2007 Proceedings
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Proceedings and Index of the 69th Annual Convention Communications Workers of America Metro Toronto Convention Center Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 16-17, 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS MONDAY MORNING July 16, 2007 Call to Order - Temporary Co-Chair Lise Lareau, President, CWA Local 30213 1 Welcome by The Honorable David Miller, Mayor of Toronto 2 Invocation - Rev. James Evans, Pastor, United Church of Canada 3 Opening Ceremonies - Presentation of Colors, National Anthems 5 Address by Kenneth V. Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress 5 Remarks by District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton 8 President's Address - CWA President Larry Cohen 9 Use of Microphones, Introduction of Parliamentarians and Platform Committee 17 Credentials Committee - Partial Report 19 Convention Rules - Hours of Convention 20 Address by Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers Union 22 Remarks by Ken Neumann, National Director, USW Canada 25 Remarks by Arnold Amber, Canadian Director 26 National Women's Committee Report 26 Announcements by Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling 32 Recess 33 MONDAY AFTERNOON Video Presentation - 300-Mile March to Save New York Hospitals 34 Report of the National Committee on Equity 34 Address by Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach 42 Report of the Secretary-Treasurer by Barbara Easterling 48 Constitution Committee Report Constitution Amendments Re: At-Large Diversity Executive Board Members 52 Resolutions Committee Report 69A-07-1 - Implementing Non-Constitutional Recommendations on the Proposal on Executive Board Diversity 58 69A-07-8 - RMC and CWA: Working Together and Building Our Power 61 69A-07-3 - Creating a Canadian Region 65 69A-07-5 - Building a Political Movement 67 69A-07-6 - Fair Postal Rates for Small & Medium Periodicals 71 69A-07-7 - Genocide In Darfur 73 Video Presentation - Canadian Healthcare System 76 Announcements 76 Convention Greetings from U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton 76 Recess 78 i TABLE OF CONTENTS TUESDAY MORNING July 17, 2007 Invocation - Father Thomas Rosica (CEO, Salt & Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network) 79 Remarks by Secretary-Treasurer Easterling - "Milkshake Man" 81 Finance Committee Report (also see Addendum) 83 Defense/Members' Relief Fund Oversight Committee 85 Organizing Awards - Presented by District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen, Chair, Executive Board Organizing Committee 94 President's Annual Award for Organizing Excellence 95 Remarks by Steve Yount, Local 1096 97 Resolutions Committee (continued): 69A-07-2 - Restoring Pension Promises 97 69A-07-4 - Stem Cell Research 101 Remarks by CWA District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci 102 Proposed Resolution - Federal Legislation on Imported Consumable Products 109 Proposed Resolution - Outsourcing Telecom Work 110 Motion to Support Troop Withdrawal from Iraq 112 Appeals Committee - Appeals 1 - 3 114 Recess 124 TUESDAY AFTERNOON Announcements & Greetings from U.S. Senators Barack Obama & John Edwards 125 Video Presentation - "Milkshake Man" 128 Retired Members' Council - Remarks by James Starr, Chair 129 Pediatric AIDS Foundation Presentation and Awards Remarks by Pam Barnes, President/CEO 131 In Memoriam 132 COPE Awards - Presented by Executive Vice President Rechenbach 134 Newsletter Awards 138 Announcements & Convention Greetings from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and U.S. Senator Joe Biden 140 Good & Welfare 142 Closing Remarks by President Cohen 145 Adjournment, sine die 146 Addendum - Finance Committee Report ii MONDAY MORNING SESSION July 16, 2007 The 69th Annual Convention of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC, meeting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 16-17, 2007, convened at 9:00 a.m., Temporary Co-Chair Lise Lareau, President, CWA Local 30213, presiding. TEMPORARY CO-CHAIR LISE LAREAU (CWA Local 30213): Okay, everybody, this is your 30-second warning. If you could get into the hall and sit down, we will begin in 30 seconds. The delegates took their seats . TEMPORARY CO-CHAIR LAREAU: Hello, everybody. We're about to get going. Bonjour. Buenas Dias. Welcome to Toronto. Bienvenue tout le monde. It's great to see you. Come on in and take your seats. There is a lot of business to do today. First, a little housekeeping while you are sitting down. Please turn off your cell phones or put them on vibrate. Do something that won’t make them ring. I am Lise Lareau, and I am President of the Host Local, the Canadian Media Guild, Local 30213. (Applause) Thank you. It’s nice to see you all again-- this time from up here, which is a lot better, I might say. I am proud to stand before you as a Temporary Co-Chair of this Convention. As some of you may know, my Local represents about 6,000 media workers across Canada. Nearly half of them work right across the street from where you are right now at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This Convention probably has not been located so close to so many of its members at one time. So if you run into any CBC employees-- they are your colleagues, all of them-- out in the streets, please say hello. They are fellow CWA members. Now, I have the great pleasure to introduce you to the Mayor of my home city. There are three things you need to know about David Miller. He has been Mayor for nearly four years, and for awhile there was a lot of pressure in our city, just like in a lot of other North American cities, to contract out city services. You probably know the story in your own hometowns. Well, David Miller shut that talk down here in Toronto. He shut down the issue of contracting out city work. (Applause) And he continues to have a respectful relationship with the thousands of municipal employees here. Two, you may recall that two conventions ago I was here and I was speaking to you about the lockout at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, much of which took place in that park where we had our barbecue yesterday. While members of my local were locked out for nearly eight weeks the summer and fall of 2005, David Miller refused to be interviewed by the management team that were doing our work during that period. (Applause) And more than that, he was one of the first high profile guests on the morning radio show that our locked out workers did from a campus radio station, the Campus Lockout Show. He was one of the first big guests on that show, and that gave me a tremendous, tremendous boost. I know it had an impact on all our members, and that’s something you just never forget. Three, when David Miller was running for Mayor in 2003, he marched in the Labour Day Parade, which he’s done every year since then, by the way. That in itself is pretty good. But he also declared at that Labour Day Parade that every day should be labour day. (Applause) That’s more than pretty good, and we couldn’t agree more. 1 So I ask you to welcome a man who has always shown a true commitment to our values and respect for working people in this city, David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto. (Prolonged applause) HONORABLE DAVID MILLER (Mayor of Toronto): Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I came here to welcome you, but it feels like you are welcoming me to my own city, so thank you very, very much. Welcome to Toronto. Bienvenue a Toronto, buenas dias, Compadres. Sisters and brothers, it’s my very great pleasure to welcome the Communications Workers of America to the City of Toronto, and I wish you much success in your deliberations over the next two days. We are very proud to be a city that supports the rights of working people to organize and that works cooperatively and positively with the labor movement to ensure the success of all families in the City of Toronto. (Applause) Lise mentioned my leaflet on Labour Day 2003, and I just want to tell a brief story about that because I think it speaks to the values of the people of Toronto and why the people of Toronto are proud to support labor and proud to welcome your Convention here. My leaflet said, “Every day is Labour Day.” And every day from Labour Day to the election, which was in November, one of my opponents waved the leaflet around and said, “See, you can’t elect David Miller,” and every single time he did that, I went up in the polls. (Applause) I think that speaks to the values of Toronto and Torontonians. People understand here that when the rights of working people to organize are protected, their rights are protected, and they understand here that when labour leads the way in ensuring that people can work with dignity and respect and wages that allow their families to live and work in dignity, that their rights are protected as well, which is what the labour movement has always been about to me. I do want to acknowledge that I understand the Communications Workers of America represent many, many sectors. I saw the nurses organizing outside. In Toronto, your members are predominantly in the media and communications. We are very proud of that sector of the City of Toronto. We are the national headquarters for the media-- the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Global, CTV, Rodgers, TSN, Sportsnet, The Post, The Star, The Sun, and radio stations that are numerous galore. And it’s very important to our city that we are a home of creativity for the media outlets, because we are a city that welcomes newcomers from around the world. More than 52 percent of Torontonians, including myself, were not born in this country. It's a great strength of our city. And the labor movement has been extremely supportive of ensuring that newcomers in this city and people from diverse backgrounds are truly welcomed in Toronto, and that is another value that I share with labor and I know I share with all of you.