A message from President Cyphers!
The Regional Conferences are now complete. We hope that all the attendees at the conferences in Memphis and Baltimore see a new and revived ICWUC by the subjects that were covered and the manner in which they were covered. We brought a videographer to the Memphis conference who did a wonderful job in recording the instructors at the conference so that all our local unions can be sent a copy of the training that was given, split into segments, so that you can continue the training in your own locals at your convenience. The attendees were given the UFCW website https://home.ufcw.org so that all Chemical Worker locals can have access to financial information and instructions, any time you need it, for your Secretary-Treasurers and Trustees. We are trying to give you all the tools that you need to efficiently operate your local and to avoid problems with governmental agencies and to keep current with constitutionally required reports. If there is anything else that you need to have us make accessible to you, please make us aware of it, and we can try to make it can happen.
Our organizing of new members has increased with the recent two wins that the ICWUC has had and we will continue to grow. We must grow if we are to become an effective organization and be able to provide better services for our current and future members. We have one of the greatest staffs in the labor movement and there were numerous positive comments about them all at the conferences. Our support staff that assists the field staff in numerous ways in Akron is second to none. And the assistance we get from the UFCW when we require it is tremendous. The ICWUC is poised to increase its presence in both the UFCW and in the labor movement in general and we are very proud of that. As a Chemical Worker we hope that you are as proud about where our union is as we are.
We have a new Local Political Representative (LPR), Deonna Matthews, in Akron to represent us in the various state legislatures and at the federal level. That’s where we need your help. The August recess of Congress is over. We have requested that all locals have all their members call their representatives in Congress about healthcare. If you haven’t done so yet, please do it as soon as possible. Call your Senators and Congressperson, whether Democrat or Republican, and let them know how important passage of President Obama’s healthcare plan is to all working people. If they oppose it, remind them that you are a voter in their district and you support it. If they support it, thank them. We hear a lot about opposition but our legislators also need to know who supports this issue. They count yes votes as well as no votes and they need to hear from us all. If you don’t know who your Congressional representatives are or how to get them on the phone, just go to www.congress.org. All you need is your zip code to find out who your Federal and State legislators are and how to contact them. Please help out because the healthcare that we can save by working together may be yours! You don’t have to be fancy with them. Simply state, “I support President Obama in his healthcare reform initiatives. What is your position on the President's policies on healthcare reform?” Then you will know where your legislators stand on the issue. We must all work together on this for the good of our country. And remember, united we stand, divided we fall.
President Cyphers
