Worker Power Update

CWA Activists in Texas Continue the Fight for Equitable Broadband Access

Last Wednesday, activists from CWA Local 6215 spoke before the Dallas City Council to urge the city to attach labor standards to public funds that are used to expand broadband internet access to unserved communities. The labor standards will ensure that these funds are used in a way that will create more good union jobs and require telecom companies to maintain high training and safety standards.

CWA Broadband Brigade member Robin Johnson and AT&T prem techs Sean Wilborn and Britni Cuington provided an overview of the proposed labor standards and explained why this is an important issue for workers and the community at large. Each time one of the CWA members spoke, every CWA member in the audience stood up in solidarity wearing red CWA shirts.

Since last fall, when the Dallas Broadband and Digital Equity Strategic Plan was first announced, CWA members have been meeting with Dallas City Council members and city officials, mobilizing their members to make phone calls, educating their members about CWA's broadband campaign at worksites, and signing up their members to the Political Action Fund. The members plan to continue mobilizing and partnering with community allies to include our labor standards in the Dallas Broadband Strategic Plan.

CWA Local 6215 members spoke before the Dallas City Council to urge lawmakers to attach labor standards to public funds used for expanding broadband access.

###

CWA-Endorsed Candidates Win in Ohio

On Tuesday, CWA-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan and gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley won their primary elections in Ohio. Ryan, currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is a longtime workers’ rights advocate who has championed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. As mayor of Dayton, Ohio, Whaley has a long history of building solidarity with the labor movement and actively fighting for working people in the state.

Other CWA-endorsed candidates, including Democratic congresswomen Marcy Kaptur and Joyce Beatty, as well as Ohio Supreme Court candidates Judges Marilyn Zayas, Terri Jamison, and Jennifer Brunner, also won their primary elections.

In addition, CWA District 4 Staff Representative Ron Gay, who is running for Mahoning County Democratic Central Committee, won his primary election. Erika White, President of CWA Local 4319 and CWA Executive Board member, who is running for Ohio state representative, will take part in a primary later this year.