Getting Ready for the Future

Process Underway To 'Imagine Our Future Together'

"I believe that it is absolutely imperative that we do this," Local 2003 President Jeff Lewis said about CWA's unionwide self-examination, set in motion by delegates at the 2005 convention in Resolution No. 1 — "Ready for the Future" with a call to "imagine our future together."

"We cannot stand by and have a meeting once a year for a rah-rah session and then go back and represent our membership the same way we always have," he noted. "A large number of our employers are striving every day to create a union-free environment. We have to find new and innovative ways to fight back."

Concerned that Verizon recently froze the pension plan for management employees, and what that signals for CWA's next bargaining round, Lewis' local in Elizabeth, W.Va., already has begun gathering ideas from its executive board about how to make the union stronger and better mobilize members; the local will then take the process to its entire membership.

Declining bargaining power because of media concentration is a prime concern for Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 31041 in Providence, R.I., said local President John Hill, who commented: "Locally owned hometown newspapers, which individual locals could (bargain with) on a one-on-one basis, are for all intents and purposes gone. They have been replaced by multi-paper corporations that often own several television stations as well."

His local is looking at ways to better coordinate with other locals at the same employer and to maximize financial and staff resources.

Almost 60 percent of CWA locals already had begun the Ready for the Future review process as of late December, according to an online survey. And union presidents were overwhelmingly positive:

"I am delighted that we are moving in this direction," said Debra C. Brown of Local 3706, Columbia, S.C.

"We should always be open to change and try to make us stronger and more effective," said Peggy Chadwick-Ledwon, Local 1133, Buffalo, N.Y. Noting that making the steward structure more effective and improving communications are local priorities, she said her local just started a website.

While ready to look at changes, some expressed specific concerns, such as Local 6228 President Ronnie Gray, Texas City, Texas — "I'm absolutely against any forcing mergers of small locals into large ones."

And a few expressed doubts about the process: "I have mixed emotions, but I do understand there are choices that we will have to make to keep CWA viable," said Roy Ennis, president of Local 3217.

Review Process Rolls Out
Staff in the various districts and sectors are helping locals examine CWA's challenges, structure and resources with a view to strengthening the "triangle" programs — bargaining/representation, political action and organizing at all levels.

A Ready for the Future discussion guide emphasizes building power in all of these mutually reinforcing areas with a special focus on answering the question — what do we do well? "Largely it's a matter of looking at our strengths, taking our best ideas — what we do well — and figuring out how to do more of those things in order to increase our bargaining power," commented CWA President Larry Cohen.

Resolution No. 1 directed the CWA Executive Board to collect and consider input from all levels of the union and develop a Strategic Plan for the Future to be made available for review by locals and members by June 1, 2006. The Strategic Plan will be debated and voted on by delegates to the 2006 convention in Las Vegas, July 10-11.

Resolution No. 1 points to such challenges as weakened bargaining power tied to a declining percentage of union members throughout the workforce, including CWA industries and employers, a transformation of our industries marked by mega-mergers and consolidations.

Each CWA district and sector has laid out its own plan for driving the process through meetings with locals and staff, workshops and internal communications.

At a District 1 conference in December, Jim Joyce, vice president of NABET-CWA Local 51016 in New York, was on a panel on Ready for the Future. Commenting that communicating with and educating members is one of the keys to future success, he said: "The name of our union is the Communications Workers, yet how many places do we have locals or shops with the same employer and members at one location barely know what's going on at another?"

On the same panel, Jeff Crosby, president of IUE-CWA Local 81201, Lynn, Mass., said member awareness of what's at stake in the labor movement as a whole is critical. "In Canada," he said, "you'll find 100,000 people demonstrating against FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), but in the U.S., nobody understands it. We need an education program that gets down at least to the steward level and says that the privatization of janitors in New Jersey, and the deregulation of the phone company and the impact on pensions, and the outsourcing of GE jobs to China are part of a common corporate policy and philosophy."

Locals are using a variety of methods for gathering ideas and suggestions for change. Local 7777 in Denver has just about covered every base. Following a membership meeting to discuss Ready for the Future, the local formed a special committee — "We're taking a completely new look at our organization, " said President Suzie Miller.

To develop discussion and get feedback, the local will use its website, e-mail network and newsletter, and officers are urging committee members and stewards to speak one-on-one with as many members as possible.