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Convention Focus: Taking Back America
Standing together in bargaining, organizing and in their resolve to take back America for working families, more than 2,800 registered delegates and guests cheered CWA national leaders, 2004 presidential candidates and outspoken local leaders at the union's 2003 convention, Aug. 25-26, in Chicago.
In his keynote speech, CWA President Morton Bahr took President Bush to task for exploiting the fears of the American people following Sept. 11, as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to distract from the real issues that will shape the 2004 presidential campaign:
*** 15 million workers unemployed or under-employed
*** Devastating job losses in manufacturing and a trade policy that encourages the exportation of jobs in all sectors
*** Loss of heath insurance and crushing prescription drug costs for millions of workers and retirees
*** A federal deficit of more than $450 billion
*** Tax cuts that benefit only the wealthy
*** Economic crises in many state governments
"Little did we realize last year that our biggest challenge would be a president and his party who are intent on keeping our nation focused on 9/11, on turning every soccer mom into a security mom: fearful, upset, worried," Bahr said.
Noting that the hall was packed with veterans of every American military conflict since World War II, he stressed that, "We don't have to wear our patriotism on our sleeves. We don't have to prove our love of country to anyone. But sometimes the bravest form of patriotism is standing up to our elected leaders when we believe they are making a mistake."
He urged the delegates to participate in a presidential preference poll on the CWA website, to help shape the union's choice prior to the AFL-CIO selecting a candidate for endorsement in October.
Five presidential hopefuls courted CWA's support for endorsement. (See separate story.)
State of the Union:
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling pointed out that "though economically these are the toughest times our nation has endured since the Great Depression, CWA remains strong, fulfilling its historic commitment to member services."
But, she said, "The state of the larger union, the United States of America, is downright awful."
She pointed to numerous, ongoing legislative battles to combat George W. Bush's agenda to kill overtime pay, to promulgate media monopoly through FCC regulation, to export defense jobs, to undermine seniors' prescription benefits while channeling money to huge pharmaceutical companies, to sabotage the Family Medical Leave Act and to privatize government services.
She called upon the delegates to turn Grassroots Democrats, a new organization chaired by President Bahr, into a political force.
Bargaining and Organizing Rights:
Prior to honoring 14 locals that organized at least 100 new members in the past year, CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen focused on the depth of the collective bargaining and organizing rights crisis facing American workers.
While public sector collective bargaining rates have risen to 35 percent, Cohen pointed out that only "one in 12 workers in the private sector have bargaining rights, and organizing in the private sector has become almost impossible."
He talked about ineffective labor laws that permit companies to run vicious, anti-union campaigns, delay recognition for years as they appeal National Labor Relations Board election results and inhibit bargaining to prevent first contracts.
He cited examples at Comcast where 1,000 workers have decertified, at Verizon Wireless where the company has employed union-busting attorneys to delay reaching a contract, at the Chinese Daily News where the employer refuses recognition to 150 workers who won an election two years ago, and at Adelphia, which has refused to reach first contracts with several bargaining units.
Cohen called upon the delegates to support a five-point, CWA-inspired program adopted by the AFL-CIO, to combat the bargaining and organizing rights crisis by:
*** Making a local union commitment by passing a bargaining rights resolution
*** Participating in actions to draw public attention to the bargaining rights crisis
*** Putting public officials and candidates on notice that union support is contingent upon their willingness to speak out for workers
*** Bargaining to organize
*** Educating members in their locals
President Bahr praised nearly 300 locals that have passed resolutions in support of the program and urged others to do so at their next meeting. He presented the President's Annual Award for Organizing to Local 1301 and its president, George Alcott, who were instrumental in organizing 1,700 workers at Verizon Information Services and continue to be involved in VIS organizing campaigns nationwide.
Verizon Debacle:
Four CWA vice presidents were absent from the convention: IUE-CWA President Ed Fire is recovering from heart surgery. CWA District 1, 2 and 13 Vice Presidents Larry Mancino, Pete Catucci and Vince Maisano were unable to attend due to their continuing involvement in Verizon bargaining. Bahr explained the difficulty of achieving a settlement at Verizon and laid out a strategy, supported by the AFL-CIO, to achieve one.
As Verizon sought concessions on health care premiums for members and retirees and the flexibility to lay off or shift workers to distant locations, on July 11 CWA won a massive arbitration case upholding job protections in the expired contract and restoring the jobs of 3,300 Verizon workers in New York, with seven months' back pay. Still, the company pressed for contract language that would permit them to lay off the workers a second time.
The delegates rose and cheered wildly as he told them, "Even though there is no contract yet, the language on layoffs will not be changed, the language on the movement of work will not be changed, and there will be no premiums for health care for active employees or retirees."
He thanked AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who also addressed the convention, for helping devise a strategy of soliciting union members throughout Verizon territory to submit authorization letters to the union allowing CWA to switch their service to AT&T if a settlement is not reached in timely fashion.
Prospective Merger:
Association of Flight Attendants President Pat Friend related the proud history of her union and asked the delegates' support as they reviewed a draft agreement for the merger of the 35,000-member AFA with CWA. The AFA's governing board is in the process of considering the agreement and is expected to approve it. The CWA Executive Board unanimously approved the merger at their meeting in Chicago.
"We see the CWA as a union that values what we value, whose goals for the future match our goals for the future, whose integrity is unimpeachable, whose leadership and membership are progressive, whose political agenda is in sync with ours," Friend said, noting the common concerns of CWA and the AFA for health and safety, politics and social justice, and for building a stronger union together.
The delegates showed their approval with a prolonged standing ovation.
New Agenda:
Among 13 action items passed by the delegates were resolutions on foreign and economic policy, globalization and job loss, blocking expansion of NAFTA into a Free Trade Area of the Americas, supporting universal health care and prescription drug benefits under Medicare, protecting overtime pay and restoring collective bargaining rights.
In his keynote speech, CWA President Morton Bahr took President Bush to task for exploiting the fears of the American people following Sept. 11, as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to distract from the real issues that will shape the 2004 presidential campaign:
*** 15 million workers unemployed or under-employed
*** Devastating job losses in manufacturing and a trade policy that encourages the exportation of jobs in all sectors
*** Loss of heath insurance and crushing prescription drug costs for millions of workers and retirees
*** A federal deficit of more than $450 billion
*** Tax cuts that benefit only the wealthy
*** Economic crises in many state governments
"Little did we realize last year that our biggest challenge would be a president and his party who are intent on keeping our nation focused on 9/11, on turning every soccer mom into a security mom: fearful, upset, worried," Bahr said.
Noting that the hall was packed with veterans of every American military conflict since World War II, he stressed that, "We don't have to wear our patriotism on our sleeves. We don't have to prove our love of country to anyone. But sometimes the bravest form of patriotism is standing up to our elected leaders when we believe they are making a mistake."
He urged the delegates to participate in a presidential preference poll on the CWA website, to help shape the union's choice prior to the AFL-CIO selecting a candidate for endorsement in October.
Five presidential hopefuls courted CWA's support for endorsement. (See separate story.)
State of the Union:
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling pointed out that "though economically these are the toughest times our nation has endured since the Great Depression, CWA remains strong, fulfilling its historic commitment to member services."
But, she said, "The state of the larger union, the United States of America, is downright awful."
She pointed to numerous, ongoing legislative battles to combat George W. Bush's agenda to kill overtime pay, to promulgate media monopoly through FCC regulation, to export defense jobs, to undermine seniors' prescription benefits while channeling money to huge pharmaceutical companies, to sabotage the Family Medical Leave Act and to privatize government services.
She called upon the delegates to turn Grassroots Democrats, a new organization chaired by President Bahr, into a political force.
Bargaining and Organizing Rights:
Prior to honoring 14 locals that organized at least 100 new members in the past year, CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen focused on the depth of the collective bargaining and organizing rights crisis facing American workers.
While public sector collective bargaining rates have risen to 35 percent, Cohen pointed out that only "one in 12 workers in the private sector have bargaining rights, and organizing in the private sector has become almost impossible."
He talked about ineffective labor laws that permit companies to run vicious, anti-union campaigns, delay recognition for years as they appeal National Labor Relations Board election results and inhibit bargaining to prevent first contracts.
He cited examples at Comcast where 1,000 workers have decertified, at Verizon Wireless where the company has employed union-busting attorneys to delay reaching a contract, at the Chinese Daily News where the employer refuses recognition to 150 workers who won an election two years ago, and at Adelphia, which has refused to reach first contracts with several bargaining units.
Cohen called upon the delegates to support a five-point, CWA-inspired program adopted by the AFL-CIO, to combat the bargaining and organizing rights crisis by:
*** Making a local union commitment by passing a bargaining rights resolution
*** Participating in actions to draw public attention to the bargaining rights crisis
*** Putting public officials and candidates on notice that union support is contingent upon their willingness to speak out for workers
*** Bargaining to organize
*** Educating members in their locals
President Bahr praised nearly 300 locals that have passed resolutions in support of the program and urged others to do so at their next meeting. He presented the President's Annual Award for Organizing to Local 1301 and its president, George Alcott, who were instrumental in organizing 1,700 workers at Verizon Information Services and continue to be involved in VIS organizing campaigns nationwide.
Verizon Debacle:
Four CWA vice presidents were absent from the convention: IUE-CWA President Ed Fire is recovering from heart surgery. CWA District 1, 2 and 13 Vice Presidents Larry Mancino, Pete Catucci and Vince Maisano were unable to attend due to their continuing involvement in Verizon bargaining. Bahr explained the difficulty of achieving a settlement at Verizon and laid out a strategy, supported by the AFL-CIO, to achieve one.
As Verizon sought concessions on health care premiums for members and retirees and the flexibility to lay off or shift workers to distant locations, on July 11 CWA won a massive arbitration case upholding job protections in the expired contract and restoring the jobs of 3,300 Verizon workers in New York, with seven months' back pay. Still, the company pressed for contract language that would permit them to lay off the workers a second time.
The delegates rose and cheered wildly as he told them, "Even though there is no contract yet, the language on layoffs will not be changed, the language on the movement of work will not be changed, and there will be no premiums for health care for active employees or retirees."
He thanked AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who also addressed the convention, for helping devise a strategy of soliciting union members throughout Verizon territory to submit authorization letters to the union allowing CWA to switch their service to AT&T if a settlement is not reached in timely fashion.
Prospective Merger:
Association of Flight Attendants President Pat Friend related the proud history of her union and asked the delegates' support as they reviewed a draft agreement for the merger of the 35,000-member AFA with CWA. The AFA's governing board is in the process of considering the agreement and is expected to approve it. The CWA Executive Board unanimously approved the merger at their meeting in Chicago.
"We see the CWA as a union that values what we value, whose goals for the future match our goals for the future, whose integrity is unimpeachable, whose leadership and membership are progressive, whose political agenda is in sync with ours," Friend said, noting the common concerns of CWA and the AFA for health and safety, politics and social justice, and for building a stronger union together.
The delegates showed their approval with a prolonged standing ovation.
New Agenda:
Among 13 action items passed by the delegates were resolutions on foreign and economic policy, globalization and job loss, blocking expansion of NAFTA into a Free Trade Area of the Americas, supporting universal health care and prescription drug benefits under Medicare, protecting overtime pay and restoring collective bargaining rights.