Local 848 Retirees Increase
Electoral Clout (11-20-02)
AFL-CIO
leader Gene Freeland (standing) shared a summary of the 2002 elections with
848’s retirees on November 14
Vice-Chairman Everett Day told Local 848's
retirees at their luncheon on November 14, "I'm sure we're not the kind to
give up, but we need a new political program and we better get one soon!"
He referred, as several other retirees did, to the beating that labor's
endorsed candidates took in most of the 2002 election races.
Day's estimate was backed up by the main speaker,
Dallas AFL-CIO leader Gene Freeland. Freeland complimented the tremendous
efforts of union people and the resulting increase in turnout, but added,
"It wasn't enough." Local 848’s retirees distinguished themselves
with a unique telephoning program in which 18 retirees took at least 20 numbers
of fellow retirees and made sure they were voting with the union. Woody Dobbins
took almost 100 names and then, even
after the election, went on working on the union’s retiree phone list!
Freeland blamed Republicans for using the national
hysteria created since September 11, 2001, as a way to avoid real issues in the
elections. Freeland served his second hitch in the United States Marines in
order to help fight the Koreans. He said, "The people calling for war
today haven't seen war. If they had seen war, they would never want to have a
war again!"
The real election issue, Freeland said, was the
economy. He blamed corporate corruption, the falling stock market, and the Bush
Administration's tax breaks for the nation's economic problems.
What will the future hold? Freeland told the
retirees, "Well, they won, and they are going to do us dirty. They are
going to do us very dirty!"
848 Retirees Celebrate
Christmas
The December 12 retiree luncheon included festive
Christmas songs and a delicious lunch with covered dishes, ham, and turkey.
Danny Green, pictured in red hat above, Woody Dobbins, and several other
retirees have been calling people to increase attendance, and it’s working!
Among the December celebrants were several
retirees who had distinguished themselves in leadership roles for their union.
Below are pictured (from left) Lewis
Hawkins, Billy Owens, Gene Cates, Harold Riddle, Everett Day, and Gene Lantz.
Seated are Tom Richards and Dot Hargrave.
