President Hill (center) discusses strategy with Secretary-Treasurer OConnor (left) and Political/Legislative Director Rick Diegel.

Its Time To Roll Up Our Sleeves

An Intolerable Assault On Workers Rights

By Edwin D. Hill
International President

As our members read and listen to the news coming out of Washington, D.C. these days, it seems to be all about war, terrorism and digging out from a snowstorm. But out of sight from the public, the Bush Administration is very actively continuing to undermine organized labor and American workers.

The latest assault has taken the form of proposed regulations issued by the Department of Labor on changing the federal reporting requirements for unionslocals as well as internationals. Its an issue that is well off the media radar. Its a subject that would glaze over the eyes of most union members. But it is a serious matterdeadly serious.

Its a little known fact in American economic life that unions have stricter financial reporting and disclosure requirements than companies doeven in the wake of the major corporate scandals of the past two years. So now, the Bush Administration wants to slap new requirements not on their financial backers in big business, but on the organizations formed by and run by working peopletheir unions. This is not about rooting out the isolated cases of corruption in the labor movement or protecting rank and file workers. The presidents real goal is to force you to spend some one billion dollars more of your dues money on additional union administration and less on activism, to tie up your international and local unions with needless red tape so that you will not be represented as effectively, and, ultimately, to silence your voice in the workplace and the public arena.

To state it as plainly as I can, this is one more effort to strengthen the economic power of corporations and to weaken the effectiveness and the rights of union members. It is the latest battle in the class warfare being waged by George W. Bush and those who put him in office.

As Secretary-Treasurer OConnor points out on the next page, it is sad to say, the voices of organized labor are among the few being raised in defense of working people. We cannot focus exclusively on projecting American strength in the world if we ignore the crumbling economic foundation at home. Just as a mighty building cannot stand with a weak foundation, neither can a country.

We are using our legal and legislative resources to beat back these proposed Department of Labor regulations. We will work through the process, and do all in our power to prevent this massive theft of your money. But the time has come for the IBEW and all of organized labor to do more.

If someone breaks into your house and steals the food off your familys table, you dont just wait for someone else to act. You fight back.

Well, someone is trying to steal your daily bread. Someone is trying to take your job or at least strip it of dignity. Someone is trying to shut you up. Someone is trying to keep your children from having the opportunity to move up in life.

Brothers and sisters, I am not an alarmist, and I dont say these things lightly. But I am sick and tired of watching the lifeblood being drained from hardworking men and women of North America by the greedy and the powerful. We thought we had won a struggle for social justice and dignity on this continent, but we were wrong. It is a struggle that never stops, and now it is our turn to take up the fight.

It is time to roll up our sleeves and give something of ourselves to fight against those who would make servants of us. It is time to truly join your union, not just in name, not just through dues payments, but also with your heart, soul and energy. The only way we will reverse the trends of today is to fight for our future. The first step to beat back these efforts is to write your Congressional representative. And also join your unions organizing efforts, get involved in political mobilization, support IBEW-PAC, volunteer to help run your local, attend your union meeting, read your magazine and web sitedo whatever it takes, but get involved! If you have gotten used to a comfortable lifestyle, youd better get off your easy chair, put down that remote control and fight to protect what you have.

We are not just fighting some accounting requirements. We are fighting for our future.

We Cant Hear You, Dems

By Jeremiah J. O'Connor
International Secretary-Treasurer

Foreign leadersfriendly and otherwisearound the world and young children in every family are told, "You are going to be held accountable for your actions." But Im not sure we do a very good job in enforcing that admonition where we really should, with the government officials who get our endorsement and our blood, sweat and tearsnot to mention our moneyat election time.

We live by a political action slogan given to us by Samuel Gompers that says reward your friends and punish your enemies. But you have to be able to tell which is which. Off the experience of last falls elections, the basic lesson for Democrats is that if you dont stand for something youll fall for anything. Thats why they bought into Bushs tax cuts.

Readers of this column know that I have trashed the Bush economic agenda since the day that the president was appointed to office. But Ill give the man credit for at least knowing his mind and pushing his program. When we wait for the loyal opposition to thunder its disapproval of the sorry status quo, we hear Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, George Miller and darn few others.

Our agenda is not complicated, nor self-centered. It has one item: advance the well-being of North American workers. And its not faring very well. Unemployment almost doubled, jumping up to 6 percent in two years, and Congress let federal jobless benefits expire over the Christmas holiday. Weve lost 2 million manufacturing jobs, and the fantasy words "free trade" still tumble from the lips of candidates of both parties. More than 40 million Americans have no health insurance and U.S. retirees send emissaries to buy prescription drugs in Canada, yet the congressional focus on health care starts with what pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers might want.

Is it so hard for our friends, mostly but not all Democrats, to find a little backbone and stand up for the people who helped get them elected? Is common sense and common decency on economic issues so out of fashion that politicians cant find their voice on bread-and-butter issues?

As reported in this issue, more than 3,500 active and retired working men and women rallied and lobbied in Washington, D.C. in February to speak out against the decline of manufacturing and good jobs in America. The assembled union folks heard Congressman George Miller (D-CA), who is a notable exception to the silent crowd, say that Democrats need to hear the message: "If you want to be a leader, lead." That brought down the house.

As we slog our way through the presidential election season that has already begun, we will keep those words in mind. Just because someone doesnt want to kill you doesnt make them your friend. We need more than votes from our political allieswe need their voices, their convictions and their support for our jobs and our future.

The turnout of union votersand the percentage voting for labor-endorsed candidatesshows an encouraging increase over the past four elections. But we must face up to very bad news, because our best effort resulted in losing the presidency in 2000 and almost everything else in 2002. Theres only one conclusion: politicians arent getting the message because there arent enough of us. Our political strength is directly proportionate to the size of our membership. We can get the word out to union families, but what about the more numerous nonunion households out there?

Our success in protecting our members livelihood depends on organizing more hardworking North Americans into our ranks. The interconnection between organizing new members and winning in political elections goes much deeper than mere numbers.

Our future depends on our numbers. President Emeritus Jack Barry was fond of saying that politicians come in all degrees of intelligence, but they can all count. Lets give them something to countlots more IBEW members this year, next year and every year.