CWA NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE-POLITICAL CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON DC MARCH 25-28, 2007
(Norm McCullough)
(Photos courtesy Norman J. McCullough)
This is where the agendas are made and the political pressure is turned on.
Over the course of three days there were meetings with elected officials and their principle staff. The main events were meeting with the leading democrats’ of the day.
In attendance were Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Claire McCaskill, Joe Miller, and just about every other politician that has their hand out to the labor movement. When I say hand out I mean they want our votes, help, manpower, mailing list, and our money.
They are all still on the high of the November elections.
The issues that are ours have the votes in the house to pass but not enough to over ride a Veto. There is a lot of work to be done.
It was stated at this convention:
- That many Senate actions have led to a rise in unemployment.
- The Net Neutrality Bill has been withdrawn.
- Mailers at the Washington Post still do not have a contract; this is a blatant attempt at union busting.
- ABC/Disney is trying to destroy its employee Pension Plan. ABC/Disney wants to go to a Cash Balance Plan verses a Defined Benefit Plan. The ABC/Disney verses CWA on pensions is all about pension reform and how industry wants to get out of the deals that they have made in the past with their employees.
- The DC Voting Rights Bill is going to die.
- The Republicans want to gut the DC Gun Bill.
- Radio Free Asia is having its funds diverted to Middle East operations. It is languishing in the Appropriations Committee. I got tapped to visit both Senator Mikulski and Congressman Ruppersberger to pitch their cause. They are on the committee and I am from Maryland.
- Union Political Activist, need to bring in the Unions Retirees, to be used as a major work force in these next elections. This is a resource that has not been used as well in the past.
Now this is a political Conference so here come the politicians…
First up for me was Howard Dean, he is now the Chairman of the Democratic Party. He believes that V.A. reform should be an honor of service. Carl Rove and Attorney General Gonzales’ testimony should be under oath. The key to the elections is knocking on doors making it a two way campaign. There needs to be a re-branding of the Democratic Party. We need to stop being afraid to be Democrats. We need to respect the voter and ASK for their vote.
Next was Congressman Kucinich, he is running for President. He is for Universal Health Care. He wants to keep premiums, co-pays, and deductibles that would result in Insurance Co’s staying in the game. He wants to end N.A.F.T.A., cancel it out right. It is just a treaty. The President could do this by executive order. H.R.1234 is supposed to get us out if the President does not.
Then Morton Barr the past president of CWA went on a rant against Verizon Wireless. This was personal. He was lied to by the CEO face to face; it was an insult to every union member. For this we need to not buy Verizon Wireless. Let everyone know that Verizon Wireless is non-union. Verizon can be replaced by Cingular/ AT&T. Don’t attack Verizon, just back the union carrier. Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon, is very anti union.
Senator Sherrod Brown ran on a union platform in Ohio and won. With economic growth of 16% nationwide only 1.2% has gone to workers wages. He says he is the Senator of the Labor Movement.
The next day saw the front runners come to the floor to address the members.
All the Democratic candidates talked about issues that were important to Union members. Democrats flexed their muscle in November and that was not lost on the candidates. They all know that they need us to get them elected. What we got next were the speeches.
Senator Obama talked ideas, but no details. Supports the causes. He says there is nothing wrong with: universal health care, card check, and unions.
Senator Mary McCaskill, ex-governor of Missouri, Co-Sponsored the E.F.C.A. She seems to be a very earthy, grounded, first term senator.
Congressman Joe Miller, a very strong, bare knuckle, street fighting politician. He added perspective to what has been going on for the past 11 years in the house. You’ve got to give him credit for sticking it out.
The next big gun was Senator Edwards; it should be as easy to join a union as it is to join a political party. It is time to be patriotic about something else other than War.
Then Senator Clinton came to speak. What I saw was a very professional politician with an air of confidence. She said the same things as the other candidates:
The next morning was a real treat. The most powerful woman in America came to speak, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She was beaming like a new bride. The power of her new position made her glow. She was warm, approachable, genuine coming in the door, and what seemed to me truly grateful of the reception. Speaker Pelosi spoke of specifics, the results of the first hundred hours agenda, E.F.C.A., health care, and Iraq funding…truly a person that is in our corner.
Speaker Pelosi was the closing act of this conference. We visited offices all over Capitol Hill did many meet-and-greets, and saw how the process works and what it takes to run government.
again to bamboozle the buying public the administration has taken the stance that the food service folks are doing a great job of serving you. What and for how much is the question.