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Transcript: Employee Free Choice Act Conference Call
Bill Lucy, AFSCME: Wade, I hate to jump in front of Arlene, but let me just make a point: This is a traditional argument that is made by the Chamber of Commerce, both black and white. If you go back to discussions about the minimum wage, we’re not talking about the higher wage; the minimum wage, they argue if you raise the minimum wage, it’ll cause jobs to be lost.
Workers went for ten years without a change in the minimum wage. For ten years, whose wages no more kept up with the cost of living and anything else. That is a myth. Employers are going to employ a sufficient level of workforce to be competitive in their individual industry, or whatever their specialty line may be.
And workers are not obligated to subsidize their operation. Workers ought to be able to sit at the table as equals across the bargaining table and be a part of determining wages, hours and conditions of employment. And this myth about, “If we pay decent wages or if we let them organize,” somehow their business will be injured, history has shown that the most productive workers are unionized workers.
The most productive companies are companies that are unionized. And we just should not even entertain that discussion.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: That’s great, Bill; I appreciate that answer. Operator, if we have a question in the queue, let’s take one.
Operator: Our first question is from Iva Carruthers. You may proceed with your question. Iva Carruthers.
Iva Carruthers: Can you hear me?
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Yes, we can.
Iva Carruthers: This is Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. Wade, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to participate on the call and for your leadership, and to raise a question: My question really turns us to the next steps. I think our colleagues have certainly given the compelling need that we needed to hear in order to move forward.
But certainly we know that the faith community cannot be a footnote in the conversation, and that historically it has really been the coalition between labor and faith that has often made a significant difference. And so I wanted to raise a question about how we might build, as a post-call initiative, the kinds of ways in which we engage the faith community to take this forward.
The Proctor Conference, as many may know, is interdenominational, and we focus on the religious mandate of justice for the least of these, and we do so through education, advocacy and activism. And we have had some other conversations with members who’ve already spoken about the role that the church can and should take.
Early on in our development, we established the Addie Wyatt/Bill Lucy Institute to affirm the intergenerational network that was necessary to have activists both in terms of clergy and lay leaders. And so our goal is to build the capacity of the black church to support everyone on this call, as centers of education, as centers of mobilization and advocacy to promote human and people rights that speak to justice, which then speaks to the sustainability of our families and our communities.
Certainly, we’ve heard all of the good things that the collaboration between labor and faith have done historically. But I think in looking forward we also must be honest enough to know that the issue of our sustained partnership has waned, and it has waned because it’s been often just an event-driven kind of coalition.
And there is a lack of perceived synergy and trust, and in some ways hidden potential that I think we’re at a moment where we can really realize. In other words, if we were to ask on Sunday morning for all those who are in unions to stand up in our churches, we would see that we really have the people we need to begin the re-energizing of the partnership.
So, we can easily sign a letter; I commit that we can get people to sign on to talk to their senators and so forth. But I think that at this time, as Dr. Lucy has said, it is a time of crisis, but it’s also a time of opportunity. And so I think that the Employee Free Choice Act is an instrument for us to build the capacity that has sustainability for informed faith leaders, to empower faith activists, and to talk about collaboration and strategies and mechanisms for a united voice.
So I just wanted to say that on behalf of the interdenominational work of the faith community, we remain supportive and committed to work with all those on the phone to take us to the next steps. And so I hope that that adds to the conversation, because the faith community was not represented in the agenda. Thank you.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Dr. Carruthers, thank you so much personally for your leadership on many issues, not just this, but thank you as well for bringing the important voice of the Proctor Conference to this call. I think everyone on the call recognizes how essential the faith community is in this fight, and your leadership and the leadership of your colleagues is so important; we can’t thank you enough for taking the time to join us.
You’ve also raised a very important question, and I know my colleagues want to jump in and answer it. I’m going to start with a quick answer. I’m going to invite Arlene to speak to it, maybe Hilary Shelton for a minute, and then we’ll try to bring in other questions. But let me just begin by saying, first of all, this fight, in addition to being about giving opportunities for African Americans in particular to get a toehold on the American middle class, which is so essential for all of us:
There is a moral dimension to this bill that I think your presence today helps accentuate, and we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge. The fact is that in the current economy in which we’re struggling, workers are at a structural disadvantage in trying to advance their cause. If we look at what’s happened to the labor movement over the last 20 years, a combination of adverse court rulings by conservative jurists who see no value in the important role the workers play, decisions made by executive branch agencies who have been remiss in enforcing the law, whether it’s the Department of Labor or the various boards that have involvement here, like the National Labor Relations Board, we have seen a real retrenchment on the interests of workers, and that retrenchment has really created a structural imbalance, a moral imbalance if you will, in lifting the power of workers to really determine a better life for themselves.
And that’s what this bill is really all about, and I think the involvement of the faith community is essential in this cause, and we can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done, and what you are prepared to do in the future. Arlene? Is Arlene still with us today? I think she may have had to get off—
Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO: No, I’m still here, and I’m sorry; it was on mute, as you had indicated, asked us to do. Dr. Carruthers, I just want to address this: I see this as, this may be the issue that we’re discussing now, but I see this as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our allied partners, particularly the faith community. I’ll say for an example that we certainly are talking about this in ways that help our community economically.
But you can bring a dimension to it that we can’t as you talk to members in your congregation about what it means. There are many battles ahead of us that we need to be working very closely together. Yes, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act because we know that it will have a great impact on improving the economic lives of the people that we represent, but particularly African Americans.
But we’ve got other issues. We’ve got to be in this battle concerned about jobs and job creation, good green jobs in some cases, as we talk about, and the environment, and the issues of health care. So I would propose that we take this and learn from it, and work closer together on so many other issues that are going to be facing us.
And I’d like to say that I know on behalf of the labor movement, the whole of the labor movement, we look forward to strengthening our relationship with the faith community.
Bill Lucy, AFSCME: Wade, this is Bill. Can I just jump in? Because I think Dr. Carruthers raises such a central and core issue, and I would go back 40 years or more: When Dr. King addressed the AFL-CIO Convention in Miami, I believe it was, and talked about the need of formalizing the relationship between labor and religion, because those are the core elements that promote both social justice and the well-being of our communities.
And that’s just as needed today as it was 40 years ago, in spite of the gains that we have made and the relationships that we’ve built. Dr. Carruthers talked about capacity. And I don’t think there’s any question when you talk to any of the religious leaders, they recognize the crisis that we’re confronted with, but lack the ability [for] an ongoing, sustained movement around these issues.
And even as we move with the Employee Free Choice Act, if we succeed in that passage, and I believe we will, we can’t just wind up with a larger pool of the working poor because they come back to the church for help; they come back to their social organizations for help. And we’ve got to formalize our relationship with the religious community and make it possible for them to be constantly on top of these issues as we struggle for the large issues that are in front of us, as Arlene pointed out.
Hilary Shelton, NAACP: Wade, just to add, I strongly agree; it’s a relationship that’s already in existence. Quite frankly, if you think about what happens on Sunday mornings in every church, or Saturdays for those who are Seventh-Day Adventists, or other church meetings, those are the laborers that are sitting in that church every day.
If we talk about the values that are very much part of our faith community, those of us who are part of the Judeo-Christian movement, we work every day and speak of the importance of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, caring for the sick and freeing the oppressed, those are all things that organized labor stands for in America, is the personification of those values.
Certainly, those values are already there; the relationship is very much already there. We need to strengthen that relationship even more, and that’s something I’m very excited about as we look at this as a movement for the rights of American workers to be able to organize, to work together. Reverend, not to preach at a preacher, as I’m a layman, but I think someplace in your holy book it talks about where two or three or more of you gather in his name.
And I think when we talk about organizing labor unions, we’re talking about two or three or more of us gathering and organizing around values that are central to our religious value.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Hilary, thank you; that’s a great way to end on this question. Operator, we’ll take the next question.
Operator: Our next question is from Sheila Tyson. You may proceed with your question.
Sheila Tyson: Yes. I wanted to ask, is there any way that we can get someone to call into one of the talk shows in the morning? Because it’s a big issue. I can see the issue and I can understand what you all are saying, but someone to explain more in detail… Because I know it would be a big, popular thing for it to come on-air.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Let me try to answer that, Ms. Tyson. First of all, thank you for your question and thanks for participating in today’s call. Certainly, as a follow-up to I think your very important observation, you should know that the civil rights community, the labor community, our allies in the religious community and the grassroots networks that are on this call, we are going to develop a strategy that involves communications and outreach to radio talk show hosts that are in our communities, that play such an important role, and with the ethnic media; the newspapers who, for so long, have focused attention on issues of importance to our community.
We know that they’re valuable allies, and we’re going to incorporate them in our strategy. Rest assured that in Birmingham and in other parts of the country, we’re going to get people to call in and to talk about the importance of this issue. So, we are going to take to heart what you said, Ms. Tyson, and we will be following up, okay?
Sheila Tyson: Okay.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Great, thank you so much. Operator, next question, please?
Operator: Our next question is from Erik Love. Erik, you may proceed with your question.
Erik Love: Hi there, thanks very much for taking my question. I’m wondering if the participants on the call could answer whether it’s reasonable or possible to call on the president and vice president, to Obama and Mr. Biden to personally visit the states of key senators, such as Mr. Specter of Pennsylvania, to encourage them to support the E.F.C.A.
It crosses my mind that if Mr. Biden were to visit Scranton, for example, and hold a single rally, it would at least encourage Mr. Specter to take a different position on voting for the E.F.C.A. I’m wondering if it’s reasonable or possible to expect the president or vice president to make such a move.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Brother, that’s a great question. Mr. Love, I’m going to ask Arlene maybe, and Bill to maybe speak to it. Let me do that. Arlene?
Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO: Well, as I’ve indicated, President Obama and our Vice President Biden have been very clear; they’re supportive of the bill. I can tell you that Biden certainly, whenever he’s out, he’s talking about it. But that’s an interesting piece that you’ve put forth, and there are a number of things that we’re thinking about doing in terms of trying to persuade and move people, and that’s a very interesting concept.
We want them to step up not only to speak out, but to make it absolutely very clear that they support this legislation.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Operator, next question please.
Operator: Our next question is from Edie [Tally]. Edie, you may proceed with your question.
Edie Tally: Hi, this is [P.D.] Tally, and I’m speaking to you in Ohio. Some of the questions I think I was going to pose have already been answered, and it centers on next steps in terms of those of us here at the grassroots level, how we can better get organized and structured so that we can do this mobilization that is needed in order to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed.
For instance, I know we’ve been having this discussion around the Employee Free Choice Act within CTBU chapters, but I don’t know that the same thing is happening in NAACP chapters, so that we can come together on the ground and either meet with members of Congress and/or continue to raise awareness.
I kind of see the mobilization around this as an organizing campaign that we need to have some kind of structure and regular communication, which I think you’ve addressed in part. So I guess I’m not addressing my question to anyone in particular, but I do think that the next steps call for some greater structure and organization so that we can mobilize more enforcement in the black community.
I know what’s going on in the labor community, but I’m not sure that always translates into our community, where we’re meeting on Sundays or Saturdays, etc.
Melanie Campbell, NCBCP: Hi Wade, this is Melanie; can I respond to that?
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Yes, Melanie. I was going to invite you, then I’m going to invite Hilary, and I may add a little piece to it myself. Melanie?
Melanie Campbell, NCBCP: So I was about to talk about how we could use technology, but maybe not. But one of the things, what we’re hoping to do, we have several people on the call who are representing the unity coalitions that help to mobilize the black vote. And amongst that are also several young organizers who we’re hoping that through Black Vote, through YES and some of the other youth-focused leadership organizations, that we can engage our young people as well.
So we’re hoping to continue to utilize… We have several of our coalition leaders from several states on the call, but we also reached out very, very, which we thought was very critical, that young leaders are also very much at this conversation because as I mentioned, my personal story from a family perspective, a lot of young people, when we’re talking about jobs and having the connection to how EFCA impacts how their futures are, we want to make sure that they’re not only here and get the information, but help us figure out how to strategize to mobilize those young people who have made great things happen in 2008.
I know that if they get engaged fully, that they can help us get over the hump with this passage.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Melanie, thank you. I’m going to invite Hilary to speak as well, since the NAACP was mentioned. But let me just make one observation about the young people, Melanie, and the importance of their participation. I want to acknowledge the involvement of our friends at the Hip-Hop Caucus, Reverend Lennox Yearwood.
The Caucus is a new member of the Leadership Conference family, and we’re just so proud to have them as members of the coalition, but also to have their energy, their involvement, their leadership on the ground with issues like this. So we’re delighted that they’re on. Hilary, I don’t know if you want to speak to it as well.
Hilary Shelton, NAACP: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, our units are excited about being engaged as well. It sounds like we need to do a little additional work to put them together with labor organizers, though they’ve been asked to reach out to our local labor union friends in various organizations throughout the country.
We’ve sent out information to over 500,000 NAACP activists throughout the country. Talking points, sample letters, and other information to prepare them to go into their congressional district offices to meet with their senators throughout this recess. As you know, the Congress is out all this week and the rest of next week as well.
They’re setting up meetings now. I would invite you to reach out to your local branch unit that has this information. If you have a meeting already set up, if you’d like to take them along, I’m sure they’d love to go with you. If you haven’t set up a meeting, then very well; find out if they have. The process is underway.
We’re looking forward to hearing back from them. They’ve been equipped with lobby information, to report back to us how each of the Senate meetings have gone. So we’re excited about working with you.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Hilary, thank you, and I want to thank Ms. Tally for raising that question; it was so important. I’ll just make one observation, which is today’s phone call is really an indication of the degree to which the African-American civic and political community, the Civil Rights community, the religious community, the grassroots activist community, the youth community are stepping up to mobilize and support the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
This bill is really essential to revitalizing the Progressive movement, of which labor has been such an important backbone. I’m so glad you highlighted the importance of the African-American community. We know that if this bill is treated as exclusively a labor bill, if it’s pigeonholed, if you will, in the minds of the American people, its chances of passing are diminished, which is why those who oppose the bill speak of it in very limited terms.
We’re determined to make this a broad coalition of groups recognizing that passage of EFCA is really about improving the country by helping to strengthen the middle class, which we think is so key. So, thanks for that question; thanks for being on the call.
Bill Lucy, AFSCME: When we look at the reality of what we’re dealing with, Louisiana, Arkansas; it is just shameful that these representatives are not championing this bill, as opposed to almost being indifferent to it. The historical role that the Civil Rights Movement has played has really been highlighted in the sense of their recognition of the importance of economic justice in the workplace.
Louisiana and Arkansas, and even Ohio, as P.D. raised, we’ve got to bring our coalition into the offices of these people and demonstrate to them that we recognize the impact of poor wages, poor working conditions, poor benefits, that those things have on our community. And we can’t allow these representatives to be pondering the issue.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: All right, Bill; we like that. Next question, operator.
Operator: Certainly. Our next question is from Salandra Hanna. You may proceed with your question.
Salandra Hanna: Good afternoon, and thank you for your leadership. My question is two points: I’m in Florida, representing the coalition here in Florida on, and we’re asking, we’re getting ready to go, to have, with Florida Today, we’re going to be having an interview with them today on the Employee Free Choice Act.
The reason that they contacted us is because of the work that we did at the Coalition during the ’08 elections, and they wanted to get a viewpoint, interview us on how this will impact our community. My question is how do we really impact the black leadership, administration, city managers, who we are going and organizing right now, we’re organizing against a black city manager, black mayor, black city council, and they’re fighting us tooth and nail not to organize the city.
What is the leadership doing to reach out to those people that’s in leadership that would normally support—
Wade Henderson, LCCR: That’s a great question. First of all, thank you for putting that issue on the table; it is an important one. You should know that in reaching out for today’s call, we were fortunate to have representatives of the National Coalition of Black State Legislators, and we have African-American mayors on the call, and we’re reaching out to elected political leaders because we know that they too hold one of the important keys to getting this bill passed.
I think in response to your question, we believe first of all that we need to educate people carefully. So I’m going to remind people at the end of this call, but in the next day or so, you will get a transcript and a recording of this phone call so that you’ll have information that you can use, along with advocacy resources that you can use to educate both yourselves and your elected leaders on the importance of this bill.
So we think you begin first by going with the facts and making clear that people understand why this is an important bill. And secondly, we’re not taking “no” for an answer. I think that the fact that you have coalitions of the NAACP and other grassroots organizations, the faith community, again, organizations like National Coalition of Black Civic Participation that played such an important role in the last election, young people, etc., we have the elements needed to convince both our community and the political interests that this bill is vital.
And today’s call is not the end of the process; it’s really just the beginning. We’re going to start following up on a regular basis with information that you in turn can use to educate your friends and colleagues and family members more broadly about why this issue is important, and we’re going to step up the political pressure so that this bill has a real shot at being enacted, and sooner rather than later.
So, thanks for your leadership on that.
Operator, I think we have time for one last question before we wrap it up.
Operator: Certainly. Our final question is from Hazel Dukes. Hazel, you may proceed with your question.
Hazel Dukes: Thank you very much. I enjoyed listening, and I too think that furthering the discussion in how we work together, I’m pleased to say here in New York there is a coalition between the labor unions and the NAACP branches. Dr. Annie B. Martin, who served as the vice chair for us, brought this, and on Tuesday, April 14th, Reverend J.C. Hope will be at New York with ministers.
There was a meeting a week ago, and Dr. Martin did put this on the table. I would hope that… And we did receive information from Hilary Shelton just Wednesday of this week, and we most certainly, with these ministers that we have, it’s the combination of the NAACP National Religious Affairs bringing ministers together for the convention, as Wade said, the 100th anniversary will be held in New York City.
And so there is a coalition. I don’t want anybody to feel that there is not. I’m sure in Carolina, we have really active leadership, and in Louisiana. I’m sure if they haven’t reached out, they will be doing it because labor’s always been our counterpart.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Well, let me say, Ms. Dukes, and for those of you who don’t know her, although I can’t believe that anyone on the phone call wouldn’t, that was Hazel Dukes, the president of the NAACP New York State Conference of Branches. It seems only appropriate that you would be the last question on the call, Ms. Dukes.
Your leadership on this and so many other issues is critically important. You mentioned, of course, the name of the great Annie B. Martin, and the role that she’s played in New York politics and the NAACP is legendary. And Reverend J.C. Hope is the head of the NAACP’s Religious Affairs Office, for those of you who don’t know him.
I think his involvement really helps reinforce the point that Dr. Carruthers made early on about the importance of the faith-based community on these issues. So we’re really pleased that all of you were able to join. I want to thank all of you for being on the call today, those of you who took the time to join in to listen to this discussion and to show your support and commitment to this issue; your involvement is just so much appreciated, deeply appreciated.
I want to thank all of our speakers today, who have done such an outstanding job. Melanie Campbell, head of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation. Dr. Steven Pitts of the University of California at Berkeley. Hilary Shelton, head of the NAACP Washington Bureau. Arlene Holt Baker, Vice President of the AFL-CIO; and of course, Bill Lucy, President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and Secretary Treasurer of AFSCME.
We’re honored to have all of you. I just want to underscore a couple of points that were made on the call about next steps because we think that that is so important. As I mentioned, in the next day or so you will receive both a transcript of today’s call, and also a link that will allow you to listen to a recorded version of this call, and to share it with others who weren’t able to be with us today.
You’re also going to receive information by email that we call advocacy resources. These will be resources that will better arm you to answer questions, even some of the tough questions that you might face in going to visit your elected officials over the next two weeks or ten days or so. As was mentioned, Congress is out this week and next, and we hope that many of you will use the opportunity to contact your member of the House of Representatives, that is your congressperson, and also your two state senators.
Regardless of where you live, whether your senators are supporters of this bill or not, they need to hear from you that this is an important priority for you, and they need to know that there are many in your community who are taking this very seriously. You know, senators often weigh the number of calls that they receive on a given issue.
And so if 400 calls come in, they will compare that to the one or two calls that come in against an issue. So if you can generate phone calls from friends and colleagues and family members to those offices, it will be key. Now, we are, as Bill Lucy noted, trying to make sure that every state where African Americans in particular are significant proportions of the population, that we use those demographics, that demographic power to weigh in to let senators know from both parties, Democratic and Republican, that this is an important issue to us.
So those of you who live in Arkansas, those of you who live in Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maine, Alaska; I know these sound strange, and we don’t always have the numbers that we want in some of these states, but it’s important that we build support and capacity and make our voices heard.
And then lastly, we’re going to have work in coalition with other organizations to strengthen our voices, to strengthen our capacity to do effective work. That’s what the Leadership Conference and our membership organizations represent, and when you look at the history of the NAACP, the labor movement, the women’s movement, the coalitions that included the religious voices and the labor leaders and community activists and teachers, etc., all of that was necessary to bring about the changes that we’re celebrating this year as a result of the election.
The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is critically important to all of us; it’s critically important to the economy of our country; it’s critically important to rebuilding the strength of the middle class and to have the African-American community represented therein. So, I want to just end by thanking everybody for their time and attention and participation today.
We look forward to being in touch. And again, this is not the last effort; this is the first, and you’ll be hearing a lot more about this issue in the coming days and weeks ahead. Operator, thanks for your help, and thank my colleagues for joining us.
Various: Thank you, Wade.
Wade Henderson, LCCR: Goodbye now.
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