With newly elected officers Business Manager Joe Griffin and President David Corn, the spirits around Charleston, S.C., Local 398 have never been higher. Membership attendance is up and so is morale, welfare and recreation. The local has outings every quarter with a tremendous amount of participation. The local has a sense of statement and power. Brothers Joe and David have brought back unity in our union. This union is run from the ground up; every voice is a valued voice! With contract negotiations upon us, we have a great deal of confidence with Joe and David at the wheel.

Chuck Howard
Local 398 member, Charleston, S.C.

I am proud to be a member of a union that is taking sustainability seriously. As shown by the May issue of The Electrical Worker, the IBEW understands the need to take renewable energy and environmental issues not as some kind of fad, but as what will be the new economy.

To further better the lives of everyone in the electrical industry, the IBEW will increasingly have to side with either the polluting industries of the past or the cleaner ones of the future. Sadly, we all know what happened with the United Auto Workers. For years they fought alongside their bosses for the same outdated technologies and against fuel-efficiency standards. As a result, they have had years of deep concessions and layoffs and are now facing a near total collapse of their livelihood.

The IBEW can take a different path and throw its weight behind construction projects that make the U.S. meaner, leaner and greener. To promote so-called clean coal or dangerous nuclear at this point would be like the UAW promoting the re-release of the original Dodge Dart.

Jakob Juntunen
Local 48 member, Portland, Ore.

Service in the military poses potential long-term—as well as immediate—risks to the health of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen. Some health conditions may not appear until years later. That's why the Vietnam Veterans of America and dozens of other health care and advocacy organizations have created the Veteran's Health Council to assist veterans with health problems stemming from service.

Through the Web site www.veteranshealth.org, the VHC seeks to inform veterans about health issues and the related benefits available. More than 75 percent of veterans do not use the Department of Veterans Affairs for their health care needs and the majority do not belong to a veterans' organization. The reality is many veterans are not aware they may have conditions that entitle them to medical care and compensation from the VA.

The VCH Web site provides information on health conditions associated with military service and links to other health sites related to specific diseases associated with Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War and the global war on terror. The site also offers information on how to file a claim for disability compensation. If a veteran has a service-connected medical condition or a surviving dependent believes that the veteran died from such an illness, the site provides a link to a locator service for accredited veterans' service representatives who can assist them in filing a claim for VA benefits.

John Rowan
President, Vietnam Veterans of America

I have to agree with John Klingelschmitt (The Electrical Worker, July, Letters to the Editor). I will not support Toyota or any other foreign company in ANY type of racing. NASCAR has more Toyotas than any other car so I have stopped watching it on TV. Foreign companies that buy up American properties and build factories and send the profits back to their home country are the reason we will continue to lose jobs. I hope that Toyota's money has not influenced the IBEW.

Sometime last year I read how Toyota and Honda plants in the U.S. are undermining union wages and benefits. What has changed?

Howard Kirby
Local 300 member, Montpelier, Vt.