President's Corner
So…CWA deeply cares about representing Suffolk County public employees?
12/3/2009
Why shouldn’t they? They want us to help pay their rent and salaries for Executive Board officers you never ever get a chance to vote for! That’s right, CWA talks about democracy, but they do not live democratically.
CWA will tell you anything you want to hear because everyone is uneasy about the worst sustained economic news in over a half a century. In truth, CWA has suffered a disastrous drop in their national membership (4000 members/per month), and they need to find new dues-paying members if they expect to meet the huge monthly expenses required to run that huge bureaucracy!
They have engaged in a simple business model for raising revenue: raid others. In fact, their financial situation is so desperate, they have sought to attack other unions across the country rather than do the tough job of organizing the hundreds of thousands of workers who are not protected by collective bargaining No surprise they’re moving into the public sector- we are the cash cows of the labor movement! While their core group, the private sector telecommunications industry (think Verizon) is being laid off, the public sector remains stable. Your increased dues will go to off-set their declining bank balances. Yet, for your additional money, you’re not getting additional representation- the New York State Taylor Law doesn’t allow them to give you any more than what you currently receive – for substantially less money!
When you unravel CWA’s slick public relations assault against AME (directed from Washington D.C.), you will reach a cheap but obvious conclusion. If we really wanted to change who represents us at the contract negotiating table, we would vote to change union leadership, not the union itself!
Why would we dismantle the Union that we control with our votes, our voices, our dues? Unless of course, we wanted to help CWA pay their rent and salaries!
The Power and Strength of our Union is in our members and no one else. Become part of the solution. Proud to be AME!