TUESDAY MORNING SESSION, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007

John Hovis called to order the convention to order at 9:05 a.m. and recognized co-conveners Andrew Dinklelaker, and Carmyn Stanko of the Publicity and Education Committee, who read the resolution and report of their committee,11“Education for the Future.”

Denny McLaughlin of Local 506 spoke on the resolution. “If we fail to recognize the past, it’s going to repeat itself. Our newest members are energized for the upcoming year; those new members need to be informed and understand where we came from.” Andrew Dinklelaker, Eastern Region president, said that the creation of subregions has done a lot to advance the education work of the union, especially for those locals who don’t make it to other, more distant meetings. He also urged locals to send photos to the UE News, and to be sure the photos are a high enough resolution to be usable in the newspaper.

Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple spoke on the effort and resources put into to revamp the UE website. We now have the capacity to use the web to do nationwide petitions on healthcare and other issues. He added that many people from outside our union visit our website and sign our petitions. “The new website is www.ueunion.org [1] – an easier name to remember. I’d like to encourage people to visit the website and use the information available there.” Klipple added that we need the help of local officers to make sure that every member receives the UE News on their doorstep. “Please make sure you send in their names and addresses so we get them on the newsletter and so they get a membership packet. Also make sure you send in address changes.”

Nathanette Mayo, Local 150, also endorsed the resolution. In the South, she said, there is no union worker education and little knowledge of what unions are or their history. “These materials have been very helpful for us in doing union membership education. And it gives us the courage to go back into the workplace and to fight on those issues that really affect us.”

“When we get new people coming to our plant,” said Kim Peniska of Local 1187, “they’re young kids who know nothing about the union and what’s going on. I always tell them to get on the UE webpage to learn about the union and tell their kids to go to the website. But it needs to start earlier than that, in the schools.”

Roger Zaczyk, Local 506, added, “The website was just the best tool to keep ourselves abreast of what was going on during recent GE negotiations.” The delegates unanimously approved the resolution.

After a short video on UE political action, Peter Knowlton introduced Anne McDonald, Local 222 and Sharon Johnston, Local 625, who read the resolution on Independent Political Action.

Brother Hovis then called on UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend for a lively and informative report. Townsend congratulated the members for their action on political issues and in particular their role in defeating the anti-labor Congressional majority in the 2006 election. Townsend described in detail some of the worst crimes of the Bush administration, which he said is now “in shambles,” with Bush staffers every day “bailing out like rats jumping from a sinking ship.”

Townsend focused on three messes inflicted on the country by the Bush team: the mortgage crisis, the contracting scandal, and Iraq. He called the mortgage mess a “disaster equivalent tow two dozen Katrina-sized storms all striking the country simultaneously” with “tens of millions of working people... swept up in this tidal wave of robbery by the banks, credit card companies and mortgage lenders.” Government agencies that should have regulated these industries did nothing, and “over the past six years Bush regularly praised the new lending trends, conveniently ignoring the burgeoning crime wave that underpinned the entire phenomenon.”

Townsend also blasted the “companies and contractors now looting the U.S. Treasury of hundreds of billions of dollars,” with one of the worst being Halliburton, formerly headed by Dick Cheney.

The cost of Bush’s Iraq invasion, in lives lost, in a country destroyed, in billions of American dollars wasted, and loss of our country’s credibility around the world, are staggering, and yet, hard as it is to believe, Bush is now preparing to start yet another war, this time against Iran.

Townsend’s report received a standing ovation, and at its conclusion the delegates unanimously approved the political action resolution.

The convention then recessed until 4:00, so that the delegates could particpate in workshops. Each delegate chose from four workshops in the morning and four in the afternoon, each two hours in length, that provided in-depth practical information and discussion. The workshop topics were:

&• Researching Your Employer and Preparing for Negotiations

• Hybrid Pension Plans and 401(k)s

• Trends in Health Care Bargaining

• Member to Member Harassment

• Arbitration - How to When Forced to

• Shop Floor Tactics

• Trade Deals and Their Effects on Workers

• How to Organize a Union Even if They Say You Can’t – Overcoming Laws and Limits.