Proceedings and Index of the 66Th Annual Convention - 2004
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Proceedings and Index of the 66th Annual Convention - 2004 Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California August 30-31, 2004 MONDAY MORNING SESSION August 30, 2004 th The Opening Session of the 66 Annual Convention of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California, August 30-31, 2004, convened at 8:30 a.m., Temporary Chair Phil Hanneman, Council Chair, CWA Local 9511, presiding. ... Prior to the official opening of the convention, a video was shown welcoming the delegates to the convention and to Anaheim, California, as "We Are Family" played in the background ... TEMPORARY CHAIR HANNEMAN: Good morning. Will the delegates please be seated. Will all the delegates please be seated. The official clock of the Southern California Council indicates that it is now 8:30 a.m. I would ask that everyone please be seated as I call the 66th Annual Convention of the Communications Workers of America to order. We have a busy schedule this morning and a very full two-day schedule, so would everyone please be seated so we can begin. I am Phil Hanneman, chairperson of the Southern California Council and an Executive Board Member of Local 9511 located in Escondido, California. I have the distinct honor and pleasure of being your Temporary Chair today. Delegates, Alternates, Officers, Staff and Guests: On behalf of the officers and members of District 9, I welcome you to the 66th Annual Convention of the Communications Workers of America and to Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland, the California Adventure, the Anaheim Angels baseball team, and the Mighty Ducks hockey team, and some of the most beautiful weather in the United States, as you have seen displayed in the last couple of days. As is our custom, we will open the convention with an invocation. Would everyone please rise while I call upon Rabbi Lawrence J. Goldmark, Temple Beth Ohr, La Mirada, for the invocation. After the invocation, please remain standing for the presentation of Colors and the singing of the National Anthems of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Please give Rabbi Goldmark a warm welcome. (Applause) RABBI LAWRENCE J. GOLDMARK: Thank you. If you will all please bow your heads. I would like to thank each and every one of you for inviting me to come back to your convention. It was wonderful being here four years ago. A wise rabbi nearly 2,000 years ago said, "According to the labor is the reward." Many of us might dispute this learned man, for all of us know of people who have gained fame and wealth and even glory without having put in the labor that we think is necessary for such rewards. We say that they are lucky or fortunate or have even cheated in order to get to the position that they are today. But if we think about it for a moment, they are the exception. Most people have to put in the necessary hours and days and weeks and years to achieve the rewards of their labors. All of us know people who use shortcuts and schemes and devices to get them to their goals faster. But in the long run, the hard-working, conscientious man or woman who goes by the rules of society will achieve his or her goals sooner and in a happier state. Helen Keller once said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." This coming Monday, we salute each other on Labor Day. We take a day off from our work to reflect on our lives and the goals which we have set, and the purpose of all our toil and efforts. Let us rejoice with our fellow Americans that collectively we are building a great and mighty nation composed mainly of decent, hard-working people. For this we have all labored, and this is our reward. So I conclude with a few words from the book of Deuteronomy: ... Rabbi Goldmark delivered a Hebrew prayer ... May the Lord, dear God, bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hands to do, and all the people said Amen. TEMPORARY CHAIR HANNEMAN: Thank you, Rabbi Goldmark. Our Colors this morning will be presented by the Orange High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC, after which Debbie Thomas, Director of Human Rights in the TNG-CWA sector, will sing the National Anthems of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. I wish to remind the delegates to please remain standing until the Color Guard has left the hall. I will now introduce Cadet Corporal Lindsee Pace, please. CADET CORPORAL LINDSEE PACE (Narrator, Orange High School's Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Anaheim Convention Center for the 66th Annual Communications Workers of America Convention. The Orange High School Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard is proud to present the United States, Canadian, Puerto Rican, and Marine Corps Colors. st The Color Guard Commander is Cadet 1 Lieutenant Victor Esquivel. st Cadet 1 Lieutenant Benjamin Wooden is the Puerto Rican Color Bearer. st Cadet 1 Lieutenant Joseph Wooden is the Canadian Color Bearer. Cadet Gunnery Sergeant Diego DeLeon is the Marine Color Bearer. Cadet Corporal Andres Madrigal is the Right Rifle Bearer. Cadet Lance Corporal Gabriela Lepe is the Left Rifle Bearer. Cadet Corporal Lindsee Pace is your Narrator. (Applause) ... The delegates arose as the Orange High School Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard presented the Colors, and Debbie Thomas, Director of Human Rights in the TNG-CWA sector, sang the National Anthems of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico ... (Applause and cheers) TEMPORARY CHAIR HANNENMAN: Thank you for that good work, Lindsee Pace. I want to thank the Orange High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC for the presentation of Colors and Debbie Thomas for her rendition of the National Anthems. Please give them another round of applause. (Applause) th Again, I want to welcome you to the 66 Annual Convention of the Communications Workers of America here in Anaheim. I would like to turn your attention to the gift bags that you received when you registered. On the back of the gift you will find the three Councils that co-sponsor this host gift. Those three Councils are: the Northern California Nevada Council and their respective Locals, Gregg Ball, President; Coastal Valley Council and their respective Locals, Nadine Cox, President; and the Southern California Council and their respective Locals, Phil Hanneman, Chair. I would also like to thank all of the individual Locals that contributed additional gifts. The Convention Host Committee has put an enormous amount of time into the planning and execution of this convention. Please join me in thanking them for their efforts to make this convention exciting and memorable. The Host Committee members are: Irene Baltazar, Local 9586, Felicia Benkosky, Local 9509; Earlene Boyd, Local 9416; Sandi Franco, Local 9404; Vickie Garcia, Local 9588; Phil Hanneman, Local 9511; Bill Herzog, Local 9509; Kristy Pham, Local 9510; Jack Metzger, Local 9400; Judy Rapue, Local 9586; Kathy Requejo, Local 9505; Lisa Shafer, Local 9575; Bob Smith, Local 9505; Pam Suniga, Local 9416; Robyn Waters, Local 9505; Rose Whitney, Local 9400; Sylvia Zavala, Local 9588; Ed Venegas, District 9 Staff. Let us all applaud and thank the Host Committee. (Applause) I would especially like to thank Nita Moreno, president of Local 9510, the Host Local here in Anaheim, for her continued support of the California Council and her contribution to this event. Nita has allowed the Council to use the facilities at her local to hold our Council Executive Board meetings, the Convention Host Committee meetings, and store the items that have been put in the gift bags. Thank you very much, Nita. (Applause) Our first speaker today is Art Pulaski, executive secretary -treasurer of the California Labor Federation. Art has just recently been re-elected at the state AFL-CIO convention in July. Under Art's stewardship in 2003, the California Labor Federation teamed up with the California Medical Association and Senate leader John Burton to pass SB-2, the Health Insurance Act in California. This landmark legislation is the most important health reform in a generation. It is now on the November ballot as Proposition 72. Also under Art's stewardship, we intend to win this state for John Kerry and John Edwards. (Applause) We are going to re-elect Barbara Boxer to the Senate, and we are going to elect all labor's endorsed candidates on November 2. Let's all show our gratitude to Art for many victories to come in California as we welcome Art Pulaski. (Applause) ART PULASKI (Executive Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation): Thank you, Phil. Morty, Barbara, Larry, our own Tony Bixler, Brothers and Sisters, Officers: Welcome to California on behalf of our own brothers and sisters in CWA from District 9, and also great leaders of local unions around the state of California. It is also such an honor to see a union now part of CWA that I have long admired and worked with, the AFA, the Association of Flight Attendants. Great to see you as part of this great union. (Applause) We want to welcome you, especially our brothers and sisters from Canada and Puerto Rico, and you will probably have to bear through a lot of George Bush stuff this week. We ask you for your indulgence. It's so important to the future of America and, in fact, to the world.