ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601110134
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Unions see a chance to grow this year, both in membership and influence.
``Everybody is energized,'' said Walter Wise, president of the United Roanoke Central Labor Council, a coalition of 37 union locals in the Roanoke Valley.
The election of John Sweeney as president of the AFL-CIO is one reason Wise and others give for their upbeat outlook. Under Sweeney, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations pledges to increase services to 79 affiliated unions. The steps include more organizing assistance.
Daniel LeBlanc, president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, said unions intend to build on the example set by employees of Tultex Corp. of Martinsville, who unionized in August 1994 and approved a contract in March 1995.
``It was the largest victory for organized labor in the country,'' LeBlanc said. ``That campaign in Martinsville is a model of what we'll use throughout the South.''
Unions in this area were reluctant to disclose plans for specific organizing drives. One official, Bobby Myers, business agent of Laborers' Local Union 980, said the Covington area will be the site of one push by that union.
Myers described the intense emphasis international union leaders have placed on organizing. His international office essentially told him, ``If you're not involved in these activities, there's no need for you to have a charter,'' he said.
``Our internationals are going to want proof that we're doing something other than sitting in our office and signing a check every Thursday,'' Myers said.
A second area of emphasis this year will be politicking, union officials said. In last fall's state elections, five of six candidates endorsed by the United Roanoke Central Labor Council won or stayed in office.
In this November's congressional elections, Myers said, unions will oppose U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, and anyone who runs against U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon. The AFL-CIO meets Jan. 25 to consider endorsing a candidate for president.
The year ahead will see an emphasis on enlarging unions, following 1995's wave of union mergers.
The United Rubber Workers on July 1 merged into the United Steelworkers, which, in turn, will merge by 2000 with the United Auto Workers and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Also, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and International Ladies Garment Workers Union formed UNITE! All of the unions involved in those mergers have a presence in the Roanoke Valley or Western Virginia.
While the union locals retained their autonomy, the consolidations folded tens of thousands of members into the surviving internationals.
Wayne Friend was president of the Roanoke rubber workers union when it merged with the Steelworkers. He said Local 1023 changed its name to the Steelworkers, but kept its number, office and independently elected leadership, and still holds members-only meetings.
But the former rubber workers are protected by the Steelworkers' larger strike fund and its research and legal departments, Friend said.
``The average member is not going to see anything that he can put his finger on day to day, but he is associated with a larger group of people that, in the long run, he will prosper from,'' Friend said.
The pattern of mergers may continue. Gerald Rockwell, director of the United Steelworkers' Roanoke-based subdistrict office, said: ``I see more unions consolidating and merging and I think it's good. You know, business has been doing this for years.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - 1995 Roanoke Metro Employment color STAFFby CNB