The Temecula Creek Inn was the site of Western Textile Services Association’s 97th Annual Meeting. Close to one hundred attendees showed up for the three day meeting that was held from July 11th to July 14th, 2010. President Jim Ginnetti was pleased with the turnout and he was especially pleased by the response of the Allied Trades in hosting a hospitality suite and attending all business meetings.

Monday and Tuesday’s business meetings were both well attended and the speakers were warmly received. Jim Davidson was the lead off speaker on Monday morning and talked about voluntary benefit programs that are available to employers. Jim was named “Broker of the Year” in 2009 by Benefit Selling Magazine. For more information contact Rick Kendrick at 800-229-4364, ext 7021, rkendrick@eoiservices.com

 Jim was followed by Paul Scheper (whose main claim to fame is that he knows both John Elway and Jim Ginnetti – they all played football together in high school) who gave an outstanding talk on Credit scores and how the attendees could find out about their current credit scores and how they could improve their current scores. Email Paul Scheper at PEScheper@gmail.com

 On Tuesday morning Justin Hauke an analyst with Robert Baird & Company gave an overview of the Industrial Laundry Industry with emphasis on CINTAS, UniFirst and G&K Services. In addition to these three publicly held companies Baird secures information from many other Industrial Laundry companies and reports on the status of the industry.

The final speaker was Steve Giles, who since 1991 has been General Counsel of Milliken & Company, the world’s largest privately held textile and chemical manufacturer. Steve talked about “What Health Care Reform Means to You”. His emphasis was on how each company would be adversely affected by this new law and how much money it might cost – not only in complying with the law but in covering otherwise non-covered, non-employees (such as dependents up to age 26 even if they work for some other company!).

 The information that all four speakers imparted to the attendees was worthwhile and relevant to their business and personal needs. As one respondent said: “The speakers were the best I’ve ever heard at a regional convention.” Personally, I thought they were as good as you hear at any convention.

You are all reminded that the Production Clinic will be held this coming January 27th and 28th at the Aramark, Riverside plant. The convention hotel will be the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, California. Make your plans now to have your supervisors’ and production employees attend this WTSA event. The Board of Directors indicated that because of the “stagnant” economy they will be looking to have the 98th Annual Convention in Southern California. If you have any suggestions for the site or for the programs please pass your thoughts along to David and Tim at 310-476-8736 or David@MandGConsulting.net