This was a momentous year for the UWUA. Our organizing, bargaining and political victories are mounting up. And the timing couldn’t be better.

The 2010 election results will bring great pain to American workers, our families, and our country. Make no mistake about it. The right wing of the Republican Party now controls the House of Representatives and a number of important state legislatures where many of the decisions about our regulated industries, and our work lives, are made.

The Road Ahead
We will have to maneuver through a minefield laid by politicians and their appointed regulators who are interested in one thing and one thing only, increasing the profits of their paymasters — the multinational corporations that now control much of our government and our country.

In order for them to make more money, they need more power. And the only thing standing between them and the power they seek are organized workers and their unions.

I know this may sound harsh, but it’s true. The more business weakens unions, the more power they wield and the more money they can make. I don’t mean money for shareholders who are invested through their pensions, IRAs and the like. I mean money for high-paid executives and the richest one percent of the population who now control more and more of our nation’s wealth. They have no allegiance to our nation and our people. They worship money.

Fortunately, our 2010 election mobilization and the work we have done to activate our members over the last few years has provided a solid foundation for us to confront and make the most out of what lies ahead. Our members, stewards, activists, and national staff mobilized in an unprecedented effort to get-outthe- vote for pro-working family candidates. More members volunteered to phone bank, to handbill, to go door-to-door and to register new voters than ever before.

Prepared to Fight
Now we are prepared to turn up the heat on the issues that matter most to working families — jobs, health care, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and wage and hour laws.

Our activism has prepared us for a comprehensive, coordinated effort to make our voices heard. We will call, write, email, text, rally, demonstrate and protest. In short, do whatever it takes to protect our jobs, our families and our way of life. We are building our communications capacity to activate members around our issues. We’ve recently added more than 13,000 member emails to our eactivist list and set up an alert system for them to take immediate action to impact politicians and employers.

If some corporate boughtand- paid for politicians try to block unemployment benefits, they are going to hear from us! If there is a bill to repeal minimum wage or privatize Social Security, we are going to rock the walls of the Capitol. When one of our employers acts unfairly, we’ll be ready to respond.

We are taking on corporate greed by giving our members, officers and staff the tools they need to be successful at the local, national and international levels.

Power to Deliver
Covanta, DTE, American Water, Vectren, Lakeland, Allegheny, these are just some of our employers who recently experienced the power of our union to deliver for our members.

We will continue to negotiate good contracts and organize new members, make coal viable and nuclear power a real alternative, and train the next generation of utility workers.

We are better prepared now than ever before to protect who we are and what we are: the most productive, safest and highest skilled utility workers in the world.

And with our Young Workers Initiative, we are activating younger members and training future leaders who will carry on the fight for worker rights.

As we prepare to welcome the New Year, let’s rededicate ourselves to do what’s right for our union brothers and sisters, our collective families, and our nation. For inspiration, on Monday, January 17, take time to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the struggle for human rights and economic justice, the cornerstones of the American labor movement.

It was the marriage of the civil rights movement and the labor movement that brought Dr. King to Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 in support of sanitation workers who were fighting for a union. Dr. King showed us how to stand up, organize and win! He did it all peacefully, through passive resistance. And he made the ultimate sacrifice.

Organized to Win
This issue of The Utility Worker focuses on some of our recent organizing victories. The special section honors the sacrifices our newest members made in order to gain union representation. On behalf of the entire UWUA membership, I would like to recognize, in particular, Dave Poling from the newly organized organized Allegheny Energy Harrison Power Plant. Dave was the hardest working member of the Organizing Committee there. He even postponed his retirement until we had a win in this union election.

Dave personifies what this union is all about — courage, strength, selflessness, and the unstoppable desire to win! Here’s what he had to say when asked what he hoped to achieve by joining the UWUA, and what he would tell other utility workers who are not organized why they should join the union: “This company is run by people that, in my opinion, care only about what they can get and not about the employees. So I wanted a say in my future. I wanted a voice in working conditions, with safety a major issue. Also, I wanted to know that if a problem exists between an employee and the company, then the employee by people that, in my opinion, care only about what they can get and not about the employees. So I wanted a say in my future. I wanted a voice in working conditions, with safety a major issue. Also, I wanted to know that if a problem exists between an employee and the company, then the employee has something (the union) behind them to stand up for their rights.

“Before this organizing drive you were out the door at the company’s discretion. It was said at a benefits meeting held at the plant earlier this year that if Allegheny decides to change any benefits, that you would get a letter in writing before it happened. Isn’t that nice of them! Now it’s all spelled out and negotiated and most importantly, binding!

“Not being unionized is like playing Russian roulette. Maybe you have a good or even great relationship with your boss and think that nothing will happen to your working conditions. What you don’t realize is the decisions that affect you and your boss are made at a higher level in the company, by people that seem to care only about what they can get. Those same people can come down and be nice and tell you everything will be fine. But ask them to put it in writing. They won’t.

“Being a part of any union, but especially one affiliated with the AFL–CIO, spells everything out in writing. You know what your wages are, what all your benefits are, and you have representation if problems occur. We carry insurance for everything we own. We have life insurance, car insurance, health insurance, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, insurance on ATV’s, boats, jewelry, pets, etc. Why does it not make sense to have insurance on the job that allows us to have all those things?” Truer words were never spoken.

On behalf of the National Officers and Executive Board Members, I wish you a happy, healthy New Year!

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