Resolution: 71A-09-06
Approved: June 22, 2009
Delegates to the CWA Convention established the Member Relief Fund in 1990 to ensure that CWA had the necessary resources to support our members who were defending our union in approved strike action. In 2006, Delegates established the Strategic Industry Fund so that our union could utilize a wide range of strategic options to reshape the economic landscape in which we bargain and improve the lives of our members. We established strict rules governing SIF monies so that these resources would be used wisely and in the best interests of our members. The SIF was not set up to fund organizing, and it has never been used for that purpose.
Labor 2008 marked a real turning point for working families. The hard work of CWA members and other Union activists across the country helped elect a President who stands with working and middle class families on our critical issues. Our efforts produced a strong majority in the House of Representatives of members who support worker issues, and in the Senate, our efforts helped bring about a nearly filibuster-proof Senate. Our hard work has changed the national agenda and has put renewed emphasis on the need to restore America’s middle class. We have, for the first time in a decade, a real opportunity to reform our labor laws, increase the voice and power of workers within industries and increase working families’ standard of living.
The Employee Free Choice Act will provide an unprecedented opportunity to grow our union and spread collective bargaining coverage in our industries through strategic organizing. Across the labor movement, unions are significantly expanding organizing staff and programs to take advantage of the current opportunities. CWA has played a major leadership role in bringing about these changes, and we don’t want to be left behind. Using SIF funds to protect and expand our union by increasing collective bargaining coverage in our industries is a wise use of our members’ money.
CWA’s organizing program is built around working with Local unions and mobilizing rank and file members. It has been an effective program in difficult times, but it is not big enough to take advantage of the current opportunities that exist and those that will be created by the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. We need to train hundreds of members through the CWA Organizing Institutes and internships. We need more 75/25 Local organizers, more Special Assignment Organizers and more lost time organizers in the field. We need these organizers working with unrepresented workers in strategic campaigns, to help them join our union.
By funding our organizing program, we can actually take charge of our future and build our bargaining power in every major industry group.
Resolved: The Strategic Industry Fund (SIF) monies may be used for strategic organizing in a manner consistent with and in compliance with the existing SIF rules.
Resolved: Monies from industry SIF funds (Telecom, Manufacturing, Media and Healthcare) will only be used for strategic organizing within that industry. As with any SIF proposal, the appropriate Vice Presidents will prepare a proposal with a budget and goals and present that plan to the Executive Board for approval. The Defense Fund Oversight Committee will continue to have oversight responsibilities.
Resolved: SIF funds used for organizing will be used in strategic campaigns with the goal of increasing collective bargaining and union representation within our industries.