Remarks of President Larry Cohen to the 71st CWA Convention

We meet in Washington at an historic time.  Thanks to your work last summer and fall, we have a new government led by President Barak Obama.  His election was only the beginning as President Obama has challenged us − this is a time for change and the U.S. labor movement and CWA, in particular, are major engines of change. 

CWA's commitment to member communication and involvement, and the mobilization of our members places us in a unique position to impact the critical issues of the day like never before in our history. 

Whereas in an earlier time we were largely created and led by the amazing examples of the steelworkers and auto workers, now we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them and we stand with them as leaders of the labor movement.

We have no choice but to lead … or we will wait and continue to watch our living standards fall and our jobs get cut.

A few weeks ago, President Obama stood in Normandy with veterans of D-Day - recalling the sacrifices of tens of thousands, and remembered that day 65 years ago.  D-Day was a critical turning point in the fight for democracy and against fascism. 

I grew up in the 1950s in North Philadelphia in a house and neighborhood filled with stories of D-Day and Bataan and Tripoli and Anzio, stories of Liberation Day in the concentration camps.  My father had spent four years in the Army, my uncle who lived with us, enlisted - under age - in the Navy, and my great uncle, a colonel in the Marines, worked for General Eisenhower on security for the planning of D-Day.

But my neighborhood was also full of stories of fighting for democracy at home.  Stories of the sit-down strike at Budd, a GM assembly plant, where the strike was crushed by police swinging clubs and cracking bones.  But the workers didn't give up and before D-Day, the plant was union, and nearly every other plant in that industrial neighborhood.  Union members from those plants hit the beach knowing there was a better day a coming, not only because they were helping to defeat Hitler, but because they had a union back home and they could negotiate with GM and the other companies that shaped their economy and their lives. 

They were confident because FDR and the Congress were on their side, adopting a minimum wage, social security, food stamps, and the National Labor Relations Act so it wouldn't take cracked heads, sit-down strikes, or massive firings to have a seat at the bargaining table. 

They hit the beach at D-Day knowing they might not survive, but they were fighting for the strongest democracy in the world, leading the way in workplaces, as well as the ballot box. 

Songwriter Woody Guthrie, best known for "This Land is Your Land" and "Union Maid" was in the Merchant Marines (like our President Emeritus), and in 1944, he wrote a song called "A Better World A Comin":

"There's a better world a comin, I'll tell you why why why

We'll beat 'em in the air, And we'll beat 'em on the sea

And we'll all be union and we'll all be free

There's a better world a comin, I'll tell you why"

Sixty five years later, we honor those who hit the beach at Normandy and all other veterans, but we also need to honor those who sacrificed to build our movement at home.  They fought for democracy and won.  They fought for "a better world a comin."  And, we need to honor them by rededicating ourselves here, and all of CWA, to building a labor movement that can again dream and act about moving forward.

Offense, not just defense. 

We can't hold on to our standard of living just by playing defense—it has not worked for the last 25 years, and will not work any better this year.  We are mostly playing defense at the bargaining table, not just because we have the worst economy in 75 years, but because the private sector is 7 percent organized, down from 35 percent when it peaked in the years after D-Day, and before Taft-Hartley, and after 60 years of court decisions that strengthened management control and weakened bargaining and organizing rights.

Canadians are much better organized, but the same defensive trend at the bargaining tables continues for our members there as public broadcasting increasingly competes with private, unorganized radio, Internet and broadcasting.  Our flight attendants are much better organized than almost any U.S. occupational group, but 7,000 Northwest flight attendants have their bargaining rights on the line after their airline merged with larger and anti-union Delta.  The 20,000 flight attendants in the combined group make this the largest organizing effort in the U.S. this year, with an NMB representation election likely this fall.

For five years, CWA has helped lead the battle for the Employee Free Choice Act.  We have done an amazing job of building the Million Member Mobilization, signing up 120,000 out of the 1.5 million total commitments from all unions and allies.  In fact, CWA has been supporting and working for the three main components of the Employee Free Choice Act —  majority sign up, first contract arbitration, and meaningful penalties for employer law breakers, since 1992 when we formed a group of unions to endorse this approach. 

There are too many CWA Free Choice mobilization stories to tell them all, but the work of District 13, mobilizing week after week to help move Senator Arlen Specter has been spectacular and massive.  First, we worked with the Steelworkers and other unions in our worksites to help generate more than 60,000 handwritten letters urging Senator Specter to support Free Choice.  But on top of this, District 13 has led the way in community mobilization with yard signs in Senator Specter's neighborhood, banners on overpasses, and our Million Member Mobilizers knocking on doors for Free Choice.  Senator Specter is now a Democrat, facing a likely Democratic primary campaign against Representative Sestak, a Free Choice co-sponsor in the House. 

One half of Democratic primary voters in Pennsylvania are from union families and we will make sure everyone knows which side he is on!  

There are as many as 12 uncertain Democrats on Free Choice.  We need all 12 for their votes to close debate and end the filibuster and we will need three to vote for the bill to enact it.  We have a resolution on the Employee Free Choice Act before this convention, but when the words "historic opportunity for change" are mentioned, know that your role this week in moving this bill forward is as historic as anything we will ever do!

We have three ways to think about Free Choice.

First, we will never restore the middle class without effective bargaining rights.  We can raise the minimum wage -- and that is the right thing to do -- but that will not bring back the middle class.  Wages are at the same level of buying power as 25 years ago.

We can't restore the middle class with tax cuts.  We can't do it with federal jobs or another stimulus—even though some or all of those might be good ideas. 

But if workers across the U.S. had real bargaining rights, it would translate to bargaining and buying power.  It's about time that we stand up for union contracts and stop worrying about bankers' contracts.  Let the bankers fend for themselves and let's stand up for each other.

Second, is a global perspective.   This poster shows 70 flags of countries with majority sign up and one without—the U.S.  It's true that in Canada, there is majority sign up in the federal law and some provinces, but not all.  And in the UK, there can be representation elections and union-busting campaigns but only when there is no proof of majority status.  But look at all the flags from Central and South American countries and South Africa and Asia.  The same politicians that tell us we need to compete in the global economy tell us to compete stripped of the same rights to representation that workers have in these 70 nations! 

Third, are the faces − the faces that are hanging around this room and on six buildings around D.C., including CWA.  These are our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters who deserve the security of a union workplace.  On Wednesday, we will have a panel of workers who will tell their own stories.  The panel includes John Pezzana, Comcast tech and Local 13000 member whose photo and story is all over Pennsylvania.  Since John will be up here Wednesday, I won't tell his story.  Instead, I want to tell another story—that of Sara Stephens − whose face hangs here in D.C., on the front of the AFL-CIO building.

Sara was an award-winning journalist at the Contra Costa Times when she and her coworkers formed an organizing committee and began working with other journalists in California's East Bay at other Media News papers.  Despite a total and typical all-out anti-union campaign, with predictions of closings and layoffs, the journalists stayed united and won the representation election on June 13, 2008. 

Sara joined us at the Convention last year as we celebrated her union election victory, were inspired by her courage, and supported her in her struggle for a union contract.

The attacks from Sara's employer, Media News, never stopped.  Soon after the election victory, Sara and others were laid off, but Sara never stopped organizing.  Elected as chair of the bargaining table, she worked at it for ten months and also became a leading national spokesperson for the Employee Free Choice Act.  Two weeks ago, Sara and her committee reached a tentative agreement.  She was now close to the delivery date for her second child and when I called her to congratulate her, she was elated.  But management refused to reinstate her or even arbitrate her case.  The union would go on, but Sara would not work there again.  Sara is a true hero and inspiration, but no one should have to choose between their career and their union.

The contract was ratified overwhelmingly and, last week, Sara gave birth to her second daughter, June.  A victory, yes, but at what cost?  Is this what it should take to get a seat at the table and a union contract in our democracy?  Meanwhile Media News continues to campaign aggressively against Employee Free Choice − touting the sanctity of "secret ballots and the horror of first contract arbitration."

So why is it so hard to get the Democratic Caucus of 60 Senators to vote for cloture and then debate Free Choice on the Senate floor? 

The short answer is the Chamber of Commerce and their front groups.  They have not changed.  They never change.  For the Chamber, it is class war. 

In 1934, while the National Labor Relations Act was being debated, the Chamber of Commerce argued, "The freedom of employers, as well as employees, to enter into and determine the conditions of employment relations with each other would be virtually destroyed."  But they have been consistent. 

Decades later, in the late 60's, when occupational safety and health was being debated in Congress, the Chamber of Commerce said, "The Occupational Safety and Health Act would open the door to extreme harassment of business.  Employers would be treated worse than criminals and there would be penalties on the innocent." 

Or in the next decade, the Chamber weighed in on the dangers of ending pregnancy discrimination, "The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is unwarranted government interference in the collective bargaining process…."

This year, their warning about the end of the economy as we know it has been focused on a war against the Employee Free Choice Act.

So as summer begins, it is up to us, and what we do this week will make all the difference.  We have meetings scheduled with several hundred Members of Congress.  Key elected leaders will be with us, including the Vice-President, Speaker of the House, Majority Whip, and acting chair of the Senate Health and Labor committee. 

For four years, we have focused on four major issues − Employee Free Choice Act, health care, retirement security, and jobs − the same four issues we see at every bargaining table.  These are the key issues we are organizing around as the major political issues of the day.  Our bargaining and organizing rights are obviously primary and the Chamber of Commerce, and most of American management, gets that as well.  Obviously, if we have no bargaining rights, if the percentage of Americans with collective bargaining coverage continues to drop, every negotiation continues to get harder, if not hopeless.  Our ability to secure better jobs, good health care, and retirement security erodes.

But, CWA bargaining teams and the staff and officers that support them have made an amazing difference.  Under the worst of circumstances, our bargaining teams battle back and our members recognize it.  Nearly all of our contracts in the past year have been ratified by huge majorities.  I want to recognize all of our staff, officers and bargaining team members that have been negotiating in the last year—to stand up—negotiating in Canada, Puerto Rico or mainland U.S., bargaining teams and staff from every industry—telecom, public sector, airlines, manufacturing, publishing, broadcasting − stand up.  We are fighting some of the toughest battles in the history of our union and, at the worst of times, and we never give up or give out, but stand up and fight back and make a difference for all of us.

The list of amazing work in this area is too long to cover, but check out the highlights booklet that has been distributed.  Our battles come, not just in huge negotiations like Verizon or Qwest, AT&T mobility, or NBC Universal, but in battles every day to hold on to past accomplishments or bargain first contracts like the flight attendants at Lynx or Ryan, or the hospital workers in Reno.  Toughing it out in telecom companies like Century and Frontier, even as the companies restructure, or bargaining with manufacturing plants that might shut down, or bargaining at Verizon's spin off in Yellow Pages, Idearc, as it enters into bankruptcy which threatens the deal; or bargaining at the Philadelphia Enquirer and challenged again in bankruptcy; or bargaining with public employers dealing with budget deficits caused by this terrible recession.

Incredibly, last summer at Verizon East, we were able to negotiate bargaining rights at Verizon Business as part of a great cooperative effort between Districts 1, 2 and 13.  Then at Qwest, later in the year, with the economy worsening and a company under a financial cloud, our team in District 7 stayed with it for months.  Or in New Jersey, where our 40,000 state workers and 20,000 more in local government bargain almost continuously with a backdrop of a still collapsing economy in the richest state in the U.S.  In every instance, our bargaining teams confront difficult circumstances and strike the best possible deals for our members.  The key to all of this is our unity.

In tough times, it is too easy to turn on each other, carve ourselves up, and turn to hate instead of love.  Solidarity becomes anger.  In that anger, we forget about the tough times and our external enemies and turn inward on each other.  We must keep focused on our goals and build on our unity. 

In tough times like these, there will not be good answers until we create a movement of working families, rebuild our bargaining power through massive organizing, continue to build our political power as we are doing here this week, and unify our labor movement.

The numbers of our members struggling in these tough times are massive.  Small contracts and large contracts, across all sectors − we are struggling to preserve our standard of living and our unions.  We have 90,000 AT&T members who are working

11 weeks without a contract; 47,000 New Jersey state workers voting now on contract changes that will cut income by $3500 each in order to save as many as 10,000 jobs; 27,000 IUE-CWA retirees at GM stripped of their health care as GM enters bankruptcy. 

But even one year ago, who could have imagined bankruptcy at GM or that AT&T's share price would drop 40 percent while profits were still more than $12 billion?  Who could have imagined 10 percent unemployment − and 20 percent in Michigan? 

In 1938, during the 3rd recession of the Great Depression, the world's top economist John Maynard Keynes wrote to President Roosevelt, "I regard the expansion of collective bargaining as essential."  This is the answer to Democrats or Republicans who say that this is not the time for action.  This is the answer to management when they say cut jobs, cut health care, cut your pay.  You can't end a recession with more cuts, and without a stronger labor movement, the cuts will continue.  We have to stop the cutting and start the building.   Growing our jobs and our standard of living.  Renewing a labor movement.  Creating the opportunities for workers to organize, bargain and raise their standard of living.  That's how you stop a recession.

The unity between our political, organizing and bargaining work has never been clearer.  How can we sustain family health care and higher wages when competitors to union employers have no bargaining, have no retiree health care, and set up premium structures designed to make sure that their employees never sign up.   

On Thursday, we will be focused on health care reform.  Nearly 1,000 CWA health care activists from this area will join us and our coalition partners later in the morning at Upper Senate Park as we demand, most importantly, that all employers must provide at least basic health care.  We need to bring the same intensity to that fight as we do to bargaining and organizing.  We need to continue to say to all our employers—AT&T, the State of New Jersey, GM, and the newspapers, broadcasters, and airlines − get off our backs, get by our side and we will fight together for health care reform.

It remains cheaper to produce cars in Canada than the U.S. largely because in Canada, basic health care is not employer-based or part of the price of each car.  In the U.S., the high cost of union health care and the cost of retiree health care are built right into the price of a union made car.  But the same costs are not built into the price on non-union cars.  In the U.S., passing health care reform that includes an employer mandate is an important step, providing basic care and ending the subsidy that union employers and our members make to non-union deadbeat employers who are not paying their fair share.

We need to raise this issue in all our negotiations, as we did successfully at Verizon and Qwest, and as we are doing now at AT&T.  We need to demand a joint approach to health care reform, putting the non-union employers on notice that their free ride is over and demand that the union employers work with us, or the health care crisis will only get worse and our bargaining fights more severe.

It's been raining a lot in D.C. in recent weeks.  But as I like to say, "our unity does not fall from the sky like that rain."  We have to work for it and fight for it, tolerant of each other, and realizing in tough situations, we do not all reach the same answers.  Our Convention, in recent years, has added local leaders to our Board, making it in my opinion, the strongest Executive Board ever.  We have built the stewards army and used our strategic industry fund to fuel massive campaigns like green jobs in manufacturing, speed matters in telecoms, and cross industry campaigns for the Employee Free Choice Act and Health Care Reform. 

We come here representing fewer members than last year, but more determined than ever to turn that around with aggressive organizing and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.  We come here with the toughest negotiations in recent years but more determined than ever to build our unity and our union.  We come here with great political opportunity.  We come here building a political movement that is true to working families, and ready, when necessary, to confront corporate greed.

But most of all, we come here knowing that our work is critical.  We realize that we must help lead the campaign to revitalize the economy.  We understand that we must be the spark of hope even in this time of despair for so many. 

We don't have to hit the beach like those veterans of D-Day did 65 years ago.  But, we do need to believe that there's "a better world a comin" and commit to work for it and fight for it, day and night.  This is the time!  This is our time!