More than 300 shop stewards along with Local 237 officers and staff members participated in the union’s 13th Annual Shop Stewards Seminar at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., from June 4 to 7.

Workshops and general sessions crackled with new energy and enthusiasm as President Gregory Floyd revealed a dynamic three-point action plan to immediately put Local 237 at the vanguard of a revitalized labor movement.

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“Everyone will understand we mean business,” said Floyd, after calling on stewards to bring members to march in solidarity with Latino brothers and sisters at the Puerto Rican Day parade June 10; and to participate in a protest rally at City Hall June 12 against proposed layoffs and service cuts at the New York Housing Authority.

He also urged the stewards to join DRIVE, a voluntary payroll deduction program that supports elected officials who fight for workers’ rights.

Dr. Frederick Dunn, Education Department director and coordinator of the event, set the theme in his opening remarks, noting that the seminar is about “the business of being proactive.”

Political Action and Legislation Director Patricia Stryker, chair of the union’s DRIVE Committee, reminded the audience, “We’re already immersed in the presidential campaign of 2008.” Emphasizing that corporations are the Bush administration’s biggest supporters, Stryker urged the stewards to fight back by filling out DRIVE applications at the seminar and bringing back forms for their members.

“You guys are a dying breed.” You have to “play a bigger role and motivate fellow members to save trade unions.” -- Mel Horton, former international vice president for IBEW District 5 in Louisiana

The level of enthusiasm rose with each guest speaker, beginning with Mel Horton, former international vice president for IBEW District 5 in Louisiana. “You guys are a dying breed,” said Horton. Citing the dire declines nationwide in union membership, Horton offered a solution, urging stewards to “play a bigger role and motivate fellow members to save trade unions.”

Returning as a speaker for the third time, now as executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Ed Ott noted how the cost of housing and health care has eroded incomes. “Unions are afraid they have to give up everything they won,” said Ott, who called on stewards to lead the “antipoverty movement” by using the next 18 months before the presidential election to fight back in the war against unions that began 25 years ago when former President Reagan fired striking air-traffic controllers.

A militant message came from an unlikely source, Thomas J. Mackell Jr., chairman of the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, who talked about the return to the Dark Ages as the income gap widens to increase both the “have mores and have nots.” Mackell called on “the fury of the constituency.” He urged union workers to “take it to the streets,” in a movement demanding that the benefits and health care plans that members of Congress get be cut back, just as what’s happening to workers across the country. “Get their attention!” he exclaimed.

The business of being proactive extended through 19 workshops, including new ones such as “Criminal Law,” about knowing your legal rights when stopped by the police, and “What Is Your Risk of a Heart Attack.” Traditional workshops covered everything from knowing how to communicate with members and managers at work to knowing about Social Security, Welfare Fund and health insurance benefits. Knowledge is power, and the 13th annual seminar armed shop stewards with plenty of it.