Executive Vice President's Report

The Union for the Information Age

June 2008 Executive Vice-President's Report
by Stan Wylie, Vice President

The month of May breezed by I was pretty much out of the loop most of the month. I spent several days at the District 7 meeting which I reported on last month then spent 2 weeks on vacation out of the country so really did not have much access to email or phone.

So I can take this time to look forward. As you know we are fast approaching bargaining and we also have some very important state and national elections that are coming up. For the last several years our government has done everything they can it seems to make things more difficult for working families. They have done very little if anything to address health care coverage for Americans or to address out of control gas prices which of course are affecting food and any other service type costs everything is going up except of course our wages.

At times like this many folks look to their union and want to know what are you doing? What can you do to help? Well first I would like to remind everyone that YOU ARE THE UNION! While there are Stewards, Officers, and other folks that work to represent members, you and I and the rest of us make up the union. I remind you of that because things are getting difficult. When things become difficult it takes more effort to overcome those obstacles. I am asking for your help for the next several months.

There are many things we can do together that will make a difference. The key word there is together. We all need to work together and to do so we can. History has proven that a group working together can achieve great things. We can look at our history and see as an example “Juneteenth” great things happened there in regards to Civil Rights in the country that continues to be celebrated and remembered. That did not happen because a couple labor activists carried a sign in front of a building or stood up and spoke at a public meeting. It happened because hundreds and thousands of people all pitched in and did something. Collectively they made their voices heard and collectively they outnumbered those they were rallying against. Short story here it makes a difference.

I am asking for your help. I am going to ask that you commit to yourself and volunteer for something that you have a passion about. Make a commitment to volunteer a minimum of 8 to 15 hours a month for at least the next 6 months. We have several committees that currently need more assistance Strike Prep, Mobilization, and Legislation will all be very busy in the coming weeks and have many things to accomplish and will need as much help as possible. We can use help getting messages out to others in the work group, getting petitions signed and turned into our legislators, participating in any one of several CWA’s SIF Campaigns Speed Matters, Employee Free Choice Act, or Universal Health Care. All of these affect us a great deal but not only that will be beneficial to all Americans. Very worthy activities to be involved in and to be proud of and when we succeed in our goals in those areas and we will succeed don’t doubt that!! It will be something to be proud of and we can say we made a difference.

If politics is your passion lots to do there as well, I can’t stress enough how important it will be that in the elections in November that we get as many folks elected that will represent for working families.

We will be helping several local candidates and that may involve calling other union families on the phone or going to neighborhoods and doing door hangers. Attending public policy meetings and voicing an opinion. Lots of stuff and really will take lots of volunteers so please be a participant. Take part in change have something to tell your kids about and how you helped. Speaking of kids they are never too young to start teaching them social responsibility and there are many things they can partake in that they will find educational and enjoyable.