RECENT RELEASES

• Jan. 26, 1998
  Ed Fire Communication Excerpts

  17. Keep looking for that "Made in USA" label. In a proud victory for labor, the Federal Trade Commission announced in December it was abandoning its proposal to weaken the "Made in USA" label. Iue joined with the AFL-CIO and more than 100 other organizations to fight against the FTC's plan to change the standard to allow products with 25 percent or more foreign content to be labeled and advertised as "Made in USA." Our voices were heard. The label will remain a living emblem of American quality and knowhow.

  21. 1998 Leadership Conference. Our Conference is scheduled for Saturday, July 11 through Tuesday, July 14, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C. The themes of the Leadership Conference will be service to our members, organizing, political action and workshops and training geared to those topics, plus economic education, communications, public relations and legal issues. We'll do lobbying on Capitol Hill, and there are District, Conference Board and Division meetings planned in conjunction with the Conference. Please begin making arrangements now to have the largest delegation possible from your local union at this important meeting. Metropolitan Travel is handling the arrangements and may be reached at 800/662-6363. When booking your flights, don't forget to ask about flying into Baltimore-Washington International Airport or Dulles International Airport. Often, the savings are significant - more than $400 in some cases - and there is ground transportation available from both into downtown Washington.

  22. The true measure of a man. I served as honorary Chairman of the Trumbull County (Ohio) Chapter of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute's Annual Salute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 17. Gloria Johnson was the guest speaker. I have long admired Martin Luther King Jr., whose legacy speaks for itself. I particularly enjoy these words of Dr. King:

  "The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands on positions of comfort and convenience, but where he stands of positions of challenge and controversy....

  So on some questions Cowardice asks: 'Is a position safe?'
  Expediency asks, 'Is a position politic?'
  Vanity asks, 'Is a position popular?'
  But Conscience asks, 'Is a position right?'"

  I hope the decisions I make as your president are based not on their popularity; not on political considerations or implications, but whether they are right. Right for our members and right for our union.

• Feb. 2, 1998
  DISTRICT ELEVEN READY FOR 1998
  SAYS DISTRICT PRESIDENT CLARK

  First let me take this opportunity to offer a very sincere and heartfelt "Thank You" from Jaime and myself for all the hard work that was done this past year. The Local Officers, District Staff and, most importantly, our rank and file members are the backbone of the labor movement. You all make me proud and reinvigorate me as I travel the district.

  In 1998 we again have much work to do. I have no doubt that we will be successful. Our number one (#1) priority must be organizing new members! Every Officer, in every Local Union must make that their priority. Our locals through our members are our connection to every neighborhood, in every town, in every state in this country. We must make organizing a common activity of every local.

  In accordance with the vote of the delegates at the District Eleven 1997 Convention we will be combining our 1998 Executive Board meeting and District Convention with the International's "Leadership Conference". The conference will be held in Washington, D.C. and will convene Friday, July 10 through Tuesday, July 14, 1998. This coordination of meetings will save the Locals, District and International a considerable amount of money which can be used to better represent our members.

  In addition, the District Scholarship Applications have just been mailed out. Our children are not only the future of the labor movement but the future of this country. We urge all District Eleven Locals to participate.

  It is also an election year. Everything we have negotiated or won through the grievance and arbitration procedure could be legislated away. We must not allow that to happen. We must elect the most worker friendly members of Congress possible. This year we must all work even harder.

  In solidarity, George Clark

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