1984-07 July IBEW Journal.pdf - International Brotherhood of ...

"
ImemallOOal Reptesenlal!Ve Roy Dickinson slX'ke
to the delegate's on the problems 01 health cale
COS!S and colieclJV8 bargaining
(LOl1rd drive to bring some 45,000
Sisters and Ilrothcrs into our Brotherhood.
Tills gruup is presently represented
by the Tciccomnllmication
International Uillon with members
employed In Connecticut, CW York,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, IllinoIS and
California.
Brother Perry, In closing his re-
• marks, thanked all the delegates for
their unllflng efforts during the past
year and praised them for their 3Ccompllshments;
but he also urged
them to "get out the vote in November"
so that we may turn away the
anti-union sentiment that IS sweep­
Ing OUf tWO countnes today.
The remainder of the first day of
=. the Conference was devoted to a
"role-plaYing" b:ngainmg session
conducted by Roy Dickinson, assistant
director of the IBEW Research
and EducatIOn Department.l1le mock
bargallllll& sesSIon was staged by the
_ ofAccrs of TCC-l (National Belli and
TCC-2 (General Telephone) Council
s and respectively chaired by International
Representatives Mary Ann
... Van Meter and BLlI DaVIS.
The delegates were treated to an
excellent presentation of a manage­
-- ment demand to cut the employees'
InternallOnal AepresentaltVe Mary Ann Van Me­
Ier IS shoWn Cl\alrlng Ihe WOfkShop repons.
medical expense p[311 . Althnu~h the
session was made more elltoyable
WIth some nuxlIlg of humor, It nevertheless
brought home a message that
has become all too fanlllwT at many
of the bargalOlIlg tables recently­
"give-backs." A general discussion
followed, with selected delegates
plaYlllg the roles of a doctor, hospital
adminIstrator, Insurance representative,
and a rank·and·file member
who would be most affected by the
company's demands.
The Conference was then divided
Into six workshops that were charged
with the responSibility of developing
a union counterproposal. At the conclUSion
of the workshops, the full
Conference was reconvened and In ­
ternational RepresentatIve Roy
Dicklllson had reportS gIven by each
of the workshops. Each delegate was
given a binder entitled Faclllg rhe
Problem of lIea/lh Care Co .~ls-A
CriSIS in Collec tive Bargalllll1g that
was developed by the IBEW Research
Department. [n additIOn to the excellent
material contamcd m the
blllder, the workshop minutes have
been transcnbed and dlstnbuted to
all the Telephone local Uluons. ThiS
segment of the Conference, whIch
Intemational Repi"esenlallve BI I! DaVIS IS Shown
IntrodUCIng lhe Telephone Council and Cana·
dian Telephone Con/e/ence Chairmen
was well received, set the tone illl(l
central theme of the 28th Anmlill
Telephone Conference.
Although the Canadwn delegation
IS not directly affected by the same
medical problems we face statewide,
due to their government-insured
health plan, they nevertheless partiCIpated
fully and gave the delegates
compansons of their medical coverages
vs. those available to U.S. members
under pnvate insurance carriers
Thesccond day of the Conference was
devoted to workshops that were broken
into four groups: Tralfic, inside Plant,
Outside Plant and Commercial Accounting,
and Clerical and Directory
In addJtion, a demonstration of the new
fiber optics, electrical supply wire and
telephone and data ClrCUIl conductors
was gtven to all the groups. On Friday,
the last day of t.he Conference, workshop
reports were presented to the del ­
egatcs, as well as an update of the past
yea r'sactivilies with theTdephoneCo·
ordinating Councils and a repon from
the AJ I-Canada Telephone Conference.
ludging from the enthusiasm dunng
the sessions and the numerous responses
since, the 28th Annual InternationaJ
Telephone Conference was a
huge success.
A mock presQf1tatioo 01 a management demand 10 cut the employees medICal e~pense plan was held. PIC\ufed below are the delegales who
...... potIrayed various roles Lell to right. are " Insurance CaHier Representahve" Roo MacDougall. business manager. L.U. 2222, " UniOn Member Patient '
Gay Schmidt. business manager. L.U. 723; "Hospilal AdmlntSlfato(' Bob Benton. business manager. L.U 824: and ··[)octof" Ray Kull. vice president
LU. 165