Like all unions, CWA has been hit with significant membership losses largely due to shutdowns, bankruptcies and the slowdown in the national economy. Although membership losses have continued in 2009, 2008 was much worse, Cohen explained.
‘CWA is exploring new ways to do things. We can’t blame each other. Our problems are driven by the economy.’
Cohen said the drop in membership has forced CWA to explore “new ways to do things. We can’t blame each other. Our problems are driven by the economy.” He stressed that the solutions lie outside the realm of collective bargaining.
Referring to health care reform, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and efforts to restore unity within the labor movement, Cohen said he remains hopeful that progress on each of these three fronts can put the labor movement back on track.
Following the close of the CWA Convention, conference delegates joined with the larger CWA group to participate in a massive rally to support health care reform and call for passage of the EFCA. Organizers of the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) rally said some 10,000 trade unionists, including an estimated 2,500 from the CWA Convention, took part in the effort.
“Health care reform is not in the bag yet,” Cohen warned, noting that early versions of the reform bill had not included an employer mandate—a requirement that all private employers offer at least some form of health insurance for their employees. The employer mandate is a bottom-line requirement for CWA in any health reform bill, Cohen said.
Cohen applauded the Sector’s role in the crusade for the EFCA. In all, more than 115,000 CWA members have been part of the overall labor effort to mobilize support for the legislation—“well ahead of the goal we set for ourselves.” He reminded delegates that the drive to reform U.S. labor law started some 17 years ago when CWA’s Executive Board passed a resolution supporting the measure. Twelve years later, the bill was introduced into Congress.
Although the Republicans have adopted a united front opposing EFCA, Democrats have not been able to develop the same kind of party discipline in support of it, Cohen noted.
With private sector union membership down to about 7 percent of the workforce, the “unionized sector cannot continue to carry the load for all the non-union companies that are not doing their share,” Cohen noted, adding: “and it’s dragging down the public sector as well.”
Cohen vowed to continue efforts to unify the labor movement through the National Labor Coordinating Committee. Noting that there have been no substantive meetings on labor issues with President Obama since the inauguration because of the rift between the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, Cohen said getting all the unions back together is crucial. “We need a united labor voice.”
