Members are wondering where the new contract books are.  It is good that interest in the new books is high.  What is not so good is the printer.  It is a union print shop that is producing the books, but they have nevertheless been unbelievably sloppy.  Printer errors have appeared in each of the printers’ proofs we’ve received, and when corrections were made, other mistakes took their place.  It has been a very frustrating process, proof-reading and re-proof-reading successive versions of the “final” proof.  But it had to be done.  At the end of the day, it is better to have an accurate book than a quick and dirty book.

          We believe we finally have an accurate proof now, and so the finished product should be in members’ mailboxes soon.  By comparison, the last time we went through this process, in 2007, the ratification vote was in May, the contract went into effect on June 1^st, and we didn’t take delivery of the books until September.  It just takes awhile to make sure it gets done right. 

          Meanwhile, to view and/or download a .pdf version of the contract, click on the "For 1700 Members" button on the top left of the home page.