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Communications Workers of America Local 2001 | ||
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Political Action Take Action on CWA e-Campaigns! COPE: Committee on Political Education
Why Political Action? By Barbara J. Easterling
CWA Secretary- Treasurer Ergonomics. That’s my one-word answer
to a question I sometimes get from CWA members: “Why should I care
about politics, what difference does it make?”
As readers may remember, CWA led a
10-year long battle for federal regulations protecting workers from
repetitive motion injuries. We won because of our political and
legislative efforts. But then the 2000 election happened. George W.
Bush became president, anti-worker extremists retained control of
Congress, and the ergonomics standard was repealed.
That’s just one way politics affects
your life. I’ll give you some other one-word answers to that
question:
Wages. Benefits. Bargaining. Education.
Health. Retirement security. Organizing rights.
As you will read most areas of our lives
are directly affected by politics. Anything we win at the bargaining
table can be taken away by an act of Congress or a state
legislature, by the pen of a president or governor. Conversely,
anything we can’t win in bargaining we can gain through political
action. Moreover, our ability to organize and increase our
bargaining clout at contract time is affected by the state of labor
law and enforcement – or lack thereof.
Never forget that it was labor’s
political leadership that won so many protections we take for
granted today – the 40-hour work week, time-and-a-half for overtime,
the minimum wage, the right to collective bargaining, Social
Security, Medicare, and civil rights laws, for example.
And never forget that today, the powers
that be are working fervently to roll back many of these
longstanding gains, turning back the clock 100 years. Most of all,
they long for a world without unions.
If we don’t do everything we can to stop
them, who can?
Of course, there are no guarantees. Even
when we give it our all, that’s not always enough. The 2004
elections were testimony to that.
But sometimes, it is. We stopped
President Bush’s scheme to privatize Social Security dead in its
tracks. With the same effort, we will defeat his bizarre health
savings accounts proposal that would reward the wealthy and healthy,
while punishing the poor and sick. And if all CWA members do our
part, we can retake control of Congress for working families this
November.
There is one thing we know for sure – if
we don’t give our maximum effort, we will lose not only elections,
but every value we hold dear, every gain we have won, and even our
hope for the future. After all, our adversaries are out there in
force with their highly paid lobbyists and lavish campaign
contributions.
We have no choice but to fight.
Politics is not a spectator sport.
Whether we like it or not, we are all participants in our democracy.
We not only have the right, but the obligation to make the voices of
CWA members and working families heard in the corridors of the U.S.
and state capitals, in the White House and executive mansions, in
local governments and at the ballot box on Election Day.
So why political action? Because it
affects every aspect of our lives as members of the CWA Family.
Why political action? Because it gives
us the power to make a difference.
We can either use that power…or we can
lose it. I urge you to use it like never before. If we do, I believe
we will once again change America. From “CWA News –
April-May 2006” This is a very strong and concise statement made by Barbara J. Easterling, the CWA Secretary/Treasurer. We all must be diligent, and follow her lead.
Secretary/Treasurer Easterling recently
announced she will be retiring at the CWA 2008 Convention.
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