Legislative, Women's and Safety & Health Activists Join to Build a Political Movement for Change

Local leaders and activists came to Washington for three major conferences over the past week to help build a political movement for change focused on CWA's top strategic issues – workers' rights and protecting jobs, health care and retirement security.

For the first time, the union's Health and Safety and National Women's conferences were held back to back in conjunction with the annual Legislative-Political Conference, which drew over 800 participants this year.

At the Women's Conference, March 23-24, women activists discussed how to make political change happen, how to get the resources necessary to support worker- friendly women candidates running for public office and how to run for office themselves. District 7 Vice President Annie Hill outlined CWA's strategic campaign to gain health care for all and what it will take to win real reform.

A dramatic presentation by Doreen Griffin of CWA Local 1033 brought the determination of Rosa Parks to life in her portrayal of the civil rights activist.  CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said the courage of Parks and other civil rights activists continued to inspire the fight to restore workers' rights.

Meanwhile, Safety and Health conferees, meeting March 24-25, participated in wide-ranging panel discussions and breakout sessions covering electrical safety, hazardous materials, indoor air quality, ergonomics, legal rights and other topics.

From Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce protections, they got an overview of a new attitude in Congress regarding health and safety as she pledged her subcommittee will hold the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to a higher degree of accountability.

The Employee Free Choice Act had a starring role at CWA's 2007 Legislative-Political Conference, March 25-28, as leaders on Capitol Hill, including five candidates for president, took turns at the podium championing the urgently needed worker bargaining and organizing bill.

(Note: The Employee Free Choice Act was formally introduced March 29 in the Senate by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), with 46 co-sponsors, and designated as bill number S. 1041.)

"To the 57 million Americans who polls show would join a union if they could, to them we say, 'Help is on the way,'" said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, the first woman to preside over the chamber.

CWA President Larry Cohen praised Pelosi has the "best speaker of the House ever," because she kept her promise to workers and pushed the Employee Free Choice Act to a bipartisan victory in the House in the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress.

Pelosi and other members of Congress spoke passionately about the financial squeeze on the middle class and the impossible choices working families with low wages, no health care or other benefits have to face daily.

CWA President Larry Cohen spoke of CWA's own battles at Verizon, Comcast and other companies where corporate greed has bulldozed workers' rights, all of the fights illustrating how badly American labor has been eroded over the past three decades.

"We are building a political movement, we are fighting back and we are winning," Cohen said, describing CWA's dynamic new Stewards' Army as one of the key tools to educate, inspire and mobilize members.

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara J. Easterling and EVP Rechenbach contrasted the policies of the Republican-controlled Congress with the changes that working families can expect from a House of Representatives headed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Democratic Senate, starting with full support for workers' rights. 

The Employee Free Choice Act was a primary topic as groups of CWA leaders and activists from across the country met with U.S. senators and representatives from their home states.

CWA's Speed Matters campaign was another priority in the meetings, with members urging lawmakers to take legislative steps to ensure that all Americans, from rural areas to inner cities, have high-speed Internet access. They explained that the United States, the country that created the Internet, has fallen to 16th in the world in high-speed Internet penetration, and that U.S. standards for "high" speed are far lower than other nations.

The nation's health care crisis was a third major topic in meetings on Capitol Hill and conference speeches, with each presidential candidate pledging to fight for universal health care coverage. 

Also on the agenda were trade policies such as NAFTA and CAFTA that have cost millions of American jobs while insisting that no labor or environmental standards be included for companies that move jobs to other countries.  Other key topics included pension reform and retirement security.

Five of the seven Democrats who have announced that they are running for president spoke and pledged support for the Employee Free Choice Act: Sen. Joseph Biden, Delaware; Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ohio; Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois; former Sen. John Edwards, North Carolina; and Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York. A sixth candidate, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, sent a taped message. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut was unable to attend.

Cohen emphasized that CWA isn't making any endorsements at this point but is proud to have so many good candidates who have been strong supporters of CWA and workers' rights.

Other speakers included CWA President Emeritus Morton Bahr, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio).