CWAers Share the Love for Valentine’s Day and other news

CWAers in Colorado Rally for Collective Bargaining Rights for All Public Workers

Last Thursday, members from CWA Local 7799, CWA Local 7777, TNG-CWA Local 37074, and community allies rallied outside of the Colorado State Capitol in support of legislation that would grant collective bargaining rights and other protections for all public workers in the state. Lawmakers including Colorado House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar and Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg spoke at a rally organized by Public Workers United, a coalition of labor groups advocating for such legislation. State Representative Kyle Mullica, who is a registered nurse, also participated in the rally and stood shoulder to shoulder with public healthcare workers, including members of Denver Health United (CWA Local 7799).

CWAers and allies rallying in support of collective bargaining rights for all public workers outside of the Colorado State Capitol.

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CWAers on the Frontline of Broadband Expansion

CWA Local 3411 President and Broadband Brigade member Matt Wood attended a Town Hall event with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, (near right), in New Orleans, La. President Wood shared CWA’s vision pertaining to expanding access to affordable, reliable, high speed internet to all communities and the need to use skilled union labor for broadband deployment.

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CWA Essential Workers Demand Hazard Pay

Workers from the Ocean County Board of Social Services (OCBSS), members of CWA Local 1088, attended the Ocean County Commissioners meeting to demand hazard pay under the American Rescue Plan (APRA). Over the last few months, the workers have been mobilizing by wearing their CWA red, rallying outside their work locations, sharing their stories, and more. These workers have been working fully in person since June 2020 and many have contracted COVID or had to use personal or unpaid time to quarantine. They have been providing essential services for Ocean County’s most vulnerable residents including housing, food, and medical insurance. They are exactly the kind of front line workers the APRA is meant to support.

Ocean County Board of Social Services (OCBSS) workers, members of CWA Local 1088, attended the Ocean County Commissioners meeting to demand hazard pay.

IUE-CWA members, other General Electric (GE) union members, and allies spent their Valentine’s Day participating in actions as part of a nationwide protest against the company’s ongoing offshoring and outsourcing and its plan to split into three separate companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy.

“General Electric received $4 billion in public taxpayer funds last year, but instead of reinvesting in the critical energy and manufacturing infrastructure America needs, they’re letting the fox into the henhouse by catering to the interests of predatory corporate raiders in this split,” said Chris Depoalo, Business Agent of IUE-CWA Local 81301. “A minority of GE board members have direct ties to private equity hedge funds that are set to reap a windfall if the company is split apart – we are urging the board members who still have independence from Trian Partners and other hedge funds to refuse to rush this decision through.”

Workers demonstrating at GE’s headquarters in Boston delivered a set of four national demands to the company.

• Invest at least $5 billion over the next 5 years and add 35,000 jobs to existing and recently shuttered U.S. facilities.
• Reshore all U.S. military aviation production and 70% of GE industrial work offshored over the past 5 years.
• Let shareholders vote on the proposed breakup of GE and add elected worker representatives to the GE Board of Directors.
• Convert historic GE facilities into multi-modal brilliant factories with supplier parks to minimize supply chain disruptions, building an American offshore wind supply chain on our shores.

IUE-CWA members and allies protest GE’s offshoring, outsourcing, and lack of investment during a Valentine’s Day event. Check out more great photos from the actions here.

Last week, a federal judge approved a settlement that prohibits the Minnesota State Patrol from attacking or arresting journalists, and awarded $825,000 to several journalists who were assaulted and injured while covering protests over the police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright in 2020. The suit, filed by the Minnesota ACLU, CWA, and TNG-CWA, accused law enforcement agencies of deliberately targeting, assaulting, and arresting journalists as they covered the protests. Although they were not plaintiffs in this case, over half a dozen TNG-CWA members were injured or detained during the uprising following the police killings last year. Prohibiting the Minnesota State Patrol from arresting, threatening to arrest, and/or using physical force or chemical agents against journalists, ordering journalists to stop photographing, recording, or observing a protest, making journalists disperse and seizing or intentionally damaging equipment such as photo, audio, or video gear are among some of the important changes included in the settlement.