On December 27th 2003 your local union as well as CAW Locals 676, 523 and 275 hosted our 5th Annual Community Dinner where we served well over 600 guests. The next time you hear a politician talk about the 1,000’s of jobs his or her government have created, ask them where. Further, what jobs they have created.  Are of the “McJob” variety as witnessed by the vast majority of those who partook of our hospitality on the 27th. As I spoke with some of our guests, I was somewhat surprised to find that many of them were working 2 and 3 jobs at minimum wage. Although for those of us who are fortunate enough to have well paying jobs, a growing number of the citizens are forced to take any job at all regardless of what it pays. It’s imperative that our elected leaders take this issue on. Honest hard working people are barely surviving and CEO’s make ridiculously high salaries, grind every nickel out of their firms then walk away with absurd buyout packages. Something has to give and when it does, those rich bastards will wish they had been a bit more generous to those who actually worked to create the wealth in the first place. Anyway, back to dinner. I want to thank all those who gave of their time for the day. I thank the many suppliers who donated goods and services. I thank the band who entertained us for the day. I thank the Executive Board who have allowed us to organize this event year after year. And a special thank you to our hall manager, Linda Johnston and our cook, Ben Mandley for without them, our community dinner would never have taken place.