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And now a word from the younger generation

July 2001 IBEW Journal

Thirteen-year-old Ryan Webster, son of IBEW Local 1619 (Delta, Utah) charter member John Webster, had an assignment to write a fable for his seventh grade English class.

He used the lessons of his father and his recollections of the IBEW Journal to come up with a moral-union is strength. All he needed was a story to go around it.

So in longhand, Ryan conceived an original allegory titled "Tug of War" about a war that pitted the large forest animals against the much smaller desert animals. The dueling sides threw a rope across the canyon and commenced pulling. The desert team pulled together-like a union-while the members of the forest team acted as individuals, pulling intermittently. The end of the story found Bubba the Bear and other large animals tumbling into the ravine.

The paper earned an A-minus and a smiley face illustration with a "very creative" comment on top.

"I've said many times before: union is strength," said John Webster, an electrical mechanic at the Intermountain Power Project in Delta. "The future generation does have some insight as to what benefits a union can mean for them."

The lessons were not lost on Ryan, who answers without hesitation to the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a member of a union," he said. "Because I want to be a part of something that's worthwhile."

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"I want to be a member of a union because I want to be a part of something that's worthwhile."