In My Opinion: "CWA Triangle," Key to Managing Change

Despite the debate over when the third millennium officially begins (this January 1 or in 2001?), we're joining the rest of the media in marking the occasion now. I hope you enjoy our special CWA News section of interviews with 21 experts and activists examining major issues of the day.
In the spirit of this momentous calendar flip, I'll take the opportunity to comment here on the outlook for CWA and the labor movement for at least the next few years. (As author David Halberstam notes in his piece, one can't begin to imagine or predict what will take place over an entire century.)
I'm optimistic. CWA is well positioned to grow in numbers and influence, and thus in the strength to continue bargaining positive gains for our members. And we're seeing a resurgence for the labor movement overall after a tough period in which many unions have been battered by globalization, technological change and political assault.
In the telecom industry, the competitive forces that have created so much turmoil since deregulation in the mid-1980s are now creating some advantages as well. As the industry shakes down to a few large global players, our employers are realizing that CWA brings added value to the relationship.
SBC Communications, for example, credits CWA, through our political and international labor ties, with being the key to its winning a major investment stake in Telekom South Africa. And as the Bell regionals and GTE have pursued mergers to increase their competitive scope, they have sought CWA's help in winning regulatory approval, knowing that our support - or opposition - can make the difference.
Our global reach and political influence are advantages no matter the industry. I'm convinced that clearing away the final obstacles and achieving our excellent first contract for US Airways agents was aided by the realization of the airline's chairman that we could be helpful in winning approval of a new flight route between Pittsburgh and London. And we're working to help them reach that objective.
CWA has probably faced more dynamic change than any union the past 15 years, and we have learned to manage change. That's the primary reason that many smaller unions and employee associations in recent years have chosen to affiliate with us. In so doing, we all become stronger and more effective.
Continued success as we look to the new century lies in the proven effectiveness of our "CWA Triangle." Our primary mission, that of bargaining improvements and protections for CWA members and representing them daily on the job, is bolstered by our efforts in two other areas: political/community action and organizing new members. We realize that only a growing organization, and one that is respected as a political force, can have the clout to take on the powerful corporations and government bodies that employ CWA members.
That's why our top priority for 2000 must be electing a friend of CWA and working families, Al Gore, as President, and working to shift the political balance in Congress away from the anti-worker leadership of Tom DeLay, Dick Armey and Trent Lott.
It is only because of the threat of President Clinton's veto that we have been able to thwart an aggressive corporate agenda by these congressional leaders the past few years. They have pushed measures to make it easier for corporations to raid pension funds. They have pressed to legalize employer-dominated pseudo unions to undermine real union organizing. They've sought to eliminate federal overtime provisions, weaken safety and health laws, and right now they're trying to kill OSHA ergonomic standards. They've defeated efforts to outlaw permanent striker replacement and they openly favor a national "right-to-work" law.
If these forces were to retain power in Congress, this agenda will continue to be in play and workers will remain on the defensive. If Republicans also were to claim the White House, then we would be looking at, in effect, a corporate state for a generation or more. We would see all of the progressive legislation that has been passed in the last 60 years slowly repealed and eroded. We would see the influence of organized labor steadily dissipate.
The future is what we make it. So when I say I'm optimistic, it's with the caveat that I believe we have the will and the energy in our ranks to reclaim the House and Senate for working families and to elect Gore to set a progressive agenda for the beginning of the 21st century.