By Tom Price

The ILWU in the U.S. and Canada, together with the employers, provide a drug and alcohol recovery program to help workers in trouble rebuild their lives and return to work. The benefit may also cover spouses and dependent children.

Recently George Cobbs, the Coast Director, and Daniel Borsheim, the Washington State representative, retired from their posts at the U.S. longshore Alcohol and Drug Recovery Program, and others have stepped up to fill their places. In Canada, Ted Grewcut replaced Bill Bloor and Cathy Stewart to become Director of the Employee Assistance Program.

Cobbs stepped down Jan. 6 after 24 years of ADRP service and 38 years in longshore Local 10. ADRP directors chose Jackie Cummings, who has been the ADRP representative in Southern California since 1987, to take his post. Donnie Schwendeman will take over for Borsheim in Seattle and Norm McLeod will take on Cobbs’ duties as Northern California representative.

Jackie Cummings, new Coast Director for the ADRP.

Grewcutt joined longshore Local 500 in 1967 and had been in the industry since 1961. He spent the last 10 years as a linesman, and provided holiday relief for his predecessor for several years.

Jim Copp remains as the Columbia River, Oregon Coast ADRP rep and Gary Atkinson continues as Northern California rep for warehouse Locals 6 and 17.

As Coast Director, Cummings approves expenses, treatment programs, extensions and continuations of treatment, and supports the other reps. Previously she directed Turning Point, a recovery program in Santa Rosa that treated many longshore workers. Her predecessor at ADRP, Ed Torres, recommended her for his position when he stepped down.

“Now we have two new reps, and that involves training,” she said. “That’s a fun part, dealing with people who are new and enthusiastic about their positions.

“But the best thing about the program is that it saves lives. In the employer’s eyes the best thing about the program is that we give them back good employees. They go from problem employees to exemplary employees.”

Cummings will stay in Southern California and Norm McLeod will work out of the same San Francisco office Cobbs used at the Local 10 hall.

“I’ve been working for a long time with George Cobbs, and he’s given me the opportunity to wear my own shoes rather than standing in his,” McLeod said.

When longshore members see McLeod, it’s not like seeing the dentist or some guy in a white coat. He’s been a Local 10 member since 1969.

“Many of the people in Local 10 already know me because I trained them when I was a tractor and forklift instructor,” he said. “I was an Employee Assistance Program coordinator in Local 10, and we took training up and down the Coast for that position. We were George Cobbs’ eyes and ears.”

EAP reps are like union stewards, except they don’t represent the worker to the employer, they represent the worker to him or herself. The reps pass out literature on recovery and provide education on substance abuse problems. When a person is ready, they recommend treatment options. When the program is successful, it reconciles the worker with his or her job and family.

For Schwendeman, ADRP is an ideal job.

“The dream combines two passions I have, one being the ILWU and its members, and the other, the field of substance abuse and the recovery from it,” Schwendeman said. “That’s what my education is in, and I will continue.”

Schwendeman will graduate in June from Highline Community College and give a keynote address. The 11-year member of longshore Local 19 made the first team on the All-USA Academic Team this year. He looks forward to putting his studies in human services, co-dependency, social work and psychology to good use in his new duties.

“A lot of members aren’t aware of the ADRP benefit, how it functions separately from the regular health benefits and how it is administered,” Schwendeman said. “My first challenge is to get out there and educate the membership as to what they’re entitled to and how easy it is to have it initiated.”

Some members fear the employers might retaliate if they enter the program, but the PMA supports it, Cummings said.

“People have never been penalized by PMA for seeking help,” she said. “I’d say that 80 percent of the time PMA doesn’t know that our members are getting help, because they haven’t involved the employer by getting in trouble at work.”

Cummings knows the tasks ahead of her.

“My job is to ensure the program remains the highly respected workplace model it is in the industry, and that we can negotiate high-quality treatment for our members,” she said. “We also have to make the membership aware of their benefits, including coverage for adolescents.”

The 24-year-old ADRP provides literature at longshore halls and its representatives actively seek out people who want help. The Dispatcher prints recovery program addresses and phone numbers on its back page in every edition. But it takes an individual’s commitment to recovery for it to work.

“The door only opens when you’re ready to open it,” McLeod said.