May 14, 2003

Teamster stewards gathered for leadership training in April to discuss critical issues impacting mechanics and related workers at Continental Airlines and Continental Express. The first training was held on April 9 in Houston and the second on April 30 in Cleveland.

Sixty stewards from Local 19 attended the one-day training in Houston on leadership, communication, roles and responsibilities of the steward and a primer on the Railway Labor Act. Twenty stewards and activists from Local 964 attended the training in Cleveland.

“If the stewards don’t know how to do the things we were taught, the company is going to walk all over us,” said Joe Millspaugh, one of the mechanic stewards who attended the training. “The training was great. I learned quite a bit.”

The training offered a wide variety of information on the resources, skills and strategies that Teamster stewards need to represent the interests of members.

“Stewards and activists, more than anyone else, have to be informed on strategies for keeping the members protected,” said Amy Ferguson, a Teamsters Education Coordinator who led the training. “That’s what this training is for.”

This program was one of 125 educational programs conducted throughout the United States and Canada by the Teamsters Education Department. The department joins with other Teamster experts to make sure that members, stewards, officers, agents and staff are up-to-the-minute on the issues impacting airline and aviation workers today.