Remarks By Secretary-Treasurer Annie Hill at the 73rd CWA Convention

Thank you very much. I want to start by thanking all of you for your support and a special thanks to Larry, Jeff, and all of the Executive Board members for their assistance. Jeff, I will miss you like crazy, but wish you and your family all of the best for the future. Don’t be a stranger. To Larry and the Board, I look forward to working with you to help build a stronger CWA and build our movement.

Before I begin, I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge my sister Lindy and her husband Rob. I love you both very much . It means the world to me to have you both here. Lindy is an SEIU member and a state worker in Oregon and is currently working without a contract, something many of you in this room can relate to.

I am proud and humbled to be our Union’s Secretary-Treasurer. I have been fortunate to serve CWA in many capacities and I know that this will be one of the biggest challenges, but I am excited to roll up my sleeves and get started.

Before I look to the future, I want to take a few minutes and talk about some of the responsibilities that I have had for the last three years as Executive Vice President. In the last three years, I had the opportunity to work with the Telecommunications Vice Presidents, oversee our Human Rights and Legislative and Political programs, help support our Passenger Service members at US Airways, coordinate and support our fundraising efforts for our Charity of Choice, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, help start a new Customer Service Committee, and work with the Next Generation Committee.

Telecommunications. This is no doubt my biggest challenge. Regardless of the industry within our union, negotiations are either tough, tougher, or seemingly impossible.

Corporations that used to be more willing to share the wealth now want to give less and less or even take back – even though many are the wealthiest they have ever, ever been. And, it doesn’t seem to matter if the employer is extremely profitable or bankrupt. They are clearly on the path to destroy what is left of the middle class.

We saw it most recently in Verizon Bargaining where they had the audacity to put forth the worst proposals ever seen in 50 years of bargaining history. And, I know that all of you will be there tonight to support our Verizon brothers and sisters.

And, of course we saw it in AT&T – my first major challenge when I first became EVP. I know there continues to be huge disappointments from many on how bargaining played out and the results. I would be the first in line to claim that he plan we prepared did not work as well as we would have desired.

It is why we had a meeting in Las Vegas to talk about bargaining – the experiences, the learnings, and ideas to move forward.

Many of those ideas have been incorporated into a very different plan – with more direct involvement of the vice presidents, and even more important, members of the bargaining committee, a model Verizon has evolved into. I support that plan and work is already beginning for what we know will be another tough round of bargaining.

We are never going to be perfect. But, what is most important is that we learn from every experience and do better the next time.

Much blame continues to be tossed around – much of it at me. I accept the role I had in that, but we are all in this together. That is the strength of our union. We need to move on and focus on fighting, not just harder but smarter. I know together we can and will do that.

Our Human Rights program has been strengthened and expanded over the last three years. We created a Human Rights Ad Hoc Committee with representatives from each of the groups within our union with a focus on human rights. This group has been instrumental in reshaping and moving forward our human rights efforts.

It is exciting to see our CWA Women’s Committee, the Civil Rights and Equity Committee, the Minority Caucus, the Executive Board Diversity Committee, and the field staff and our headquarters staff come together. A special thanks to Alfonso Pollard, our Human Rights Director, for now leading these efforts. The 2010 Annual Report of the Human Rights Ad Hoc Committee is in your Convention packet along with their 2011 goals. I encourage you to check it out.

Not only is the accomplishments list impressive, but the group has very aggressive goals for this year and I know they will accomplish them. The Ad Hoc group has quarterly calls which help sustain regular communications between the different entities, something that didn’t exist before, and provides an opportunity to have direct input into our Human Rights program. I and others find their insight invaluable. This is not just important work, but imperative work as we rebuild our movement.

Many natural allies and supporters exist within the human rights communities outside CWA and we have come a long, long way in the last few years to strengthen and add meaning to these relationships. The One Nation March last October was but the beginning of more meaningful involvement with a wider variety of progressive organizations. It is not enough anymore to send dollars, attend conferences and to support THEIR causes. We need them to support us also and understand and work to restore collective bargaining rights in our country. It is the first step to make our country a better place.

Without those workers’ rights, there will be no counterbalance to corporations’ ever-growing greed and wealth. We need to work collectively and join forces and restore the American Dream and the middle class for our children and future generations. I know together we can do it.

We have developed a vibrant and influential legislative and political program and the backbone of it is our Legislative Political Action Teams. This idea was an outgrowth of our experiences in our health care campaign. It became obvious that we needed to build a more permanent structure within our union.

We were losing opportunities to influence legislative efforts because we did not have a structure that could respond in a quick and meaningful way.

I am proud to say that has changed. In short, the Legislative Political Action Teams were designed to maintain our legislative and political programs year round, so that CWA can mobilize quickly and effectively around legislation and on political campaigns.

We also want to continue to build skills for our activists, building stronger relationships between legislators and members and speed up communications for rapid response.

Our skills building began with our health care program and continued with the first national election training led by Yvette Herrera held in 2010, which included both local and staff leaders focusing on our plan and strategy for the 2010 elections. We had a plan and a strategy.

Another national event led by Shane Larson in February of 2011, our Legislative University, also included both locals and staff, and each session included approximately 100 activists.

During our Legislative University, we also were in joint session with more than 150 Sierra Club activists, another group with whom we are building a relationship.

Delegates sat together by state and made connections. I know many have followed up since then, and are identifying issues that we can partner on together.

Since the Legislative University, there have been follow-up sessions with many of the states, so we can reach even more people beyond the identified state coordinators.

The staff and state coordinators have been working hard to identify local coordinators, so we have a network that can quickly produce handwritten letters and phone calls to Members of Congress on key issues.

This network is held together by regular communications, with biweekly conference calls and information provided by the staff. A special shout out and show of appreciation to our legislative and political team for all of their hard work to build stronger and more effective LPATs.

This is what we, working together, have built so far. We have identified 299 local LPAT coordinators, and we have a total of almost 1,800 activists and LPAT members who are ready to take action at a moment’s notice.

We are actively working in 28 states, but won’t stop there. We recognize we cannot build strong networks in 50 states at once. And, most important, we are building an inclusive structure that includes all of our districts, sectors and divisions.

We thought, and we did, do great work in our Health Care and Employee Free Choice Act campaigns, but this structure is producing more handwritten letters and phone calls to Members of Congress than we have ever seen in the history of our Union.

I know many of you are in this room and I want to acknowledge and thank you for all of your hard work. We have more to do, such as including retirees into the structure and expanding to additional states, but we are well on our way.

Let me just share a couple of specific success stories. The good news is there are many more as you saw in the short video during President Cohen’s remarks yesterday. In Tennessee, our state LPAT coordinators were able to quickly mobilize to kill a harmful piece of state legislation that the state fed had missed.

The bill would have made card check illegal, and would have required annual elections. Had it not been for our state coordinator, our ability to represent thousands of CWA contracts in Tennessee would have been at risk.

In New York, Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, our members successfully lobbied Republican Members of Congress to cross party lines and vote to preserve the pro-labor NMB rules – something we know is very important. With hundreds of letters and phone calls, our members made the difference.

And, one of the most amazing stories comes out of Ohio, where our members are leading the fight against SB5. They were instrumental in gathering more than 1.3 million signatures to get this issue on the ballot. A little more than 200,000 signatures would have done the trick, but our volunteers were unstoppable. Would all of you who worked on that please stand up and be acknowledged.

And, finally who can forget our work in Wisconsin, where the firestorm seemed to begin.

But we know differently. These vicious attacks have been building over time with carefully crafted strategic work by right-wing think tanks.

Volunteers also did incredible work to recall Republicans who led the fight to take away the rights of public workers and I think most of those elections are taking place today.

And finally New Jersey, where our public workers are under unrelenting attacks led by Governor Chris Christie – please feel free to “boo”— and disgustingly supported by many Democrats. The have lost their right to bargain over pensions and now health care. We have joined forces with many groups and will not give up the fight.

All of these Democrats that forgot their roots will soon be on the chopping block soon. Stand up New Jersey. And there are many more stories, but I am sure President Cohen would want me to move on.

When I first arrived in D.C. three years ago, we only represented the US Airways Passenger Service Agents who worked at both the airports and in the reservation centers.

They have been joined recently by a great organizing victory last November which brought an additional 3,000 members into the fold from Piedmont Airlines.

We are hoping soon to add more Passenger Service workers to our CWA family as we are moving ahead with our campaign at American Airlines, an effort that has been consistently maintained for at least 10 years.

It is up to us to ensure that these members who work in the same industry as our AFA members have the support they need. We know from the battles that AFA has experienced that it will be tough bargaining.

We will be providing them all of the resources and support they need to obtain a fair and just contract both at Piedmont and at US Airways as they begin their negotiations this week, and looking ahead as we add American to the fold.

We also started a new Customer Service Committee involving all sectors of our union that represent customer service workers. They put on a very successful conference in 2010 and will be working to provide additional resources for locals and bargaining teams that represent customer service workers.

These workers are a significant part of our union and it is up to us to ensure that they get the job protections they need. Their jobs are full of stress as employers monitor almost every part of their job and they are measured on many components.

I am also proud that locals have redoubled their efforts and we are participating at an even higher level with our Charity of choice, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. CWA locals over our 20-year relationship have contributed an astounding $6.8 million dollars.

Our goal is to have more and more locals participate in this worthwhile venture. We are on the forefront of helping to create a generation free of HIV.

And, I was so lucky to help support the work done by our Next Generation Committee that was commissioned out of a resolution put forth to the delegates two years ago. Their energy, enthusiasm and willingness to challenge the status quo are inspirational. They will be presenting their report this afternoon and I hope you enthusiastically support it.

A final determination has not been made on how this work will be distributed, but I commit to support all of it either directly or indirectly along with my responsibilities as Secretary-Treasurer.

I ran for Secretary-Treasurer because I deeply care about our union and, as I indicated, I am ready to roll up my sleeves or put on my work boots to get the job done. I am pretty sure I have an old pair still kicking around in the back of the closet from when I was a technician. Thank you, Jeff, and all of your team members for making so much progress over the last three years.

I know there is much more to be done, but the foundation you have built will make the next steps much easier.

By now you have been notified by Jeff that we are in the beginning phase of installing a new dues processing system. The system is on display at the Secretary-Treasurer’s booth and I hope that you have stopped by to see some of the features or will before you leave. It goes without saying that our current system has run its course; it is the same system we were using when I was the secretary for two different locals in the late seventies and early eighties.

In my many discussions over the last few months, people were thrilled to hear that we were finally getting a new system. I heard many reactions and comment, some of which I can’t repeat publically from this podium.

The system, which is currently running in a small trial mode, will not only significantly improve our processing of dues and efficiencies, but will also be web-based. This means we will have finally joined the 21^st century. This will allow you to have real time information on your membership, run reports and labels, track grievances, and directly input information.

I know you will really miss those pesky forms. You will also be able to make available for cash dues payers, a way to submit payment by ACH, or credit card, or on-line. There will be advantages for locals that have dues processed both top down and bottom up.

The implementation schedule has not been finalized, but we are hoping that we will have final testing done within the next 60 days and be totally transitioned by six to nine months. It will be done in increments so we can have a smooth transition. We are hoping to get it done sooner, but I don’t want to over promise.

I believe that this will be a huge step forward and remove many administrative roadblocks, but it is not a silver bullet and will not resolve all of our problems. One of our challenges is that with many of our units, we obtain our information from the employer. If it is incorrect or late, it causes us problems and then it causes you problems. I plan to create a process to regularly interact with Secretary-Treasurer’s and/or Presidents to find out as soon as possible what problems we are experiencing. The goal is to get on the front end of the problem and resolve it as soon as possible.

Again, as I have been talking to so many of you over the last several months, I have heard examples of problems that have not gotten resolved in a timely manner. Hopefully, these are the exceptions versus the rule, but I am going to establish a tracking system so we know how quickly these issues are getting resolved and where we have problems that are not getting resolved.

My primary focus is to remove as many administrative roadblocks for you so you and your officers can focus on building our movement. I know I can’t create perfection, but we can and will do better.

Our Union is only successful when we have both strong locals and a strong national including our districts, sectors, and divisions. In the Ready for the Future Report that was adopted by the convention in 2006, Point Number Five stated, “Fully functioning and effective locals strengthen our bargaining process.”

It went on to say that, “In CWA, members have a voice in decisions about their workplace and their union. However, this representation must be effective, and requires trained stewards, full participation in constitutionally mandated meetings and programs, and resources for membership communications and mobilization, as well as organizing and political action. Our members deserve no less. The CWA Executive Board will provide assistance and incentives to help locals to meet this goal.”

This point is more important today than it was in 2006. We are asking and needing everyone to do more. We are at a cross roads, a moment in time, and we all have to have the sufficient resources to do this work, whether it is working with our LPAT’s, organizing new workers, representing members, working with coalition partners, or doing the work associated with Strategic Industry Fund Projects. This is no easy task and it requires people, education, dollars, and support.

As it has been stated earlier, our union continues to evolve for many reasons. We have lost 75,000 members in two years. That not only impacts the national union but the locals.

Some locals have merged and have become stronger for it. Today we have 980 total locals within CWA. One hundred fifteen locals have 1,000 members or more, making up 64 percent of our membership, but only 12 percent our total locals. We have 225 locals with between 500 and 1,000 members, making up another 25 percent of our membership and 23 percent of our locals.

Then we have 390 locals that have between 51 and 250 members that make up 10 percent of our members and 40 percent of our locals.

Finally, we have 250 locals with 50 or less members that make up 1 percent of our members or 25 percent of our locals.

We have many great locals in CWA; some are big some are small. But, we all know that we have locals that are not doing what needs to be done especially with the challenges that we face. We can no longer sit back and have locals that only do basic representation.

I am not suggesting that there is some magic size of local that will create the right environment to have a fully functioning local.

We have very large locals such as several in the state of New Jersey that are leading the fight against the monstrous attacks on Public Workers and we have very small locals such as CWA Local 59054 led by President Dennis Csillag. Dennis has a small NABET local of less than 50 members that stood up against a decert that drug on for over four years.

I was honored to be there on the day along with all of the delegates attending the District 9 meeting in San Diego. This local used all of their clout and connections to create this victory.

They put pressure on the station in many ways including getting Democratic candidates to boycott the station and refuse interviews. The station went from Number 1 in the market to Number Five. Unfortunately they still do not have a contract, but I know with their tenacity they will be there one day longer than management and they will get that contract.

This is not an easy discussion to have. We all have deeply rooted traditions and identities based in our local union structure, but we have to have open, honest dialogue about how we structure ourselves at all levels of our union to create the greatest leverage and power base.

I know all of this work is hard and we will all need to work together. Our financial challenges that we heard about earlier this morning are not going to disappear overnight.

The SIF distribution will give us the ability to get through the next two years, but collectively we need and will immediately begin to build plans for the future. We cannot wait until 2013 to begin that discussion. It needs to begin now. The Board has already had some discussion and I know we will have more. With our collective hard work and ideas I know we will build plans for the future that will make our Union even stronger.

Again, thank you is not enough. I am so proud to be standing here today and will be working hard with all of you to make our Union and our country the best it can be. We will not just Fight Back, but we will Fight Forward.

I love all of you and I love this Union. Solidarity!