| November
9, 2006
Here is CWA President Larry Cohen's statement on the 2006
election results:
CWA members have worked hard for change in the 2006
elections and we're seeing the tremendous results of that
work. Today, we're celebrating a major turning point and we
can be proud of what we have accomplished. Now, we have the
opportunity to move forward, for all working families.
A great effort by union members across the country has
brought a more progressive leadership and majority to the U.S.
House of Representatives, progressive change to many state and
local governments and a worker-friendly majority and
leadership in the U.S. Senate. Now, we must follow through on
our key issues:
Quality Jobs. Working Americans have seen
their jobs and communities devastated by layoffs and offshore
outsourcing of work and want a new direction from their
government — fair trade, an end to tax breaks for companies
that shift work overseas, and a commitment to quality jobs
here in the United States.
Speed Matters. We can move our economy
forward and keep pace with the rest of the world by promoting
the build-out of high-speed Internet service. Urban and rural
communities must be included and have access to this
technology.
Health Care. In the wealthiest nation on
earth, more than 46 million Americans remain uninsured. Real
health care reform for all must be a top priority of the new
Congress.
Pensions and Retirement Security. Private
and public sector employers continue to attack workers'
pensions and some use the bankruptcy process to evade their
pension obligations. The new Congress must take action on the
continued threat to retirement security for working
families.
Bargaining Rights. In every other
industrial democracy in the world, working people have
bargaining and organizing rights without a major battle with
their employer. It's time for Congress to pass the Employee
Free Choice Act that once again promotes collective bargaining
for working Americans.
Working families should celebrate today. Together, we've
helped restore the politics of hope and a positive vision of
the future. We worked together to defeat the politics of greed
and a government responsive only to big business and big
money.
As we move forward on a real agenda for change for working
families, we will hold our newly elected officials accountable
for the decisions they make — or don't make. We'll keep
organizing until the goals of working families are a
reality.
The union movement's get-out-the-vote campaign made all the
difference Tuesday, with exit polls and a national AFL-CIO
survey showing that union families accounted for four-fifths
of the Democratic victory margin.
For weeks leading up to Election Day Nov. 7, thousands of
CWA members across the country knocked on doors, made phone
calls, passed out leaflets and more to elect worker-friendly
candidates to the U.S. House and Senate, Governors' seats and
local and state offices. CWA members also turned out in force
on Election Day for a final GOTV push.
The vast majority of candidates who CWA supported won,
including newly elected Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Missouri Sen.
Claire McCaskill, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, Maryland Sen.
Ben Cardin and N.J. Sen. Bob Menendez, along with candidates
in numerous house races. CWA-backed candidates also took
over governor's seats in Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, New York,
Massachusetts and Arkansas.
Democrats picked up at least 27 seats in the U.S. House
and, six seats in the Senate and nine statehouses.
Minimum wage hikes were passed in six states.
Brown, presently an Ohio congressman who, with a strong
record on labor, said to cheering voters in Cleveland on
Tuesday night that, "Today in Ohio — the middle of America —
the middle class won." Across the country, winning Democrats
echoed that theme.
The AFL-CIO's get-out-the-vote program reached out to 13.4
million voters in 32 battleground states. More than 90 percent
of union members polled in those states said they heard from
their union during the election cycle.
CWA members were among more than 205,000 union members who
volunteered for labor's political program this year. Union
members knocked on more than 8.25 million doors, made 30
million phone calls and passed out more than 14 million
leaflets at workplaces and in neighborhoods.
CWA and other unions concentrated heavily on turning
out "drop-off" voters — voters who usually don't turn out in
mid-term elections. The program reached these voters as many
as 25 times through a schedule of worksite contacts, phone
calls, mail and home visits. Labor reached out to 496,000
drop-off voters in Ohio alone.
One of the key initiatives in CWA's Ready for the Future
program is the creation of a volunteer "Stewards Army" of
rank-and-file activists to mobilize for positive change, both
within our industries and in American society.
The initial goal is to recruit 25,000 activists into the
Stewards Army by July 2007, and then build our ranks to 50,000
by 2009. CWA is developing a special education and training
program for members who sign up.
Those who join won't all be shop stewards in the
traditional sense of handling grievances and enforcing
contracts at the job site — a critically important job that is
done by thousands of CWA stewards in countless locations.
The Stewards Army is really about "stewardship" in a
broader sense: stewardship to strengthen workers'
bargaining and organizing rights and advocate for our other
major goals — jobs, health care, and retirement security.
The goal is to join CWA's 50,000 with another 500,000 or
more activists from other major unions to create a powerful
force to change the priorities of the country and refocus on
an agenda for working families.
The Stewards Army will include both active union members
and retirees. Its action program will sometimes be directed at
a CWA employer or workplace, and other times will be more
broadly focused on a CWA industry goal or even a national
issue such as health care. Actions can range from sending an
e-mail message to participating in rallies, meeting with
elected officials and mobilizing thousands for mass
action.
We need to reorient America's priorities — and to do that
we need to ignite a movement. Join us!
TNG-CWA Local 32035 members at the Catholic News Service
won raises totaling 7.4 percent over two years but, more
importantly, preserved their defined benefit pension plan in a
tentative agreement reached with the Catholic News
Service.
The 19 Guild journalists had worked for 311 days under an
expired contract and the union had just two rounds of talks
with CNS since the end of April.
"The deal fell into place when CNS management withdrew its
proposal that would have allowed it to unilaterally terminate
or reduce the defined benefit pension," said TNG-CWA President
Linda Foley, who joined CWA Executive Vice President Jeff
Rechenbach, Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, and CWA
and Guild members and staff for a rally in front of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops' Washington, D.C., offices.
TNG-CWA members picketed for four consecutive Wednesdays,
raising visibility of the long-simmering dispute, and had
planned an even bigger demonstration outside the bishops'
meeting in Baltimore next week.
"We're very happy," with the contract, said Cassandra
Shieh, Local 32035 CNS Unit Chair, who bargained the pact
along with local staff rep Paul Reilly and Unit Vice Chair
Jerry Filteau. "It was crucial to get support from CWA members
and Guild members. It was tremendous," she said. "They helped
us come together and become a more solid group."
The CNS journalists will upon ratification receive a 3.8
percent raise, retroactive to Jan. 1, followed by a 3.6
percent increase on Jan. 1, 2007.
- Following a news conference by union members,
the management of the Dayton, Ohio Daily News said it is
willing to resume negotiations with TNG-CWA Local 34157
which represents 120 editorial workers at the
newspaper.
Last week, local union officers
and TNG-CWA President Linda Foley delivered a letter to
management calling for negotiations to replace the current
contract that has been in place for 20 years.
At a
news conference, Lou Grieco, the local's first vice
president, said workers were concerned about inequitable
treatment of part-time workers and other unfair management
actions. Newspaper workers have been mobilizing to show
their concern about conditions at the Daily
News.
- The newly elected Democratic Congress has made
raising the minimum wage a top priority. Now a
growing group of business owners and executives has
joined unions in calling for an increase in the
decade-old $5.15 federal minimum wage.
"We
know that a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is simply not
enough for workers to afford necessities for themselves and
their families. We know that a fair wage floor is essential
to healthy businesses and communities, and enduring economic
growth," the Business Owners and Executives for a Higher
Minimum Wage said in a statement.
The statement said
further that, "Higher wages benefit business by increasing
consumer purchasing power, reducing costly employee
turnover, raising productivity, and improving product
quality, customer satisfaction and company reputation. In a
recent National Consumers League survey, for example, 76
percent of American consumers said 'how well a company
treats/pays employees influences what they buy.'"
The
full statement, and a place to sign it, is available on the
Let Justice Roll website,
http://www.letjusticeroll.org/.
- TNG-CWA is again calling on the U.S. military to
take action in the case of Bilal Hussein, a photographer
with the Associated Press who has been held for more than
six months by U.S. forces in Iraq on accusations that he is
a security threat.
Hussein's cause has
gained the support of journalist organizations worldwide,
with the International Federation of Journalists sending a
letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calling for
Hussein's release or the transfer of the case to Iraqi
courts.
AP has reviewed Hussein's work and found
nothing to indicate any inappropriate contact with insurgent
forces, TNG-CWA said.
| 
