Movement Building

Get Ready to Rally for Immigration Reform

CWA members in Mishawaka, Ind., with activists from Jobs with Justice, SEIU, the Northern Indiana Coalition for Immigration Reform and other groups, joined the Fast For Families call for immigration reform.

The "Fast for Families Across America" Bus Tour is getting close to the end of its run.

On Wednesday, April 9, immigration reform advocates will return to where it all began with a rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The day before, Tuesday, April 8, President Larry Cohen, CWA activists and other activists, including AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, will rally outside the Herndon, Va., office of Rep. Frank Wolf, calling on him and Congress to pass immigration reform this year.

For more than a month, the "Fast for Families" activists have been on a nationwide road trip, talking with ordinary Americans about our broken immigration system, encouraging communities to fast and pray, and pushing members of Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform. At every stop, supporters have signed thousands of petitions that activists will deliver to the House leadership at the end of the April 9 rally.

The Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform last June, but the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has refused to take up the issue. House Democrats are looking to push forward a discharge petition that would enable H.R. 15, the bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, to be considered on the House floor.

******

Cesar Chavez Holiday

CWAers join the march and rally in San Antonio, Texas, to celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez.

CWAers, union activists and supporters joined the annual Cesar E. Chavez March for Unity in San Antonio, Texas, on March 29. Activists celebrated Chavez's life and legacy and rallied for comprehensive immigration reform.

Chavez was a farm worker, a civil rights activist and co-founder of the United Farmworkers Union. His birthday, March 31, is a state holiday in Texas, California and Colorado.

"Cesar Chavez" is a new film now in theatres on the courageous life of the farmworker organizer who believed that his job as an organizer "was to help ordinary people do extraordinary things."

******

Missouri CWA members lobby this week at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, fighting back against anti-worker legislation.

******

Sara Steffens, TNG-CWA secretary-treasurer, TNG-CWA members and union and community activists in Oakland rally for a wage increase for minimum wage workers, and paid sick days.

******

Students And Workers Unite!

Students from Rowan University's Glassboro Student Union and Progressive Student Alliance supported members of CWA Local 1038 during contract negotiations this month.

The students sent 183 emails to Sodexo management, collected signatures from their fellow students for a petition demanding a fair contract, and sat with workers during negotiations.