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UNI Telecom Agenda: Universal Quality Service, Corporate Responsibility
Delegates to Union Network International's World Telecom Sector meeting adopted an action agenda to lead the fight for a worldwide regulatory framework for the sake of its members, their communities and good public policy.
Delegates from 44 unions in 29 countries attended the meeting May 5-6 in Nyon, Switzerland. They represent 2 million workers comprising the telecom sector of the worldwide trade union secretariat.
The agenda they chose to pursue is similar to CWA's agenda in the United States, with an emphasis on universal, affordable service, quality service and quality jobs, and financial equity and disclosure.
"The U.S. regulatory framework based on competition on fixed line networks through local loop unbundling has led to stagnation of investment," said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, president of UNI Telecom. "At the same time, in Japan, Korea and Taiwan there is already virtually universal high-speed Internet service at five times the speed common in the United States, and in the U.S., high-speed Internet, defined as 1 megabyte per second or higher, is not available to the majority of the population."
CWA, and now UNI Telecom, calls for a standard of 10-100 megabytes per second by 2010 on a universal basis in developed countries and at an increasing rate for both voice and Internet in the global south.
Development of a universal standard will promote a level playing field for competition worldwide, and generate investment and jobs in both the global north and global south, Cohen explained.
"Japan, for example, with nearly 100 percent access, is selling high-speed Internet access at about 10 percent of the U.S. price," he said. "Meanwhile, in the global south, density rates in much of Africa and Latin America are little improved for most of the population. Competition has been forced by the World Bank as a condition for loans, and this in turn has hindered economic development."
In China there is virtually no competition, and new wireless, wireline and Internet networks have been built, bringing service to more than 250 million additional households.
"So, China avoids our regulatory framework altogether and, in part using its advantages of new infrastructure, sucks up jobs from the U.S. and elsewhere where telecom remains near collapse," Cohen said.
The summit, endorsed by the United Nations and led by the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, seeks input from both governments and non-governmental organizations. Phase one of its operations, directed toward establishing an "information society for all," took place at ITU headquarters in Geneva in December 2003. Phase two, to take place in Tunis in November 2005, will build upon a plan of action developed in phase one, to "find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms," and "to bridge the digital divide."
The delegates further resolved to take their concerns to several world regulatory bodies.
Cohen called for worker rights, equating them to "human rights," at all telecommunications workplaces around the globe.
"Telecom managements worldwide are leading the race to the bottom," he said. "We are in a worldwide fight against outsourcing and mindless cost cutting."
Applauding recent organizing successes on all continents, he urged world telecom unions to go on the offensive in their organizing campaigns.
The delegates responded by adopting a plan to promote quality services and quality jobs. It includes a Customer Service Week in October, building upon the professionalism and value of a union workforce in call centers worldwide, and other measures to promote organizing and collective bargaining rights, to organize wireless and broadband workers and to further combat outsourcing.
"We can't win by playing defense," Cohen said, urging unions to "break out of the box" and organize in new ways and in new areas.
Cohen also called for greater transparency concerning executive compensation and the financial operations of companies, pointing out that some top managers are paid as much as 500 times the earnings of the average worker and still complain, and that regulators appear to be obsessed with price while ignoring quality.
He said "secrecy and irresponsible management led to the collapse of WorldCom, Adelphia and Qwest," and cited CWA's participation in backing shareholder resolutions calling for improved corporate governance at AT&T, Sprint, IBM and other employers.
The delegates resolved to pursue similar strategies in their own countries.
UNI General Secretary Phillip Jennings called for "a new generation of international trade unionism" to match a new generation of telecom technologies. He praised unions for negotiating global agreements with multinational companies to ensure global labor standards, and also noted that outsourcing has become a key challenge for UNI and for national unions.
"We are turning national bargaining structures into international bargaining structures, and we are giving our best efforts to help the local unions," Jennings said.
Delegates from 44 unions in 29 countries attended the meeting May 5-6 in Nyon, Switzerland. They represent 2 million workers comprising the telecom sector of the worldwide trade union secretariat.
The agenda they chose to pursue is similar to CWA's agenda in the United States, with an emphasis on universal, affordable service, quality service and quality jobs, and financial equity and disclosure.
"The U.S. regulatory framework based on competition on fixed line networks through local loop unbundling has led to stagnation of investment," said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, president of UNI Telecom. "At the same time, in Japan, Korea and Taiwan there is already virtually universal high-speed Internet service at five times the speed common in the United States, and in the U.S., high-speed Internet, defined as 1 megabyte per second or higher, is not available to the majority of the population."
CWA, and now UNI Telecom, calls for a standard of 10-100 megabytes per second by 2010 on a universal basis in developed countries and at an increasing rate for both voice and Internet in the global south.
Development of a universal standard will promote a level playing field for competition worldwide, and generate investment and jobs in both the global north and global south, Cohen explained.
"Japan, for example, with nearly 100 percent access, is selling high-speed Internet access at about 10 percent of the U.S. price," he said. "Meanwhile, in the global south, density rates in much of Africa and Latin America are little improved for most of the population. Competition has been forced by the World Bank as a condition for loans, and this in turn has hindered economic development."
In China there is virtually no competition, and new wireless, wireline and Internet networks have been built, bringing service to more than 250 million additional households.
"So, China avoids our regulatory framework altogether and, in part using its advantages of new infrastructure, sucks up jobs from the U.S. and elsewhere where telecom remains near collapse," Cohen said.
The summit, endorsed by the United Nations and led by the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, seeks input from both governments and non-governmental organizations. Phase one of its operations, directed toward establishing an "information society for all," took place at ITU headquarters in Geneva in December 2003. Phase two, to take place in Tunis in November 2005, will build upon a plan of action developed in phase one, to "find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms," and "to bridge the digital divide."
The delegates further resolved to take their concerns to several world regulatory bodies.
Cohen called for worker rights, equating them to "human rights," at all telecommunications workplaces around the globe.
"Telecom managements worldwide are leading the race to the bottom," he said. "We are in a worldwide fight against outsourcing and mindless cost cutting."
Applauding recent organizing successes on all continents, he urged world telecom unions to go on the offensive in their organizing campaigns.
The delegates responded by adopting a plan to promote quality services and quality jobs. It includes a Customer Service Week in October, building upon the professionalism and value of a union workforce in call centers worldwide, and other measures to promote organizing and collective bargaining rights, to organize wireless and broadband workers and to further combat outsourcing.
"We can't win by playing defense," Cohen said, urging unions to "break out of the box" and organize in new ways and in new areas.
Cohen also called for greater transparency concerning executive compensation and the financial operations of companies, pointing out that some top managers are paid as much as 500 times the earnings of the average worker and still complain, and that regulators appear to be obsessed with price while ignoring quality.
He said "secrecy and irresponsible management led to the collapse of WorldCom, Adelphia and Qwest," and cited CWA's participation in backing shareholder resolutions calling for improved corporate governance at AT&T, Sprint, IBM and other employers.
The delegates resolved to pursue similar strategies in their own countries.
UNI General Secretary Phillip Jennings called for "a new generation of international trade unionism" to match a new generation of telecom technologies. He praised unions for negotiating global agreements with multinational companies to ensure global labor standards, and also noted that outsourcing has become a key challenge for UNI and for national unions.
"We are turning national bargaining structures into international bargaining structures, and we are giving our best efforts to help the local unions," Jennings said.