After 52 days on the picket line, the members of Local 636 who were on strike against Ottawa Hydro narrowly accepted a new agreement. Their fight allowed them to retain their contracting out language, job protection language for technological and organizational changes and they also won their fight against a roll back of benefits. In fact, not only did they avoid concessions to the job protection language, they gained improvements when contractors are used.

Unlike the IBEW Founders’ Scholarship Program, the Union Plus Scholarship Program is available to the dependents of members of AFL-CIO affiliate unions. The Union Plus Scholarship application can now be accessed online at: http://www.unionplus.org/benefits/education/scholarships/Scholarship05.pdf. Please share this with your members - the deadline for applications is January 31, 2005.

This is further to the article in last month’s Coast to Coast when we reported there was interest for more information from some locals following the testing and presentation by the Diabetes Care Guide Representatives. We reported that there would be details about programs that can be offered to your membership with the goal of living and staying healthy.

After meeting with the Diabetes Care Guide Representatives, the following information has been collected that can be presented to your membership as an IBEW Workplace Wellness Program:

We are all fully aware of the crisis in our healthcare systems. We are overtaxed, yet the system is still under funded and we continue to experience a steady deterioration in our services.

These problems affect every Union member and their families, deplete our pocket books and add unnecessary burdens to our physical and mental wellbeing.

Currently our health systems are geared to treatment rather than prevention and so many medical problems such as diabetes, stress and heart health have mushroomed due to lack of information, early diagnosis and pre-emptive treatment.

The IBEW supports the development of a workplace wellness program made available to all Locals and their families. The goal is to provide a comprehensive plan geared to living and staying healthy.

This ongoing program concentrates firstly on prevention by identifying health issues through testing and then providing educational materials and professional guidance leading to self-management of one’s own health.

We start by providing an information kit outlining the benefits of this program for you and your family. The kit will outline the activities to be implemented starting with vital signs testing such as:

• blood pressure
• blood glucose
• body mass index

On completion of these tests we will move into the wellness information phase and these will be informative sessions conducted by health professionals. They will be interactive and designed to assist you to develop your own health profile and wellness objectives. This self-management element assures you total confidentiality while giving you the tools you need to stay healthy.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, CLC

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