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| THE LADIES OF 798 ARE CALLING UPON ALL RETIREES
TO SUBMIT LETTERS, COMMENTS AND IDEAS.
YOUR INPUT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US. A letter from the Retiree Roundtable, October issue of the "PINK LIGHT". Like many of you, while we were still pipelining, we attended 798 Union Meetings and Steward Schools as often as possible. We have driven hundreds of miles to Tulsa from jobs and from home and have also flown to Tulsa from jobs a few times. Since we retired four years ago, I don't think we've attended a 798 Meeting! Something always seemed to come up---Legitimate reasons why it wasn't convenient for us to make the trip. Now I realize that we may have been looking for excuses not to go to Tulsa for Meetings. As retirees, we thought we would feel out of place and out of the loop. On September 14,2007 we finally decided to drive to Tulsa for the meeting. We might not have come then but we wanted to look for a new Suburban(still looking), and go to Wild Oats (great health food store on 41st St.), and Bass Pro Shop. While Lee Roy attended the Meeting at the Union Hall, with much trepidation, I went to the 798 Ladies Hospitality Room at the Radisson Hotel. In the past forty years, I have been at many of the 798 Ladies Meetings. I have also often stayed in our hotel room or sat outside alone in our vehicle rather than go to the 798 Ladies Meetings! Soon after walking into our Ladies Meeting, I felt a definate change in the atmosphere and attitude of this meeting compared to many of the Ladies Meetings in previous years. Maybe it is a renewed pride in our Local(Yes, Ladies it is OUR Local, too!), along with a brand new sense of purpose and vision in what we Ladies can accomplish and do to help ourselves and others. Difficult to describe, but you could just feel the positive energy in the room. The presentation at the Ladies Meeting on Travel Safety by the Tulsa Police Department was Great! The police officer gave us lots of useful tips and information and answered all our questions with patients and humor. I really like the idea of having a program or presentation at our Ladies Meetings. How wonderful to see friends from our pipelining days and to meet several Ladies of 798 that I didn't know but have been reading about in our newsletters. A special thanks to Margaret for Welcoming me, making introductions, and especially for making me feel a part of our pipeline family again after several years of being away from it. I would like to encourage other retirees to attend the Meetings and show your support for OUR Local Union and for the Ladies of 798! They still need us! Thanks Ladies of 798 for all your new ideas and your hard work---many, many hours of planning, organizing, listening, and communication with each other. Amazing what we can do when we actually work together instead of against each other isn't it!? See you in Tulsa! Betty Ann Warren Wife of Retired Welder Lee Roy Warren Clarksville, Arkansas REACHING OUT ACROSS THE STATES TO HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN COMMUNITIES AND PEOPLE'S LIVES. | |
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