print this page

Four Major Unions Announce New Alliance To Advance Labor’s Progressive Agenda

For Immediate Release                                             March 25, 2008

Pittsburgh - Four of America’s largest unions have announced a political, electoral and legislative alliance pledged to “renew core American values:  dignity, decency and fair treatment in the workplace.”

The Communication Workers of America, the United Auto Workers and the United Steelworkers, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which together represent well over 2 million workers, will develop common strategies and share resources to help elect candidates who support working families, and to advocate on public policy issues.

The new alliance, which has committed to invest resources heavily in the next two years to help achieve its goals, has identified four top priorities:  Passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which allow workers to exercise their right to organize free from employer coercion; winning universal health care; and, protecting jobs by promoting fair trade.

“Only by restoring bargaining rights for U.S. workers will we be able to transform our political landscape, achieve such critical goals as universal health care and begin to rebuild the middle class,” said CWA President Larry Cohen. “Our unions have long worked to promote workers’ rights. This Alliance enables us to expand those efforts and resources and help build a political movement that will make real gains for working families, starting with the Employee Free Choice Act,” he said.

The alliance of four of America’s largest and most diverse trade unions, with wide representation in private and public sector, comes at a time when just over 12% of America’s workers have union representation – yet public opinion polls show that tens of millions of workers would join a union if given the opportunity.

Passing the Employee Free Choice Act and taking other steps to return fairness to the workplace will be a top priority of the Alliance, so that all workers have a free and fair opportunity to join a union.

“It’s time to take back our country on behalf of the working families who made it great in the first place,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.  “Working together, we’ll be stronger than ever – and there’s no doubt that working people need a strong voice to speak truth to the forces of wealth and privilege that have thrown our political and economic system dangerously out of balance.”

Through focused legislative, political and electoral efforts, the Alliance will also address the continued squeeze on working families.  While the cost of food fuel, health care, college tuition, and other necessities are rising, wages are stagnating:  Median household income fell by more than $1,000 a month between 2000 and 2006. 

“Working people who have health care are struggling to maintain it,” said USW President Leo W. Gerard, “and thousands are being thrown out of the system every day, a system that’s already consuming 16% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It’s time that America met the health care challenges the way the rest of the industrialized world has by making health care universally affordable and accessible.”

“This partnership will enhance our ability as a union to challenge political leaders of all stripes to do what is truly necessary to address the many critical concerns of America’s working men and women,” said IFPTE President Gregory Junemann.  “Backed by the two million members of these four proud unions, this historic alliance will call on Washington to not only make it a crime for CEOs and CFOs to raid the retirement and pension funds of their workers, but to also reform our laws so that rogue corporations will be unable to turn a blind eye to their pension obligations by simply asking a bankruptcy judge to declare them null and void.  Not only does this leave workers out in the cold after saving a lifetime for retirement, it also transfers the responsibility of paying some of these lost pensions onto the taxpayer.  While Congress found a way to prevent honest, hard working Americans from declaring bankruptcy, they did nothing to prevent this kind of corporate malfeasance.  We at IFPTE look forward to working in conjunction with this alliance in protecting the pensions and retirement savings of America’s workers.”

The Alliance announced today builds on a strong tradition of cooperation between the CWA, the UAW, the USW.  In 2005, the three unions spearheaded the formation of Mobilization at Delphi, to actively defend the interests of Delphi workers against corporate executive who were determined to use the bankruptcy process to enrich themselves at the expense of workers and communities.

Since 2007, the CWA, the UAW and the USW have worked jointly on a variety of legislative issues, including EFCA, health care, trade, and promoting good-paying jobs. The IFPTE’s commitment to this new alliance strengthens the unions’ efforts to win new progressive legislation that protects and advances the interests of workers.

Contact: Marco Trbovich 412-562-2440

-30-

News Release from
The United Auto Workers

The United Steelworkers

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers

The Communications Workers of America