PACE International Union Announces Resignation of Robert E. Wages As Executive Vice President

    NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 9 President Boyd Young of the
Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union
(PACE) announced today that Executive Vice President Robert E. Wages has
resigned his position as an officer of the union effective immediately.
    Wages is the former president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers
International Union that was headquartered in Lakewood, Colo.  OCAW merged
with the Paperworkers Union in January 1999 to form PACE.  He is joining the
law firm of Provost * Umphrey, but will continue to assist PACE through his
retirement, which will be effective August 1, 2001.  Wages has been requested
by the union's executive board to continue his lead role in supervising and
directing the union's collective bargaining in the oil industry through the
next round of oil industry negotiations.  National bargaining with the oil
industry is scheduled to commence next fall for the renewal of agreements set
to expire February 1, 2002.
    Jim Pannell, former executive assistant to Wages, was elected as
Administrative Vice President during the PACE executive board meeting this
week.  Pannell's career began as a serviceman for Roanoke Gas Company in
Roanoke, Va., where he joined OCAW Local 3-515 in 1963.  He was appointed to
an international representative position, and later served as acting director
of OCAW District Three in Knoxville, Tenn.  In August 1989, he became an
auditor for the international union, and following the OCAW-UPIU merger, he
became a representative/field auditor.  He was acting assistant to now-retired
international secretary, R.J. Christie, before being appointed as Wages'
executive assistant.
    PACE International Union, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., represents
over 320,000 workers in the pulp and paper, oil, chemical, pharmaceutical,
atomic, kaolin and auto parts industries.  PACE website: http://www.paceunion.org