Your attention is directed to the provisions of Article XV, of the Constitution of the Utility Workers Union of America, which has been reprinted in this Call to the Convention for your information and consideration. Article XV sets forth the rules governing this 26th Constitutional Convention. It is extremely important, since National Officers and Executive Board Members will be elected at this Convention, that all Delegates and Alternate Delegates be elected by secret ballot and in accordance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 and so certified by the Local President and Secretary, in order to be in compliance with the Constitution of the Utility Workers Union of America. The UWUA and its members have been faced with the biggest challenge to our viability and job security over the last four years since we first organized in the 1940s. The electric utility industry has undergone sweeping changes as it has moved from a regulated, vertically integrated system to an unregulated, market driven, unbundled industry.
Similar changes are also underway in the gas and water industries.
The UWUA, under the leadership of National President Marshall Hicks for a brief period, and National President Donald E. Wightman and the National Executive Board, has been in the forefront of union response to these changes with creativity, innovative action, and outreach to all other constituencies with similar interests. We note with sorrow the untimely passing of President Hicks in February 1996, shortly after his second term began. His memory has been an inspiration to all of us. Donald E. Wightman was elected National President by the National Executive Board in January of 1996 to complete the term of office and James P. Keller was then elected National Vice President. The changes in our industries are unprecedented.