News from USWA: Pittsburgh Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Hosts Regional Conference Sept. 11.

PITTSBURGH -- The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), an organization dedicated to promoting labor rights and civil rights, will hold a regional meeting in Pittsburgh Sept. 11 to elect officers and develop a strategy to encourage political involvement and voter registration.

The one-day conference for Pennsylvania and Ohio CBTU members will take place at the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) international headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, located at the corner of Stanwix and Blvd. of the Allies. African-American workers and labor union members from the area are encouraged to attend the conference.

Oliver Montgomery, president of the Pittsburgh CBTU chapter and a member of the national board of directors, said, "We're reorganizing the local CBTU chapter to reactivate our fight for civil rights and labor rights. Working people all over the country are struggling to keep their heads above water. We need to have a united strategy to advance the interests of working men and women in America if we expect to get ahead."

Montgomery is a former Youngstown Sheet & Tube steelworker, union research analyst, leader of the Steelworkers retirees' group and president emeritus of the Penn Hill NAACP. He said the CBTU is expecting 50 to 75 delegates at the Pittsburgh meeting from many unions, with larger groups coming from the USWA, AFSCME, UAW, SEIU and the Longshoremen's Union.

The Pittsburgh regional conference will concentrate on voter mobilization, particularly in African-American communities.

"The right to vote is a fundamental right," Montgomery said. "Freedom is not free, you have to fight for it and you have to fight to keep it. Voting can be a major instrument for gaining freedom. If you don't exercise your right to vote, even a democracy can quickly become a dictatorship."