MID ATLANTIC REGION
                    Ron Rubottom,  MARVP
              130 Meadowview Dr.
                Canonsburg, PA  15317

    Home - 724-743-4595
          Cell - 724-910-3624
          Fax  - 304-284-3629
          Work - 304-296-4416 ext. 394

MID ATLANTIC REGIONAL CAUCUS


    The Mid Atlantic Regional Caucus will be held this year from
May 8 - 11 at the Sun-Spree Holiday Inn and Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
  Travel day to the caucus will be Tuesday May 8th and travel home will be
Friday May 11th. Wednesday May 9th and Thursday May 10th will be our actual
training dates. I will be putting out a
training agenda to all of our Locals prior to the caucus.

    I have a block of 30 rooms reserved for our members. You must make your
own room reservations by calling 1-888-562-2946 and tell them you need to
reserve a room from the block for the Council of Prison Locals Conference. 
The room rates are 49.99 per night plus tax.
As in the past, the Council provides the meeting rooms, refreshments and
hospitality suite.  Each Local is responsible for it's own lodging, travel
and per diem.

    Official time can be used for this training as it is mutually beneficial
for the Union and the Agency.

    I will fax a more detailed itinerary to each Local about the Sun Spree
and all it's amenities.



    We are still in the course of negotiating the ground rules for the
upcoming negotiations for a new Master Agreement.

    The Legislative Conference will be held April 1st through the 4th in
Washington, DC. Travel day in is Sunday April 1st and we will be meeting at
the Holiday Inn on the Hill to discuss our agenda and needs of what to lobby
for and to whom. The meeting time and specific will be announced. Travel out
for those not attending the New President's training will be Thursday April
5th.  We are looking for many of you to attend to knock on doors at Capitol
Hill to lobby for many pressing issues that concern our members. Please plan
to attend and make this our most successful legislative conference yet !!!


    New President's Training will be held April 5th through the 8th at the
Holiday Inn on the Hill in DC. Travel day in is April 5th and travel day out
is Sunday April 8th.  The 6th and 7th are the actual training dates.  Our
new Presidents from the Mid Atlantic who are scheduled to attend are, Mo
Dillard from FMC Butner, John Grimes from FCI Beckley, Dwayne Pettit from
FMC Lexington, Richard McNeil from FPC Seymour Johnson and Mike Volek from
FCI Morgantown.

    The upcoming months are going to be VERY busy for the Council E-Board.
Besides meeting on average of 2 weeks per month in DC to negotiate the
Master Agreement, we are still mandated by the contract to have one week of
policy negotiations each month. I will be counting on several of you to help
us out by being delegated to attend some of these policy meetings and
representing the Mid Atlantic Region. If you are interested in doing this,
please e-mail me and let me know.

    As soon as we conclude the ground rule negotiations for the Master
Agreement, the negotiating team will be meeting to review all of the
proposals that you sent to us for consideration. If you have anymore
proposals, PLEASE send them to me ASAP so we can add them to our list.

    Don't forget to start thinking about the National Convention in Las
Vegas September 2 - 7.  Check out the National Sec/Treas. page for
information on making your reservations. Don't wait until the last minute as
there are only a limited number of rooms blocked out at the special rate
that Jim Turner negotiated for us.  Don't forget that this is an election
year so the rooms will go fast.

    I need an updated list of fax numbers and e-mail addresses from all the
Local Presidents in the region. Please e-mail or fax me your updated numbers
as soon as possible.

    On behalf of the members in the Mid Atlantic Region, I want to wish Phil
Glover a speedy recovery from his recent surgery on his neck. Phil has been
resting at home with some much needed R&R, taking care of himself and
getting recharged for all the work ahead.

    For those of you with questions about the AFGE Dental Trust. I spoke
with Bobby Harnage, President of AFGE.  Bobby informed me that there has
been problems in the past couple of years with the insurance provider and
that many of your claims were submitted 3 and 4 times, thus causing a
"bottleneck" with processing.  Harnage's office has been working to
alleviate the backlog and helping to get your claims paid expeditiously. He
asked for your patience while they get this problem straightened out.  The
Dental Trust is a great organizing and recruiting tool and AFGE wants to get
it back on track to keep this useful tool and benefit available for it's
members.