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Equity Conference: 'FOCUS' on Elections & Rights
Unparalleled community outreach and a successful voter registration drive set this year's CWA Civil Rights and Equity Conference apart and established the 325 participants as trainers who will focus on expanding minority participation in get-out-the-vote drives after returning to their own locals.
"We often talk about putting an army of volunteers at the disposal of Senator John Kerry and other friends of working families running for office," said CWA President Morton Bahr. "But this is how it's done: getting trained on the issues and talking to friends, family, co-workers and even strangers one at a time to convince them just how important this election is."
"FOCUS - Finding, Owning, Claiming, Using and Strengthening" minority power in the electoral process, the legislative arena and the workplace was the theme of this year's conference April 22-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Bahr, who had been scheduled to speak, was unable to attend the conference because of his involvement in SBC bargaining, but various CWA vice presidents - Jeff Rechenbach of District 4, Andy Milburn of District 6, Tony Bixler of District 9, Jimmy Gurganus of Telecommunications, and Brooks Sunkett of Public, Healthcare and Education Workers - spoke to the urgency of the 2004 presidential election campaign.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling laid it out in detail. "We are up against a president and an administration who have taken dead aim at workers and their unions," Easterling said. "Their goal is a world without unions. They are trying to roll back the clock, to repeal the breakthroughs of the 1960s, to undo the advances and reverse the progress made throughout the 20th century. Our commitment and our solidarity have never been more important."
She criticized President Bush for dismantling the ergonomic standard, for attacking workers' overtime pay and creating a $500 billion deficit while cutting taxes for the wealthy.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson also addressed the conference, hosted by Local 3106 and its President Lyn Deloach.
On the evening of April 23, the conference hosted a town hall meeting attended by numerous members of the Jacksonville community. They heard from minority and religious leaders on a variety of subjects, as well as Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, TNG-CWA President Linda Foley on the Employee Free Choice Act, Sunkett on welfare reform and the privatization of state aid programs and Richard Womack, assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, on the commonality of worker rights and civil rights.
National Committee on Equity Chair Gwen Richardson, District 1, and members Daisy Brown, District 2; Mary Garr, District 3; Jetty Wells, District 4, Keith Robinson, District 6, Marlene Orozco, District 7, and Karen Kimbell-Hanson, District 9, all helped lead workshops. Committee member Terron Pinkney of District 13 did not attend, as his wedding was scheduled for that weekend.
On April 24, after receiving training from Kenneth Diggs, director of field operations for Voices for Working Families, "our members hit the streets of Jacksonville, knocked on more than 2,000 doors and registered over 100 voters," said Leslie Jackson, CWA representative for Civil Rights and Fair Practices.
She said many of the participants were young people and that about three-fourths were first-time attendees.
The conference presented the Mays-Carroll Award to 10 individuals and locals that over the past year made outstanding contributions to civil rights and minority practices. The award is named for Eugene Mays, the first African-American CWA officer and staff member, who served as assistant to the vice president of District 1 from 1969 until his death in 1973, and Mary Mays-Carroll, who headed CWA's Civil Rights and Fair Practices office from 1989 until her retirement in 1999.
"We often talk about putting an army of volunteers at the disposal of Senator John Kerry and other friends of working families running for office," said CWA President Morton Bahr. "But this is how it's done: getting trained on the issues and talking to friends, family, co-workers and even strangers one at a time to convince them just how important this election is."
"FOCUS - Finding, Owning, Claiming, Using and Strengthening" minority power in the electoral process, the legislative arena and the workplace was the theme of this year's conference April 22-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Bahr, who had been scheduled to speak, was unable to attend the conference because of his involvement in SBC bargaining, but various CWA vice presidents - Jeff Rechenbach of District 4, Andy Milburn of District 6, Tony Bixler of District 9, Jimmy Gurganus of Telecommunications, and Brooks Sunkett of Public, Healthcare and Education Workers - spoke to the urgency of the 2004 presidential election campaign.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling laid it out in detail. "We are up against a president and an administration who have taken dead aim at workers and their unions," Easterling said. "Their goal is a world without unions. They are trying to roll back the clock, to repeal the breakthroughs of the 1960s, to undo the advances and reverse the progress made throughout the 20th century. Our commitment and our solidarity have never been more important."
She criticized President Bush for dismantling the ergonomic standard, for attacking workers' overtime pay and creating a $500 billion deficit while cutting taxes for the wealthy.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson also addressed the conference, hosted by Local 3106 and its President Lyn Deloach.
On the evening of April 23, the conference hosted a town hall meeting attended by numerous members of the Jacksonville community. They heard from minority and religious leaders on a variety of subjects, as well as Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, TNG-CWA President Linda Foley on the Employee Free Choice Act, Sunkett on welfare reform and the privatization of state aid programs and Richard Womack, assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, on the commonality of worker rights and civil rights.
National Committee on Equity Chair Gwen Richardson, District 1, and members Daisy Brown, District 2; Mary Garr, District 3; Jetty Wells, District 4, Keith Robinson, District 6, Marlene Orozco, District 7, and Karen Kimbell-Hanson, District 9, all helped lead workshops. Committee member Terron Pinkney of District 13 did not attend, as his wedding was scheduled for that weekend.
On April 24, after receiving training from Kenneth Diggs, director of field operations for Voices for Working Families, "our members hit the streets of Jacksonville, knocked on more than 2,000 doors and registered over 100 voters," said Leslie Jackson, CWA representative for Civil Rights and Fair Practices.
She said many of the participants were young people and that about three-fourths were first-time attendees.
The conference presented the Mays-Carroll Award to 10 individuals and locals that over the past year made outstanding contributions to civil rights and minority practices. The award is named for Eugene Mays, the first African-American CWA officer and staff member, who served as assistant to the vice president of District 1 from 1969 until his death in 1973, and Mary Mays-Carroll, who headed CWA's Civil Rights and Fair Practices office from 1989 until her retirement in 1999.