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Taking Back America—And Getting a Union Voice on the Job |
For Teresa Joyce, being a union member has dramatically improved her work life. Joyce and her co-workers at a Cingular Wireless call center in southwestern Virginia tried to get a union when they were employed by AT&T Wireless. Their bosses would talk with them individually and tell them how bad the union would be for them, and several union supporters were fired.
Enter Cingular Wireless, which bought AT&T Wireless in 2004.
“I was on the conference call with Cingular’s CEO when he talked about the great relationship the company had with CWA (Communications Workers of America). I wanted to shout out loud for all the managers to hear,” she said.
Now, her workplace is entirely different. Workers have a say in what happens in the plant; they have better pay and good health insurance at a lower price.
CWA’s success at Cingular is a model of how corporations and unions can work together to benefit the bottom line and create good-paying jobs at the same time, Joyce and CWA Executive Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach told a group of activists at the Taking Back America 2006 conference sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future June 12–14 in Washington, D.C.
Cingular Wireless agreed to remain neutral in its employees’ efforts to form a union. As a result, a year after its merger with AT&T, some 17,000 former AT&T employees have joined CWA. Overall, the union represents some 40,000 Cingular employees who work under union contracts providing regular wage increases, good benefits and a voice on the job. The CWA has launched an online and radio advertising campaign urging the public to switch their wireless phone service to Cingular, the only unionized wireless company.
“There is no way we can have a progressive movement in this country without the labor movement,” David Bonior, chairman of American Rights at Work, told the nearly 50 people attending the workshop on “Taking Back the Workplace.”
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, and “Marlena,” a hotel housekeeper, also talked about efforts to bring justice to hotel workers across the country.
The Taking Back America conference is bringing together thousands of progressive activists, thinkers and leaders to discuss ideas, hone the message and build the infrastructure to push the progressive agenda.
Among the highlights of the conference: A new manual for candidates and activists that outlines how to argue the progressive case for this fall’s elections. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage released Straight Talk, which details the progressive arguments on the economy, security and strategic initiatives such as gaining energy independence and reclaiming our democracy.
A poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner found the majority of U.S. residents are concerned about America’s economic interests, universal education, supporting American employees in the workplace, a multilateral approach to world affairs and new modern approaches to energy and health care.
“We were asked, with this poll, to find out if the country has reached a tipping point,” Greenberg said. “The answer is yes. The conservative world view is in the deepest possible trouble at its very core philosophical underpinnings.”
With the time right for change, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the conference we now must take back the country from the insane policies of the far right:
Not next year, or the next year, but this year—this November—when we will start reclaiming and rebuilding America. This isn’t about one election. This is about redefining our nation’s priorities. This is about building a real movement in our communities and workplaces and on the Internet with the power to redefine the politics of our country with a bold, progressive vision.
There are those in our progressive movement—even in the labor movement—who argue that we should accept the confines of that box, that we should just deal with the new reality. But for working families and our unions, working within the corporate box is not an option. It would turn the box into a coffin, and we will never accept it.
Actor and activist Robert Redford told participants via a video that the November election is critical for energy policy. The 69-year-old Oscar winning actor said trying to talk to the Bush administration about energy policy is a waste of time.
“Things will really improve when they’re out of there, so the next elections are going to be very important,” Redford said. “Republicans are not about substance; they’re about strategy; and they’re good at it,” he said. “Democrats could learn a lot from the Republicans about strategy.”
Redford presented an award to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard for his support of energy independence and his union’s efforts in kicking off the Apollo Alliance, a jobs-and-energy project backed by union, environmental, business and political leaders that includes the AFL-CIO. The alliance seeks to create approximately 3.3 million skilled jobs with a $300 billion, 10-year public investment in sustainable energy such as hydrogen fuel systems and related transportation, construction and manufacturing projects.
Recently, the USW and the Sierra Club also formed a “blue-green alliance” to work for good jobs and a clean environment.
Other speakers at the conference include Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.); Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), George Miller (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.); Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D); pollster Celinda Lake; and Stephen Bradberry, winner of the 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
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