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Top Locals Honored: Technology Creating New Ways To Organize and Mobilize
If high-tech companies are betting they can beat the unions, betting their workers don’t even want to organize, then the e-mail message that CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen shared at the end of his convention speech should make them nervous.
“Congratulations on the big Verizon win,” a worker wrote. “I’m working at a dot com and have been talking union to various people for a few years. It’s getting pretty close to the time when it’ll happen at dot coms. Your strike was inspiring.”
It illustrates the way technology is changing the landscape for mobilizing and organizing, Cohen said, noting how web sites and e-mail campaigns helped build support for the Verizon strikers.
“It’s an example of how we can use the power of a new technology,” he said. “We can figure out how to make connections. We can figure out how to build our union through it.”
In the past year, CWA has grown by 20,000 members through organizing. That doesn’t count the just-approved merger with IUE, which will bring 113,000 members to CWA.
Nearly 2,000 of the 20,000 new members are at Cellular One and other SBC wireless companies, demonstrating, Cohen said, “that wireless will be union.” Another 2,000 new members are health care workers in Buffalo, N.Y. “Locals 1122, 1133 and 1168 all continue to make Buffalo a healthcare union city,” he said.
Some 1,500 city workers in Tucson, Ariz., represent CWA’s most recent large victory, the result of a multi-year effort.
“Our achievements in the past year have been enormous,” Cohen said. “The challenges for the next year are just as great. But by building stronger locals, we build power for CWA members and we ensure that our dreams and our agenda for the future can be a reality.”
Making it happen requires a multi-pronged approach, he said: civil rights activism, education, training and career development, mobilization, organizing, health and safety, and international work.
He said CWA is working to link civil rights activists in locals nationwide through e-mail and web sites, and hopes to have 1,000 activists identified by next year’s convention.
Efforts to educate members include two new guides for locals this year, “Conducting a Successful Strike” and “Being a Steward in a Workplace without a Contract.” In addition, CWA now operates five training centers and a distance learning program, Cohen said.
CWA’s mobilization manual has been updated, filled with stories of efforts that are working well. And many locals are pledging to organize 100 or more new members every year. Some are helped by the addition of full-time organizers to their staffs, part of a new CWA initiative. “In just six months, there are already 11 new full-time organizers, with more coming as we expand the program this year,” he said.
On the health and safety front, CWA is training many new activists and, again, using web sites and e-mail to link them to each other. Internationally, CWA is working to build alliances with unions overseas whose members work for the same companies as CWA members in the United States.
Mobilizing and educating members, and building international alliances, were key to blocking the Sprint-WorldCom merger, a $125 billion deal that Cohen said “would have been bad for our members, for unorganized workers and for communities around the world.”
Explaining in detail the hard work of U.S. and European workers and unions to stop the merger, he said, “We built power for CWA members, and we helped block the evil WorldCom empire from expanding further.”
Putting multiple strategies to work is also building AT&T locals, he said. Last year marked the first organizing win at AT&T Local Services: CWA Local 7050 in Mesa, Ariz., and soon after Local 3112 in West Palm Beach Fla. organized CWA’s first wireless unit. Next came CWA’s first Broadband unit at Local 7601 in Gillette, Wyoming.
“More than 40 locals have been active in carrying on this incredible effort,” Cohen said, asking everyone involved in the campaign to stand and be recognized “for their extraordinary effort of battling to maintain union representation at AT&T, the birthplace of our union.”
Organizing Awards
Cohen’s speech was followed by organizing awards presented by CWA President Morton Bahr.
The President’s Annual Award for Organizing Excellence, established by CWA founder Joseph Beirne in 1971 as the union’s highest honor, was presented to Local 4340 in Cleveland, Ohio. The award is normally given to a local that has won a long or critically important campaign. This year, Bahr said, he was awarding it “based on the strength of this local’s consistent organizing efforts.”
The local, which has a full-time organizer, Jim Cosgrove, has grown by 1,000 members since launching its organizing program. The local is also a leader in Cleveland’s Jobs with Justice program.
“Every local can learn from your example,” Bahr said in presenting the trophy — a replica of Beirne’s famous Stetson — to Local 4340 President Ed Phillips.
Bahr also honored locals that have organized 100 or more members in the past year, presenting them with a $1,000 check to further their organizing efforts. They are: Locals 1032 and 1040, Trenton, N.J.; Locals 1122, 1133 and 1168, Buffalo; Local 1298, Hamden, Conn.; Local 2108, Landover, Md.; Local 3112, West Palm Beach; Local 4034, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Local 4340 and TNG-CWA Local 42, Cleveland; Local 6215, Dallas; Local 7026, Tucson; Local 7077, Glendale, Ariz.; Local 9400, Los Angeles, Local 9414, Chico, Calif.; Local 9576, Santa Barbara, Calif.; NABET-CWA Local 521, San Francisco; and NABET-CWA Local 213, Toronto, Ontario.
Five of the locals were honored further for making the list five times or more in the last 10 years and received $5,000 checks. They are: Locals 1032, 1040, 4340 and 9400, all seven years, and Local 1168, five years.
Three locals who didn’t make this year’s list but have made it five times in the last 10 years were also honored. They are: Local 1120, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Local 6186, Austin, Texas; and Local 7777, Colorado.
“Congratulations on the big Verizon win,” a worker wrote. “I’m working at a dot com and have been talking union to various people for a few years. It’s getting pretty close to the time when it’ll happen at dot coms. Your strike was inspiring.”
It illustrates the way technology is changing the landscape for mobilizing and organizing, Cohen said, noting how web sites and e-mail campaigns helped build support for the Verizon strikers.
“It’s an example of how we can use the power of a new technology,” he said. “We can figure out how to make connections. We can figure out how to build our union through it.”
In the past year, CWA has grown by 20,000 members through organizing. That doesn’t count the just-approved merger with IUE, which will bring 113,000 members to CWA.
Nearly 2,000 of the 20,000 new members are at Cellular One and other SBC wireless companies, demonstrating, Cohen said, “that wireless will be union.” Another 2,000 new members are health care workers in Buffalo, N.Y. “Locals 1122, 1133 and 1168 all continue to make Buffalo a healthcare union city,” he said.
Some 1,500 city workers in Tucson, Ariz., represent CWA’s most recent large victory, the result of a multi-year effort.
“Our achievements in the past year have been enormous,” Cohen said. “The challenges for the next year are just as great. But by building stronger locals, we build power for CWA members and we ensure that our dreams and our agenda for the future can be a reality.”
Making it happen requires a multi-pronged approach, he said: civil rights activism, education, training and career development, mobilization, organizing, health and safety, and international work.
He said CWA is working to link civil rights activists in locals nationwide through e-mail and web sites, and hopes to have 1,000 activists identified by next year’s convention.
Efforts to educate members include two new guides for locals this year, “Conducting a Successful Strike” and “Being a Steward in a Workplace without a Contract.” In addition, CWA now operates five training centers and a distance learning program, Cohen said.
CWA’s mobilization manual has been updated, filled with stories of efforts that are working well. And many locals are pledging to organize 100 or more new members every year. Some are helped by the addition of full-time organizers to their staffs, part of a new CWA initiative. “In just six months, there are already 11 new full-time organizers, with more coming as we expand the program this year,” he said.
On the health and safety front, CWA is training many new activists and, again, using web sites and e-mail to link them to each other. Internationally, CWA is working to build alliances with unions overseas whose members work for the same companies as CWA members in the United States.
Mobilizing and educating members, and building international alliances, were key to blocking the Sprint-WorldCom merger, a $125 billion deal that Cohen said “would have been bad for our members, for unorganized workers and for communities around the world.”
Explaining in detail the hard work of U.S. and European workers and unions to stop the merger, he said, “We built power for CWA members, and we helped block the evil WorldCom empire from expanding further.”
Putting multiple strategies to work is also building AT&T locals, he said. Last year marked the first organizing win at AT&T Local Services: CWA Local 7050 in Mesa, Ariz., and soon after Local 3112 in West Palm Beach Fla. organized CWA’s first wireless unit. Next came CWA’s first Broadband unit at Local 7601 in Gillette, Wyoming.
“More than 40 locals have been active in carrying on this incredible effort,” Cohen said, asking everyone involved in the campaign to stand and be recognized “for their extraordinary effort of battling to maintain union representation at AT&T, the birthplace of our union.”
Organizing Awards
Cohen’s speech was followed by organizing awards presented by CWA President Morton Bahr.
The President’s Annual Award for Organizing Excellence, established by CWA founder Joseph Beirne in 1971 as the union’s highest honor, was presented to Local 4340 in Cleveland, Ohio. The award is normally given to a local that has won a long or critically important campaign. This year, Bahr said, he was awarding it “based on the strength of this local’s consistent organizing efforts.”
The local, which has a full-time organizer, Jim Cosgrove, has grown by 1,000 members since launching its organizing program. The local is also a leader in Cleveland’s Jobs with Justice program.
“Every local can learn from your example,” Bahr said in presenting the trophy — a replica of Beirne’s famous Stetson — to Local 4340 President Ed Phillips.
Bahr also honored locals that have organized 100 or more members in the past year, presenting them with a $1,000 check to further their organizing efforts. They are: Locals 1032 and 1040, Trenton, N.J.; Locals 1122, 1133 and 1168, Buffalo; Local 1298, Hamden, Conn.; Local 2108, Landover, Md.; Local 3112, West Palm Beach; Local 4034, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Local 4340 and TNG-CWA Local 42, Cleveland; Local 6215, Dallas; Local 7026, Tucson; Local 7077, Glendale, Ariz.; Local 9400, Los Angeles, Local 9414, Chico, Calif.; Local 9576, Santa Barbara, Calif.; NABET-CWA Local 521, San Francisco; and NABET-CWA Local 213, Toronto, Ontario.
Five of the locals were honored further for making the list five times or more in the last 10 years and received $5,000 checks. They are: Locals 1032, 1040, 4340 and 9400, all seven years, and Local 1168, five years.
Three locals who didn’t make this year’s list but have made it five times in the last 10 years were also honored. They are: Local 1120, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Local 6186, Austin, Texas; and Local 7777, Colorado.