CWA Activists Press Their Senators on NLRB

CWA Legislative and Political Team activists continued to press their Senators on the need to confirm all five Presidential nominations to the NLRB, and to change the Senate rules, if necessary, to get it done.

Indiana CWAers met with Senator Joe Donnelly on June 7, said State LPAT Coordinator Angie Schritter. So far, the team has delivered 251 signed letters and about 20-30 new letters come in every day, she said. At worksites, LPAT activists are handing out flyers and urging members to make phone calls.

 

In Colorado, activists had a meeting with Senator Mark Udall and reported that the senator is completely on board with why we need a fully functioning NLRB and changing the Senate rules to make it happen. An active CWA retired members' council is helping with letters and phone calls.

Plans are in the works for a National Day of Action on July 2, with CWAers, especially in critical states, holding rallies and meetings outside their senators' district offices and hitting as many worksites as possible to help members make those calls to Capitol Hill. "We want to generate tens of thousands of telephone calls to senators, and remind them that we expect the Senate Democratic majority to change the rules if necessary to get all five NLRB presidential nominations confirmed," said CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force publicized its support for a fully functioning NLRB in an advertisement in The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper that reaches members of Congress and their staffs.

"The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the agency that enforces federal labor law. Fewer than half the states provide any sort of anti-discrimination protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender employees. And because there is no federal law that bars workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, LGBT workers who suffer workplace discrimination have no remedy or recourse. We call on the Senate majority to confirm all five NLRB members to safeguard workers' rights on the job so that LGBT workers, who may be especially vulnerable to the whims of their employers, may have their rights protected by a fully functioning NLRB."