International President James P. Hoffa and New Jersey Governor James McGreevey took the time last month to travel to Atlantic City to address the hundreds of Local 237 members taking part in the 10th annual Shop Stewards Seminar at the Tropicana Casino and Resort.

Both men praised Teamster members for their tenacity in labor negotiations which result in decent contracts for working families. They also urged that this union solidarity be continued not only in their dealings with employers, but also in their support of political candidates. If working people could remain united, they asserted, monumental changes could be effected from the lowest levels of government to the White House.

Hoffa noted the unity of Local 237 members in their solidarity to help hospital police defeat city efforts to privatize security in municipal health facilities, and their continuing support of candidates who place the needs of working families at the top of their agendas.

McGreevey attended the seminar at the invitation of Patricia Stryker, Local 237’s director of political action and legislation. It was a gesture of thanks to the Teamsters, he said, because they were the first union members to support his candidacy for governor.

The pro-labor politician, who comes from three generations of operating engineers, was responsible for the first project labor agreement in the nation, reforming his state’s Prevailing Wage Act, and creating nearly 29,000 jobs in the past three months.

Both men urged the union members to become more active in their communities so as to support only those candidates who recognize the needs of working people and promise to enact legislation to aid them.

Local President Carl Haynes, who introduced both men, expressed appreciation to them for taking time to help make the seminar a success.

And a success it was!

Many members who took part lauded the Local’s Education and Training Department, which is responsible for coordinating everything involved in housing, feeding and providing interesting and important class subjects for some 500 participants.

Dr. Frederick Dunn, director of the department, said he believed this year’s seminar to be the most effective yet.

“We moved the classes up to conclude by lunchtime,” Dunn said, “and this provided an easier and less hurried transfer from class to class. The general sessions were conducted during the more leisurely lunch break when members could pay greater attention without any pressure to rush to another class.”

Among the new classes introduced this year, Dunn said, were “Union Benefits: Money in Your Pocket,” and “Principles of Supervision for Supervisors,” both of which drew large attendance. Also new was a discussion by Housing Division Director Ed Kane of “The New Disciplinary Hearing Procedures for Housing,” procedures which, he said, are working very well to the benefit of members.

Dunn said classes dealing with retirement issues were crowded by as many as 100 persons at each sitting, and that the members’ many questions indicated keen interest.

Other new classes which also attracted sizeable numbers of participants were “Gender Issues in the Workplace; Venus/Mars,” and “Eating: Some Nutritional Considerations.”