Organizing Institute Builds Skills for Wireless Campaigns

T-Mobile call center worker Roland Ellis explains why he and his co-workers want the freedom to choose to join a union at T-Mobile.

New organizers from Districts 2-13 and 3 learned the basics of CWA organizing at a three-day Organizing Institute hosted by District 3, Feb. 24-26, in Jackson, Miss. The 21 local organizers focused on ways to support workers in the wireless industry who want CWA representation. The organizers are from Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia and Puerto Rico.

During the session, a T-Mobile worker from Tennessee talked about how hard it is to organize co-workers at his company. He brought many of the organizers to tears when he talked about how his son just got a union card after being hired at a supermarket. "These stories really personalized workers' struggles," said D3 Organizing Coordinator Elizabeth Roberson, who led the training, with District Organizing Coordinator Sheila Williams-Cain and Special Assignment Organizer Michele McNeil.

Roberson said the organizers "are an outstanding group who will roll our union on. It was really a high-energy organizing institute. It made me so proud to be a CWA member."

Check out this video of Roland Ellis talking about organizing at T-Mobile in Nashville.