Why Political Action?

Barbara J. Easterling, CWA Secretary-Treasurer

Ergonomics.

That's my one-word answer to a question I sometimes get from CWA members: "Why should I care about politics, what difference does it make?"

As readers may remember, CWA led a 10-year-long battle for federal regulations protecting workers from repetitive motion injuries. We won because of our political and legislative efforts. But then the 2000 election happened. George W. Bush became president, anti-worker extremists retained control of Congress, and the ergonomics standard was repealed.

That's just one way politics affects your life. I'll give you some other one-word answers to that question:

Wages. Benefits. Bargaining. Education. Health. Retirement security. Organizing rights.

As you will read throughout this issue of the CWA News, most areas of our lives are directly affected by politics. Anything we win at the bargaining table can be taken away by an act of Congress or a state legislature, by the pen of a president or governor. Conversely, anything we can't win in bargaining we can gain through political action. Moreover, our ability to organize and increase our bargaining clout at contract time is affected by the state of labor law and enforcement — or lack thereof.

Never forget that it was labor's political leadership that won so many protections we take for granted today — the 40-hour work week, time-and-a-half for overtime, the minimum wage, the right to collective bargaining, Social Security, Medicare, and civil rights laws, for example.

And never forget that today, the powers that be are working fervently to roll back many of these longstanding gains, turning back the clock 100 years. Most of all, they long for a world without unions.

If we don't do everything we can to stop them, who will?

Of course, there are no guarantees. Even when we give it our all, that's not always enough. The 2004 elections were testimony to that.

But sometimes, it is. We stopped President Bush's scheme to privatize Social Security dead in its tracks. With the same effort, we will defeat his bizarre health savings accounts proposal that would reward the wealthy and healthy, while punishing the poor and the sick. And if all CWA members do our part, we can retake control of Congress for working families this November.

There is one thing we know for sure — if we do not give our maximum effort, we will lose not only elections but every value we hold dear, every gain we have won, and even our hope for the future. After all, our adversaries are out there in force with their highly paid lobbyists and lavish campaign contributions.

We have no choice but to fight.

Politics is not a spectator sport. Whether we like it or not, we are all participants in our democracy. We not only have the right but the obligation to make the voices of CWA members and working families heard in the corridors of the U.S. and state capitals, in the White House and executive mansions, in local governments and at the ballot box on Election Day.

Fortunately, taking legislative and political action is neither complicated nor intimidating. Rather, it is inspiring and invigorating. I urge you to contribute to CWA-COPE, join the CWA e-activist network, regularly contact your elected officials, and volunteer for an array of political activities, including registering voters, going door-to-door, operating phone banks, and helping to get the vote out on Election Day.

The plummeting popularity of George Bush, Dick Cheney and the Hastert-Frist Congress in the wake of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the botched response to Hurricane Katrina, the horrific Medicare prescription drug giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, and the declining standard of living give us a unique opportunity to make major gains in this year's critical elections. If we do — if control of Congress changes hands — then we can take the offensive in our quest to make life better. A minimum wage increase, a solution to the health care crisis, enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act, protection against outsourcing of our jobs, and many other advances will become possible. But only if we take aggressive action over the next seven months.

So why political action? Because it affects every aspect of our lives as members of the CWA family.

Why political action? Because it gives us the power to make a difference.

We can either use that power . . . or we can lose it. I urge you to use it like never before. If we do, I believe we will once again change America.