hey I don't know if youll be able to read this but it's not posting like the other drafts. It keeps saying error, too many characters. ? the other ones were bigger. I tried posting it at the delphi message board but I forgot the password. Answer your phone!! :) call me
wifey

The 2006 IUE-CWA CONVENTION
Jim Martin Jr & Johnny Hugley Jr

Due to the proximity between the convention, the executive board meeting, and our membership meeting, we thought that going through the motions and writing a short report would discount the extraordinary significance of the convention and conference. The information to report is very practical and deserves to not only be passed on in a timely fashion, but deserves to be presented in detail. This year’s meetings were billed as very vital meetings, even over and beyond the usual hype. To prepare for increased challenges from the Global Class Economy and declining membership, CWA layer out a restructuring program earlier this year entitled READY FOR THE FUTURE. 11 area meetings were held across the divisions and each division was urged to brainstorm and participate in talks to adopt a resolution for the purpose of restructuring the Union from the top down. In addition to Resolution 1 there was also a resolution to create The Strategic Industry Fund. This fund will be funded by diverting twenty fives cents of our monthly 2 ¼ hr dues fee into an account that will be used to halt the Corporate Assault. At the IUE-CWA Conference there was a ceremony to commemorate the passing of our Conference Board Chairman, Henry Reichard. His wife and grandson were recognized and presented a gift to honor the many years of dedication and service to our union. Henry had all of us on his mind and shoulders. It’s beyond tragic, the extent of loss that Delphi has cost us unnecessarily. When thousands of union members congregate for these meetings there’s always an extraordinary amount of emotion and energy that runs through you, but the spirit at this year’s conference and convention was magnified ten fold. The stories of triumph and tragedy that are exchanged at our annual union meetings shock your mind and heart. That is the power of union synergy when practiced.
Pic 1- IUE-CWA Stands during the National Anthem



The IUE-CWA Divisional Conference
84 IUE Locals 201 in attendance

Much of the discussion and many of the talking points at the conference centered around bankruptcy. 10% of The IUE is either in bankruptcy bankruptcy bound including Pittsburgh Brewery Valeo emerged from bankruptcy but has shrunk from 1000 workers down to 100. One of the speakers said that “bankruptcy is no longer a last resort, it’s a tool.” It’s a tool to bust unions and the biggest union buster in America today is the U.S. Government. We were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker: Jeff Faux. Mr. Faux, author of “The Global Class System,” told us that our Hi-Class Governmental leaders have more in common with other Hi-Class leaders of foreign countries than they do their own citizens. He went on to say that our quality of life is eroding and this is bigger than our jobs; this is our country.
Last years IUE-CWA delegation made 4 million dollars available to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. Unbelievably, our government responded quicker to foreign disasters than they did our disasters here at home. IUE-CWA 1105 member, Gerald Doorman, from New Orleans spoke about Katrina relief. He was very greatful that other union members volunteered their time to help clean and bring food to the their brothers and sisters in need. Gerald was very emotional when he thanked everyone for their contribution. In addition, other IUE Locals donated $20,000 and helped with clean up and delivery of supplies. 57 of our IUE Members benefited from the generosity of other members.


Health & Safety Investigation – President Clark reported that after a thorough investigation of 68 health and safety incidents reported, it was determined that 19 of the incidents were of “grave concern.” Among other incidents, he incidents sighted were skin damage, respiratory illness, and hearing loss. This investigation will be ongoing and the violations discovered will be monitored.


The CWA Convention

The Strategic Industry Fund will be used to finance the following offensives: Investigate and Expose Corporate accounting fraud, corporate wrong-doing, educating 50,000 union stewards, promote union services, build alliances to create state wide health care programs, and put together campaigns to end bad trade deals by getting rid of the legislature that rewards corporations for sending jobs over seas. Many members at the convention felt that this was a good idea long overdue. We were assured that this will not be a political slush fund. No debt, travel, or staff salary will be taken from this fund. If our MRF (strike fund) gets below the amount in force at the date of the convention $372,782,679, the funds will be taken back from The SIF to replace any deficit. Governance: Strategic plans for SIF funds will be initiated by the appropriate Vice Presidents. The Defense Fund Oversight Committee will have oversight responsibilities for SIF.
-taken from a CWA Bulletin Manufacturing is being exported through trade deals and union contracts are being destroyed by bankruptcy judges. Health care is largely driven by corporations that have deep pockets and use their money to make sure we don’t get a national solution. Union newspapers are being sold and consolidated and union jobs walled off. This is a large scale attack and our response needs to match it. It needs to be strategic and well funded. We need a strategic response which engages our allies and communities and puts pressure on employers and their allies. SIF will give us the funds to launch scale campaigns. (goal $20,000,000 per year)

Memorial Presentation: Henry Reichard was honored along with other leaders at the Convention. A five minute clip of our IUE-CWA Rally for the Valley in Warren was also shown and the delegation of 2000+ applauded in solidarity.

Memorable comments about the S.I.F. from IUE and CWA leaders:
“We’re going to die on the vine. You can’t gain anything by only playing defense.”
“We have to fight out of the box, and fight one day longer.”
“We can no longer sandbag until the 11th hr every four years. We’re at war EVERY DAY.”
“We have to get out from behind the 8 ball”


RESOLUTION 1: READY FOR THE FUTURE
Jobs, Outsourcing, Health Care, Retirement Security
6 Major Unions – mobilization training
10 Steps to Strengthen Bargaining Power
1. Strengthen the CWA Triangle
2. Education – Educate 50,000 stewards
3. Politics – 50,000 activists on the streets
4. Organizing – spend more money to recruit new members
5. Locals – Fully functioning and effective locals strengthen bargaining power
6. Telecom – Establish a national telecom office (CWA telecommunication)
7. Resources – Change budget processes to assure resources are on front line
8. Retirees – Double retiree membership. Create RetireE Activist database.
9. Meetings – Reduce meetings and conferences by 15%
10. Governance and restructuring – locals expenses can’t exceed income. E. Board diversity. IUE and other divisions will retain their identity. After discussions, it was determined that the CWA will not force the merging of districts.



Getting members active: Repeating was stated at the convention: “We need to “energize” and get our members “engaged.” There is no political fairy that comes at night to fix our issues and fight against anti-worker legislature; “you have to get off your butt and do something.” Although it’s a good thing, it’s easy to attend conventions and write reports; if I want different results I need to take different action. If YOU want different results, YOU have to take different action.. We all mistakenly believe that are circumstances are special, that we’re the only everyday people that have to take the kids to softball, do the yard work, or work two jobs. Many of us believe that somebody else is picking up our slack and carrying our weight, but if the majority of everyday people believe that somebody else is paying attention, voting on critical issues, calling senators and congress, writing letters, and doing something different to get different results; it stand to reason that we’re mistaken to believe that somebody else is doing enough to change our reality. Somebody else is me.. and it’s you.

Local 1037 from New Jersey was awarded the Presidents Award for organizing 8,500 day care workers. This award is given to the outstanding member or local union of the year. Congratulations 1037!! Since last year’s conventions, there have been 25,000 new workers organized and brought into the CWA.

The Convention and Conference was very energizing and educational as always
pic 4-http://www.unionplus.org/ Discounts, Education, other programs.



TAKE ACTION
For information about CWA Legislative Updates including THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT go to CWA-UNION.ORG to send an Eletter to your lawmaker. Co-sponsor H.R. 1696 and S. 842.

The Annual IUE-CWA Convention & Conference in Las Vegas
Jim Martin Jr

I would like to applaud the members at the May Union Meeting for the tough decision they made to send two of our eight delegates to the IUE-CWA District Conference & Convention. Ideally, it would be great to send all 8 delegates; however, we have to find that narrow margin between saving money for a possible strike and keeping the union fire stoked. This union is preparing for a fight, but we still have to keep pumping union blood to our heart. Money cannot fund synergy. Money will not buy comradary.

What do we actually get out of sending delegates to Conventions and Conferences?

It’s not all about what’s to GAIN by attending union meetings, but what’s to LOSE by NOT attending. Changes to our constitution, leadership structure, and what services we receive in exchange for our dues money comes from the top down. Conventions and conferences are the Grand Daddy of all Union Meetings, so to speak. . There are workshops that inject you with ideas to encourage membership participation and organize. In case you haven’t noticed we’re shrinking. We’re naïve if we believe that we’re always going to be the big bad independent 717. Votes take place at these meetings that dictate how democratic our union is. We don’t want to lose our right to vote for our Conference Board Chairman again.


It was a shame that the CWA Merger was crammed down our throat, but the CWA is over 600,000 strong and they are very innovative and active on Capitol Hill. I’ve been to a CWA Convention and it really recharges your spirit and inspires you to be more proactive Although it may not be the best idea for the CWA to hold these annual meetings in Vegas, it functions as a great pep rally and educational forum. I am very protective of the importance of making sure that our local sends both delegates from the floor and our local leaders. I believe that our jobs on the floor are crucial, and as elected delegates, we can bring home this inspiration and share it with you. This particular Convention has been programmed to serve as a restructuring meeting; the delegates in attendance will essentially function as architects and general contractors for the purpose of restructuring our entire labor union from the top down.

Resolution 1
This Convention has been programmed to condense and restructure the entire Union from the international level to the local level. The Ready for the Future Plan looks to change our leadership structure, how we distribute finances, and how we service our members back home. Please read this message taken from the IUE-CWA.ORG website: www.IUE-CWA.ORG
Our leader, Jim Clark: “I strongly urge local unions to fully engage in this process,” said Clark. “Every aspect of the union is open for discussion and evaluation. Significant changes could result. IUE-CWA local unions need to make sure that they have a voice in deciding how their union is structured and what services they most require.
www.cwa-union.org Our CWA Leaders: This Convention will be the most important Convention in the history of the CWA.

ATTEND YOUR UNION MEETINGS

2003 Benefit Conference

The 2003 Delphi/GM IUE-CWA Joint Benefit Conference
by Jim Martin
(printed in the 2003 June/July Newsletter)

The benefit staff, on May 8th and 9th, attended the annual joint benefit plans conference in Las Vegas Nevada. The benefit and pesnion presentatives have been attending these training conferences annualy for the last decade, and they always provide practical education. It's a great forum to vent our compaints and get problems resolved. Most of the presentations are very educational. We also get to meet face to face with the people that we talk with every day on the phone and establish relationships that always come in handy down the road. It's a nice treat to do something work related and at the same time go somewhere nice. It's a great incidental perk the comes with the job, and I always come home with more knowledge than I left with. The benefit conference is one of many nationally negotiated benefits, and it's paid for with Delphi joint training funds. Below is a summary of the information that was provided at the training conference.

Department of Labor Regulations

The department of labor DOL recently implememted changes to the health care plans and appeal process. These changes basically give health care carriers such as Anthem and U.H.C. strict time limits to make claim determinations and respond to appeal letters. The health plan carrier has thirty days to make a determination on a claim once received. Appeals: (for example) Anthem BC/BS utilizes a one step process and must respond to an appeal witin 60 days. There are several other regulations that we learned about such as regulations pertaining to "urgent claims," which is a pre-service claim that is submitted to get authorization for a procedure that if delayed, could jeopardize a person's health or life. An ordinary (non-urgent) pre-service determination might come into play if you are considering services such as gastric bypass surgery or schlero therapy.

H.I.P.A.A GUIDELINES

Health Information Portability and Accountability Act

The HIPAA privacy rules were a big part of the conference this year. There's a lot of sensitive personal information that is exchanged between doctors and insurance companies. This Act just lays down the law for the purpose of protecting this information and making sure that it doesn't meet the eyes of anyone that isn't supposed to see it. There are serious finacial penalties in place for any person or professional institution that violates the act. This wil impact the benefit staff, because in the past we could call int insurance companies and bring back information to you and specifically explain why your claim was denied. We have also been able to , when necessary, call collection agencies to have claims submitted or put holds on accounts. We will not be permitted to do this anymore according the these HIPPA rules. A benefit rep is not recognized as a "service employee" like a claim reviewer or doctor's assistant is, but we have already recognized the impact of HIPPA in how our local medical providers are interpreting the guidelines. We hope to have an authorization form readily available for some situations when we need to get medical information.

SUB

Our Vice President, Kevin Hartill, asked a Delphi SUB administrator to take some action and communicate with the state employment agencies to speed up the time it takes to get T.E.U.C. determinations processed. Many of our members have exhausted their unemployment benefits and SUB won't send out a check until the unemployment office mails out the temporary monetary determination. This process takes way too long. I was able to exchange email addresses with many of the higher level benefit people at Delphi and have been talking with Michelle Trimble regarding the four-six weeks that it takes to get your initial monetary determination letter. There's got to be a quicker way. I think SUB should just pay us in good gaith and then if they don't get the determination within a certain time grame, take the money back. They're really experienced at taking money back out of our checks. I don't think it would be a problem. I think it's also ridiculous that some of us have to fax our determination and others don't If you get your letter on a Tuesday or Wednesday, most likely you woh't get it faxed in before the cut-off on Wednesday night.

PSP

Delphi presented pie charts and examples of employees that have never touched their PSP and have hundreds of thousands of dollars saved. Money makes money. It's interesting to see all of the scenarious and look at the money that some people have accumulated. There was also talk about another investment workshop. I'd like to see us host another one at our hall. Stay tuned..

(some wording changed to make the article more reader friendly)

read your union newletter every month

ATTEND YOUR MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Be aware of what's going on with YOUR job and YOUR union.

Post away. I believe you can post without signing up. Keep it clean.

717, CWA, and Meeting Requirements

I'd like to read some feedback about the issue surrounding union election rights. Historically, 717 has only allowed members to run for office if they have attended a "majority" of membership meetings in the calendar year prior to accepting nomination. One day after nominations we find out that there was a ruling on this issue, over-ruling our 717 constitution, that allows any dues paying member in good standing to vote.

At a meeting in September, a few high ranking officials thought it was joke to be concerned about how the law could impact the past practice of 717 and our constitutional election guidelines. Eboard was told with confidence that you must have 5 meetings to be able to run for office. Four days later we found out that our constitution was out of compliance. This is the danger that we face when we don't encourage discussion and think out of the box.

As a financial officer and the chairman of the constitution committee, I need to be prepared in the event that someone legally challenges our constitution. This is a perfect case and point. I don't care if people heading out the door vote for their representatives. If they're working in the shop for one day when these representatives take office, they have an interest in who represents them. If they're retiring they should have an interest in who represents their interest as a retiree. My concern is more about votes decided by voters with absolutely no legal obligation or stake in the legal contract subject to ratification. We have a responsibility to protect the rights of those who are staying and ensure that the democratic voting process isn't exploited.

Once again my decision to not yield to the judgment of others has been validated. Our constitution isn't fail safe and as we have just found out, there are conflicts and problems that need addressed. All I asked for was a discussion.

Nobody in their right mind would allow me to have a say by signing any legal agreement that effects their rights but does not legally name me as a person liable and obligated to honor that agreement. Why? because I am an uninvolved party without legal interest on or after the effective date of legal applicability.
I think we may need to amend the constitution to speak to the specific rights of dues paying members that have agreed to sever ties with the employer; members that will be ex-employees and non-members in the effective time scope of the contract that guarantees the terms of employment. The effective date will more than likely be on or after 1/1/2007. A ratification vote is essentially a signature of agreement. How many contracts have you seen that has the signature of someone uninvolved with no obligation as an obligee or obligor?

Thoughts?

IUE-CWA Newsletter , May 2004
read at The April Membership Meeting

JOINT DELEGATE REPORT
Special IUE-CWA Industrial Division Conference
Orlando Florida

Delegates from 123 local unions attended the 2004 IUE-CWA Industrial Division Conference on March 5th and 6th in Orlando Florida. There was a total of 238 delegates in attendance, including our own local 717 delegates: Chariman Don Arbogast, President Gary Reiser, Patty Baker, Jim Martin Jr, Ray Placer, Donna Wiliams, Johnny Hughley Jr, Christ Brown, Chris Wade, and Clyde Wilson. The Division conference functions as a national union meeting and also serves as an instrumental forum for IUE Union Members all across the United stes; frm North Carolina all the way to Anaheim California.

Region 7 Meeting

The Region 7 Meeting was held on Friday, March 5th. Region 7 is essentially District 7, however, the name was changed Region 7 so that it would not be confused with CWA district 7. (717 belongs to CWA District 4) Director, Kermit Dorsey reported that the Intellicao plant in Massachusettes, the Bartech Delphi Plant, and the Friends of Children Headstart Center were recently organized. Organizing non-union shops was a highly stressed issue on the agenda of both the Region 7 Meeting and The Division conference. Assistant to the President, Denny Thomas read the following proposed resolutions to amend the IUE-CWA Division Rules:

• Resolution to change the CWA Convention from once a year to every three years.
• Resolution to change the IUE -CWA Governing Procedure and Executive Council structure to substitute the 3 appointed Regional Directors to replace 3 of 6 elected executive council positions, and add the 2 conference board chairmen.

Local 717 spoke out against this resolution, however, the motion to recommend was passed by a majority vote.

Division Conference

Sat March 6th

There were 284 members in attendance at The Divison Conference, including 46 guests, of which 2 were from our own local: Brian Lutz and Linda Marchese attended the conference at their own expense and should be recognized for their dedication. President Mike Bindas reported that the ongoing feasibility study to reverse the IUE-CWA Merger indicates that it would not be possible at this time. President Bindas recognized George Cole, Assistand to CWA President Morty Bahr, and encouraged the delegation to make him aware of the problems with receiving dues money on time. President Bindas talked quite a bit about how important it was to replace George W. Bush with John Kerry, a friend of working families. Later that day we had the privelege to listen to a very powerful speaker, also an Ex-Senator and Vietna Veteran by the name of Max Cleeland. Mr. Cleeland outlined the damage that Presdient Bush has doine to the country and made a very convincing case about how he believed John Kerry can return America back to the America we once were.

Conference Motions

• Motion to go on record in support of amending the CWA Constitution to require conventions every three years. Be it further resolved that all other constitutional provisions be amended to conform to the change to tri-annual conbentions. Motion passed.
• Motion to adopt the amendments to the IUE-CWA Division Rule, Article V, Sectin D, Article XIV, Section M, ARticle XV, Section F, G, H, I , J. Motion passed.

Summary of Changes

The Council would be composed of the Division President, the Chair of the Trustees, the three Regional Directors, the two Conference Board Chairpersons, and three members at- large. The proposed changed would redude the number of at-large members from 6 to 3, and substitute the three Regional Directors and two Conference Board Chairs. This change would reduce the at-large delegates to one from each of the former districts and District 8, which continues until December 31st, 2004. The exact word for word changes are available upon request. The motion passed, despiite our local unanimously standing against it.

Each local will receive a list of candidates 45 days prior to the conference designated for the elections of the 3 executive council seats. The term for executive council will be three years. Nominations and elections will be at the Industrial Division Conference in Anaheim California, on August 28th, 2004.

Bad News

Since 2001, IUE-CWA has lost over 38,000 members. The CWA has lost over 100,000, Ohio has lost 183,000 Jobs, and acc ording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, America has lost 2.9 million jobs since George W. Bush was "elected" President. We were shown a few videos about the anti-union movement and the recent gross civil rights violations that took place at a Free Trade protest in Miami Florida last year. Hopefully, we can get copies of those videos to show at one of our local meetings.

Good News

Yuasa/Exide, Loca 175 after being locked our for 6 years received an award of 7.5 Million Dollars, as a result of a law suit filed by IUE. Members of UFCW, employed by Ralphs Safeway, and Kroeger, after losing their helath care and living off of strike pay for five months, returned to their jobs. President Bindas presented a check for $25,000 to a representative of the UFCW who attended the conference as a guest. IUE-CWA has donated a total of $125,000 to the UFCW to supplement their strike fund and help them in a time of need. The union sister representative sincerely thanked us several times. It's great to be a part of the family we call UNION. The international staff ws very optimistic about the new governing structure and the future of the IUE-CWA. This made for an informative and enjoyable conference. you, the membership, sent us to this conference to listen, learn, and bring something back to our local union. Once again, we thank you for your faith. What we bring back is a mission that was given to us: work together to organize non-union shops. Organize, organize, and organize. More importantly, we need to urge members to register to vote and remove George W Bush from the whitehouse.

(Read at July Membership meeting)
717 Union Newsletter - August 2001

Delegates Report

2001 IUE-CWA Conference & Convention

by Jim Martin Jr

Before I give you my report, I want to thank everyone who put their trust in me and voted to send me to the IUE-CWA Conbention. I also want to review and add to some of the things that Doug had to say regarding the Convention. The most important thing I want everyone to know is that me and the other delegates took the Convention agenda very seriously. We knew that at the Convention we would be voting on the adoption of the IUE-CWA Division Rules. Even though there were many changes to the Constitution that we couldn't undo because of the Merger Rules, we still got together several times before leaving for the Convention and had many discussions. We also had two pribate meetings with President Ed fire and presented him with two pages full of questions that we had prepared prior to. I can't over state this enough: this was a big deal and we took the responsibility very seriously. AS a group, we had two sticking points: the retirees eligibility to vote and run for local office, and the many appointments that will be available to the division president. I think I can speak for all of us by saying that we were undecided right up until the day the vote of the floor. One thing that may surprise you is that, we as delegates, DID NOT get to cast a personal individual vote. The Conbention as a body voted to support the motion to adopt the proposed rules. The chair called for a yea or nay vote from the floor, and the delegation passed the motion overwhelmingly. When we talked on the morning of that day, we agreed that there were many more good things in the rules than bad things, and that the bad things had already been carved in stone back in October of last year, when the merger was voted for. I did have some last minute second thoughts, some of my concerns were reinforced when a gentlemen from antoher IUE local shared his position at the microphone, but prior to that we were all on the same page in unity supporting the adoption of the rules. I voted NAY with hope to send the motion back forcing the constitution committee to ammend the rules. I had a big problem with the many appoinments. Moving forward, our Local Constitution Committte will meet this week and draft our Local Constitution Committee will meet this week and draft our Local Constitution based on these rules. We hope you will stand behind us and each of our decisions.

Also, as the Co-Chairman of the Legislative Committee I did want to share with you some of the legislative issues that were discussed at the Convention. With the IUE merged with CWA there is a total of 740,000 members in the CWA. CWA already leads the union movement in legislative activity. This just gives us more power and a stronger voice in the legislative arena. The IUE-CWA is designating the month of September for a COPE RALLY. Make sure to contact the hall or your represetative to sign up or increase your COPE contribution. A big issue that was also discussed was FAST TRACK and FTAA. Free Trade of the Americas Agreement. For those of you that don't know what FTAA IS, it is a agreement that if pased will expand NAFTA and open our borders to include even more countries. FTAA would also eliminate many worker protection standards. If FTAA passes, workers subject to this agreement can say goodbye to safety standards, sanitation standards, and say so long to environmental standards. FTAA will eliminate the 25% duty or impoort tases that countries such as Canada now pay when they import goods across our border. I want to ask everybody in here to contact their House Represetative and ask them to bote NO on Fast Track and FTAA. Let's not give Corporate America any more avenues to FED EX our jobs our of our country. The number to reach your House Rep is 1-800-393-1082.