Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
Governor Fletcher is featured speaker at 28th Kentucky Labor Management Conference

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 8, 2005) – Governor Ernie Fletcher will be the featured speaker at the 28th Kentucky Labor-Management Conference, taking place Sept. 13-15 at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park.

Governor Fletcher will deliver the keynote address Tuesday night, Sept. 13, at a dinner to honor two leaders in the labor and management fields – Charles Clephas, president of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, and Jim Purgerson, president of Ashland Alliance.

Clephas represents an association of labor unions from Jefferson, Oldham and Bullitt counties. Purgerson  heads the Chamber of Commerce and regional economic development partnership serving Boyd and Greenup counties and the city of Ashland.

The focus of the conference is on health care challenges, issues and initiatives for the work place.

LaJuana S. Wilcher, secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC), will speak Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. CDT on “How the Environment Affects the Health of Kentucky Workers.”

A health care panel will offer perspectives on issues driving health care costs and what can be done to contain them.

There also will be a presentation – “One Labor-Management Team’s Approach to Solving Health Care Problems” – by Cinergy Corp. and three unions – International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Locals 1347 and 1393, United Steel Workers Locals 4441-06 and 12049 and Utility Workers Union of America Local 600.

Other speakers include Kay Caskey and Laurie Young of Laughter Works. They will conduct workshops to demonstrate how humor in the workplace can help solve differences, reduce stress and advance team work.

The conference is hosted by the Labor-Management Conference Board of Directors, composed of business and labor representatives; EPPC and its agency, the Kentucky Department of Labor; and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

From its beginning as a golf tournament in 1977, the conference has evolved as an annual forum in which labor and management officials accustomed to facing one another across a negotiation table can come together to explore issues and ideas for fostering positive relationships.

New to the awards banquet this year will be the presentation of up to $4,000 in scholarships to students aspiring to careers in labor-management relations. Using its own budget, the conference board appropriated funds for the scholarships in June.

For additional information, contact Tom Cannady, Kentucky Department of Labor, at 502-564-3070.