International Vice President, Mel Horton, who was also present at this meeting, tells it best. The following is excerpts from his speech:

"Will Rogers was famous for saying, ‘All I know is what I read in the papers.’ Will Rogers was a fine man. But, I hope that none of you are following his example .

This mainstream media, whether its print, radio or television is now just about 100% controlled by the greediest of the greedy in corporate America.

Let’s take a look--- NBC is owned by General Electric, CBS is owned by Westinghouse, ABC is owned by Disney, and CNN is owned by Time Warner. The top two newspapers in America, based on circulation, are the Wall Street Journal (Wall Street’s propaganda machine) and USA Today, which is owned by the Gannett Company, the same outfit that owns the two newspapers in Detroit that forced a strike and permanently replaced all of its workers.

So, it’s no wonder that all we hear, read or see are the good news stories about how the quality of life for America’s working families couldn’t be better.

But, you better believe, the real story is not being told. It’s the story of millions of American families that are constantly worried about making ends meet, retirement security and adequate health care --- It’s a story of approximately 50 million Americans, 19% of the population, that lives below the national poverty line.

It’s a story of a 19% decline in average weekly earnings for workers over the last 25 years.

It’s a story about the gap between the richest 20% of America’s families and the poorest 20% being at an all-time high.

It’s a story of 40 million Americans with no health insurance --- 80% are in families where the head of the household is employed full-time.

It’s also a story of unimaginable greed and unconscionable wealth. Can you believe that Disney paid Michael Eisner $565 million last year or gave Michael Oritz $90 million when he was fired after just 14 months on the job.

Or, how about Apple Computer paying $9.2 million to Gilbert Amelio after he was fired when the company suffered losses of $2 billion during the 17 months he was the CEO.

I could go on and on and on with the stories that are not being told to the American public, but it would take days---

But, there’s one more story I would like to tell. It involves our nation’s trade policies.

Wall Street and Corporate America has conditioned the American public to believe that free trade is good for America. They have "brainwashed" many to believe that America’s conversion from an industrial power to a service oriented society is just great. Well, I am standing here this morning to let you know that’s a bunch of B.S.

The story that must be told is the one that shows that this country has had 21 years of uninterrupted trade deficits. Last year, our trade deficits were $191 billion. We’ve lost every trade negotiation we have entered into over the past 20 years.

We do a trade agreement with Canada and our trade deficit doubled. NAFTA has resulted in us going from a $2 billion trade surplus with Mexico to a $16 billion deficit. Out trade deficit with Japan stays at $50-$60 billion every year. And, we just started trading with China a few years ago and the deficit is already up to $44 billion and climbing.

The debate last year was over the so called fast-track authority which gives the President the ability to negotiate free trade agreements and send them to Congress for a simple up or down vote. If this authority had been granted, it would have allowed Clinton to negotiate NAFTA-type agreements with other nations.

Despite everything Clinton and his Republican free trade buddies could do---Fast Track ran off the track for 1997.

I don’t believe Fast Track will get untracked this year because of the financial crisis in the so called Asian Tiger nations. It’s a long story, but the bottom line is, there’s a real possibility for global deflation. That’s the money changers term for excess capacity and inadequate demand.

There is a famous story about former UAW President Walter Reuther touring a Japanese Auto Factory in the 1960's. He was impressed with the state of the art technology, the efficient workers, the productive plant and then he noticed the rows of workers bicycles lined up outside. He warned his host, you can’t build an automobile economy on bicycle wages. Reuther was right. The low wage policies of these countries has finally destroyed their economies, but unfortunately, as is always the case, it will be the poor workers who shoulder most of the economic hardship.

I guarantee you one thing, these so-called free traders have never been one of the faceless victims that lost a job or saw everything they worked for go down the drain because of our nation’s misdirected trade policies.

Let me share with you one final story. It’s a story of two women---one of these women is named Linda Ryals, 29 years old, divorced, two children: son Bobby, age 6; daughter Sandy, age 4. Linda was employed at Lithonia Lighting in Conyers, Georgia. She lived in Covington, Georgia and it was a 30 mile round trip commute to work.

The Lithonia Plant manufactured lighting fixtures and Linda worked as an assembly inspector on the assembly line. She was paid $12.15 per hour or $486.00 a week for a 40-hour week with overtime pay after eight (8). She had excellent health insurance for herself and children at a cost of only $6 a week, three weeks vacation, 10 paid holidays, $40,000 life insurance and a company paid retirement plan. Linda worked at Lithonia for almost seven years before she was laid off last year. She was a member of Local Union 613.

Since that time, after exhausting her unemployment benefits and trying to find a new job that paid anything close to what she was making, Linda lost her trailer home and had to move in with her mother.

She finally obtained a job at the Wal-Mart in Madison, Georgia, where she is being paid $7.45 per hour, $279.00 per week, of which $26 a week is deducted for medical insurance. Her medical coverage carries a $250 deductible, after which she pays 20% of the bill if she sticks to an approved list of doctors. She’s away from her kids for 11 hours a day, only paid for 7 ½ since the other time is spent commuting and she doesn’t get paid for two 15-minute breaks she’s required to take and a 30-minute lunch.

Linda is a registered Democrat who doesn’t vote often and didn’t vote in the 1996 elections, but says she would have voted republican. When asked why, she said, ‘they stood right on the issues that were important to her, such as abortion and helping working people.’

Now, let’s briefly look at the other woman in this story. Her name is Yolanda Carillo, 17 years old, never been married, one child, a son named Enrique, who is two years old. Yolanda lives in a wooden, single room shack with a dirt floor, cardboard covers the windows, the wind whistles through cracks in the walls of the shack. There is no electricity and water must be carried in plastic buckets from a standing pipe which is three blocks away. Meals are cooked on an open fire or on a small propane burner when there is money for gas. Yolanda and her son share this one room shack with her blind, bedridden father, an older sister, four other female relatives, two other children, ages 7 months and 2 years and two goats. Goats are kept so the kids can have milk. No refrigeration, a gallon of milk costs three hours pay.

That’s 7 adults, 3 children and 2 goats in a one room shack. There is a canal which flows behind Yolanda’s shack that is so polluted by industrial waste that the goats won’t even drink the water. In the town where Yolanda lives, many of the children have horrendous birth defects ranging from deformed heads, hand and webbed feet to severe mental retardation. The defects were caused by their mother’s exposure to industrial toxins during pregnancy.

There you have it---the story of two women, both are having a pretty difficult time of it---but I doubt if Linda would be very sympathetic towards Yolanda, for you see, Yolanda lives in Matamoro, Mexico and works for Lithonia and she is now doing Linda’s job, the same job Linda was laid off from, only where Linda was being paid $12.15 per hour, Yolanda performs the identical job for $ .94 per hour with few benefits. The difference in wages alone is $11.21 per hour. Does Lithonia sell the fixtures cheaper because they are made in Mexico? Of course not. They just take the extra profits realized on a poor 17 year old girl and thousands and thousands of others just like her and tell the American public we need more NAFTA type trade agreements.

So, who’s the winner---Linda or Yolanda? Hell no! The only winners are the hundreds of American based companies that have closed plants in this country and moved good paying jobs to Mexico and other low wage countries.

The race to the bottom with wages in competition all over the world is the story that’s not being told. But, if we are going to get the public’s attention on this issue, we need to change our tune. ‘Free trade means less jobs and lower wages’ is a worn out message. Doesn’t resonate. Why not say, ‘More free unfair trade threatens American prosperity. It threatens the future of our children and our grandchildren.’

It has created untold wealth for the few at the expense of the many.

Fair trade---not free trade must be the most important policy.

Until that happens, we must tell the story why fast track is a wrong track for America’s working families and for worker’s rights all over the world."

Few have the ability to articulate the way things really are better than our International Vice President, Mel Horton, and this time was no exception. So the question is, Happy New Year or more of the same? I believe the choice is ours. Through education, leadership and political involvement we can make a difference. To quote Mel once again "the best way to predict your future is to create it".

S.R.W.        

SOAP BOX 98

On January 17th, while attending the Florida Electrical Workers’ Association meeting, our group was addressed by the three candidates for the Democratic nominations for Governor of the state of Florida. They were Buddy McKay, Rick Dantzler, and Keith Arnold. All are experienced in state politics. Mr. McKay as Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Dantzler as a State Senator from Dist. 17, and Mr. Arnold who has served in the State House of Representatives in Dist. 73 since 1982. All three stated that they were supportive of labor and working men and women in general. I have no doubt that this is true. However, they did not all support the issue regarding our trade and competency requirements. More on this later.....

Stephen R. Williams, President        

MEMBERS’ CORNER

I am pleased to announce that the Building Trades has recently signed an agreement with Raytheon Engineers and Constructors. The scope of this work will be to construct the Delta IV/EELV Project at Launch Complex 37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This work should commence sometime in June of this year. We will provide further information when available.

Also, there are several other major construction opportunities upcoming. We will report on these as they progress.

Effective January 1, 1998, prescription drugs will be paid as follow and will NOT BE SUBJECT TO A CALENDAR YEAR DEDUCTIBLE:

Generic Drugs - covered at 90%

Brand Name Drugs - covered at 80%

If you have any questions, please call the Fund Office at 904-255-8331 or the hall at 904-756-2756.

VERY IMPORTANT - VERY IMPORTANT

Please check with the office regarding your beneficiaries. If you have recently married, divorced or otherwise, chances are you have not changed your beneficiary with us.

We have regrettably lost two of our retired Brothers and one of our apprentice Brothers since our last issue of the Side Cutter.

They will surely be missed. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to their families.

Continuing Education Courses available: For information contact Holmes Davis, Training Director 756-2776.

ORGANIZING: Call Steve Williams 756-2756

UNION MADE

It seems that almost daily new products or systems are being designed that significantly impact the way we operate in the electrical industry. These changes are also requiring that the National Electrical Code be revised to regulate these advances in technology. It is important that we, as tradesmen, stay current on the latest code revisions. I fear that if you have not familiarized yourself with the 1996 Code, then the 1999 Code may be overwhelming.

It is imperative that we stay abreast of the latest changes so that we may be qualified for all electrical installations. This can be accomplished by taking advantage of our National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee’s (NJATC) commitment to training. An example of this commitment is that in 1990, the NJATC trained 207 instructors, in 1997, that number had increased to over 1000. Six hundred have graduated from a four year instructors program, which is the equivalent of the eight basic college courses required to earn a teaching degree.

Through these efforts, the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee Programs (JATCs), have trained 30 thousand Apprentices and provided continuing education for 50 thousand Journeymen. If you are not one of these individuals, you need to be. Technology will not wait!

Holmes Davis - Training Director

1. Select the minimum size XHHW-2 copper conductor for a 200A continuously loaded feeder. The overcurrent protection used is not listed for continuous operation at 100% of its rating.

   a. 3/0 AWG

   b. 4/0 AWG

   c. 250 kcmil

2. The minimum distance from final grade to the bottom of the drip loop of a 120/240 volt service drop is:

   a. 10 feet

   b. 12 feet

   c. 15 feet

3. Select the minimum THWN-2 copper conductor supplying a 230A non-continuous load with four current-carrying conductors in a raceway. The conductor terminates in equipment with 75 degree C terminations.

   a. 250 kcmil

   b. 4/0 AWG

   c. 300 kcmil