Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America, advised GCIU General Board members that the CWA would consider itself "lucky" if the GCIU chose his union as its merger partner.

Bahr addressed board members at their March meeting as part of GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi's plan to invite international union presidents to address the board to describe their unions and how the unions might fit together.

When Tedeschi introduced Bahr, he noted that mergers with the CWA include the International Union of Electronic Workers, The Newspaper Guild, the Independent Association of Publishing Employees, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, and the International Typographical Union. Those mergers added some 200,000 members to the CWA's rolls. The CWA has 600,000 members.

Tedeschi said that the CWA "deals with the challenges of evolving technology and a changing workforce. With its base in the communications industry, the CWA today is the largest union representing professional, technical, media, and information-age workers."

He said the CWA "represents an impressive – and expansive – array of companies mainly involved with communications, information, and technology."

Bahr thanked Tedeschi for the opportunity to address the board. He congratulated the GCIU "for beginning the process of thinking about the future – hopefully, not for just the GCIU but the labor movement in general."

CWA Pres. Morton Bahr

Bahr said that "what is interesting" about the CWA mergers is that "every single one of them has worked. We have never had a merger where our partners have expressed displeasure."

Noting that it has been 16 years since the ITU merged with the CWA, Bahr said that if the ITU wanted to disaffiliate at any time, "they have the right to do it."

"To me," he said, "it is particularly gratifying when I see a new delegate stand up for the first time at our [annual] convention, telling how proud they are to be part of this union."

Bahr said he is "always reminded that when the ITU joined with us, overnight, we became the oldest union in America." He said it would be a "disservice not to preserve the history of the ITU and have it integrated in our union."

Regarding the ITU's rich history, Bahr noted that the secretary to President Abraham Lincoln was the speaker at the ITU's 50th anniversary celebration. "When you have this kind of history," he said, "you want to preserve it."

He referred to The Newspaper Guild and founder Heywood Broun – "and what he did to build trade unionism – the columns he wrote about it – about the struggles of people. You want to keep that."

"A merger can't work," Bahr said, "unless it's membership-driven. Whatever we do, the purpose of a merger is to make it better for the members of both unions."

He said when IUE Pres. Edward Fire contacted him to explore merger, Bahr said he suggested to Fire that he talk with all of the other prospects and then talk with the CWA last. When Fire returned to talk with the CWA, Bahr said he told Fire to write down what the IUE needed for a merger. Bahr said the list was fairly long that included "one item that gave us some heartburn." After discussions and adjustments, the unions worked out a merger document agreeable to both unions.

Bahr said that if the board members "decide you ultimately want to merge, and, if we are lucky enough that you choose us, we'll be doing the same thing [as the CWA did with the IUE]. Use however many sheets of paper you need for all those things you need – to operate efficiently, serve the members, and grow. Then we work from that – not our sheets. I'm not here to say what we can do for you. We have enough history to say that an agreement has never been broken. So, that's how we build."

He said the CWA has members in every state of the United States, in Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Bahr noted that, as a potential merger partner, the GCIU brings "an awful lot of talent, knowledge, dedication, and history. The GCIU would be a tremendous asset – wherever you go."

He said he knew that Tedeschi and the board members "would love to grow this union by the thousands. Yet what we find in most unions is that they don't have the resources. If you don't win that [representation] election the first time out, you really don't have the money and resources to stay there for as long as it takes."

He said he grew up as an organizer and that every union member should ask how he or she can contribute to the growth of the membership.

The CWA, Bahr said, spends more than 10 percent of its annual budget on organizing. He said the CWA will spend 12 to 13 percent of this year's $109 million budget on organizing.

Citing a net gain of more than 5,000 members during the past year, Bahr said that 25,000 to 30,000 had to be added to the rolls to have that net gain after making up for losses.

"If you don't continue to grow," Bahr observed, "there's no place to go. Nobody can stand still."

He said the CWA has a "couple hundred" locals that are actively involved in organizing and adding to the rolls. He "would like there to be more" similarly involved.

Bahr observed that organizing is done best at the local level because "no union can afford to have organizers spread all over the U.S. when you have locals there. Locals are more efficient. They know the area. They know the company. And they know the people. That's why we let them do it." He said if a local union has a viable organizing campaign and requests assistance, the CWA will pay 75 percent of the costs for an organizer.

Bahr pointed out that in the CWA, "if you organize them, they're yours."

He said he is "very optimistic about the future of our union. I wish I was more optimistic about organized labor."

Bahr cited a report at the most recent AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting, where it was noted that just 8.5 percent of the private U.S. work force is unionized. "We have to ask ourselves at what point do [unions] become irrelevant? If we become irrelevant as a movement, it doesn't matter whether you have 100,000, 500,000 or a million members. Of all of the industrialized world, the U.S. has the lowest density of organized labor."

He said part of the problem is the anti-labor bent of President Bush and both houses of Congress, as well as a National Labor Relations Board that leans more toward employers than workers.

Bahr warned that if Bush is returned to the White House and the Republicans continue to control the House of Representatives and the Senate, organized labor "will be in for big trouble."

Bahr noted that during the Clinton administration, a move was made to dismantle the Government Printing Office. He said he had to meet with President Clinton to get that scheme derailed.

Bahr said the argument for shutting down the GPO was to allow every office holder in Congress – 535 entities – and the White House to have printing done by whomever they chose – instead of having one central government printing shop.

He said if the GPO printing rule had been gutted, the abuses would have been worse than the banking and savings and loans scandals.

Regarding CWA background, Bahr said that CWA leaders "began to recognize 60 years ago that technology was causing a convergence of what used to be distinct industries particularly the broad information media industry." The CWA laid out plans for how it would proceed and survive. It then moved "progressively" with a campaign titled "TIME" in "staking out" the telecommunications, information, media, and entertainment area. He said CWA representation coverage includes cable television, direct satellite TV, radio, newspaper, and hard-wire telecommunications.

Regarding diversity, Bahr said in California, the CWA represents approximately 12,000 professional, technical, and administrative employees at the University of California and the University of California Medical Center. Overall, the CWA represents tens of thousands of health care and public sector workers.

And as of April 5, the CWA, he said, was to sign an agreement with 5,000 members of COPS Coalition of Police Officers and Sheriffs in states including Texas, Arizona, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The CWA, Bahr said, has district offices in New York, Silver Spring, Md., Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, Austin, Sacramento, and Philadelphia. The union has 735 employees that include field staff, organizers, normal supervisory staff, and clerical workers.

He said the dues structure is 1.15 percent of base pay with 60 percent going to locals and 40 percent to the international union. Where circumstances merit, the ratios can be adjusted, Bahr said.

The CWA's strike fund contains $230 million. Striking members receive $200 beginning the 15thday of the strike, and then after two weeks they receive $300 a week for the duration of the strike. Those locals that have the right to strike contribute an additional 0.15 percent of base pay per member. The ITU and TNG have the right to add to the $300 a week support, and Bahr said the CWA has an option for locals to "adopt" individual striking families and add to the strike support according to what the local sets.

Bahr said that the CWA's strike fund is of such size that it serves as a "deterrent to a lot of employers" that might otherwise try to starve out the strikers and force them back to work at the employer's whim.

Tedeschi noted when he introduced Bahr that "the CWA has stood with the GCIU against hardened employers such as the Detroit newspapers owners. He brought with him his experience of dealing with hard-bargaining communications company executives.

"With the significant help of Brother Bahr and the Teamsters, we reestablished the multi-union Newspaper Industry Committee," Tedeschi said.

Bahr said that, regardless of anything else, the CWA and GCIU "should continue to work together."