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     Current Issue Highlights Highlights Archive             Get to know your Business Agent today!  Find out how the union makes a difference on the job. |
Newsline: July 2000 SHOP STEWARDS PRAISED AT ATLANTIC CITY SEMINAR "You are our first line of defense," Local 237 President Carl Haynes told the hundreds of Local 237 members who traveled with their families to Atlantic City last month to take part in the seventh annual Shop Stewards" Seminar. Haynes commended the stewards for their support of the union and their efforts to assure that members' problems are learned of "and worked on" as soon as possible. "You are the eyes and the ears of the union," he said. "Without you in the field, we would not have the linkage to the members that allows us to act quickly when we learn of a member's dissatisfaction at his work site." Dr. Frederick Dunn, director of the Local's Education and Training Division and co-ordinator of the huge seminar, said he felt that this year"s conference was the best since the program started in 1993. "Every year the seminars seem to be better and better," the division director said proudly, "but it wouldn't be at all possible without the total support of the planning committee and everyone in our union headquarters who begin arranging the next year's program almost before the current one ends." Dunn lauded his assistant Gray Lewis and other committee members, Sandra Schneider, director of membership, Comptroller Ronald Germana, the Retiree Division's John Felder, and Joel Sosinsky, assistant to the President, for their efforts to assure the seminar goes off without a hitch. One participant, who was familiar with the program but had never before attended, said he was amazed at how much work would have to go into the seminar to make it run smoothly. "From getting all the materials printed, transported and distributed, to arranging how meals can be provided for about 600 people at the same time is an enormous undertaking," he said. During the training exercise, shop stewards attended two workshops daily, learning from experts about such things as the Taylor Law, which prohibits strikes by municipal employees, and its implications; contracts and negotiations, and the ABC's of workers compensation. Matthew Cooper, director of the Local 237 Legal Services Plan, and his assistant, Mary Sheridan, explained to the stewards some of the problems and pitfalls they may encounter while trying to buy a house, condo or co-op, while Winston George, assistant director of the Retiree Division and a certified social worker, informed members as to what constituted sexual harassment. Other workshops dealt with time management, ways to manage stress, changing the image of the civil servant, understanding management and writing for shop stewards. In addition to IBT General President James P. Hoffa and President Haynes, other speakers at the seminar included Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, Attorney Basil Patterson, a former state legislator who is currently aiding the Local in its negotiations with the city, Ed Ott, director of public policy for the New York City Central Labor Council, and Pete Bullwinkel, field representative for the IBT's DRIVE campaign. |
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