Locals Nationwide Resolve to Fight for Bargaining Rights

Less than 8.5 percent of private sector workers and less than 35 percent of public workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements. More than 200 locals (see below) have responded to CWA's call to take a public stand against this erosion of collective bargaining rights in the United States, by passing bargaining rights resolutions similar to those adopted earlier this year by CWA and the AFL-CIO.

They have resolved to:

• Implement education programs on collective bargaining rights within their locals that cover officers, stewards, activists and members;
  
• Continue making the connection in the workplace that our ability to bargain effectively depends largely on the percentage of employees we represent;
  
• Solicit from elected officials public expressions of their support for bargaining rights;
  
• In coalition with central labor councils, Jobs with Justice and other allies, support federal, state and local initiatives for bargaining rights.
  
• Participate in actions aimed at bringing attention to the bargaining rights crisis.

Said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen: "These locals have declared themselves combatants in the war to restore integrity to America's labor laws, so that the rights to bargain collectively with employers and to organize unions will once again become widely acknowledged as the most basic of human rights."

In a related development, the AFL-CIO Executive Council passed a CWA-inspired resolution to, on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, launch a massive campaign to educate and mobilize union members, community leaders and the public about the widespread suppression of workers' freedom to form unions and bargain collectively (see Workers' Forum).