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Proceedings and Index of the 74 Annual Convention

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Proceedings and Index of the 74 Annual Convention Proceedings and Index of the 74th Annual Convention Communications Workers of America David Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania April 22-23, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page MONDAY MORNING April 22, 2013 Call to Order - Temporary Chair Sandra L. Kmetyk, President, Local 13500 1 Invocation - Rev. Father Jack O'Malley, Chaplain, AFL-CIO Pittsburgh 1 Opening Ceremonies - Presentation of Colors & National Anthems 3 Welcome - Jack Shea, President, Allegheny County Labor Council 3 Greetings - Richard W. Bloomingdale, President, Pennsylvania State AFL-CIO 5 Introduction of CWA President by Ed Mooney, Vice President, District 2-13 5 President's Address - CWA President Larry Cohen 6 Remarks by Daniel Rivera, Local 7019 12 Use of Microphones, Introduction of Parliamentarians and Platform Observers 16 Credentials Committee Report 18 Convention Rules & Hours of Convention 19 Finance Committee Report (also see Appendix A) 20 Defense Fund Oversight Committee Report (also see Appendix B) 23 Announcements 32 Recess 32 MONDAY AFTERNOON Call to Order - 33 Constitution Committee Report - Amendments Nos. 1 thru 4 33 Amendment No. 6 - Re: Telecom Vice President 41 Roll Call Vote Results (also see Appendix E) 53 Amendment Re: AT&T Mobility 53 National Civil Rights & Equity Committee 55 National Women's Committee Report 70 Next Generation Committee Report 85 Remarks by Jake Lake 85 Moment of Silence for tornado victims in Waco, Texas 89 Announcements 89 Recess 89 TUESDAY MORNING April 23, 2013 Call to Order 90 Invocation - Rev. Michael Dawson, Local 3204 90 Guest Speaker - Leo Gerard, International President, United Steel Workers Union 91 Oath of Office - Linda Hinton, Vice President, District 4 94 Remarks re: "No Knives on Planes" by AFA-CWA Vice President Veda Shook 94 Recognition of Platform Observers 95 Secretary-Treasurer's Report by Annie Hill 95 Pediatric AIDS Foundation - Remarks by Chip Lyons, President/CEO 102 Remarks by: Martha Cameron 104 Awards by At-Large Diversity Board Member Madelyn Elder 106 Retired Members' Council Report - Vice President Ralph Maly (also see Appendix C) 108 Remarks by Ray Kramer 108 Resolutions Committee Report - 110 Resolutions #1 thru #6 (also see Appendix F) 111 Re: Equal Access to Healthcare Coverage 126 Re: Regional Telecom Bargaining Councils 128 Announcements & Raffle Winners 130 Recess 130 TUESDAY AFTERNOON Call to Order 131 In Memoriam 131 Organizing Program - Remarks by Sandy Rusher, National Organizing Director 134 Remarks by Steve Auerbach, President, Local 3704 136 Organizing Awards - Presented by AFA-CWA Vice President Veda Shook, Chair, Organizing Committee 138 President's Annual Award for Organizing Excellence 139 Remarks by Rolando Scott, Jr., President, Local 1109 140 Remarks by Todd Leyda, President, Local 4302 142 Guest Speaker - James C. Little, President, Transport Workers Union of America 143 Next Generation Raffle Winners 146 Appeals Committee Report - Appeals No. 1 thru 7 147 Motion to Reconsider Constitutional Amendment - Article XV, Section 8 Re: Int'l Officers' Term of Service 154 CWA Political Action Fund Awards (also see Appendix D) By Jim Weitkamp, District 9 Vice President 157 Points of Personal Privilege 158 Election Results - Re: Defense Fund Oversight Committee & Trial Panel 160 President's Closing Remarks 161 Announcement - 2015 Convention Site 163 Adjournment, sine die 164 Appendix A - Finance Committee Report - Explanation of Funds & Operating Budget B - Defense Fund Oversight Committee Report - SIF Budget C - Retired Members' Council Chapters D - CWA - Political Action Program Honor Locals E - Roll Call Vote re: Motion to Approve Telecom VP Amendment F - Resolutions 1 thru 6 MONDAY MORNING SESSION April 22, 2013 The 74th Convention of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC, held April 22-23, 2013, at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, convened at 9:00 a.m., Temporary Chair Sandra L. Kmetyk, President, CWA Local 13500, presiding. TEMPORARY CHAIR KMETYK: Good morning, CWA delegates, friends, and family. Please take your seats. The official clock here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, indicates that it is 9:00 a.m. And that means it is time for us to begin our work. I ask everyone to please be seated as I call the 74th Convention of the Communications Workers of America to order. My name is Sandy Kmetyk, and I am President of CWA Local 13500. I am very proud to welcome you to our great city. My local, 13500, is very diverse, and we have accomplished a lot since 1944 when our local was first established. I am proud to be CWA. Larry Cohen was my introduction to CWA when we were still an independent union. Larry was Organizing Director at the time and he taught me not to be afraid, but to organize and spread the union word-- and we haven't stopped since. Today our local represents workers at AT&T, AT&T Mobility, and Verizon Customer Service workers, Life Path, home health care workers, and Red Cross. We welcome anyone who wants a voice on the job. That's how we are building our union. I am honored to serve as Temporary Chair this morning. And on behalf of the members of Local 13500 and all my sister locals in District 2-13, I welcome you to Pittsburgh and to the 74th Convention of the Communications Workers of America. We will open our Convention as we traditionally do-- with a prayer. This morning we will be led by Reverend Jack O'Malley. Father Jack is a long time priest here in Pittsburgh. He serves as Chaplain for the State AFL-CIO and as part of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Network. He works nonstop to bring together the faith community to help working families. Father Jack. REVEREND FATHER JACK O'MALLEY (Chaplain, AFL-CIO-Pittsburgh): We may be in Pittsburgh, but our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers are in Boston. We may be in Pittsburgh, but our prayers and our hearts and our thoughts are in Texas. We welcome all of you here. As we remember and pray for workers and people everywhere, the cowardly killing of innocent people at the Boston Marathon reminds us how vulnerable we are in a free society. And so our prayers and our thoughts are with Boston Strong, the fertilizer plant workers' families in Texas, and for all people suffering. The best prayer that I heard in these past few weeks came from little Martin Richards, eight years old, who was killed because he wanted to watch his father cross the finish line in the Boston Marathon. His mom and his sister were seriously injured. When the media talked about little Martin, they showed him at one point holding up a little sign, as we hold up signs so often-- a little banner that he made in church or at school. And his banner reminded 1 us of the perfect prayer for people everywhere. Little Martin's banner with the peace symbol and with drawn hearts on his little burlap sign said, "No more hurting people. Peace." "No more hurting people. Peace." Most of our prayers are too wordy, but Martin made it simple for us: a perfect prayer, a powerful message for all of us. This is why workers come together, because our brothers and sisters are hurting. If you can't feed your family, have a living wage, have health care, have a pension, your family is hurting. We organize and struggle and fight in a nonviolent way so there's no more hurting people. When corporations buy and sell for each other so that they can avoid paying the United Mine Workers for their work and due pension and health care, we say, "No more hurting people." When corporations privatize and tell us they have to do this so the wine and spirits in the State stores are more successful, we say, like Martin, "No more hurting people." When they tell us there is voter fraud and we must have voter ID, we know what that code word is about-- to eliminate a progressive vote. We say, "No more hurting people." When health care workers are arrested and fired for trying to organize the workers who take care of our parents and grandparents, our children and ourselves, we say, "No more hurting people." So Martin's prayer encourages us to organize, to resist and persist, to encourage politicians who are too weak to stand up and vote for card check, for a background check, when they refuse to take assault weapons off our streets because they must get reelected or they are afraid of a certain organization like the NRA, we say, "No more hurting people." These weapons are killing our brothers and sisters in our cities every day. Martin's prayer encourages us to stand up, to fight back for our brothers and sisters-- in Boston, in Texas. And so let us pray. Today we are not a lone voice. We are many voices. We speak for ourselves and we speak for others who cannot speak. We carry our own stories. We carry the stories of those who are not here. We are names and faces-- and we bring with us names and faces of those beyond these walls. We may be small in number, but we bring with us multitudes. Today, in this place where laws are made, this is who we are, this is who we carry. We are within the margins and we are the marginalized. We are the nursed and we are the hungry. We are the housed and we are the homeless. We are the healthy and we are the sick. We are the believers and we are the doubters. We are the remembered and we are the forgotten. We are the faithful and we are a faith that is full.
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