UWUA 28th Constitutional Convention
Duke Energy Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
June 27 - 30, 2007
TO: All Local Unions and Councils of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
ARTICLE XV, SECTION 1, of the Constitution of the Utility Workers Union of America, provides for the convening of our Constitutional Convention during the month of June 2007. Therefore, you are hereby notified that the 28th Constitutional Convention of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, will be convened at the Duke Energy Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2007. The Convention will continue in session on a day-by-day basis on June 28, 29 and 30, 2007.
Your attention is directed to Article XV of the Constitution of the Utility Workers Union of America. Article XV sets forth the rules governing the 28th Constitutional Convention. The National Officers and Executive Board members will be elected at this Convention. Therefore, all Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the Convention must be elected by secret ballot in accordance with Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) and in accordance with Article XV of the UWUA Constitution. You may contact the UWUA Headquarters in Washington, DC, to obtain a copy of the procedure governing distribution of campaign literature by the UWUA at the expense of a candidate for election to National Office. The President and Secretary of each local union must certify that all Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the Convention have been properly elected. Article XV of the Constitution and Section 401 of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. 481, are reprinted in their entirety following this Convention Call.
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Convention Outlook
During the past four years since our 2003 Convention, the UWUA has succeeded in maintaining its membership strength in the face of an economic downturn; an anti-worker and anti-union political environment; unprecedented efforts by some employers to undermine our job security by "leasing" employees and outsourcing our work; and corporate shell games to escape obligations under our labor agreements. In 2004, UWUA Operation Family Reunion was founded to help reunite families with wounded servicemen and servicewomen receiving treatment at Walter Reed Hospital. UWUA locals and members throughout the country have been the major force in raising over $425,000 for this charitable cause. During the past four years, the UWUA has expanded its leadership role for employees in the private water industry. During the past four years, the UWUA has intensified its efforts to organize employees across the board in every department and classification within our core industries. We know that UWUA power comes from membership strength. During the past four years, the UWUA has continued its pioneering efforts to improve workplace safety; and the UWUA has partnered with consumer and environmental groups in regulatory proceedings to protect our communities and our members.
But the 2007 Convention is not about the past. The 2007 Convention is about building the UWUA of the future.
The Future of the UWUA depends on marshalling our resources and being ready, willing and able to fight in order to preserve and protect the jobs of our members. The Future UWUA cannot allow irresponsible and hostile employers to replace good full-time jobs with dead end, no benefit, low wage jobs.
The Future UWUA will find a way to establish and fund programs that will ensure that UWUA members are the best trained, the highest skilled, safest and the most productive employees in every facet of our core industries -- administrative, office, clerical, trades, technical and professional. The Future UWUA will work with responsible business leaders to provide the workforce of our future for our industries. And the Future UWUA will be a decision-maker, not a bystander, in developing and managing the educational and training programs that will be the foundation for the working lives of our members.
The Future UWUA will effectuate strategies to ensure that UWUA members are legitimate spokespeople (not spectators) in the regulatory proceedings which directly impact our jobs and our communities. Corporate executives and their high-priced consultants do not and cannot speak for the interest of the public. UWUA members who provide utilities and services for consumers large and small must speak for the public we serve and for the communities in which we live. UWUA members should be recognized as the single most credible voice for the welfare of our communities where we work, live and serve the public.
The Future UWUA will implement a strategic organizing plan which will let every man and woman who works anywhere in the power, electric, gas, water and utility industries join UWUA to improve their working lives.
The Future UWUA will follow through on the promise of progressive political change for workers that organized labor (including many UWUA activists) achieved in the November 2006 elections. The UWUA will make sure that the national, state and local politicians we elected in November 2006 do the right thing for UWUA members in 2007 and 2008. And the Future UWUA will work even more closely with our membership to make sure that the UWUA's voice makes a difference in our nation's 2008 elections.
The Future UWUA will be willing to accept more support and guidance from the extraordinarily talented leadership and rank-and-file membership throughout our Union. The UWUA will listen better to all our members. And the Future UWUA will embrace diversity and re-double its commitment to our fundamental principles of inclusion, equal opportunity and workplace justice for each and every member of the UWUA.
This 2007 Constitutional Convention in Cincinnati will be a wonderful chance for Delegates to build on the friendships that help bind us together as true sisters and brothers in the UWUA family. This 2007 Constitutional Convention will be an important and exciting opportunity for Delegates to chart the course of the Future UWUA.
Fraternally,
D. Michael Langford
National President
