Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
CWA Battles Right-Wing Assault on Working Families
A state initiative on the June ballot in California is one of the most threatening assaults on the political rights of working Americans that union members have ever faced.
Proposition 226 would place harsh restrictions on unions — and only unions — in an effort to stop working families from participating in politics and having a voice not only on these issues, but on who represents working families in the state legislature.
“If you or members of your family live in California you need to realize, this is a very personal attack on your right to impact on elections and on legislation that will determine how you live, how you work, what taxes you pay and how that money is used,” said CWA President Morton Bahr.
“If this initiative passes on June 2, then as of July 1, your union — every union — faces a moratorium on spending money you have already designated for political purposes, while corporate and right-wing contributions to candidates continue unfettered by any law. We must defeat it.”
A coalition of labor unions — including CWA and the California AFL-CIO — is working to make sure that union members and their families have all the facts about how harmful this measure would be, especially when it comes to protecting pensions from corporate raids, maintaining health care and Medicare coverage, and improving education opportunities.
The initiative applies to elections and ballot measures in California, but its biggest backers are out-of-staters like John Patrick Rooney, former head of the Indiana-based Golden Rule Insurance Co., and a big proponent of private medical savings accounts, and Grover Norquist, a friend of House Speaker Newt Gingrich who has pledged to put this issue on the ballot or before the legislature of every state.
Similar initiatives or legislation also are pending in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Missouri, Maryland, Utah and Florida.
Corporations already outspend labor unions by an 11-1 margin, according to the Center for Responsible Politics. But right wing groups, including the Business Roundtable and Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, have geared up to spend some $150 million to silence the voice of working families, according to Carol-Trevelyan Strategy Group, a research firm.
The California measure would prohibit unions from using any dues money for political expenditures, contributions or ballot initiatives unless members annually authorize the union to do so. This provision would apply to dues paid by checkoff and all voluntary COPE checkoffs, as well as any dues paid by cash or check.
It would purposely mire unions, members and employers in red tape and bureaucracy, requiring members to annually submit a specific form as authorized by a state commission and employers to monitor which members are or are not contributing to a political program. It also would mean that employers would be able to track individual employees’ political activities, since they would be keeping information about who is or isn’t participating in a union’s political program.
In a transparent attempt to paint this measure as a form of campaign finance reform, Prop. 226 backers have stated that it would prohibit foreign contributions in elections. However, contributions by foreign nationals (that is, anyone not a lawful permanent resident of the United States, as well as any foreign government, political party or business that operates primarily outside the United States) already are unlawful. But because the measure doesn’t specifically address ballot initiatives, it could open the door to foreign financing and influence of such initiatives.
Prop. 226’s backers have cited early poll numbers that show voter support for this measure. But when voters learn what this initiative really is about, and who’s behind it, support drops dramatically, according to Peter Hart Associates, a polling and research firm. For example, when voters learned that restrictions would apply not only to campaign contributions, but to other union political activities ranging from lobbying to charity work, support fell. It dropped even further when voters learned that conservative organizations outside the state — the measure’s primary backers along with Rep. Gov. Pete Wilson — were pouring millions of dollars into the campaign.
Proposition 226 would place harsh restrictions on unions — and only unions — in an effort to stop working families from participating in politics and having a voice not only on these issues, but on who represents working families in the state legislature.
“If you or members of your family live in California you need to realize, this is a very personal attack on your right to impact on elections and on legislation that will determine how you live, how you work, what taxes you pay and how that money is used,” said CWA President Morton Bahr.
“If this initiative passes on June 2, then as of July 1, your union — every union — faces a moratorium on spending money you have already designated for political purposes, while corporate and right-wing contributions to candidates continue unfettered by any law. We must defeat it.”
A coalition of labor unions — including CWA and the California AFL-CIO — is working to make sure that union members and their families have all the facts about how harmful this measure would be, especially when it comes to protecting pensions from corporate raids, maintaining health care and Medicare coverage, and improving education opportunities.
The initiative applies to elections and ballot measures in California, but its biggest backers are out-of-staters like John Patrick Rooney, former head of the Indiana-based Golden Rule Insurance Co., and a big proponent of private medical savings accounts, and Grover Norquist, a friend of House Speaker Newt Gingrich who has pledged to put this issue on the ballot or before the legislature of every state.
Similar initiatives or legislation also are pending in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Missouri, Maryland, Utah and Florida.
Corporations already outspend labor unions by an 11-1 margin, according to the Center for Responsible Politics. But right wing groups, including the Business Roundtable and Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, have geared up to spend some $150 million to silence the voice of working families, according to Carol-Trevelyan Strategy Group, a research firm.
The California measure would prohibit unions from using any dues money for political expenditures, contributions or ballot initiatives unless members annually authorize the union to do so. This provision would apply to dues paid by checkoff and all voluntary COPE checkoffs, as well as any dues paid by cash or check.
It would purposely mire unions, members and employers in red tape and bureaucracy, requiring members to annually submit a specific form as authorized by a state commission and employers to monitor which members are or are not contributing to a political program. It also would mean that employers would be able to track individual employees’ political activities, since they would be keeping information about who is or isn’t participating in a union’s political program.
In a transparent attempt to paint this measure as a form of campaign finance reform, Prop. 226 backers have stated that it would prohibit foreign contributions in elections. However, contributions by foreign nationals (that is, anyone not a lawful permanent resident of the United States, as well as any foreign government, political party or business that operates primarily outside the United States) already are unlawful. But because the measure doesn’t specifically address ballot initiatives, it could open the door to foreign financing and influence of such initiatives.
Prop. 226’s backers have cited early poll numbers that show voter support for this measure. But when voters learn what this initiative really is about, and who’s behind it, support drops dramatically, according to Peter Hart Associates, a polling and research firm. For example, when voters learned that restrictions would apply not only to campaign contributions, but to other union political activities ranging from lobbying to charity work, support fell. It dropped even further when voters learned that conservative organizations outside the state — the measure’s primary backers along with Rep. Gov. Pete Wilson — were pouring millions of dollars into the campaign.