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Civil Rights Conference Celebrates Diversity: Focus on Elections, Culture, Inclusion
Nearly 400 members, officers and staff who turned out for the union’s Civil Rights and Equity Conference left with an increased sense of ownership and certainty that no matter what their gender, race, faith or sexual preference, CWA is their union.
Welcomed by District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, delegates in St. Louis, April 25-27, heard from the union’s top leadership as well as representatives of the national AFL-CIO, its constituency groups, the Missouri State Legislature and the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA.
In workshops and panel discussions, they explored new approaches to sharing leadership and responsibility throughout CWA’s structure.
They presented the Mays-Carroll Award, posthumously, to Phillip Perkins, the president of Local 6139 who died Jan. 10 while attending a National Committee on Equity meeting in Washington, and honored past National Equity Committee and Minority Leadership Institute graduates.
The Mays-Carroll Award, for outstanding contributions to civil rights and minority practices, is named for Eugene Mays, the first African-American CWA officer and staff member, who served as assistant to the vice president of District 1 from 1969 until his death in 1973, and Mary Mays-Carroll, who headed CWA’s Civil Rights and Fair Practices office from 1989 until her retirement in 1999.
Minority Stakeholders
Joyce Augustus, a business agent for Local 1105, who is African-American, said things she learned at the conference will help her resolve issues with management.
Augustus, formerly a customer service rep, said the diversity of the Verizon offices she represents is striking. For example, Staten Island is 90 percent white, while Brooklyn is 90 percent African-American.
“We deal with everyone equally, and I make sure management deals with everybody the same way,” she said.
Mark Rocha, a service delivery coordinator for Qwest and a vice president of Local 7102 in Des Moines, Iowa, who is Hispanic, left with a sense of mission. “I felt reenergized, a fire in the belly kind of feeling,” Rocha said. “During fall and winter we took a hiatus from our equity committee meeting. I’m ready to get back into the work group and find some folks who want to get involved.”
Michael Harris, executive vice president of Local 2336 in Washington, D.C., felt renewed pride in his family’s values.
“I’ve been interested in civil rights issues since age 12,” said Harris, who first participated in SCLC-sponsored sit-ins and demonstrations in 1962.
Teaura Rollock of TNG-CWA Local 31003, first vice chair of the New York Newspaper Guild’s Time Inc. unit, left all fired up. She represents about 750 employees of Time, People, Sports Illustrated and other popular magazines.
An under-30 copy desk assistant for Fortune magazine, Rollock is also very aware of being an African-American female “in a basically older white male’s business.”
She said that of 200 editorial workers at Fortune, only a half dozen are Hispanic or African-American.
The conference, she said, “renewed my interest and brought me back invigorated and ready to work for civil rights.”
Stronger Through Consolidation
Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr, related her own involvement in struggles to integrate hiring by the Bell companies, to encourage diversity in local officer positions, to see that African-American, Latinos and other minorities are represented on bargaining committees, and to expand opportunities for minorities to win promotions and desirable assignments on the CWA staff.
Guided by the National Committee on Equity’s report to last year’s CWA convention, she said the union has intensified its efforts to stamp out hate crimes and racial profiling, to enact living-wage legislation across the country, and to introduce the consideration of workers’ civil rights into union organizing campaigns.
“We have come a long way, and our journey is not over,” Beaumont said. “There is still work to do to build our union, our locals and to build a stronger, more just and empowered membership.”
Need to Unite in 2002
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling asked the delegates to encourage their locals to lobby for stronger laws against hate crimes, racial profiling and workplace discrimination, and to mobilize to elect a worker-friendly House and Senate in November.
H.R. 1343 and S. 625 would allow the federal government to prosecute crimes motivated by bias; the End Racial Profiling Act would prohibit any law enforcement agency from engaging “this despicable practice,” and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would protect all Americans from senseless workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“No one should ever be fired, denied a promotion or discriminated against for any reason that has nothing to do with their work performance or abilities,” Easterling said.
Inclusive Development
Members of CWA’s National Committee on Equity — Gwen Richardson, Local 1180 executive board member; John Wills, Local 2202 secretary-treasurer; Mary Garr, Local 3310 vice president; Terez Woods, Local 4309 president; Keith Robinson, Local 6310 vice president; Marlene Orozco, Local 7777 member; and Karen Kimbell-Hansen, Local 9588 vice president — helped plan and develop workshops along with conference coordinator Leslie Jackson, CWA representative for civil rights and fair practices.
Workshops included “A History of Working Class People of Color,” “Latinos and Their Heritage,” and sessions on hate crimes and tolerance.
One of the most popular, Jackson said, was a hip-hop session, “Youth in the Labor Movement,” with a dee jay helping bridge the gap between young and older workers.
During a Festival of Culture, members — many in ethnic costume — shared exotic foods, music and spirituality. Hospitality was provided by the St. Louis CWA Labor Council.
“People really, really enjoyed themselves,” Jackson said. “We never sat down, never stopped moving. People felt good about being there, sharing their feelings and communicating their dream.”
Welcomed by District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, delegates in St. Louis, April 25-27, heard from the union’s top leadership as well as representatives of the national AFL-CIO, its constituency groups, the Missouri State Legislature and the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA.
In workshops and panel discussions, they explored new approaches to sharing leadership and responsibility throughout CWA’s structure.
They presented the Mays-Carroll Award, posthumously, to Phillip Perkins, the president of Local 6139 who died Jan. 10 while attending a National Committee on Equity meeting in Washington, and honored past National Equity Committee and Minority Leadership Institute graduates.
The Mays-Carroll Award, for outstanding contributions to civil rights and minority practices, is named for Eugene Mays, the first African-American CWA officer and staff member, who served as assistant to the vice president of District 1 from 1969 until his death in 1973, and Mary Mays-Carroll, who headed CWA’s Civil Rights and Fair Practices office from 1989 until her retirement in 1999.
Minority Stakeholders
Joyce Augustus, a business agent for Local 1105, who is African-American, said things she learned at the conference will help her resolve issues with management.
Augustus, formerly a customer service rep, said the diversity of the Verizon offices she represents is striking. For example, Staten Island is 90 percent white, while Brooklyn is 90 percent African-American.
“We deal with everyone equally, and I make sure management deals with everybody the same way,” she said.
Mark Rocha, a service delivery coordinator for Qwest and a vice president of Local 7102 in Des Moines, Iowa, who is Hispanic, left with a sense of mission. “I felt reenergized, a fire in the belly kind of feeling,” Rocha said. “During fall and winter we took a hiatus from our equity committee meeting. I’m ready to get back into the work group and find some folks who want to get involved.”
Michael Harris, executive vice president of Local 2336 in Washington, D.C., felt renewed pride in his family’s values.
“I’ve been interested in civil rights issues since age 12,” said Harris, who first participated in SCLC-sponsored sit-ins and demonstrations in 1962.
Teaura Rollock of TNG-CWA Local 31003, first vice chair of the New York Newspaper Guild’s Time Inc. unit, left all fired up. She represents about 750 employees of Time, People, Sports Illustrated and other popular magazines.
An under-30 copy desk assistant for Fortune magazine, Rollock is also very aware of being an African-American female “in a basically older white male’s business.”
She said that of 200 editorial workers at Fortune, only a half dozen are Hispanic or African-American.
The conference, she said, “renewed my interest and brought me back invigorated and ready to work for civil rights.”
Stronger Through Consolidation
Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr, related her own involvement in struggles to integrate hiring by the Bell companies, to encourage diversity in local officer positions, to see that African-American, Latinos and other minorities are represented on bargaining committees, and to expand opportunities for minorities to win promotions and desirable assignments on the CWA staff.
Guided by the National Committee on Equity’s report to last year’s CWA convention, she said the union has intensified its efforts to stamp out hate crimes and racial profiling, to enact living-wage legislation across the country, and to introduce the consideration of workers’ civil rights into union organizing campaigns.
“We have come a long way, and our journey is not over,” Beaumont said. “There is still work to do to build our union, our locals and to build a stronger, more just and empowered membership.”
Need to Unite in 2002
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling asked the delegates to encourage their locals to lobby for stronger laws against hate crimes, racial profiling and workplace discrimination, and to mobilize to elect a worker-friendly House and Senate in November.
H.R. 1343 and S. 625 would allow the federal government to prosecute crimes motivated by bias; the End Racial Profiling Act would prohibit any law enforcement agency from engaging “this despicable practice,” and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would protect all Americans from senseless workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“No one should ever be fired, denied a promotion or discriminated against for any reason that has nothing to do with their work performance or abilities,” Easterling said.
Inclusive Development
Members of CWA’s National Committee on Equity — Gwen Richardson, Local 1180 executive board member; John Wills, Local 2202 secretary-treasurer; Mary Garr, Local 3310 vice president; Terez Woods, Local 4309 president; Keith Robinson, Local 6310 vice president; Marlene Orozco, Local 7777 member; and Karen Kimbell-Hansen, Local 9588 vice president — helped plan and develop workshops along with conference coordinator Leslie Jackson, CWA representative for civil rights and fair practices.
Workshops included “A History of Working Class People of Color,” “Latinos and Their Heritage,” and sessions on hate crimes and tolerance.
One of the most popular, Jackson said, was a hip-hop session, “Youth in the Labor Movement,” with a dee jay helping bridge the gap between young and older workers.
During a Festival of Culture, members — many in ethnic costume — shared exotic foods, music and spirituality. Hospitality was provided by the St. Louis CWA Labor Council.
“People really, really enjoyed themselves,” Jackson said. “We never sat down, never stopped moving. People felt good about being there, sharing their feelings and communicating their dream.”