April 10, 2008

Conference Sets Stage for Historic Election, Employee Free Choice

While the rest of the country speculates on who will get the Democratic nomination for president, CWA members at the union's annual Legislative-Political Conference focused on the bigger picture: Ensuring that the November election brings sweeping change that will rapidly usher in the Employee Free Choice Act and a pro-worker agenda.

   
Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama, left, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, right, said enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to restoring America's middle class.

The CWA audience cheered both Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and a parade of other speakers who made it clear that workers' rights, health care reform, fair trade and retirement security will be top priorities for a Democratic president and worker-friendly House and Senate.

"You can feel the excitement as we imagine the change we can bring about in the next 12 months," CWA President Larry Cohen told the crowd of 700 members that filled a Washington, D.C., hotel ballroom to capacity.

As participants registered for the four-day conference, April 6-9, they filled out postcards urging what will be the new Congress and new president to take immediate action to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.  The labor movement is gathering 1 million postcards and will submit them with photos of many of the signers so that they can be displayed in the Capitol after the November election, putting both names and faces to the fight. CWA has committed to getting 15 percent of its membership, about 90,000 people to sign cards.

CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said the key to all of it – to passing Employee Free Choice, enacting health care reform and more – is victory Nov. 4. "It's all riding on the election," he said. "For the next six months, that's our focus."

Participants heard from lawmakers and other leaders in the mornings and spent the rest of the day on Capitol Hill meeting with representatives, senators and their staffs to discuss CWA's key issues.

In meetings and in speeches, leaders expressed strong support for the Employee Free Choice Act, grave concern about the state of the U.S. economy and anger that the world's wealthiest nation isn't providing health care for tens of millions of its citizens. They also focused on another top CWA priority: high-speed Internet access for every American. Right now, the United States lags far behind other developed countries in both access and upload and download speeds.

"If we want to compete in the global economy, we need to be investing in universal high-speed broadband access," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) 

He and other speakers urged what they praised as an already tireless union to get even more involved over the next six months, ensuring that working families across the country understand the issues, know what's at stake and will turn out on Election Day.

"We cannot turn the tide without your help," said Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), who was elected in March with labor's support to fill the seat of his late grandmother, Julia Carson. Reps. David Obey (D-Wis.) and Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) also spoke, as did West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who is credited with bringing new, living-wage jobs to his state and enacting tough worker safety laws.

The conference included a panel of national political directors and advisers who detailed what seats are open and which are vulnerable in the House, Senate and in governor's offices across the country -- all campaigns that CWA locals and their members will be working on in addition to ensuring that John McCain does not become president.

Panelists were Paul Dioguardi of the Democratic Governors' Association; Martha McKenna of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; John Vogel of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and Parag Mehta of the Democratic National Committee.

On the conference's final morning, DNC Chairman Howard Dean spoke, emphasizing that the party has two extraordinary candidates and that one of them can, and must, beat John McCain.

He noted what he termed McCain's "Let them eat cake" speech recently in which he ignored Wall Street's and the administration's role in the free-falling economy and suggested instead that people struggling to pay their mortgages get second jobs and cut back on other spending. "He is completely disconnected from the struggles of working-class people," Dean said.  

Speaking at her final CWA legislative conference before her retirement at June's convention, Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling honored McCain's military service but condemned his terrible record on working-family issues.

Calling this the "the greatest election opportunity of our lifetime," Easterling said, "We are here on a mission, a mission to build a political movement to restore bargaining rights in America. And if we do our jobs and work as never before, come Election Day we will win and we will usher in a powerful new movement to change America for generations to come."

Clinton, Obama Pledge Support on Key CWA Issues

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had CWA members jumping to their feet, cheering and clapping wildly Tuesday morning during speeches in which both candidates pledged support for the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform, universal broadband and other key CWA issues.

The back-to-back appearances at the Legislative-Political Conference by the two remaining Democratic candidates for U.S. president drew dozens of reporters and crews from every major TV network.      

Clinton, who spoke first, took note of all the union members she encounters or benefits from in a given day – from the crew staffing her plane to hotel and restaurant employees to workers who built the cars her campaign uses.

"The reason we have been such a rich and successful country is because of the American labor movement," Clinton said. "For far too long we've had a president and a vice president who don't appreciate what you do."

Like Clinton, Obama pledged to fight for and sign the Employee Free Choice Act. Listing some of the many assaults on workers and working families over the past seven years, he said, "It's time we had a president who didn't choke saying the word 'union.' We need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best – organize. If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple."

Both candidates drew loud cheers when they blasted the Bush administration's proposed free trade deal with Colombia and vowed to make sure that trade policies in the future protect American jobs.

Clinton said she's angry that the administration and those in Congress who are hostile to unions have "taken to questioning the patriotism of those who want to organize workers."

Both candidates pledged to restore the mission of protecting workers to the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, a mission crushed by corporate interests during the Bush administration. "It's not the Department of Management, it's the Department of Labor, and we are here to take it back," Obama said.

The nose-diving economy means unions are more important than ever, Clinton said. "We need unions not just in good times but in hard times, too - - especially in hard times because you know what it's like to fight for the underdog."

Obama recalled turning down a job offer on Wall Street as a young man to work as a community organizer in Chicago neighborhoods struggling after steel plants closed. Between job training and other aid, he said, "Block by block, we turned those neighborhoods around. And it taught me the most valuable lesson of my life – that ordinary people can do extraordinary things so long as they're organized and mobilized."

Both candidates said they're committed to the goal of CWA's Speed Matters campaign to ensure that telecom companies extend affordable, high-speed internet access to all Americans, bringing the United States out of the technological basement among developed nations.

The candidates drew major distinctions between themselves and Republican John McCain on health care, corporate welfare, trade and more.

The conference's other speakers made the same point, emphasizing that the working families have two "extraordinary" candidates to choose between.

CWA and AFL-CIO Ramp Up Fight Against Colombia Trade Deal

The battle for fair trade vs. free trade accelerated this week as President Bush sent his Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress, two Democratic candidates for president blasted the deal at CWA's Legislative-Political Conference and the AFL-CIO launched a telephone and e-mail campaign to convince lawmakers to reject the deal.

Under "fast track" rules, the House must vote the agreement up or down without amendment within 60 days. The Senate has 90 days in which to act.

"No free trade with Colombia while violence against trade unions continues," Sen. Hillary Clinton told CWA conference participants. "I will vote against it and I will do everything I can to get Congress to reject it," she added.

Sen. Barrack Obama also condemned the agreement. He applauded CWA President Larry Cohen "for the role he has played in making sure the whole world knows about the tragedy of how workers in Colombia are treated."

Accompanied by representatives of the AFL-CIO and the Steelworkers, Cohen last week briefed Senate staffers on Capitol Hill, telling them of the nearly 2,600 murders of unionists in Colombia over the last 20 years, calling for collective bargaining and organizing rights in any trade deal and demanding that it begin to address the United States' $725 billion trade deficit.

In an op-ed piece for USA Today this week, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney also condemned the Colombia FTA.

"Globalization is here," Sweeney noted. "What is left to decide is how globalization will impact ordinary people around the world. We have a choice. The test of trade should not be how much profit it generates. Trade should lift workers out of poverty and strengthen democracy. It should take place with countries that have the capacity to enforce human rights and environmental standards."

Thousands of CWA members have lost manufacturing jobs due to the international trade imbalance. You can tell your representative to vote "no" on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement by calling toll free (866) 338-5720 or by sending an e-mail from the website at www.unionvoice.org/campaign/no_colombia_trade_deal.

Civil Rights and Equity: 'A Movement ... Not a Moment'

CWA's National Civil Rights and Equity Conference, held in conjunction with the legislative-political conference, had just gotten underway the evening of April 9 as the newsletter went to press. Some 200 participants looked forward over the next three days to hearing from prominent civil rights activists and participating in panel discussions and workshops challenging them to more fully integrate civil rights issues with the union's core work of organizing, political activism and representation.

In his opening address Wednesday night, CWA President Larry Cohen noted that just a week ago the nation marked the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn. "King was a visionary, one of the first who saw the connection between the civil rights movement and the labor movement, that both were fighting for social justice and a more equitable society," Cohen said.

"We've made a great deal of progress," he said, noting that four seats have been added to the CWA Executive Board which have been filled by persons of color and women. Alluding to the conference theme, A Movement .. Not a Moment, "we have to keep this energy going," he added, urging participants to work to elect friends of working families to the White House and Congress in November and to help CWA achieve passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, health care for all, jobs and fair trade and retirement security.

"The Employee Free Choice Act is the most important piece of civil rights legislation we've seen in generations," said CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach, stressing the importance of the AFL-CIO's "Million-Member Mobilization" to present one million cards to the new president and Congress in January urging passage of EFCA.

Welcomed to Washington, D.C., by Ron Collins, assistant to District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci and by host Local 2336 President Jim Pappas, the participants were scheduled to hear from AFL-CIO EVP Arlene Holt-Baker, the first person of color to serve in one of the federation's top three offices, as well as legendary civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

Their agenda included a review of the history of CWA's civil rights program and presentation of the Mays-Carroll Award to honor members who over the past year made outstanding contributions to civil rights and minority practices. The award, named for Eugene Mays, the first African-American CWA officer and staff member, who served as assistant to the vice president of District 1 from 1969 until his death in 1973, and Mary Mays-Carroll, who headed CWA's Civil Rights and Fair Practices office from 1989 until her retirement in 1999, is to be presented to Local 6310 member Keith Robinson, Local 1298 member Tonya Hodges and to Local 1180.

The conference was organized by CWA's National Committee on Equity: Chair and Local 9421 Executive Vice President Lupe Mercado; Local 1180 Secretary-Treasurer Gloria Middleton; Local 2300 President Daisy Brown; Local 3204 Job Steward Sheila Williams; Local 4309 President Pam Wynn; Local 6215 member Michele Flood Luce; Local 37082 President Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe; and Local 13101 member Simone Harris; along with Leslie Jackson, CWA representative for Civil Rights and Fair Practices.