March 27, 2008

CWA Takes Lead in Million Member Mobilization

Momentum is growing around labor's Million Member Mobilization – the strategic campaign that will bring postcards, photos and the backing of more than a million union members to the U.S. Capitol early next year in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

CWA, along with the United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, is taking the lead in this campaign and all four unions have committed to mobilizing at least 15 percent of members by November. Thirty-five unions representing 10 million members have signed on to the effort, with support from American Rights at Work and other allies.

In a letter to local presidents, CWA President Larry Cohen called on local leaders to pledge to join the MMM and sign up members at every CWA event. "This should be central to the agenda of every meeting," he said. Sign the pledge for your local at www.cwa-union.org/efca/pledgeyourlocal/.
At AZCOPS-CWA Local 7077's board meeting, union leaders signed MMM cards. From right: President Larry Lopez, Vice President for Corrections Tixoc Munoz, Secretary Tracy Hubbart, and Vice President John Stair.

Representative George Miller, a key supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, asked union members to "Imagine in January 2009, that there are one million cards at the U.S. Capitol, as many with photos as possible. Against the Employee Free Choice Act and mobilized union members is the Chamber of Commerce, a bunch of lobbyists in suits. That's the kind of momentum we need to win."

The MMM got underway earlier this month and CWA took the lead with some 400 local leaders and activists signing cards at the CWA District 1 meeting.

Since then, hundreds more CWAers have signed on, at the Communications and Technologies/Telecommunications conference and the AZCOPS/CWA Local 7077 board of directors meeting. "Having a million cards signed will be something that members of Congress can't ignore," Cohen said.

For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act, go to www.cwa-union.org/efca.

CWA, UAW, Steelworkers and IFPTE Create New Strategic Alliance

CWA and three unions representing more than 3 million active and retired members are working together in a new strategic alliance to achieve our members' four key priorities: the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform, jobs and fair trade and retirement security.

CWA, the United Auto Workers, the United Steelworkers and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers will share resources and develop political and legislative strategies, member mobilizations and other actions to build a political movement that puts workers' rights and protections at the top of the nation's agenda. Read the full statement here.

The unions have agreed that the first critical step is enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act and all are major backers of the Million Member Mobilization, the campaign that will send photos and signatures of more than a million workers to Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill with the message "Pass the Employee Free Choice Act now!"  Read more about the Employee Free Choice Act at www.cwa-union.org/efca/. 

"Only by restoring bargaining rights for U.S. workers will we be able to transform our political landscape, achieve such critical goals as universal health care and begin to rebuild the middle class," said CWA President Larry Cohen. These unions, along with CWA, have long worked to promote workers rights, and "this Alliance enables us to expand those efforts and resources and help build a political movement that will make real gains for working families."

"Working people who have health care are struggling to maintain it," said USW President Leo Gerard. "It's time that America met the health care challenges the way the rest of the industrialized world has by making health care universally affordable and accessible." 

"This partnership will enhance our ability as a union to challenge political leaders of all stripes to do what is truly necessary to address the many critical concerns of America's working men and women," said IFPTE President Greg Junemann.

Junemann said the IFPTE's recent move to CWA headquarters will help make the organization even stronger. "We've always valued our relationship with CWA, both in terms of organization and personnel. We're experiencing lots of solidarity and support" and are glad to be working together on the issues that are so important to working men and women. 

The four unions have worked together on trade, jobs, health care and retirement security, including the campaign to keep retiree health care for Goodyear workers, actions to defend the interests of Delphi members, and campaigns against outsourcing and offshoring.

"Working together, we'll be stronger than ever," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "There's no doubt that working people need a strong voice to speak truth to the forces of wealth and privilege that have thrown our political and economic system dangerously out of balance."

Delta Flight Attendants' Union Election Begins April 23

Flight attendants at Delta Air Lines are gearing up for a massive get-out-the-vote effort for their union representation election that begins April 23. The voting, overseen by the National Mediation Board, will be conducted over the telephone and the Internet and will end June 3 at 2 p.m. EDT, the NMB said.

AFA-CWA President Pat Friend said the effort for a union voice at Delta is "one of the largest grassroots campaigns in union history. Delta flight attendants tell us that the airline's bankruptcy and more recently, the proposed merger with Northwest Airlines have made it clear – they want and need a voice in their future and a legally binding contract they can count on."

Last month, Delta flight attendants submitted union authorization cards from a solid majority of the airline's roughly 13,000 flight attendants. The union will be setting up phone banks nationwide to encourage flight attendants to vote in the election, and CWA President Larry Cohen is urging CWA locals, staff and retirees to work with AFA-CWA and help turn out the vote.

"It's critical that we all pitch in to support our sisters and brothers at Delta," said Cohen. "Under the NMB election rules, any flight attendant who doesn't cast a ballot is considered to be a "no" vote. That's why it's so important that every union supporter vote," he said. Fifty percent plus one of all eligible flight attendants must vote in order for flight attendants to win their union voice. Phone banks will be operating in Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York City, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon.

"We need a voice – more so than at any other time," said Toni Weinfurtner, Delta flight attendant and AFA-CWA activist. "We will have that voice when we join the tens of thousands of our fellow flight attendants across the country in AFA-CWA."

Delta flight attendants nationwide participated in an online town meeting this month, asking questions, talking about issues and hearing more about AFA-CWA and the election. 

Speed Matters: FCC Adopts New Broadband Rules

At the urging of CWA – reflecting the goals of CWA's Speed Matters campaign – the Federal Communications Commission unanimously adopted new rules for broadband data reporting to better measure how widely – and at what speeds – broadband is available across the United States.

"The Commission's action shows bipartisan support for the principles and work of Speed Matters. That's a big step forward in our effort to have a national policy for true high speed Internet access for all," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Cohen outlined CWA's case for the key changes that later were adopted by the Commission. "Improving the way data is measured and collected is a vital step toward extending affordable high-speed internet access to every household in the United States," he wrote.

Among the key changes:

  • A new definition of basic broadband speed, now set at 768 kbps (kilobits per second). Until now, the FCC considered any service offering 200 kbps to be "high speed" for either uploading or downloading material.
  • Companies must report the number of broadband subscribers by more detailed upload and download speed using census tracts to more accurately reflect the households served.

This is a big change from the previous rule, which allowed companies to report the total number of zip codes in which they had at least one subscriber.

The FCC delayed action on requiring ISPs to report the prices they charge.

US Home-Based Worker Groups Meet With Indian Counterpart

Anne Luck, organizing director for CWA Local 1037, recently visited Ahmedabad, India, north of Mumbai (Bombay). She and representatives from the Solidarity Center and New York City's Domestic Workers United met with the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) to learn new ways to help and continue to organize home-based workers in the United States. Local 1037 has helped organize thousands of home daycare workers in New Jersey and recently worked with CWA Local 1040 to organize 1,000 home caretakers for developmentally disabled adults. Following are excerpts from Luck's account of her trip and how it inspired her.

Being able to meet with and listen to the women of SEWA helped clarify for me the many ways we can build and strengthen leaders among our own home-based workers.  The structure of SEWA's leadership, which is developed by trade and exists within the village, is a good model that builds on the vision my union has for training and equipping the leaders of our home-based bargaining units. 

During my time with SEWA I was impressed with the depth of leadership and with the way that leadership is developed – with humility and vision.  The constant goal is pushing forward the cause of self-reliance and full employment. Instead of developing leaders who grasp for individual power, they develop leaders with a clear focus on the principles, on the struggle and on developing new leaders.

While visiting with some of the women leaders in Surendranagar, I was struck by how varied their stories were, but at the same time how deep their commitment was to each other and to the principles of SEWA. We heard from women who never had any money or assets of their own, who through SEWA and the sisters who supported them there, were able to start their own businesses.  One woman was able to secure a loan through SEWA Bank to carry out her idea of renting out bicycles – fulfilling both a need in her community and making herself self-reliant.  Another woman led the women in her village in a fight against the water company. A woman who works at her village's SEWA child care center talked about the impact it's had on the children's well-being.

Learning about the SEWA training programs and seeing the tremendous difference they've made for members inspired my own thinking about the types of training our union can develop.  Through our established core group of neighborhood shop stewards we will work collaboratively to bring affordable, practical training to our members and tie it to leadership development.

I learned many other useful things while visiting with SEWA – from the micro-pension and benefit schemes to the functioning of the self-help groups. These are programs that with minor modifications can be developed to support our own home-based workers in New Jersey.

Perhaps most important was the global perspective I was able to gain through our visit.  Seeing the constant line of visitors in and out of SEWA's doors made clear the large amount of international labor activity around home-based workers. Being in India with SEWA made me realize how very far we still have to go in organizing home-based workers in the United States. 

If it is possible for women in India to build such a strong organization over such a relatively short period of time, it is surely possible for us to build a strong coalition of direct care workers. We will concentrate on building a committee of stewards focused on organizing and the issues that affect New Jersey's direct care workers.  Through training, we will build our leaders' skills and confidence, helping them speak out publicly about the issues that matter and inspiring their co-workers to take bold stands, too.

Since my trip to India, I see organizing differently. My job has always been more than a job, but now it's even bigger than that.  It is a global movement.  It is not just about improving conditions on the job, though a strong union certainly does that.  It is about developing leaders, connecting all struggles, and ultimately changing lives.  The women of SEWA don't just make more money or have better conditions.  They have different lives.  By achieving power collectively in their work, they open the doors to achieve it in all other aspects of life.