Diversity Q&A

1. Will the four at-large diversity Board members be Vice Presidents?

No. The at-large diversity Board members will not be Vice Presidents. At-large diversity Board members will not be full-time. They will not have an office or staff or the administrative or budgetary responsibilities or other full-time obligations that go along with the position of full-time elected Vice President. They will be paid for expenses and lost wages for attending Board meetings and performing other Executive Board responsibilities. Assuming the maximum of four face-to-face Executive Board meetings, the total cost for the four at-large diversity positions is estimated to be a total of about $25,000 each year.

2. How many women and persons of color are currently on the CWA Executive Board?

Currently, the 19-member Executive Board is composed of CWA's three principal officers and 16 District/Sector Vice Presidents. Of the 19, four are women and one is a person of color. The current make up of the Board — 21 percent are female and 5 percent are a person of color — is not representative of CWA's membership as a whole. Based on a 2004 survey, our union's membership is 43 percent female, 57 percent male, 76 percent White, 11 percent Black, 8 percent Hispanic, 1 percent Native American, and 1 percent Asian.

3. What will be the role of the at-large diversity Board members?

At-large diversity Board members will attend all Executive Board meetings and serve on Executive Board Committees. They will have a voice and a vote at Executive Board meetings, participating in Board deliberations and discussions. In addition, an Executive Board diversity committee will be established and the four at-large diversity members, as well as other Board members, will serve on this committee.

4.What areas of the country will be represented by the diversity members?

The at-large diversity Board members would come from four geographic regions of the country, each made up of approximately the same number of CWA members — the Northeast region has 154,000 members; the Southeast region, 120,000; the Central region, 147,000; and the Western region, 115,000.

5. Will at-large diversity Board members be elected?

Yes, each at-large diversity Board member will be elected at the 2008 Convention and stand for election every three years just like other Board members. Each Convention delegate will vote for one candidate from each geographic region, a total of four. Initially, the positions will be appointed. Following the 2007 Convention, the Executive Board would appoint one at-large diversity Board member from each of the four geographic regions based on nominations submitted by the National Committee on Equity, the National Women's Committee, and the Minority Caucus. Nominations must be submitted by Sept. 1, 2007. The Executive Board is required to act on the nominations at its first scheduled Board meeting following the Convention.

6. Why are the at-large diversity members being appointed initially?

The Committee on Executive Board Diversity believed that it was important to make an initial interim appointment in order to get the Board's subcommittee on diversity up and running and not lose a year. The goal is to have these positions elected in 2008 and every three years thereafter. In order to get the broadest possible list of candidates representing CWA's diverse membership, the diversity proposal requires the Board to select from nominations submitted by the Committee on Equity, the Women's Committee, and the Minority Caucus.

7. Who can run for the at-large diversity seats?

The proposal recommends that of the four at-large diversity Board members, at least three should be persons of color and at least two should be women and be members in good standing of CWA. While it is not legally possible to compel such a result, the intent is to have local women and persons of color in these seats, thus increasing the diversity on the Board and creating a governing body that more closely matches the diversity of our membership.

The proposal does not permit full-time CWA employees to hold at-large diversity seats. This prohibition is one which is specifically allowed by the LMRDA because of the potential conflicts of interest that would occur if full-time employees held these positions.

8. How does adding four at-large diversity members to our Executive Board square with CWA's Ready for the Future resolution calling for the "right sizing" of CWA's Board by 2011?

The Ready for the Future resolution refers to full-time elected vice presidents who have specific responsibilities and structures which include offices, assistants, support staff and staff. The at-large diversity Board members will not be full-time elected vice presidents and do not present the cost and structural issues being addressed in the Ready for the Future resolution.