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CWA President Morton Bahr Announces Retirement in August 2005; Board Endorses New Leadership Team He
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Morton Bahr, who has served as president of the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America since 1985, announced to delegates at the union's annual convention here that he will retire at the end of his term one year from now.
Following his announcement at the close of the convention, CWA's Executive Board unanimously endorsed Bahr's recommendation for a new top leadership team of CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen as Bahr's successor, along with CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling to continue serving in that office, and CWA District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach to replace Cohen as executive vice president.
The three will run as a unity slate at the August, 2005 convention in Chicago.
"I intend to serve as president just as vigorously as ever, every single day for the next year, while also working with the other officers to insure a smooth leadership transition, which has been a tradition and source of strength for CWA throughout our history," Bahr stated.
Bahr, who this year marked 50 years with CWA, noted that the union's leadership stability is unique within organized labor – the union has only had three presidents in its 66-year history.
Founding leader Joseph A. Beirne spearheaded the organization of the nation's telephone workers, achieving his goal of national bargaining with the mammoth AT&T Bell System just before his death in 1974. Glenn Watts, formerly secretary-treasurer, succeeded Beirne and presided over an era of collective bargaining gains that were pace-setters for the whole labor movement.
When Watts stepped down the year after the court-ordered AT&T breakup in 1984, the challenge to his successor was to lead CWA into a turbulent information age with new forces of competition and volatile technological change.
In nearly two decades under Bahr's leadership, CWA has broadened and intensified its organizing focus and also reached out to forge mergers with such unions as the International Typographical Union, The Newspaper Guild, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the International Union of Electronic Workers, and most recently, the Association of Flight Attendants.
Today, about half of CWA's members work in telecommunications, and the rest work in such fields as information technology, broadcast and cable TV, journalism, printing and publishing, manufacturing, airlines, the public sector, health care, education and law enforcement.
Under Bahr's leadership, CWA has continued to set a high standard for organized labor in contract negotiations with major employers, breaking ground in negotiating education benefits, greater flexibility for family needs, and enhanced career mobility in the face of changing job patterns and new technologies.
Prior to his election as president in 1985, Bahr served for 16 years as head of CWA District 1, covering New York, New Jersey and New England. He first came to CWA in 1954 when he led a successful organizing drive among his co-workers at Mackay Radio in New York. During World War II, Bahr served as a radio officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Larry Cohen, Bahr's recommended successor, was elected executive vice president in 1998, having formerly served as CWA organizing director and assistant to the president. In his current post, Cohen is responsible for education and training, organizing, contract mobilization, health and safety and international affairs. In 2001 he was elected president of the Telecom Sector of the Union Network International, which includes 900 unions representing millions of workers in 140 countries.
Beginning as a public worker in mental health, Cohen eventually led successful organizing drives in the 1980s that organized more than 40,000 New Jersey state and local government workers. After serving on the union staff in New Jersey, Cohen went on to be NJ area director and then assistant to the vice president of District 1 before coming to Washington. As organizing director, he built one of the most respected union organizing programs in the country. In the past 25 years, Cohen has chaired over 100 contract negotiations in both public and private sectors, with major roles in SBC, Verizon and Cingular Wireless bargaining. He developed CWA's grassroots contract mobilization program which has become a model for many other unions. He was the principal founder of Jobs with Justice, a national coalition of labor and community organizations that works on economic justice issues.
Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling became CWA's highest ranking woman when she was elected to that post in 1992, having previously served for seven years as executive vice president. She began her career as a telephone operator at Ohio Bell, serving as a local union officer and then as a union staffer in Ohio before coming to CWA headquarters in Washington in 1980, initially as an assistant to the president.
Easterling is responsible for managing the finances and office facilities of CWA, as well as directing government relations programs and retiree programs. She is head of the Union Network International's World Women's Committee, an executive committee member of the Democratic National Committee and is an advocate for many community service efforts.
Jeffrey Rechenbach has served since 1994 as Vice President for CWA District 4, headquartered in Cleveland and covering Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. His responsibilities include coordinating collective bargaining with SBC/Ameritech, Verizon, Sprint and other employers and directing union services and programs for 105,000 CWA members.
Rechenbach started his career working for Ohio Bell in 1971, and two years later he became president of his local union in Cleveland at age 19. He joined the union staff in 1981 and was appointed assistant to the former district vice president in 1993. He is active in a wide range of community service and civic organizations and in Democratic politics, having served on the party's Platform Committee in 1996 and 2000.
Following his announcement at the close of the convention, CWA's Executive Board unanimously endorsed Bahr's recommendation for a new top leadership team of CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen as Bahr's successor, along with CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling to continue serving in that office, and CWA District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach to replace Cohen as executive vice president.
The three will run as a unity slate at the August, 2005 convention in Chicago.
"I intend to serve as president just as vigorously as ever, every single day for the next year, while also working with the other officers to insure a smooth leadership transition, which has been a tradition and source of strength for CWA throughout our history," Bahr stated.
Bahr, who this year marked 50 years with CWA, noted that the union's leadership stability is unique within organized labor – the union has only had three presidents in its 66-year history.
Founding leader Joseph A. Beirne spearheaded the organization of the nation's telephone workers, achieving his goal of national bargaining with the mammoth AT&T Bell System just before his death in 1974. Glenn Watts, formerly secretary-treasurer, succeeded Beirne and presided over an era of collective bargaining gains that were pace-setters for the whole labor movement.
When Watts stepped down the year after the court-ordered AT&T breakup in 1984, the challenge to his successor was to lead CWA into a turbulent information age with new forces of competition and volatile technological change.
In nearly two decades under Bahr's leadership, CWA has broadened and intensified its organizing focus and also reached out to forge mergers with such unions as the International Typographical Union, The Newspaper Guild, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the International Union of Electronic Workers, and most recently, the Association of Flight Attendants.
Today, about half of CWA's members work in telecommunications, and the rest work in such fields as information technology, broadcast and cable TV, journalism, printing and publishing, manufacturing, airlines, the public sector, health care, education and law enforcement.
Under Bahr's leadership, CWA has continued to set a high standard for organized labor in contract negotiations with major employers, breaking ground in negotiating education benefits, greater flexibility for family needs, and enhanced career mobility in the face of changing job patterns and new technologies.
Prior to his election as president in 1985, Bahr served for 16 years as head of CWA District 1, covering New York, New Jersey and New England. He first came to CWA in 1954 when he led a successful organizing drive among his co-workers at Mackay Radio in New York. During World War II, Bahr served as a radio officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Larry Cohen, Bahr's recommended successor, was elected executive vice president in 1998, having formerly served as CWA organizing director and assistant to the president. In his current post, Cohen is responsible for education and training, organizing, contract mobilization, health and safety and international affairs. In 2001 he was elected president of the Telecom Sector of the Union Network International, which includes 900 unions representing millions of workers in 140 countries.
Beginning as a public worker in mental health, Cohen eventually led successful organizing drives in the 1980s that organized more than 40,000 New Jersey state and local government workers. After serving on the union staff in New Jersey, Cohen went on to be NJ area director and then assistant to the vice president of District 1 before coming to Washington. As organizing director, he built one of the most respected union organizing programs in the country. In the past 25 years, Cohen has chaired over 100 contract negotiations in both public and private sectors, with major roles in SBC, Verizon and Cingular Wireless bargaining. He developed CWA's grassroots contract mobilization program which has become a model for many other unions. He was the principal founder of Jobs with Justice, a national coalition of labor and community organizations that works on economic justice issues.
Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling became CWA's highest ranking woman when she was elected to that post in 1992, having previously served for seven years as executive vice president. She began her career as a telephone operator at Ohio Bell, serving as a local union officer and then as a union staffer in Ohio before coming to CWA headquarters in Washington in 1980, initially as an assistant to the president.
Easterling is responsible for managing the finances and office facilities of CWA, as well as directing government relations programs and retiree programs. She is head of the Union Network International's World Women's Committee, an executive committee member of the Democratic National Committee and is an advocate for many community service efforts.
Jeffrey Rechenbach has served since 1994 as Vice President for CWA District 4, headquartered in Cleveland and covering Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. His responsibilities include coordinating collective bargaining with SBC/Ameritech, Verizon, Sprint and other employers and directing union services and programs for 105,000 CWA members.
Rechenbach started his career working for Ohio Bell in 1971, and two years later he became president of his local union in Cleveland at age 19. He joined the union staff in 1981 and was appointed assistant to the former district vice president in 1993. He is active in a wide range of community service and civic organizations and in Democratic politics, having served on the party's Platform Committee in 1996 and 2000.