District 9 Leadership Conference Report by Joe Perry, NABET 51

CWA District 9 Meeting and Leadership Conference Report

By, Joe Perry

I attended CWA district 9 meeting and leadership conference January 28-30 in Oakland with Carrie. The conference was an enlightening experience. learned the meaning of the labor movement and the power of our union. There was a positive energy that was present from the beginning to the end of the conference. The diversity in CWA was surprising from flight attendants to telecom workers, but always there was a feeling of mutual respect and unity. Some highlights were Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf giving opening remarks thanking us for our support. State Superintendent of Public nstruction Tony Thurmond came by and gave a great speech on the importance of the Union he was also hilarious, there were plenty of great speakers who came one including Frank Arce, the Diversity Vice President from our CWA Regions, but he had a great speech, one thing that really stood out to me was he said was “aspire to inspire”. This something that will try to do with my folks at Univision.

Carrie and I also presented a workshop on “press and interview techniques” at the conference. This went very well. After the presentation we were receiving a lot of positive feedback. There are many practical lessons I learned, some union history, the political power of the union, the importance of mobilizing, and the importance of taking our role in the union serious because there are serious consequences if we don't.

The conference was a great time to make new friends and potentials alliances. In fact a couple of days after the conference I actually by chance ran into a CWA member at an Oakland teachers rally. I just met him a few days earlier at the conference. I was just there covering the rally, but it was nice to see a CWA member out there supporting the teachers. It wasn't even a CWA rally but he was there. I think this was the most important realization that I had at the conference. We are not alone, we are not just NABET 51, we are not just CWA, we are a part of the labor movement. We together have great strength if we work together. It seemed if he was there for the teachers, he might be there for us if we need him along with a whole lot of other people. Anyway I highly recommend all of our officers to attend this conference if the opportunity arises.

Oh and I also learned how to clap.

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