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First-time delegate reflects on the meaning
of union
By Athima Chansancha
Local 37082 recording secretary
As a first-time delegate to this year's TNG
Sector Conference and CWA Convention, I didn't know quite
what to expect.
As an active member and officer of the Asian
American Journalists Association, I'm a veteran of those conventions,
which include dozens of workshops about hot industry issues
(multi-media, the very rapid transformations on the media
landscape, blogging, etc.). I was grateful for the opportunity
to experience a union convention since the last one I went
to was about a decade ago in San Francisco, for the Asian
Pacific American Labor Association..
I'd like to thank the Executive Board and the
members for giving me an experience I won't forget anytime
soon.
I had no idea what Toronto was going to be
like. What impressed me is that Toronto is a strong union
community. Right across from the convention center is the
headquarters for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. With
more than 5,500 Guild members, the CBC is the largest newsgathering
organization in North America. Outside the CBC: a monument
to fallen workers, those killed on the job. Speaking at the
convention: Toronto Mayor David Miller, who refused to give
interviews to the CBC when it locked out Guild members, a
mayor who supports labor in a city with four—FOUR!—daily
metropolitan newspapers.
During the Guild conference, there were several
recurring themes—diversity, collective bargaining and
organizing. While conveying the seriousness of the industry's
difficult times, Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley turned
to Eleanor Roosevelt for inspiration. “Look fear in
the face" and "we must do that which we think we
cannot,” Foley quoted. Diversity makes us stronger,
because what brings us together is stronger than what pulls
us apart.
This theme was repeated when CWA delegates
voted overwhelmingly to accept the Diversity Proposal, which
will help the CWA Executive Board better reflect the diversity
of rank-and-file members. Diversity was repeated when TNG
Secretary-Treasurer Bernie Lunzer, who is running for the
Guild presidency, said, “Cynicism has to be rejected.
Despair has to be checked at the door. It can be better.”
As membership declines, Lunzer said, we must be more creative
about outreach to bilingual publications.
I participated in a workshop called “Organizing
the Organized” and drew great inspiration from reports
from locals in Dayton, Detroit and Denver. They gave us hope
as organizers described how leaders clawed back from depleted
ranks to regain members and ownership of their livelihoods.
TNG-CWA Local 1096’s success at Dow Jones (Rupert Murdoch's
takeover aside) showed us how even those most difficult of
union members—we journalists—can be wrangled for
a good cause. Local 1096 members at the Wall Street Journal
baffled their editors by showing up late to work one day as
a job action.
Organizers battled apathy with constant vigilance,
with information, with the fact that unions gave us a foundation
for security and benefits we might otherwise take for granted.
These drives build relationships and allowed members to believe—really
believe—that the union is theirs and what they make
of it. They engaged members and from the ranks rose natural
leaders.
The Next Generation meeting targeted at younger
union members drew my interest. We formed a working committee
that will help us to engage our members in discussions about
such hot-button issues as seniority.
I also sat in on the Resolutions Committee
and helped tweak a few points on a resolution opposing the
increase of postal rates that help big corporations but have
a damaging effect on small publications.
The CWA Convention plunged us into a hall with
3,000 other delegates. The most exciting part there was watching
democracy in action. Voting against the recommendation of
the CWA Executive Board, the delegates voted to arbitrate
two grievances, one for a guy with a clean record whose company
didn’t follow an established protocol before canning
him, and another for a member whose situation also elicited
the benefit of the doubt. Even though we are a small sector
of CWA, the Guild wasn’t omitted in earning awards.
Local 1096 won the President's Award for organizing 250-plus
member unit at Dow Jones Harborside in Jersey City while also
negotiating a contract.
Local 1096 President Steve Yount left us with
the message I carried away from this Toronto experience: “This
is YOUR union. That is the ONLY reason we exist.”
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