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LP Conference: White House, Senate Within Reach
The disastrous state of the economy, the health care crisis, the shameful assaults on workers' rights and the urgent need to turn things around in November took center stage at CWA's 2004 Legislative-Political Conference, which drew nearly 600 local activists to Washington D.C., March 28-31.
"This is the most anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union administration I have ever seen," Senator Ted Kennedy shouted in a thunderous speech that had his audience jumping to its feet. "We can get the White House back. We can get the Senate back. But we are going to need your help and your support."
A parade of speakers from Capitol Hill echoed Kennedy's sentiments, praising CWA's long history of hard work on the campaign trail and pleading for members to turn out this year like never before to knock on doors, make phone calls and otherwise do battle to take back the White House.
"We have a fight on our hands folks," Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) told cheering supporters at the conference's closing breakfast. "That fight is going to determine your future and the future of our country, so it's a fight we can't afford to lose."
CWA President Morton Bahr, noting that 2004 marks his 50th year with CWA, said, "I don't ever remember, even under Nixon, Reagan and the first Bush administration, the divisiveness that exists today, the onslaught against working families." He ticked off a short list of some of the damage done since January 2001:
"Repeal of the ergonomics regulations. Removal of 8 million workers from overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The loss of 3 million jobs. Calling the movement of our jobs offshore a 'normal' part of trade. A tax policy that rewards the wealthy and has resulted in the richest 13,000 families in the United States holding more wealth than the 20 million Americans at the bottom of the ladder. And the list goes on," Bahr said.
"The stakes have never been higher," CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling said. "When I say that our union's survival is on the line, when I say that our members' livelihood is on the line, when I say that the American dream is on the line for tens of millions of hard-working families, that is the unvarnished truth."
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen said CWA's diverse membership means members may be focused on different issues, but all agree that change is critical.
"We might come here focused on outsourcing of U.S. jobs, fighting to restore basic collective bargaining rights, concerned about the erosion of health and safety protection on the job or fighting for health care reform," he said. "But all of us must leave here committed to building the type of understanding that can help mobilize the millions of people it will take to turn our country around."
In addition to Kennedy and Clinton, speakers from the Hill included Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Reps. James Moran (D-Va.), Peter King (R-N.Y.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).
After each morning's slate of speeches, conference-goers went to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and their staffs. They sought support for the Employee Free Choice Act to allow workers to organize without management interference, and for the Consumers' Right to Know Act, which would require call-takers to identify themselves and their location when customers call.
Other lobbying efforts focused on maintaining and strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act, opposing legislation that will make it more difficult for families to move from welfare to work, extending federal unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks, salvaging what remains of media diversity, and strengthening hate crime legislation.
Three state legislators who belong to CWA were among other featured speakers. Local 37083 member Zack Hudgins of Washington, Local 7901 member Diane Rosenbaum of Oregon and Local 6186 member Garnet Coleman of Texas spoke of the enormous help they got from fellow CWA members while campaigning and urged more members to run for office.
Other speakers were AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka; Teresa Hommel, a computer expert who warned of the dangers of electronic voting without a paper trail; Ann Lewis, former Clinton White House communications director who now chairs the Women's Vote Center; and Susan Phillips, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, who profusely thanked CWA members for their financial and moral support during the California grocery strike.
The conference welcomed first-time participants from the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers-CWA. In addition to going to Capitol Hill to seek funds to support anti-terrorism training for first responders across the country, among other lobbying goals, officers spent Tuesday at a Washington D.C. elementary school creating free fingerprint cards for several hundred students.
The cards are an invaluable tool for law enforcement if a child is missing, said NCPSO President Rich Anemone of Tucson, where members of the police union annually spend a weekend providing the cards for area children.
"This is the most anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union administration I have ever seen," Senator Ted Kennedy shouted in a thunderous speech that had his audience jumping to its feet. "We can get the White House back. We can get the Senate back. But we are going to need your help and your support."
A parade of speakers from Capitol Hill echoed Kennedy's sentiments, praising CWA's long history of hard work on the campaign trail and pleading for members to turn out this year like never before to knock on doors, make phone calls and otherwise do battle to take back the White House.
"We have a fight on our hands folks," Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) told cheering supporters at the conference's closing breakfast. "That fight is going to determine your future and the future of our country, so it's a fight we can't afford to lose."
CWA President Morton Bahr, noting that 2004 marks his 50th year with CWA, said, "I don't ever remember, even under Nixon, Reagan and the first Bush administration, the divisiveness that exists today, the onslaught against working families." He ticked off a short list of some of the damage done since January 2001:
"Repeal of the ergonomics regulations. Removal of 8 million workers from overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The loss of 3 million jobs. Calling the movement of our jobs offshore a 'normal' part of trade. A tax policy that rewards the wealthy and has resulted in the richest 13,000 families in the United States holding more wealth than the 20 million Americans at the bottom of the ladder. And the list goes on," Bahr said.
"The stakes have never been higher," CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling said. "When I say that our union's survival is on the line, when I say that our members' livelihood is on the line, when I say that the American dream is on the line for tens of millions of hard-working families, that is the unvarnished truth."
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen said CWA's diverse membership means members may be focused on different issues, but all agree that change is critical.
"We might come here focused on outsourcing of U.S. jobs, fighting to restore basic collective bargaining rights, concerned about the erosion of health and safety protection on the job or fighting for health care reform," he said. "But all of us must leave here committed to building the type of understanding that can help mobilize the millions of people it will take to turn our country around."
In addition to Kennedy and Clinton, speakers from the Hill included Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Reps. James Moran (D-Va.), Peter King (R-N.Y.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).
After each morning's slate of speeches, conference-goers went to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and their staffs. They sought support for the Employee Free Choice Act to allow workers to organize without management interference, and for the Consumers' Right to Know Act, which would require call-takers to identify themselves and their location when customers call.
Other lobbying efforts focused on maintaining and strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act, opposing legislation that will make it more difficult for families to move from welfare to work, extending federal unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks, salvaging what remains of media diversity, and strengthening hate crime legislation.
Three state legislators who belong to CWA were among other featured speakers. Local 37083 member Zack Hudgins of Washington, Local 7901 member Diane Rosenbaum of Oregon and Local 6186 member Garnet Coleman of Texas spoke of the enormous help they got from fellow CWA members while campaigning and urged more members to run for office.
Other speakers were AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka; Teresa Hommel, a computer expert who warned of the dangers of electronic voting without a paper trail; Ann Lewis, former Clinton White House communications director who now chairs the Women's Vote Center; and Susan Phillips, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, who profusely thanked CWA members for their financial and moral support during the California grocery strike.
The conference welcomed first-time participants from the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers-CWA. In addition to going to Capitol Hill to seek funds to support anti-terrorism training for first responders across the country, among other lobbying goals, officers spent Tuesday at a Washington D.C. elementary school creating free fingerprint cards for several hundred students.
The cards are an invaluable tool for law enforcement if a child is missing, said NCPSO President Rich Anemone of Tucson, where members of the police union annually spend a weekend providing the cards for area children.