SEARCH
CWA’s New Diversity Plan Reflects Strategies from AFL-CIO Diversity Dialogues |
|
 |
|
| Delegates to CWA’s convention approved a new diversity plan. | |
In a historic action to support union efforts to reach out to a new generation of workers—many of whom are women and people of color—the Communications Workers of America’s (CWA’s) convention meeting in Toronto voted yesterday to add four at-large diversity seats to the union’s executive board to give a greater voice to local leaders.
Convention delegates created the four seats, representing four geographic areas of the union, with the goal of having at least three of the new members 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.
CWA President Larry Cohen says the decision “is not about being politically correct, it’s about doing the right thing.”
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.
Our fight for economic justice in the workplace and social justice in our world is strengthened today by this action to make certain that workers of every description see themselves reflected in our leadership.
The diversity plan is a key component of CWA’s Ready for the Future program, adopted last year to strengthen its grassroots activist base and develop strategic initiatives to take on critical issues in bargaining and public policy.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, who chaired a committee to develop a plan to increase diversity, says the convention’s action is in keeping with the union’s goals and history.
The fight for equity and justice is what organized labor is all about, and CWA has always been on the forefront of positive change. This diversity plan ensures that all will have a strong voice in the workplace, in society and in our union. It’s the right thing to do, the smart thing to do, the only thing to do.
CWA’s action puts into practice one of the strategies promoted by the recent AFL-CIO Diversity Dialogues. Nearly 200 union leaders and activists met July 14 in San Francisco in the fourth and final conference to discuss strategies to increase diversity in the leadership of their unions.
In the first three diversity dialogues held earlier in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit, local and regional union members, elected leaders and activists joined with members of AFL-CIO constituency groups and central local body and state federation leaders for frank discussions about the best ways to ensure that the leadership of the union movement is as diverse as its membership.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the participants in San Francisco that diversity is essential to the future of the union movement.
We simply cannot reach our goal of restoring the vitality of our movement as a bargaining power and a political power without the contributions and active participation of all our members. And we can’t restore the voice of working families without significant membership growth. Women and minorities are our greatest hope for achieving that growth, but we’re not presenting a picture of a union movement they want to join.
There’s an old hymn that says, “There is power in the blood,” and we need to adopt that thought and sing, “There is power in diversity.”
4 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Since we know money makes money, as was made evident by Mr. Ted Turner’s admission that his money had increased by one billion dollars in just nine months in 1997, what will you do to limit the unfair advantage of the haves and have mores and allow some of the wealth of the country to return to working people and to maintenance of the infrastructure of states and cities?
I’m all for diversity. As long as it EXCLUDES ILLEGALS! I wouldn’t welcome a home invader into my private residence and I certainly don’t welcome them into my country. Come here LEGALLY or DON’T COME HERE AT ALL!
No Amnesty, all it takes is a picture of non white people at the top of an article for you to chime in with your anti-American bullshit! I’ve seen it over and over, you comment on illegal immigration even when it has nothing to do with the story. Obviously, you are just another racist with no buisness in the labor movement at all.
The Crisis in Education Continues
By Phyllis C. Murray
“Almost half the nation’s school districts have significantly decreased the daily class time spent on subjects like science, art and history as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind law’s focus on annual tests in reading and math, according to a new report released yesterday. From: Focus on 2 R’s Cuts Time for the Rest, Report Says -New York Times July 2007
There is a CRISIS in EDUCATION . This state of crisis in the schools is not new. The minority populations have felt this for a very long time. In 1972 I began to chronicle the events in the school as parent involvement began to become an issue. And now in retrospect, I can see that the idea of public education as big business and its failure to produce a marketable product is not new; nor is the inability of our students to pick up the ladder of social and economic mobility which rests horizontally at the base of all walls that surround the inner-city. In 1964 Martin Luther King warned us about partially educating youth in the following statement: “huge masses are left handicapped in the shadows of ignorance and submerged in second class status.”
But the Crisis continued in 2006.
“We are told of one stunning educational success after another with ever more children passing the standardized tests. But in reality, the city’s public school students, particularly those students of color in inner city neighborhoods, are receiving a less than quality education.” EDUCATION PLANNING COUNCIL OF HARLEM/NY July 2006
“The system still fails to educate its African American and Latino students to the degree that they are ill-equipped to compete, academically and intellectually, with children of other racial and ethnic groups, attending schools in other neighborhoods. Our children are graduating at too low a percentage, we can also say poorly prepared for the challenges of higher education and fulfilling, lucrative new millennium careers.”EDUCATION PLANNING COUNCIL OF HARLEM/NY July 2006
These statements are not new. Our youth are in crisis. And the educational system is in crisis. This means that we need to look for ways to end the cycle of failure which is systemic throughout the impoverished inner city communities. Everyone should be involved in the process of ameliorating this situation. If not, that is the problem.
Since one size does not fit all, we should certainly try to look at exemplary programs for our schools which will work. Of course there are success stories whenever these programs work and enable students to reach their academic potential. Nevertheless, we are constantly assessing the progress of students and tailoring instruction to meet their needs. The hours spent by effective teachers are incalculable. But at least as educators we try because we are dealing with human lives.We try because the alternative of not trying is too costly as prisons await those children who have failed to become productive citizens. We try because the school to prison pipeline is a reality for far too many of our students as police in our schools takeover the role once reserved for teachers and administrators.
Educators in NYC public schools, know that smaller class size is a priority; adequate resources are a priority; staff development is a priority; and parent participation is a necessity. We know that we need highly qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, social workers, guidance counselors, psychologists,mentors, administrators, and union leaders. Surely, the schools that have the aforementioned cadre of professionals are fortunate.
However, it is unfortunate that NYC has left parents and teachers out of the decision making process for too long. However, because of the UFT political action, parents and teachers have ever stopped advocating for children in City Hall, in Albany and in Washington, DC. Therefore, I applaud any positive effort that is being made on behalf of children in NYC. Certainly, we have a long way to go. But we must pull out all stops to make this broken system work.
NYC Public School System was once a viable force for its earliest immigrants, like Henry Kissinger, who attended George Washington High School at night and worked in a shaving-brush factory during the day. Today, the NYC Public Schools must work for all of its students, again. Arthur Eisenberg is right: “The state must seek to break the cycle of discrimination and disadvantage”. Certainly, the future of America,as a strong nation, depends on it.