Historic Contract’s Roots Run Deep

Browsing CWA’s website, a retired worker read that President Larry Cohen was inspired by a small bound contract signed in 1947 by Western Electric and the Association of Communications Equipment Workers (ACEW), a predecessor union of CWA. They wrote to Cohen:

“What a surprise it was to read that you kept a copy of ACEW’s founding contract on your desk. My name is Richard Weaver and I suspect that my Dad’s name, Ernest Weaver, is on that contract somewhere. I was reading your speech at the 68th national convention and thinking about how shocked my dad would be to see the changes in the labor movement. You don’t know how much I appreciate your efforts for the labor movement.”

Weaver’s father was ACEW’s founding president. Another man, Dan Harris, was the union’s vice president. Forty-six years ago, Richard Weaver married Harris’ daughter, Susan. They both signed the e-mail to Cohen, who responded:

“It was great to get your e-mail and, yes, your Dad’s name ‘E. Weaver’ is on page 37, signing as president, May 20, 1947. The contract was given to me about 20 years ago by a member from Kansas City. It fits in a shirt pocket and is 37 pages long but says more about our roots than anything else I have seen.

“A critical element in this contract was national recognition for all installation work done by Western Electric. It is an amazing tribute to your father and Susan’s father, Dan, that this was not only the model contract for CWA but the national recognition was a model for the CIO. National recognition was accomplished because of the amazing unity of this group. It remains a legend within our union.”

Cohen explained how that bargaining unit, later a part of CWA, led mobilizations and picketing at AT&T and now has become part of the merged Alcatel Lucent.

“In a meeting with that management (in December) … I told them quite forcefully we will carry on in the tradition of the ACEW and never forget our roots or the commitment of those union builders,” said Cohen.

Richard, as an electronics technian, became a member of the Machinists in California. Susan Weaver, as a nurses’ aid, belonged to the Service Employees in Oregon. Both later went to work for Hewlett Packard, where they did not have union representation and from which they retired.

“We watch on the Internet the way society is changing,” Richard said. Mentioning rising health care costs and erosion of retirement benefits at many companies, he said, “We’ve always supported unions — we know what our dads did — and we believe that unions are the only way to turn things around. Working people today need unions like never before.”