project at the Plumley Village housing development. Raised garden frames were built by YouthBuild and then installed by members of Local 107. The project was supported by numerous city and state groups. Twenty-four families living in Plumley Village have already signed up for plots in the new garden.

The carpenters' work drew the attention of wrcstr.com, which posted about the project complete with photos.

Helping out on the project were Brothers Fred Taylor, Wayne Johnson, Sean Peek, Jim Turner, Luis Tirado & Manny Gines

All photos courtesy of Mike Benedetti.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Members in Central Massachusetts will gather Friday morning to protest the use of substandard contractors at building being renovated for eventual lease to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office.

Northpoint, the General Contractor on the project, has hired a New Hampshire-based company by the name of Drycon to do metal stud and drywall work. Drycon took over from Metro Walls, another New Hampshire-based company that was debarred from performing public work in the state of Massachusetts as a result of misclassifying workers.

The protest rally will take place from 8am-1pm at 184 Main Street in Worcester. All members are invited and encouraged to attend.

The building is owned by 184 Main Street Associates, which is owned by Robert Oftring. The project received a $2.8 million dollar loan from Mass-Development, $600,000 for Historic Tax Credits, and is now seeking $550,000 in Tax Increment Financing from the City of Worcester.

Following a May 21 rally at the Worcester Crowne Plaza, members of Carpenters Local 107 have seen a good deal of solidarity and local support in the community. Upset that the hotel had hired a general contractor and drywall contractor from Maryland and Virginia for a $3-4 million renovation, members rallied in front of the hotel. The New England Regional Council of Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest moved events that were scheduled to take place at the hotel to another location. Now, as reported in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, other labor and political organizations are following suit, offended that even local nonunion contractors were not given an opportunity to bid or work on the project.

Below is an article that ran in the paper last Saturday. The Telegram and Gazette, like many news sites, allows readers to post comments about a story. Reader comments may appear beneath the story with a form for submitting more comments. There have been more than 75 comments made about this article on the site, many of them very negative toward unions. Members are encouraged to use the comment feature and express their feelings about the story. Remember these are public forums, so be direct, but respectful of others. Site editors do reserve the right to remove comments they find objectionable. Members are encouraged to visit the site and add their opinions.

Members of Local 107 and several other NERCC affiliates demonstrated at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Worcester last Thursday to alert the public that two out of state contractors have been hired to do renovations at the hotel. Local politicians and other unions also joined union members to show their support.

First Finish from Maryland was hired as the General Contractor and a company out of Virginia (!) is being used to do the drywall work. This is despite the annual presence of the Carpenters Union at the hotel for the New England Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest and Banquet and the use of the hotel for events by other unions, the Democratic Party and numerous other local groups.



Reports have been coming in that several large groups have canceled their events at the hotel as a result of the Crowne Plaza’s refusal to use even a local nonunion contractor for the project. The Apprenticeship Contest banquet is being moved to another location.

Worcester City Councilor Kate Toomey was one of the speakers at the rally, blasting the Crowne Plaza's one way version of partnership.

"For the Crowne Plaza to be a viable local entity, they need the patronage of Worcester and Worcester County residents. For Worcester and Worcester County to be viable, we need companies like the Crowne Plaza to reciprocate by using local contractors.

"Although the project is underway, I hope that [the Crowne Plaza's parent company] Lodgian and Crowne Plaza will reconsider and give local business3es and tradesmen the opportunity to work on this project."

Members of Local 107 in Worcester have been holding a banner and passing out leaflets in front of the Bancroft building, warning residents, neighbors and passersby that they may have been exposed to asbestos.

The Mayo Group was indicted by the Attorney General's office earlier this year on five counts of asbestos related violations of the Clean Air Act, a story that was published on NERCCBlog.com.

New England Cable News just did a story about the Local 107 activity.


The Mayo Group has admitted to improper filing of notices in relation to asbestos removal, but they have lied to residents at Bancroft Commons about the extent of the charges, telling residents; "the allegations center only upon the timing of the filing of notices".

While the Mayo Group was indicted for failure to properly file notices and conduct inspections, they were also indicted for "failure to comply with procedures for asbestos emissions control (2 counts), and improper disposal of asbestos waste (1count)." The Attorney General’s press release is attached and highlighted, for reference.

The Mayo group has been the subject of investigation and protests by the New England Regional Council of Carpenters for a couple of years.

Organizers have found immigrant workers being paid improperly, with taxes not being withheld. Despite pledges that they do and will hire contractors that comply with state and federal laws, the Mayo Group’s practices have been questionable.

In October 2007 the Worcester Telegram and Gazette ran a front page story including claims by NERCC that workers were improperly paid. The story included information from a worker on the site:

"One Mayo employee, who did not give his name, said outside the building that he is paid monthly by check and "sometimes" taxes are taken out."