The APWU Biennial Convention begins on July 21 in Chicago.  Ohio will be well represented even though the cost has kept some of our locals from attending.

The main issue to be debated will be the possible elimination of several APWU positions including one clerk business agent from the Cincinnati Division which includes Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

I have long been a proponent of reducing the number of national officers, especially since our membership had declined to half of what it once was, however I am most definetly NOT in favor of cutting representation in the field, which would happen if this business agent position is dropped.  Any reduction in national officers should BEGIN at the national headquarters level, not in the field where members rights are involved.  

Even though the number of clerk craft members in the Cincinnati Division has declined, there has been an increase in the number of grievances certified for arbitration.  So much so that we now have a arbitration backlog of several thousand cases.  Some are as old as six or seven years.  Is it justice when a case takes that long to get ajudicated?  I don't think so.  

At our state meeting in April, sixteen local presidents and myself signed a letter to President Dimondstein requesting that the vacant (due to Russ Bugary's retirement) business agent position be filled.  I received an email response just last week from our president saying he would like to meet with us during the convention.  I responded asking for a time and date so I could inform all who would be at the convention, but as I write this about three hours before leaving for the convention I have received NO response.  So, I doubt very much the meeting will ever take place.  The discussion and debate on the reduction in national officers should take place on July 23 or 24.  The national executive board is pushing very hard to get these positions eliminated.

Even though they are pushing to reduce elected national officers they are also supporting resolutions that would INCREASE the number of appointed positions.  They would like to have a person in every APWU region (13) to be on call to handle research and education matters and also a person in every region to be responsible for workers compensation problems.  Guess what?  In Ohio that is exactly what the state organization offers the membership.  We do all the education and training and have a qualified workers compensation officer.  All of this is done at NO EXPENSE to the national union.

Since our new administration has taken over they have appointed 5 new "special assistants" at headquarters.  These are full-time jobs with benefits that are above and beyond what exsisted in the previous administration.  The newly elected officers ran on a platform of reducing cost and expenses, but I guess that was just a case of "do as I say, not as I do".

I know that our Tri-State Association will fight hard in Chicago to keep our business agent position, but I would not place a very high percentage on us being successful.  I will report the results of the convention upon return to my office.

Terry Grant, President OPWU AFL-CIO