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Building a Movement for Real Democracy

Resolution: 74A-13-4

Now, in America, there is no path to workplace justice. On every issue important to working people, from bargaining rights to retirement security, from health care reform to keeping good jobs in the U.S., our path forward is blocked by the barriers to democracy that allow the one percent to control our government, our workplaces, our political process and our democracy.  

This is the fight we must take on.

We must break down the influence of corporate money in politics that enable corporations to buy elections and set our nation’s policy. Candidates, parties, and outside groups spent $7 billion in the 2012 elections. In those campaigns, business interests had a 15-1 advantage over union workers’ contributions to political action funds and other labor contributions.  Members of Congress spend 30 to 70 percent of their time fundraising and talking to the top one percent, not constituents.

We must fix the broken Senate where legislation that is important to working families do not get even a minute of debate on the Senate floor even with majority support.

We must stop the attack on voting rights in our country, where at least 30 states are looking for ways to make it more difficult for citizens to exercise their right to vote, from eliminating early voting to cutting the hours that polls are open to imposing harsh restrictions on students, the elderly, the poor and others.

We must turn back the attacks on immigrants, who pay Social Security and other taxes, yet cannot speak up against an employer’s abuse.  

The key is building a broad movement that will take on this corporate structure and win, a movement that will challenge the Senate “status quo,” a movement of 50 million people working together that will change America.

This work already has begun across our union and across our country. With CWA leading the way, it is happening now:

  • In Ohio, Stand Up for Ohio has brought together a broad coalition that successfully fought the attack on public worker bargaining rights and voting rights, and is taking on unfair home foreclosures and other community issues.
  • Take Action Minnesota brought together organizations across the state to defend citizens’ right to vote.
  • Students from Florida and Tennessee traveled many hours by bus to support Verizon workers at last year’s annual meeting in Alabama.
  • With the Sierra Club, Citizens Trade Campaign, the Teamsters and others, we are taking on the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.
  • A strong coalition in New Jersey, including the NAACP, CWA and other unions, Garden State Equality and many more, is taking on Governor Christie’s privatization campaign and is working to expand voting rights.
  • In New Mexico, progressive allies blocked the threat to public worker bargaining rights by electing Democrats to the state legislature who support workers’ rights.
  • In New York, we are poised to win public financing of elections, and in West Virginia, a strong coalition convinced the legislature to become the 12th state supporting a federal constitutional amendment to get money out of politics.

Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have spent 40 years working to strip workers of bargaining rights and to enshrine the power of the one percent. They have come a long way toward those goals. We must be part of a broader, powerful movement of 50 million people that is demanding real justice. If we do not overcome these barriers to democracy, we will not move forward, not at the bargaining table and not on the issues important to working families.

Resolved:  CWA will continue to educate members on how the barriers to democracy block progress on our core issues of good jobs, health care, retirement security and bargaining rights.

Resolved: CWA, with convening partners NAACP, Greenpeace, Sierra Club and 50 other organizations, will continue to expand the Democracy Initiative that is taking on the one percent and these barriers to democracy.  

Resolved:  CWA members, locals, officers and staff pledge to work in our communities to build effective organizations that will stand up to the one percent and fight for universal voting rights, democratic Senate rules and getting big money out of politics. We will find common ground with our allies and move those issues forward.