CWA 1180 - Calendar

Take the next step: Fill out the Action Survey
by Arthur Cheliotes
Junel 2003

In July Local 1180 members will receive the union's Action Survey in the mail, the next step in our Fight Forward campaign for a new contract with the city. We need every Local 1180 member to fill it out and return it to her or his shop steward. But we need you to do more than that: we need you to discuss the survey with your co-workers, have workplace meetings to exchange ideas, come together to share thoughts. You'll see that the survey asks not just about contract priorities and demands, it also asks what you are willing to do to help win a contract. That is because contracts are not won at the bargaining table; they are won on the shop floor, by a strong, active and united membership.

This spring Local 1180 members showed just how powerful an active, united membership can be. Hundreds and hundreds of you got involved in our fight for a fair budget. The budget battle is an integral part of our struggle for a new contract, since the budget determines what money is available for city services and the workers that provide them. (You can read details in our feature story by clicking here.) Members rallied, sign pledge cards, and more. Shop stewards stepped up and mobilized members, bringing new people out and re-energizing old activists.

All this resulted in one small but significant step towards a more equitable budget: city and state legislators agreed to a personal income tax surcharge for people making $100,000 or more ($150,000 or more for couples). This was the first time that the rhetoric of "sharing the pain" of the budget crisis actually resulted in some contribution from wealthier New Yorkers. Much, much more is needed for the burden to be truly shared, fairly shared—the final budget contained far too many cuts, and thousands were laid off that would not have been if taxes were fairly distributed—but we should not underestimate how big a victory winning the income tax surcharge was. Together with the rest of the aid package approved by Albany, it closed $2.7 billion of the city's $3.8 billion gap. Moreover, working people won the income tax surcharge despite the opposition of both the mayor and the governor. In the end, the mayor, to his credit, became a partner in the deal, but it was the union members of New York City that forced Albany to act.

Now we need to take our resolve and turn it to the next step, which is the Action Survey. I cannot stress enough how important it is for every member to participate in the survey, and to talk to your co-workers about it. In the fall, we will compile the results, we will report back on them, and stewards will meet again to strategize the next steps.

Winning a new contract will be a long process, and it will take an enormous amount of work. But with the active participation of every Local 1180 member, we can win a good contract.

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