August Blitz for Million Member Mobilization

Momentum and excitement are building as CWA expands its campaign to get at least 15 percent of members to join the Million Member Mobilization for the Employee Free Choice Act. As of July 24, more than 14,000 CWA members have signed the mobilization pledge cards.

The surge in new card signers follows last week's call to locals by CWA's Executive Board setting an August 29 deadline for reaching the goal of at least 15 percent member participation. Locals are urged to make August a "blitz month," enabling CWA to reach a target of 65,000 signed cards by month's end. CWA's total goal is 80,000. Locals that have signed up at least 15 percent of their members will be listed in the newsletter weekly (see the first listings below).

As of this week, District 6 was leading all other districts, achieving nearly 30 percent of its final goal. Activists at the district and local level nationwide are making the sign-ups – including photos – part of regular business at local and worksite meetings and at special events to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

In District 1, after holding training sessions for local union Million Member Mobilization coordinators, the district produced a video of nearly 40 local union leaders pledging to get signatures from 15 percent to 80 percent of their locals' membership. Watch at www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/pages/d1mobilization.

Following the 2008 elections, CWA's signed cards, along with photos of members who have signed, will be added to cards and photos from dozens of other participating unions, from Change to Win and the AFL-CIO. The goal is to gather cards from a million union members to show how strongly workers support the Employee Free Choice Act and to display them at the U.S. Capitol when the new Congress is sworn in.

As of July 24, the following 34 CWA locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up 15 percent or more of their members: Dist. 1: 1103, 1114, 1152, 1301, 1302, 1701, 14199, 81106, 81455, ­Dist. 2: 2107, 2336, Dist. 3: 3290, 3683, 83701, Dist. 4: 4217, 4309, 4611, 84101, 84742, 84802, Dist. 6: 6009, 6113, 6127, 6151, 6200, 6316, 6391, 6409, Dist. 7: 7050, 7206, 14752, Dist: 9: 9410, 9477, Dist. 13: 14888.