Union chief warns of organized labor decline

Grace Leong

Tuesday, June 18, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

Communications Workers of America President Morton Bahr challenged union delegates meeting in Las Vegas Monday to bolster membership in the face of corporate downsizing and alleged efforts by the government and corporate America to thwart labor organizing efforts.

Bahr warned of a possible waning of the labor movement's power to influence the economic and political life of the country. He cited U.S. Labor Department reports that state union representation of private sector workers has dipped to 9 percent, while representation of private and public workers is about 13 percent of the U.S. workforce.

"Forty-two of the 66 affiliates of the AFL-CIO have fewer than 100,000 members. Two unions that once were more than 1 million members strong are now less than half a million each," he said. "If we do not turn this picture around, we will be handing the union-free crowd just what they want. As this situation worsens, the total labor movement loses a degree of effectiveness at the bargaining table."

The CWA represents about 725,000 members in the telecommunications, printing, news, cable, broadcast media, law enforcement, higher education and airline industries.

It lost 28,891 of some 400,000 members in the telecommunications industry between March 2001 and May 2002 because of the economic downturn and restructuring of major employers including AT&T.

But Bahr said the CWA has added 14,000 new members in the first five months of the year.

Besides AT&T, other key CWA employers include SBC Communications, Verizon, General Electric, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the NBC and ABC television networks and U.S. Airways.

Bahr also criticized what he called anti-union policies adopted by President Bush's administration including "overturning the ergonomics (worker safety) standards to stacking the National Labor Relations Board, Department of Labor and the courts with extreme anti-union zealots."

"Today, Congress gives huge tax cuts to the rich and votes public assistance cuts to the poor. The well-off enjoy a 'wealth care' system of health benefits while politicians argue over the morality of helping laid-off workers receive health care," Bahr said. "The highest paid CEOs enjoy lifetime pension protection while working families worry about the safety of their 401(k). Today, only 23 percent of the workforce have pension plans."

Meanwhile, CWA Local 9413 in Reno, which represents about 800 telecommunications, airline and print shop workers in Nevada, said it launched an organizing drive last month targeting between 450 and 500 American Airlines passenger services agents in the Las Vegas area.

Rose Wolcott, Local 9413's president, said the local drive is part of CWA's renewed effort since a failed election in 1998 to represent some 15,000 American Airlines reservations agents nationwide.