Members Now Posting Comments on Diversity Proposal

Members are now able to post comments on the CWA Diversity proposal at the Ready for the Future website (ga.cwa-union.org/future -- click on Diversity Committee).

In addition to the members' bulletin board, the text of the Diversity proposal – to be submitted to the 2007 Convention -- is posted, along with notes from meetings of the Committee on Executive Board Diversity and a Q&A on the proposal.

The committee, created last year as part of the CWA Ready for the Future program, held sessions with local leaders around the country to gather input and also e-mailed a survey to all locals to solicit ideas for making the Board better reflect the ethnic and gender composition of the membership. 

The proposal calls for adding four at-large members to the Executive Board, with a goal of at least three being persons of color and at least two women.  The four seats would represent four geographic regions of CWA with similar membership size. 

The at-large diversity Board members would not be Vice Presidents but would attend all Board meetings, serve on Board committees and have a voice and vote on all matters before the Board.  They would be paid for lost wages and expenses for attending meetings and for Board-related responsibilities. 

The Diversity Committee estimates the cost for all four seats at $25,000 per year.  By contrast, a Vice President's position costs at least $400,000 considering that it includes at minimum an office, an assistant and a secretary.

In addition to addressing the Board's demographic balance, the proposal "adds four rank-and-file voices to our leadership deliberations," said Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, chair of the Diversity Committee.  "The more our leaders reflect our members, the more responsive we will be to their needs and the better perspective we will have in making decisions on the critical issues facing CWA," she said.

President Larry Cohen said, "This committee worked very hard to find a formula for bringing better balance to our Board in keeping with our democratic traditions and our organizational needs."  He noted that other unions are also taking steps to increase leadership diversity in line with the AFL-CIO's resolution on diversity adopted in 2005.

Serving with Easterling on the Diversity Committee are Vice Presidents Annie Hill, Noah Savant and Brooks Sunkett, Women's Committee members Susan McCallister, Local 7704 secretary-treasurer, and Mary Lou Schaffer, Local 13550 president; and Committee on Equity members Keith Robinson, Local 6310 steward and Jetty Wells, Local 4009 executive vice president.