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CWA Members Support Kerry Campaign, Convention
From volunteering as drivers at campaign stops to helping shape the Democratic platform and serving as delegates, alternates or committee members at next week's convention in Boston, CWAers have become an indispensable part of the Kerry-Edwards campaign for the White House.
"I couldn't be prouder of the role our members are playing in this critical fight for our country's future," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "Our members' hard work, countless volunteer hours and unmatched energy are making a difference, and it's greatly appreciated by the campaign."
More than 40 CWA members and staff will have active roles in the Boston convention, and many of CWA's vice presidents and other officers and staff will attend. On Tuesday night, they will adopt a platform that was shaped in part by labor, including CWA Research Economist Debbie Goldman.
"The goal was to have a visionary document, not a laundry list," said Goldman, one of 25 platform committee members appointed by the national Democratic Party. In all, the committee had more than 150 members, about 20 of them from labor unions and the AFL-CIO. They met in Hollywood, Fla., earlier this month to hammer out the 40-page document from a draft platform.
"I felt fabulous about the process. The AFL-CIO made sure that our issues were brought forward and said it felt the Kerry campaign was receptive to labor in a way that hasn't happened in quite a while," Goldman said.
Throughout the country, CWA members have been acting as site scouts, serving as drivers and otherwise lending a hand to the Kerry campaign. Members of Local 3104 in Fort Lauderdale have been helping with Democratic presidential and campaign visits for years and got an early start as Kerry volunteers. Since then, they've helped link the campaign with CWA locals in other states, including New York, California and Colorado.
Gay Kranick, a Local 3104 steward and co-chair of the Legislative Committee, drove Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and one of the candidate's daughters in March. She said Heinz Kerry "is warm and fabulous. She came up to us and hugged us. Her (Kerry's) daughter was the same way."
Kranick marveled at Heinz Kerry's ability to reach out to people-in multiple languages. "She had people with her who spoke different languages," she said. "She could switch at a moment's notice."
Gail Marie Perry, also a Local 3104 steward and legislative co-chair, said members turned out to help on a scorching hot July day for a Kerry rally in an airport hangar. Among other duties, two members got to drive trams bringing the enthusiastic crowd from the parking lot to the event. The next day, "we received an e-mail from the campaign, saying 'Thanks again for your help and thanks again to the CWA crew,"' Perry said.
Regarding the Kerry-Edwards platform, Goldman helped ensure it addressed CWA's issues, including language calling for universal access to affordable broadband, which could add $500 billion to the economy and create 1.2 million jobs.
The workers' rights part of the platform asserts, "We will ensure that the right to organize unions exists in the real world, not just on paper. That means reforming our labor laws to protect the rights of workers, including public employees, to bargain contracts and organize on a level playing field without interference."
The section also calls for barring permanent replacement workers, restoring overtime protections and strengthening workplace health and safety.
Other language important to workers and unions calls for stemming the tide of offshoring, extending trade adjustment assistance to workers in the service sector, fair trade agreements with internationally recognized labor and environmental standards, fiscal relief to states burdened by tax cuts and federal mandates, expanded health care coverage for low-income children and adults, federal aid for catastrophic health care to help lower insurance premiums, stronger prescription drug coverage and media ownership rules that would ensure a diversity of viewpoints.
As the campaign continues, CWA locals across the country are pitching in. The CWA News urges locals to send us information about your efforts, as well as photographs. Please contact writer Janelle Hartman by e-mail at jhartman@cwa-union.org or by phone at (202) 434-1162.
"I couldn't be prouder of the role our members are playing in this critical fight for our country's future," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "Our members' hard work, countless volunteer hours and unmatched energy are making a difference, and it's greatly appreciated by the campaign."
More than 40 CWA members and staff will have active roles in the Boston convention, and many of CWA's vice presidents and other officers and staff will attend. On Tuesday night, they will adopt a platform that was shaped in part by labor, including CWA Research Economist Debbie Goldman.
"The goal was to have a visionary document, not a laundry list," said Goldman, one of 25 platform committee members appointed by the national Democratic Party. In all, the committee had more than 150 members, about 20 of them from labor unions and the AFL-CIO. They met in Hollywood, Fla., earlier this month to hammer out the 40-page document from a draft platform.
"I felt fabulous about the process. The AFL-CIO made sure that our issues were brought forward and said it felt the Kerry campaign was receptive to labor in a way that hasn't happened in quite a while," Goldman said.
Throughout the country, CWA members have been acting as site scouts, serving as drivers and otherwise lending a hand to the Kerry campaign. Members of Local 3104 in Fort Lauderdale have been helping with Democratic presidential and campaign visits for years and got an early start as Kerry volunteers. Since then, they've helped link the campaign with CWA locals in other states, including New York, California and Colorado.
Gay Kranick, a Local 3104 steward and co-chair of the Legislative Committee, drove Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and one of the candidate's daughters in March. She said Heinz Kerry "is warm and fabulous. She came up to us and hugged us. Her (Kerry's) daughter was the same way."
Kranick marveled at Heinz Kerry's ability to reach out to people-in multiple languages. "She had people with her who spoke different languages," she said. "She could switch at a moment's notice."
Gail Marie Perry, also a Local 3104 steward and legislative co-chair, said members turned out to help on a scorching hot July day for a Kerry rally in an airport hangar. Among other duties, two members got to drive trams bringing the enthusiastic crowd from the parking lot to the event. The next day, "we received an e-mail from the campaign, saying 'Thanks again for your help and thanks again to the CWA crew,"' Perry said.
Regarding the Kerry-Edwards platform, Goldman helped ensure it addressed CWA's issues, including language calling for universal access to affordable broadband, which could add $500 billion to the economy and create 1.2 million jobs.
The workers' rights part of the platform asserts, "We will ensure that the right to organize unions exists in the real world, not just on paper. That means reforming our labor laws to protect the rights of workers, including public employees, to bargain contracts and organize on a level playing field without interference."
The section also calls for barring permanent replacement workers, restoring overtime protections and strengthening workplace health and safety.
Other language important to workers and unions calls for stemming the tide of offshoring, extending trade adjustment assistance to workers in the service sector, fair trade agreements with internationally recognized labor and environmental standards, fiscal relief to states burdened by tax cuts and federal mandates, expanded health care coverage for low-income children and adults, federal aid for catastrophic health care to help lower insurance premiums, stronger prescription drug coverage and media ownership rules that would ensure a diversity of viewpoints.
As the campaign continues, CWA locals across the country are pitching in. The CWA News urges locals to send us information about your efforts, as well as photographs. Please contact writer Janelle Hartman by e-mail at jhartman@cwa-union.org or by phone at (202) 434-1162.