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MINUTES OF THE

TNG-CWA Human Rights and Equity Committee

January 12, 2008

Telephone Conference

PRESENT: Michael D’Souza, Chair; Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe; Carl Younger; Olivia James; Randye Gilliam; Natalie Hill; Sheila Lindsay; Melissa Nelson, TNG-CWA Sector Rep; Scott Stephens

ABSENT: Judy Lee; Vernon Clark; Fareed Mohammed

MINUTES PREPARED BY MICHAEL D’SOUZA.

The committee started its meeting on schedule at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific. It held an extensive discussion on the Conference on Equity Issues and the Boston-area event planned for the Carl Younger library on January 24.

Conference on Equity Issues:

The committee discussed the upcoming to hold a conference on Equity Issues in conjunction with the Minority Caucus of the CWA in Vegas on Sunday, June 22, from 10:00 to 18:00 with a lunch break of about 90 minutes. This will allow members who are attending the CWA Convention time to register there. This date is seen as minimizing the time committee members spend away from work while attending the CWA Minority Caucus, the TNG conference and the CWA Convention.

The committee agreed to hold sessions on:

- Diversity and Economics. Vernon Clark is researching this further.

- Looking at the Future of Jobs in the communication industry. Sheila Lindsay is working on this issue based on her attendance at another conference on this issue.

- Computers and the future of jobs and how this affects equity issues, especially matters of making the web more accessible. Michael D’Souza is working on this presentation.

- Outreach to children in schools. Olivia James and Sheila Lindsay have sent passionate emails (attached as addendum 2) on this issue. They will co-operate on organizing this session.

- The CWA Minority Caucus. Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe will ask members of the CWA Minority Caucus to speak on the work of the caucus and on matters such as navigating the CWA bureaucracy. This session should improve the links between the TNG Human Rights and equity community and the CWA. Yoko will also look into integrating the CWA Human Rights committee outreach session into the TNG Conference.

The committee agreed that it will look to the union’s membership, especially members of equity seeking groups, for speakers and seminar and workshop. Scott Stephens said that the TNG paying expenses for speakers should not be a problem and the finance committee will deal with such requests as a normal part of holding such conferences

The committee set aside these issues as possible seminars/workshops for discussion at its next meeting:

- The state of human rights in North America

- Dealing with equity issues in a shrinking job markets, looking at seniority and carve outs.

- Scholarships for members of equity seeking groups negotiated as part of collective agreements. Bernie Lunzer suggested this in an email after the committee’s last meeting in December. The email is attached.

- Voter registration. Bernie Lunzer suggested this in an email after the committee’s last meeting in December. The email is attached.

Scott Stephens advised the committee that Malinka Franklin of the TNG office will help with the logistics of organizing the conference and co-ordination with the CWA. This should help determine when members of the committee will have to be in ‘Vegas to prepare for the conference. Michael D’Souza will consult Ms. Franklin at New Local Officers Seminar in Silver Spring, Maryland, Rhode Island, next weekend.

The committee agreed to meet in early February to finalize preparations of a more extensive discussion at the sector conference in Providence, Rhode Island at the end of February.

Carl Younger Library project:

Carl Younger said that his attendance at a course at Harvard University has limited the time he can spend on organizing the social event being held to promote the lending library. He said Cathy Dalton, who has much more experience organizing such events, has taken over much of these responsibilities along with Dan Totten, the president of the local.

The event is on Thursday, January 24, at the Sons of Italy Hall in Quincy, Mass.  Carl says a black singer, who has performed on the Liz Walker show, will perform. Others are the Fred Hayes African Dancers, the Forbes School of Irish Dance, Cambodian dancers. Possible speakers include Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Carl also said they have received donations, such as free hair styling, martial arts training, from local businesses; services that can be raffled off to raise funds for the library project. He’s been advised that this would be a better fund-raising mechanism than selling tickets to the event. This is also expected to maximize attendance. He welcomed Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe’s suggestion that members of other CWA locals in the area also be invited to the event.

Other:

Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe reminded the committee of the Civil Rights & Equity Conference, April 9-12 in Washington, DC.

Adjournment.

The committee adjourned at 1:42 pm Eastern, 10:42 Pacific, and agreed to meet again on Saturday, February, 9, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific.

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