Resolutions Target Economy, Rights, Global Concerns

Delegates passed 13 resolutions, ranging from issues of the economy to foreign trade, health care and equal rights. Here's a summary, in the order they were presented:

• A New American Foreign Policy. CWA will support all reasonable efforts to reduce and control the threat of weapons of mass destruction, including calling on elected leaders to oppose funding for developing and testing of nuclear weapons and urging them to support agreements designed to reduce and secure the world's existing nuclear stockpiles.
  
  
• Customer Service Professionals. Recognizing that customer service professionals are proud members of CWA, from telecom to airlines, newspapers and the public sector, delegates pledged support for "high-road customer service" through collective bargaining, organizing and political strategies.
  
  
• Economic Globalization and Job Loss. With more high-tech and service-sector jobs moving overseas, delegates resolved to "make globalization of our technology jobs a priority for the union in the areas of organizing, political and community action."
  
  
• Economic Policy. With unemployment at the highest level in nearly a decade, delegates resolved to oppose tax and budget policies that hurt working families by reducing vital public services. They also resolved to call on Congress to enact fair trade policies to revitalize manufacturing and to seek legislation that invests in public infrastructure and training.
  
  
• Proper Voting Equipment. Saying democracy demands fair and honest elections, delegates resolved that CWA endorse and support the use of only DRE (direct recording electronic) systems and "touch screen" machines with the ability to provide the voters with a view of a paper ballot that is stored and available for audits.
  
  
• Stop the FTAA. CWA will continue to work at all levels to educate people about the dangers of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, that expands NAFTA to 31 Western Hemisphere countries. Further, CWA locals will collect as many "Stop FTAA" postcard votes as possible and urge people to participate in actions at the Miami Ministerial of the FTAA in November.
  
  
• Girl Scouts "Unions in the Community" Patch. The resolution builds on a partnership between CWA and the Girl Scouts in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to create a patch for scouts who participate in union activities to learn about workers' history and issues. The resolution urges CWA local women's committees to partner with the Girl Scouts and develop a similar patch.
  
  
• Health Care. Calling access to health care a basic human right, delegates resolved to urge Congress and state legislatures to revitalize efforts to assure universal health care coverage.
  
  Further, CWA will continue to fight for a fair Medicare prescription drug benefit, fight against cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, make health care a legislative and political priority and develop an education program about the health care crisis.
  
  
• Training for Public Safety Preparedness. CWA joins the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers in supporting the creation of public/private partnerships to provide anti-terrorism training, information about homeland security and faster emergency alerts.
  
  
• Protecting Overtime Rights. With the 40-hour workweek under attack by the Bush administration, delegates resolved to oppose any effort by the government to take away workers' overtime rights, to refute the distorted claims of the Department of Labor about the regulations and to work to educate members and communities about the threat to their overtime and pay.
  
  
• Restore Collective Bargaining Rights. Recognizing the fundamental right of workers to join a union, delegates called on all CWA locals to adopt a resolution supporting the collective bargaining rights campaign and to participate in a national day of action Dec. 10. Further, they resolved that CWA will seek to negotiate organizing rights language in all contracts, and will ask elected leaders and candidates at all levels of government to support such rights by signing a pledge card.
  
  
• Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. Delegates resolved to join with progressive groups and leaders to support the freedom ride, inspired by the freedom riders of the civil rights movement. Immigrant workers and their allies set out from nine major U.S. cities in late September to meet with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., then to stage an Oct. 3 rally in Queens, N.Y.
  
  
• Standing Together for Equality. Expressing concern about continued anti-homosexual sentiment in the United States, delegates reaffirmed CWA's commitment to inclusion and equality for all and resolved that CWA "calls on our elected representatives at all levels of government to resist enacting further barriers to equal rights under the U.S. Constitution."