Kenny Sammartino, VP
	Verizon
	Work #(704) 238-8240	Pager #(704) 296-8329
	E-mail:  Phoneman30@carolina.rr.com.

CWA District 3 Occupational Safety & Health Retreat

—     Kenny Sammartino, Verizon AVP

I want to thank the membership for allowing me to attend this safety retreat sponsored by District 3. The information gathered at this retreat and the knowledge shared by the various locals in attendance will be a valuable asset in our efforts to make a safer workplace. In today’s high pace and high stress work environment safety and health issues are needed more than ever before.

The concern for safety and health issues in the workplace in all workforces under the CWA were shared with our national Vice President Larry Cohen. Mr. Cohen made a national request that all districts conduct safety and health retreats for the purpose of further education and shared information to bring back to our local for the continued efforts to make a safe workplace for all our members.

We had several speakers at our retreat including David Le Grand, CWA Health & Safety Coordinator from Washington D.C., Bill King, the Assistant to the IUE-CWA District 7 President. They raise the need of our local’s to be active in safety and health issues in every workforce and to have an active safety and health committee to try and address all concerns address by our members. Locals also participated in topical discussions separated by 3 key issues.

	· Local Union Issues     Dugg Harrison- Local 3411     Pat Cromin-Local 341
	· Using Union Occupation Safety and Health Committees to identify and resolve safety and health issues     Susan Clifton-Local 3640     Marty Roberts-Local 83718
	· Occupational Safety and Health as a Mobilizing and Organizing Tool     Gail Wigley-Local 3263     Tracy Tabacek-Local3204

In our panel discussions we notice that we all shared the same safety concerns no matter what entity we work for. We had telecommunications, airline, and even industrial and all of us have the same concerns and safety problems. We were given some examples of safety concerns in each local which basically revolved around air quality, electrical or chemical hazards at work, and even stress as a major heath and safety concern. We shared suggestions to help with safety issues in different workplace areas. An example given to help outside technicians is to have an 8 inch metal sign on top of a pipe that could read worker for (your employer) on property to let customers know a technician is on property when no one is home. This would prevent incidents when someone does come home with either animals let loose or a surprised customer thinking a trespasser is on their property.

No matter what type of work environment we discussed we were able to see a pattern of neglect by the company.

Our last topic we covered was Achieving Success in Occupational Safety and Health, Local Union Needs/Resources. Judi King, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham discussed CLEAR or Center for Labor Education and Research. This is a publicly funded group who provide hands-on training for working men and women. The areas of training covered are as follows: Labor education, Workplace and Environmental Safety and Health, and Mutual Gains Exploration. This training is available upon request from our local. It can also be made available to us at our local site, as Judi put it “we are mobile if needed.” This resource will be a welcome education tool for our members at our local.

All information that was provided to me will be brought back to the local and shared with our Safety and Health committee in place. We will use this information to help us work on safety issue brought to our local. I will work with the Webmaster to have links put on our website to OSHA, NCOSH, and other safety links for informational purposes. I will also request a safety section on the website to share with the members what areas of safety we are currently working on or have a concern with. I have also received safety flyers from this retreat to put up at our work locations we will get those out to members in charge of bulletin boards. To help us with safety needs please write or email your concern and place attention to the safety committee. Once again safety is everyone responsibility and necessity Please Work Safely.