Mr. John J. Feldman III

Mr. John Feldman, Financial Services Director of the AFT will again perform the audit for the Scranton Federation of Teachers.

The Director of the AFT Financial Services Department, John Feldman, testified at the hearing and introduced a document representing the outstanding financial commitments faced by the WTU at this time.A copy of that document is attached to this report.

John J. Feldman III, CPA, Manager - jfeldman@aft.org

John J. Feldman III, CPA, Deputy Director - jfeldman@aft.org

John Feldman has been with AFT for nine years.He is a former banker.He is a CPA who is now overseeing UTD's finances.He is highly respected for his intellect and abilities in the accounting area.

In the area of audits, Mr. McDonough reported that Mr. John Feldman, Chief Auditor for AFT, will be visiting the SFT office on August 16 and 17, to review accounting procedures and reports.
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John Feldman, CPA, financial director of the AFT was present in the union office conducting an informal audit of our books; he spoke very briefly to the committee about the need to increase our dues.
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Mr. McDonough reported on the visit of Mr. John Feldman, chief financial director of the AFT.
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Mr. Feldman recommended a restoration of our dues' structure to 1% (the level of 2 years ago) due to our present financial shortfalls.
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Visiting guests in attendance were Mr. Ted Kirsch, President of AFT-PA, Mr. Ron Zoloff, AFT Plus and Dee Trangredi, political action representative of AFT-PA, Mr. Paul Thomas, AFT-PA and Mr. John Feldman, Director of Financial Services, AFT.
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* Audit report of Mr. John Feldman
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John Feldman of the AFT followed President Kirsch.He also reported on the SFT's financial status and the need to think about restoring the dues to the 1% level.
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Mr. McDonough presented relevant data to support the restoration including the recommendations of the auditors Kelly and Barbetti and Mr. John Feldman, Director of Financial Services of AFT, who strongly recommend the restoration to 1%.

From 2 p.m. through 5 p.m., local treasurers and other financial staff gathered for an informative seminar called "Keeping the Records Straight: Running an Efficient Office," presented by AFT Financial Services Department Deputy Director John Feldman III, who is a CPA.Feldman discussed duties of elected officers regarding handling union finances, and offered strategies for streamlining recordkeeping processes (see WFT staff member Shannon Ausen's article below).
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Here are some basic tips for local leaders from "Keeping the Records Straight" as instructed by John Feldman at the AFT Western Regional Meeting.

Two signatures should be required on all checks and bank accounts (you can have three officers as signatories so that you have a backup if someone is ill). Monthly bank reconciliations should be completed, preferably not by the person responsible for writing the checks and/or recording disbursements. No checks should be made payable to "Cash."Petty cash accounts should be avoided. The local should not provide credit cards or other bankcards such as an ATM card to the president, treasurer or any other officer. A written accounting or procedures manual should be developed.

John Feldman, Director of the AFT Financial Services Department, analyzed CFT's financial condition and concluded, "CFT is in serious financial condition.Even without funding the pension and post-retirement healthcare costs the CFT has not broken even on a cash flow basis for the past three fiscal years.The solution is not just one thing.Revenues need to be increased, expenses need to be decreased, pension and post retirement benefits need to be restructured and reduced and the organization needs to have a professional financial manager with management and administration skills overseeing the day to day operations of the organization."Mr. Feldman offers "any assistance you need in order to assist in turning the financial situation at the CFT around."We insist that CFT take advantage of this offer and seek the assistance of the AFT to address its deep-rooted financial problems.

The per capita increase addresses only one aspect of the multi-faceted problem identified by Mr. Feldman.