By Susan Zachem

Graphic Communicator photos by Susan Zachem

Contract bargaining and local officer training were the main focus of the biennial five-day gathering of the GCIU in Pittsburgh.

But the more than 90 participants also got a look at the "big picture" – the broader links between these areas and organizing, political action, industry trends, health care, and laws affecting the workplace.

Almost as important, according to conference organizers, was the opportunity for International officers and staff and GCIU local leaders from across the United States to share information and ideas during meetings, coffee breaks, and social occasions.

The conferences provided a chance for seasoned local leaders to discuss common employers, events in their geographic and industry segments, new technology, and bargaining strategies. New leaders made new International and local contacts – people they can call with a question or for help.

AFL-CIO Secy.-Treas. Richard Trumka looks through the album presented to him by GCIU Pres. James J. Norton at the bargaining conference. The album contains the historic Life magazine photo essay on the 1943 government takeover of the coal mines. From left are Norton, GCIU Secy.-Treas. Gerald Deneau, GCIU Vice Pres. Lawrence Martinez, and Trumka.

The three-day GCIU Coordination of Negotiations Conference featured analyses of GCIU contract agreements and projections for the economic climate in the next two years that may affect future settlements. GCIU officers and staff also updated participants on issues related to political action; organizing; community services; the GCIU label; coordination among units, locals and other unions; and recent GCIU and political events in Canada.

Participants heard special presentations on the labor movement's new activism from AFL-CIO Secy.-Treas. Richard L. Trumka and on the threat to Social Security.

Organizing boosts unions' bargaining power, GCIU Organizer Bertram Haft tells local leaders at the new officers' institute.

In a day and a half of workshops, participants shared problems and ideas and studied specific aspects of contract-related topics with GCIU officers and representatives and experts in legal, bargaining, safety and health, computer, and health care issues.

During two days of group discussions led by panels of International officers, staff and legal experts, the 25 officers and shop stewards who attended the GCIU New Local Union Officers' Institute discussed topics ranging from technicalities of the National Labor Relations Act and

Attorney Darryl J. Anderson of O'Donnell, Schwartz & Anderson reviews the Family and Medical Leave Act during a workshop. Panel members seated from left are GCIU Representatives Lawrence Peck and Sonny Shannon and GCIU Vice Presidents Garry D. Foreman and Leonard E. Adams.

other labor laws and decisions and the collective bargaining process to the "how-to" of running a local union, including the stacks of forms required by federal agencies and strategies for developing member involvement and empowerment.

The new local leaders, who received certificates of completion for the course, were sent home with satchels-full of reference material. This "homework" included the GCIU Secretary-Treasurer's Manual, Collective Bargaining Manual, Steward's Training Manual, and handouts on the National Labor Relations Act and labor law decisions. For the digitally inclined, there was a compact disc prepared by the GCIU Contract, Research and Education Department that held most of the GCIU reference documents.

International Pres. James J. Norton noted that the amount of information required to be learned by local leaders can seem overwhelming, but "remember you're not alone. No matter how serious the problem is, reach out to the International or to other local leaders. Don't think any question is too frivolous. Reach out. That's what the GCIU family is all about."

Above left from left are Rochester 503M Pres. Lynn Lanphear and Pres. Saundra Barringer and Shop Steward Veronica Garrett, Salem 554M. At right, GCIU Pres. James J. Norton presents a certificate of completion for the new officers' institute to Washington 713S Secy.-Treas. Karen Jackson. Below, GCIU local leaders participate in a bargaining workshop