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New Vice Presidents Sworn for Districts 3 and 7
Two new CWA Executive Board members were sworn in by President Bahr on Jan. 9 at the board's meeting in Palm Springs, Calif.
Noah Savant will finish serving the term of District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith. Annie Hill will complete the term of District 7 Vice President John Thompson. Both will run for election to their new offices at the next CWA convention. Smith retired on Jan. 9. Thompson will officially retire on Feb. 12.
Building District 3
Savant, 60, is hoping to increase membership in his district through both external and internal organizing and by getting younger members more involved as stewards and activists.
"We have to put together some education plans for our younger members," Savant said. "When young people are hired at CWA-represented companies, they'll join the union. But as far as actively participating, they need to learn what the union does for them, why we're politically involved, that kind of thing," he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Savant expressed a keen awareness of how technology has reduced the number of employees needed for any particular job and how competition has made it more difficult to bargain for wage increases. He's counting on bringing IT work and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) jobs into the union and to restore other jobs that have been contracted out.
District 3 negotiated with Bell South to bring those jobs options into CWA but, said Savant, "We want to look at the potential in all of the entities we represent."
Savant, the son of an AFSCME local vice president, joined CWA 3407 in Lake Charles, La., when he became a coin telephone collector for South Central Bell in June 1965. Three months later, he won promotion to installer-repairman and later to switching technician.
Learning that installer-repairmen hired after him were paid $10 a week more, he fought back by becoming a steward for the local in 1967, then vice president in 1968 and president in 1975.
As local vice president, he headed the organizing committee and successfully brought representation to Teleprompter Cable TV and several marine and construction companies. As president, he chaired bargaining for Teleprompter and served on the 1986 Bell South bargaining committee.
He also represented his local on the state AFL-CIO executive board and successfully lobbied for working family issues at the local, state and national levels.
Savant joined the staff as a CWA representative assigned to Metairie, La., in April 1987. He transferred to the District 3 office in Decatur, Ga., in Aug. 1991.
Savant became an administrative assistant to District 3 Vice President Gene Russo in June 1994. Smith promoted Savant to full assistant following his election to head the district in June 1996.
Smith, 65, got his start in the industry as a PBX installation repair technician for Southern Bell in March 1960 in Charleston, S.C. He served as a steward, organizing chair, vice president and eventually president of Local 3704 in Charleston.
A veteran of the 1971 Bell System strike, he handled public relations for his local during three rounds of Southern Bell bargaining, helped organize several independent telecom companies in South Carolina and worked with representatives in the legislature to try to eradicate right-to-work (for less) in his state.
Smith joined the staff as South Carolina director in Columbia, S.C., in Sept. 1980, under District 3 Vice President Ben Porch. In October 1987, District 3 Vice President Gene Russo appointed Smith his administrative assistant, and he became Russo's top assistant in May 1994.
Elected District 3 vice president in June 1996, Smith placed strong emphasis on external organizing, bargained card check and neutrality within his district for Cingular and brought more than 9,000 members at that company into CWA.
"I certainly feel privileged to have worked with the union," Smith said. "It's provided me with a good life and the opportunity to improve the quality of life for others."
Teamwork in District 7
New District 7 Vice President Annie Hill, 51, values teamwork and participatory leadership. "I think the involvement of the staff, the administration and the local leaders is imperative as we look toward the future," Hill said.
In 1975, Hill became a network technician for US West in Salem, Ore. She served as an executive board member and secretary of Local 7908 in Medford, Ore., and was a two-term president of Local 7904 in Salem.
She also became the union's Women's Committee representative for District 7, president of the Oregon CWA Council and an AFL-CIO convention delegate.
As a local leader, she concentrated on internal organizing, strengthening the steward structure, and continually organizing new members.
She weathered strikes at Pacific Northwest Bell in 1983 and at AT&T in 1986 and served as media spokesperson for strikes at MRI and US West Direct that same year.
She joined the staff as a CWA representative in Minneapolis, Minn., in September 1990 under District Vice President Walter Maulis.
In 1994 she moved to Englewood, Colo., as administrative assistant to Vice President Sue Pisha. She became assistant to Vice President Thompson in July 1999.
"I follow some very good vice presidents. I just want to move the district forward on all three sides of the CWA triangle," she said.
Thompson, 64, went to work in cable maintenance for Northwestern Bell in September 1965 after a two-year stint in the Army.
He served as a steward, chief steward, vice president and president of Local 7110 in Dubuque, Iowa, and chaired the local's organizing and legislative committees. Two years of college, majoring in business administration, stood him in good stead in administering the local.
Thompson was a member of bargaining committees for Mississippi Bend AEA and Central Scott Telephone Co. He became a district COPE director for the Quad Cities, Iowa, Labor Council and served as a city chairman and precinct committeeman for the Democratic Party. He participated in the Bell strikes of 1968 and 1971.
District 7 Vice President Duane Haywood brought Thompson on staff to serve in Omaha, Neb., in October 1981. Thompson moved to Englewood, Colo., in November 1988, when District Vice President Walter Maulis promoted him to administrative assistant. He continued in that job under Maulis' successor Sue Pisha until his own election as district vice president at the 1999 CWA convention.
Throughout his tenure as vice president, Thompson has made organizing a priority. He accepted the President's annual award on behalf of his district at the 2004 CWA convention for organizing more than 3,000 New Mexico state workers.
Noah Savant will finish serving the term of District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith. Annie Hill will complete the term of District 7 Vice President John Thompson. Both will run for election to their new offices at the next CWA convention. Smith retired on Jan. 9. Thompson will officially retire on Feb. 12.
Building District 3
Savant, 60, is hoping to increase membership in his district through both external and internal organizing and by getting younger members more involved as stewards and activists.
"We have to put together some education plans for our younger members," Savant said. "When young people are hired at CWA-represented companies, they'll join the union. But as far as actively participating, they need to learn what the union does for them, why we're politically involved, that kind of thing," he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Savant expressed a keen awareness of how technology has reduced the number of employees needed for any particular job and how competition has made it more difficult to bargain for wage increases. He's counting on bringing IT work and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) jobs into the union and to restore other jobs that have been contracted out.
District 3 negotiated with Bell South to bring those jobs options into CWA but, said Savant, "We want to look at the potential in all of the entities we represent."
Savant, the son of an AFSCME local vice president, joined CWA 3407 in Lake Charles, La., when he became a coin telephone collector for South Central Bell in June 1965. Three months later, he won promotion to installer-repairman and later to switching technician.
Learning that installer-repairmen hired after him were paid $10 a week more, he fought back by becoming a steward for the local in 1967, then vice president in 1968 and president in 1975.
As local vice president, he headed the organizing committee and successfully brought representation to Teleprompter Cable TV and several marine and construction companies. As president, he chaired bargaining for Teleprompter and served on the 1986 Bell South bargaining committee.
He also represented his local on the state AFL-CIO executive board and successfully lobbied for working family issues at the local, state and national levels.
Savant joined the staff as a CWA representative assigned to Metairie, La., in April 1987. He transferred to the District 3 office in Decatur, Ga., in Aug. 1991.
Savant became an administrative assistant to District 3 Vice President Gene Russo in June 1994. Smith promoted Savant to full assistant following his election to head the district in June 1996.
Smith, 65, got his start in the industry as a PBX installation repair technician for Southern Bell in March 1960 in Charleston, S.C. He served as a steward, organizing chair, vice president and eventually president of Local 3704 in Charleston.
A veteran of the 1971 Bell System strike, he handled public relations for his local during three rounds of Southern Bell bargaining, helped organize several independent telecom companies in South Carolina and worked with representatives in the legislature to try to eradicate right-to-work (for less) in his state.
Smith joined the staff as South Carolina director in Columbia, S.C., in Sept. 1980, under District 3 Vice President Ben Porch. In October 1987, District 3 Vice President Gene Russo appointed Smith his administrative assistant, and he became Russo's top assistant in May 1994.
Elected District 3 vice president in June 1996, Smith placed strong emphasis on external organizing, bargained card check and neutrality within his district for Cingular and brought more than 9,000 members at that company into CWA.
"I certainly feel privileged to have worked with the union," Smith said. "It's provided me with a good life and the opportunity to improve the quality of life for others."
Teamwork in District 7
New District 7 Vice President Annie Hill, 51, values teamwork and participatory leadership. "I think the involvement of the staff, the administration and the local leaders is imperative as we look toward the future," Hill said.
In 1975, Hill became a network technician for US West in Salem, Ore. She served as an executive board member and secretary of Local 7908 in Medford, Ore., and was a two-term president of Local 7904 in Salem.
She also became the union's Women's Committee representative for District 7, president of the Oregon CWA Council and an AFL-CIO convention delegate.
As a local leader, she concentrated on internal organizing, strengthening the steward structure, and continually organizing new members.
She weathered strikes at Pacific Northwest Bell in 1983 and at AT&T in 1986 and served as media spokesperson for strikes at MRI and US West Direct that same year.
She joined the staff as a CWA representative in Minneapolis, Minn., in September 1990 under District Vice President Walter Maulis.
In 1994 she moved to Englewood, Colo., as administrative assistant to Vice President Sue Pisha. She became assistant to Vice President Thompson in July 1999.
"I follow some very good vice presidents. I just want to move the district forward on all three sides of the CWA triangle," she said.
Thompson, 64, went to work in cable maintenance for Northwestern Bell in September 1965 after a two-year stint in the Army.
He served as a steward, chief steward, vice president and president of Local 7110 in Dubuque, Iowa, and chaired the local's organizing and legislative committees. Two years of college, majoring in business administration, stood him in good stead in administering the local.
Thompson was a member of bargaining committees for Mississippi Bend AEA and Central Scott Telephone Co. He became a district COPE director for the Quad Cities, Iowa, Labor Council and served as a city chairman and precinct committeeman for the Democratic Party. He participated in the Bell strikes of 1968 and 1971.
District 7 Vice President Duane Haywood brought Thompson on staff to serve in Omaha, Neb., in October 1981. Thompson moved to Englewood, Colo., in November 1988, when District Vice President Walter Maulis promoted him to administrative assistant. He continued in that job under Maulis' successor Sue Pisha until his own election as district vice president at the 1999 CWA convention.
Throughout his tenure as vice president, Thompson has made organizing a priority. He accepted the President's annual award on behalf of his district at the 2004 CWA convention for organizing more than 3,000 New Mexico state workers.