AFL-CIO Convention Delegates Take Action on Labor Reforms

In a week marked by the decision of three unions to withdraw from the AFL-CIO, delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention voted for big changes that will strengthen organizing, legislative and political activities and the labor movement.

On the opening day of the convention, the Service Employees and Teamsters announced they were leaving the AFL-CIO. The Food and Commercial Workers later announced it also was disaffiliating.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who was reelected along with Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson, called the move "a grievous insult to the unions who came to discuss and debate difficult issues and make historic changes." Sweeney said delegates should move ahead "to build a new movement for our hard times."

In a statement, CWA's executive officers stressed "unity is important, today probably more than anytime in our history, because of the real challenges that working people in our country face every day."

"In every democratic country around the globe, unions have joined together to establish national labor centers, because they realize that strength and solidarity are the way to change public policy. It's unfortunate that some unions in the United States are not moving in the same direction," they said.

CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen and President Francisco Hernandez Juarez of the Telefonistas union, STRM, in Mexico, made a joint presentation on their unions' work together over the past 13 years. They cited many examples of these efforts: joint participation in CWA's customer service network to fight outsourcing, sessions with local union leaders from both countries, and meetings with SBC and Telmex management. "The work we have done together, along with thousands of our members, has made a difference," they told delegates. Cohen also was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

CWA vice presidents spoke on resolutions and made presentations to delegates on several issues, including CWA's "Tale of Two Companies" campaign, which spotlights the very different labor policies of Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.

Resolution 1 was a call to revitalize the labor movement, and AFL-CIO delegates adopted a strategic plan, based on many of CWA's programs and proposals, that calls for training 100,000 worksite stewards by 2008 who will actively mobilize workers and will help build coalitions with labor's allies to fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The convention created a $22.5 million Strategic Organizing Fund, with up to $15 million from rebates of per capita dues to affiliates active in organizing, and also established new industry coordinating committees to support both organizing and bargaining in entire industries.

Among the major initiatives approved by the convention:

• A demand that the United States government "bring the troops home rapidly" from Iraq and calling for support for the Iraqi labor movement's demand for a new Iraqi labor law that codifies the right to organize and bargain.
  
  
• A plan to increase diversity throughout the union movement, by ensuring that union delegations and participation at conferences and training reflect racial and gender diversity. Delegates also added representatives from the AFL-CIO's six constituency groups—A. Philip Randolph Institute, Pride at Work, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists—to the AFL-CIO General Board.
  
  
• Support for labor's national Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign and a pledge to build global support for the fight for fairness at Wal-Mart.
  
  
• An increase in the per capita payments that unions make to the AFL-CIO to 65 cents per member per month, up from 61 cents. An 8-cent temporary increase for political activities also was made permanent.