News

Mariachi musicians and down-home Texas hospitality set the stage for CWA’s 20th annual National Operator Conference, Oct. 26-28, in San Antonio. But the agenda was dead serious: politics, empowerment in today’s workplace and preparation for the jobs of tomorrow.

Concern about health and safety on the job, from ergonomics to air quality to asbestos, drew 165 CWA members and staff from across the country to Philadelphia this fall for a four-day conference.

CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have negotiated a one-year agreement with Avaya Inc. that provides employment security and opportunity for workers and a competitive edge for the new Lucent Technologies spinoff.

CWA officials expressed serious concerns about AT&T’s plans to split the company into four separate operations — broadband, wireless, business and consumer services — and stressed that the company has operational problems which cannot be fixed by financial restructuring.

With the presidential election in double overtime and some U.S. House and Senate races still too close to call on Nov. 8, at least one thing was clear the day after Election 2000: Labor’s impassioned fight for working families and workers’ rights had a thunderous impact.