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 IBEW COMET Train the Trainer instructors and participants gather for a four-day class in Washington, D.C. Pictured are: International Representative Rick Ellis, Construction Organizing Department; International Representative Terry Luckett, Fourth District Construction Organizing Coordinator; International Representative James W. "Jim" Rudicil, Construction Organizing Department; Dan Dade, Fourth District Outside Organizing Coordinator; Organizer Jerry Deinlein, Local 70, Washington, D.C.; Eighth District International Representative Benjamin Antunes; Business Agent Lonnie Carter, Local 317, Huntington, West Virginia; David Coffman, Local 222, Gainesville, Florida; Business Manager Neal Harrison, Local 495, Wilmington, North Carolina; Business Manager Arthur Howard, Local 2113, Tullahoma, Tennessee; Thomas Kramer, Local 2, St. Louis, Missouri; Assistant Business Manager Dewey Lovell, Local 84, Atlanta, Georgia; Organizer Everett Pettiford, Local 292, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Assistant Business Manager Charles Rains, Local 175, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Robert Randall, Local 222, Gainesville, Florida; Organizer Lloyd Jay Shaw, Local 903, Gulfport, Mississippi; Courtney Talley, Local 53, Kansas City, Missouri; Business Representative Veodis Stamps, Local 1245, Walnut Creek, California; and President Allen Wiley, Local 553, Raleigh, North Carolina. A four-day "COMET for Line Workers Train the Trainer" class at the International Office provided a firsthand organizing experience. IBEW members from 15 local unions across the country attended the June 24-27 Construction Organizing Membership Education Training (COMET) session. The classroom work was augmented by a field trip to the site of an ongoing organizing campaign, said International Representative Rick Ellis, IBEW Construction Organizing Department. COMET participants distributed handbills to help with the Local 70, Washington, D.C., organizing drive at Hawkins Electric Company, Inc., in College Park, Maryland. "This was the first ever COMET class to feature an organizing field trip," Ellis said. "It was a great learning opportunitythe hands-on experience was a real eye-opener." A number of the Hawkins employees speak Spanish, Ellis said, and it helped that one of the IBEW members present that day also speaks Spanish. Members of the COMET team also submitted job applications to Hawkins Electric. The company, however, has refused to recognize those applications, said Fourth District outside organizing coordinator Dan Dade. Since the handbilling, Local 70 has filed unfair labor practice charges against Hawkins. The outcome of those charges is pending. Instructors were Ellis; Education Department Director Martha "Marty" Letsinger; International Representative Terry A. Luckett, Fourth District construction organizing coordinator; and International Representative James W. "Jim" Rudicil, Construction Organizing Department.
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COMET "Train the Trainer" Class: Participants Handbill Nonunion ContractorNovember 2002 IBEW Journal |
