50 Million People Can Change America

How do we move forward on the issues we care about -- good jobs, retirement security, health care and bargaining rights? By standing together with other activists and being there for each other's fights. Together with faith groups, community organizations, civil rights groups, students and others, CWA is pushing for progressive change to benefit working families. We're building a wide-ranging movement for social and economic justice, and that's how we're fighting back. The only time there has been change in the U.S. is when a movement of the majority rose up and demanded it.

Stand Up for Ohio

Stand Up for Ohio is a new kind of community-labor organization, engaging tens of thousands of people across the state to create "a people's economy," one that works for everyone. The coalition's ongoing campaign calls for an economy that "provides one good job for every Ohioan," defends workers' collective bargaining rights and fights to protect voting rights, among other campaigns.

"The idea was not only to mobilize union members but to have union, community and faith based activists come together," said Anita Andrews, Local 4322.

The coalition includes CWA, NAACP, Center for Community Change, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Ohio Student Association, United Food and Commercial Workers and more.

The coalition played a major role in the 2012 election, beating back legislation taking away collective bargaining rights from public sector workers.

'I Want to See Texas a Blue State'

Local 6215 has been partnering with the Sierra Club, and this past fall worked together on two key races in North Texas. Local 6215's Herb Keener: "We've started to partner with the Texas Organizing Project. I want to see Texas blue, and one of the ways to do it is through coalition building. We all get together, we get our issues resolved and we find a way to turn this state around."

CWA also has been working with the Sierra Club, Citizens Trade Campaign and others to focus attention on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal sometimes called "NAFTA on steroids." CWA can't stop a bad trade deal alone. With our allies, at every U.S. round of talks, activists are fighting to put strong, enforceable labor, health and environmental protections in the deal and to end the secret negotiations that now allow only business lobbyists to review and comment on the entire document. The Trans-Pacific Partnership currently covers the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and more countries can be added.

CWA and Allies Take on New Jersey Governor

In New Jersey, CWA has built a strong coalition with Garden State Equality, NAACP, Latino Action Network, One Nation NJ, NJ Citizen Action, Working Families Alliance, Food and Water Watch, Communities United, AARP, Black Issues Convention, Next Step, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, NJ Education Association and AFL-CIO. The coalition is fighting back against the proposed privatization of vital public services and the assault on public workers, as well as campaigns to expand voting rights and for tax fairness. A major fight has been to keep facilities for the developmentally disabled open.

CWA Local 1040 President Carolyn Wade: "In New Jersey we have a continuous fight to keep our state institutions open. Our coalition joins with the families and anyone else interested in keeping these facilities open, and we've been quite successful. We know that we're all in this today, and we're reaching out to other organizations because people are power and we're pulling our power together."

T-Mobile USA Workers' Message is Global

The worldwide union movement continues to put pressure on T-Mobile USA and parent company Deutsche Telekom to treat U.S. workers with the same respect it provides to those in Germany, who have a union and collective bargaining. CWA and the German union ver.di formed TU, a union for workers on both sides of the Atlantic. Members of ver.di have adopted U.S. call centers and have made sure that U.S. workers know "we have your back." The head of the global union movement, Sharan Burrow, joined a "speakout" in Charleston, S.C., along with Rep. James Clyburn, a Democratic House leader, and other community leaders, to raise awareness of the fear and intimidation that T-Mobile USA workers face on the job everyday.

Advocating for Fair Election Financing in New York

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates to unlimited campaign contributions from corporations and wealthy individuals, and the outbreak of Super PACs, truly threaten our democratic election process.

CWA President Larry Cohen, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford and leaders of many other progressive organizations are supporting a public financing system for elections in New York State. The coalition's goal is to make New York a model for expanding public financing on the national level, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already made campaign finance reform a key issue of his administration.

How would it work? A public financing system would provide candidates with matching funds for small donations, and the system would encourage small donations. It would level the playing field, incentivizing candidates to raise money from ordinary citizens, rather than relying on a handful of rich benefactors.

For the past 20 years, New York City has already proven this system to be truly transformative. The city has witnessed increased donor participation, supercharged grassroots fundraising and candidates that are more responsive to their constituents.

Uniting Against Hyatt

CWA activists have joined picket lines across the country as UNITE HERE members continue to protest working conditions at the Hyatt Hotel chain. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hyatt workers and allies last summer as they launched a global boycott of the hotel chain to raise awareness about the abuse of housekeepers and other hotel employees.

Hyatt has replaced many longtime employees with minimum-wage temporary workers, and the hotel has imposed dangerous workloads on the remaining staff, many of whom suffered injuries while lifting mattresses and scrambling to meet the inhumane number of rooms they must clean per shift. Many housekeepers are on pain medication and some have been permanently disabled.

We're standing with our brothers and sisters to say, "Hyatt Hurts!"

More Jobs at New Flyer

When two bids to manufacture buses for NYC and Los Angeles stalled, CWA teamed up with District 1's political team, the Los Angeles AFL-CIO and the BlueGreen Alliance to get contracts for thousands of new buses approved. The work adds about 150 jobs at the Minnesota plant and 50 jobs at a new California service center.

Take Action Minnesota

Take Action Minnesota is committed to fighting against voter suppression, right-to-work (for less) and a ban on gay marriage, as well as initiatives that will move the economy forward.

Minnesota State Council Director Mona Meyer: "This year we worked closely with Take Action Minnesota and one of our biggest accomplishments was defeating the voter restriction amendment. Our choice was simple. We needed to work together to defeat this. When we're all together and speaking with legislators and holding them accountable, they see us as a united front: community groups, faith based groups, unions. We're all together fighting for the same thing."