Resolutions Address Workers’ Issues at Home and Abroad

It’s official. CWA members are backing Al Gore and Joe Lieberman for the presidency and vice presidency in November.

A resolution supporting the ticket was adopted by delegates to CWA’s 62nd annual convention. Other resolutions addressed voting, campaign finance reform, health care, criminal justice, journalism, the digital divide and more.

In summary, the delegates resolved to:

• “Get Out the Vote.” Recognizing the critical importance of the November elections at state and national levels, the resolution calls for locals to work hard to get their members and families to the polls Nov. 7. Each local is being asked to appoint a political coordinator to direct “Get Out the Vote” programs.
  
• Call on Congress to reform the campaign finance system. The resolution seeks to restore “fairness and integrity” to campaign finance without limiting, in any way, the First Amendment right of free speech. Among other things, it suggests substantial free radio and TV time, as well as reduced postage, for all bonafide candidates.
  
• Make universal healthcare a priority for labor. Noting the high cost of health care and the growing number of uninsured Americans, the resolution pledges to educate members about the problems and mobilize for an effective solution that “works for patients, health care workers and communities.”
  
• Fight for changes in the criminal justice system. The resolution notes that thousands of CWA members are employed in the criminal justice system, as police officers, public defenders, court interpreters, court staff, parole and probation officers and corrections officers — workers whose difficult jobs have become even tougher as the public has lost faith in the system. The resolution seeks to advocate for measures to root out corruption; measures to ensure that anyone facing the death penalty has “full and fair” access to competent counsel, the use of DNA and other relevant tests and thorough review of all records; measures that provide more resources to unclog court dockets, provide adequate numbers of well-trained public defenders and probation and parole officers; and measures to keep jails and prisons publicly owned and operated and staffed by an adequate number of professionally trained workers.
  
• Boycott World Bank bonds. Declaring that the World Bank promotes policies in less developed countries that help multinational corporations at the expense of workers, the environment, indigenous people and women, all while operating in secrecy and lacking accountability, the resolution calls for CWA to not purchase bonds issued by the bank. It calls on other unions to follow suit. Additionally, it encourages the World Bank to “engage in programs that support true economic development and respect the impact on the poorest of the people they purport to assist.”
  
• Call on the U.S. Navy to end bombing on the island of Vieques. The Puerto Rican island has been used by the U.S. Navy and other countries for target practice for more than 60 years, bombarded from the air and sea. The bombing has caused environmental damage and health hazards for the island’s 9,000 people, including a high incidence of cancer. The resolution seeks the withdrawal of troops from the island and asks the United States to make reparations.
  
• Protect public broadcasting. Calling public broadcasting “one of the last vestiges of noncommercial, truly independent media in North America,” the resolution states that public broadcasting stations in the United States are being deliberately underfunded and risk losing their independence to corporate America. In Canada, public broadcasting “faces restructuring and downsizing that threatens its core mission.” The resolution seeks to strengthen and promote public broadcasting by working with community and national advocacy groups. It also calls for organizing more workers at public stations and strengthening existing collective bargaining agreements. CWA represents more than 4,000 public broadcasting employees.
  
• Protect journalistic and higher education freedoms. The resolution addresses freedom of ideas and knowledge in today’s profit-driven, high-technology age. “When cost containment and profit maximization become the central motives for developing information and circulating basic knowledge about human affairs, the activities of journalists and professors are viewed as drains on resources,” the resolution states. The resolution, based on a joint pledge by The Newspaper Guild-CWA and the American Association of University Professors, strives to “protect the dignity, the freedom and the independence of higher education and journalism.”
  
• Bridge the digital divide. Noting that urban, white and well-off Americans are many times more likely to have access to the Internet than other American households, and that the divide is even greater globally, the resolution seeks to close the gap. It calls for CWA to “support policies and initiatives to provide universal service for advanced communications and Internet access” and to seek further support from fellow unions throughout the world.
  
• Oppose economic policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of lower-income Americans. The resolution notes the country’s economic expansion but recognizes that not all Americans have fared well. It calls for wage, health care and retirement improvements and resolves to oppose “economic policies that will squander our nation’s economic success in tax cuts to reward the already wealthy.”
  
• Rename the “Union-to-Union” program the “Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Fund.” The program, “Union-to-Union: A Program of International Solidarity,” was adopted at CWA’s 1998 convention. Diaz, as CWA’s director of international affairs, put together projects that locals could help support in seven countries, including Bosnia, Mexico and South Africa. Diaz, who grew up in Puerto Rico and had a lifelong history of civil rights activism, died suddenly July 19 while representing CWA at an international labor conference in Scotland. The resolution “commits us to build upon the foundation Eduardo left us and continue his work of strengthening relationships with unions across the world.”
  
• Hire union translators, interpreters and web developers. The resolution asks members to make every effort to hire union-represented language and technology specialists, and to urge other unions to do the same. TNG-CWA Local 100 represents the Translators and Interpreters Guild, the only nationwide union of language professionals. The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), TNG-CWA Local 83, is dedicated to organizing technology workers.
  
• Wear solidarity colors on Thursday. As a mobilizing tool, many CWA members have long worn red on Thursdays. The resolution urges all CWA members to wear red or another unifying color “as a symbol of our solidarity.”
  
• Support representation in Congress for residents of Washington, D.C. The resolution was brought to the floor by delegate Maurice Thomas, secretary of NABET-CWA Local 31 in Washington, who asked fellow CWA members to support the District in its long fight for “no taxation without representation.”
  

The only resolution defeated — though the vote was fairly close — was one calling for food and medical aid for Cuba. Noting the Cuban-American community’s opposition to aid, delegates who spoke against it said food and medicine was unlikely to reach the people who need it most.

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