July 20, 2007

CWA Convention Adds Voices of Local Activists to Top Leadership  

In an historic action, the 2007 CWA Convention voted to expand CWA's 19-member Executive Board, establishing four at-large diversity seats that give a greater voice to local leaders.

This action strengthens the foundation of CWA and ensures that leadership reflects the diversity, experiences and strengths of the full range of CWA's membership.

Convention delegates established four at-large diversity Board member seats representing four geographic areas of the union, with the goal of having at least three be people of color and at least two women. At-large diversity Board members will have a full voice and vote on all Executive Board deliberations.

"This is not about being politically correct, it's about doing the right thing, and that is to elect local leaders to our Executive Board and to reflect the makeup of our union membership so that our unity is stronger among all our members," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

"Bringing the perspective and ideas of local leaders and activists to the top ranks of the union's leadership can only make us stronger and wiser and better equipped to take on the tough challenges facing our movement in the 21st century," Cohen said. 

"The fight for equity and justice is what organized labor is all about, and CWA has always been on the forefront of positive change," said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara J. Easterling. "This diversity plan ensures that all will have a strong voice in the workplace, in society and in our union," she said. "It's the right thing to do, the smart thing to do, the only thing to do," she said.

This action was a key component of CWA's Ready for the Future plan, adopted last year to strengthen CWA's grassroots activist base and develop strategic initiatives to take on critical issues in CWA industries and in public policy.  

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Easterling headed a committee of local and national elected officers that over the past year explored ways to increase Executive Board diversity. The committee mailed surveys to solicit and incorporate suggestions from locals, held regional meetings and met with local unions to exchange ideas on building diversity and determine how best to move forward. The committee proposal was posted on the union's website, with members posting comments, discussing the proposal and offering recommendations.

The CWA Executive Board initially will appoint four members to the at-large diversity seats; those appointments will come from nominations made by the Committee on Equity, the National Women's Committee and the CWA Minority Caucus. Nominations will be made by September 1, 2007. At-large diversity Board members will be elected to three-year terms at the 2008 Convention.

CWA Convention Actions Include Canadian Alliance with USW,
Call for Stem Cell Research, Plan to Increase Retiree Participation

Delegates to the 69th CWA Convention in Toronto this week took historic action to increase diversity among CWA leadership (see previous story); witnessed the signing of a strategic alliance with the United Steelworkers (USW) to help support CWA's 8,000 Canadian members; and pledged to support embryonic stem cell research to help treat devastating diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, and much more.

CWA President Larry Cohen's keynote speech and speeches by Secretary-Treasurer Barbara J. Easterling and Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach are posted at www.cwa-union.org, along with a slide show of photos from the convention and information on campaigns, including the Employee Free Choice Act.

In a strong but emotional address, CWA District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci, who is suffering from ALS, asked delegates to commit their energy to the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act and also to the fight for embryonic stem cell research, which has shown great promise in the treatment of diseases that now have no cure.

The United States is far behind other countries in this critical research, due to President Bush's order restricting embryonic stem cell research, Catucci said. "These are not cell lines that will ever become tissue and are slated to be destroyed, yet the potential for life-saving cures is enormous," he said. CWAers will be sending postcards to their senators and representatives urging support for this vital research. Joining him in a call for "EFCA and stem cells," delegates gave Catucci a prolonged standing ovation.

Under the strategic alliance signed by USW President Leo Gerard, TNG Canada Director Arnold Amber and USW National Director for Canada Ken Neumann, CWAers in Canada will join forces with the more than 280,000 USW members there to work together on issues of common interest. Delegates also voted to establish a Canadian region, with members formerly in Districts 1 and 7 now part of a new region with full authority on governance, policy and operational decisions affecting Canadian members, in accordance with the CWA Constitution.

Delegates approved a plan under which the CWA Executive Board and the executive board of the Retired Members' Council will meet to determine ways to work more closely together. The RMC also will develop an action plan with specific goals to work with locals to organize new chapters, increase membership and build active participation in CWA campaigns.

Other resolutions endorsed the Restoring Pension Promises to All Workers Act and urged all members to actively support NABET-CWA members who are battling to keep their pensions in bargaining with ABC-TV; supported efforts to build a strong political movement and back workers’ candidates through the "$8 in '08" CWA-COPE program; pressed to rescind the extreme postal rate changes recently adopted by Congress; called on CWA to bring worldwide attention to the crisis in Darfur; called for the restoration of true country-of-origin labeling for food and other consumer products entering the United States; declared an immediate end to U.S. involvement in Iraq; and affirmed that CWA will organize the telecom industry wall-to-wall and insist that any contracted work be performed in the U.S. by union workers.

Ask the Candidates: What Will You Do to Win Workers' Rights?

CWA members and activists have an important question to ask the candidates for president of the United States: "What will you do to lead the effort to restore workers' rights? How will you lead the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act."

CWA President Larry Cohen stressed that it's not enough for a candidate to say, "as President, I'll sign the bill when it comes to my desk." "We need to hear how these candidates will stand up for us and how they'll fight against a Senate filibuster," he said.

Postcards now are available online that CWAers, their friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers can use to ask exactly that question of up to three candidates – Democratic or Republican. The cards are being collected at CWA and will be presented to the candidates with a letter from CWA President Larry Cohen asking for a response.

Click on this link for the online postcard. Fill it out and click submit.  

"Every candidate will have to put it on the line for our members, and those responses, or their lack of one, will be posted on our website for all of our members to see," said CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach.

CWA, Global Unions Blast Vodacom Abuses in South Africa

CWA and telecom unions around the world are condemning the latest outrages being committed by Vodacom, Vodafone's subsidiary in South Africa, against striking South African workers.

CWA, the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center and the global Union Network International are committed to fully supporting the fight of Vodacom workers who are determined to win recognition of their union. More than 1,000 members of the Communications Workers Union have been on strike since July 2.

Since then, Vodacom has moved quickly in a brutal assault on workers. As the strike began, the company instituted a lockout and demanded that workers sign a "loyalty pledge" and denounce any drive for union recognition before they would be allowed to return to work.

Vodacom suspended all medical benefits for union members, an action devastating to workers with chronic health problems, such as HIV/AIDS, and who now will be unable to afford the anti-retroviral drugs that extend their lives.

The company also instigated police action against 11 worker activists for crossing an arbitrary line while picketing; one already has been arrested and warrants issued for the other ten.

"Vodacom has chosen to wage war against its employees and has attacked their right to a union voice," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "All of us in the global union movement stand with our brothers and sisters in CWU. CWU will prevail, even against a company that is employing the worst union-busting tactics imaginable. It is no surprise to us since they also own 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, and like Verizon, will do anything to stop recognition and bargaining rights."

Vodafone, co-owner of Verizon Wireless, owns 50 percent of Vodacom.

Philip Jennings, general secretary of UNI, said the global union would not accept the victimization of the Vodacom workers and "will be raising the matter directly" with the company.

In South Africa, employers are required to recognize the union when 30 percent of the workforce indicates support for union representation. At Vodacom, more than 1,300 of the company's 4,000 already have joined the CWU. Vodacom, instead of following the law, imported an American union-buster, Claire Lapham, to attack workers' rights.

CWU is asking that letters of support for the Vodacom workers be sent to the South African Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Communications and Vodacom Group chief executive officer Alan Knott-Craig.  For more information, go to www.cwuvodacom.blogspot.com.

IN BRIEF:

  • Massachusetts' senators are standing with Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers at a Boston airport location who learned their jobs are being contracted out – an announcement made just after they signed cards to organize through IUE-CWA Local 201. 

    "It's an outrage that workers who try to form a union can be faced with mass firing," Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry said in a letter this week to the workers. "You have the right to ask Enterprise to recognize your union, and to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace."

    In early June, with cards signed by 23 of the 30 car-prep workers and drivers, the union filed for an NLRB election. A week later, Enterprise told the workers their jobs were being subcontracted to a Houston staffing company. If the workers still wanted jobs with Enterprise, they were told they'd have to apply at other company locations.

    "Last month, we fought in the Senate for the Employee Free Choice Act to allow workers like you to use majority sign-up to choose a union," the senators said. " Every worker in America deserves the right to join a union, free from employer retaliation. We're with you in this battle."

  • Recognizing that the labor movement is full of people who enjoy the outdoors, CWA is among a coalition of unions launching the Union Sportsmen's Alliance, or USA, a hunting and fishing club exclusively for union members, retirees and their families.

    "This new club delivers many entertaining, informative and money-saving benefits, while helping to protect our nation's rich outdoor heritage," CWA Vice President Jimmy Gurganus said.

    For $25 a year, USA members can get hunting and fishing tips, help planning trips and save money on outdoor gear. The new organization was formed in alliance with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. To sign up or learn more, go to www.trcp.org/unionsportsmensalliance.aspx.

  • Some of the billionaire CEOs and tycoons living large in today's new gilded age are smug enough to say they deserve to be paid tens – even hundreds – of millions of dollars a year. 

    "I think there are people, including myself at certain times in my career who, because of their uniqueness, warrant whatever the market will bear," Leo Hindrey, Jr. told The New York Times. The private equity fund manager who created a sports TV network further likened himself to the business world's version of baseball star Derek Jeter. 

    The Times, recognizing that the gulf between the rich and poor is bigger than it's been since the Great Depression, interviewed numerous CEOs for a Sunday story titled, "The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age." Interviewees such as the CEO of Coach, who took home more than $44 million last year, told the Times that it's not "unreasonable" and even small next to the gain the luxury goods company has made since he took it public six years ago.

    The July 15 feature is part of a series of articles in the Times examining the growing concentration of wealth in the United States. The story and a graphic of the 30 wealthiest men – and they are all men – in U.S. history can be found at www.nytimes.com/business, under "Multimedia."