Board Supports April 29 Demonstration in NY "To End the War and Turn Our Country Around"

CWA's Executive Board this week voiced support for the brave men and women deployed in Iraq and for a major demonstration April 29 in New York where labor activists, veterans and community groups, students and others will gather to demand that our troops be brought home. The demonstration also will call for a new focus on our needs here at home.

District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton told board members that several CWA locals in New York and New Jersey are active in organizing the demonstration. "A majority of Americans now agree that it's time to pull our troops out of Iraq, and we need to amplify that message to our political leaders," he said.

Public, Health Care and Education Sector Vice President Brooks Sunkett, who is active in the peace group U.S. Labor Against the War, noted that CWA called for winding down troop levels in a convention resolution as early as September 2004. "We are tremendously proud of the men and women of our armed forces, including many in our CWA family, who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it's now clear that the best way to support our troops and their families is to bring the troops home and out of harm's way."

CWA and other groups also are pointing to the fact that the war has siphoned hundreds of billions in funding for health care, job training, education, housing, infrastructure and the rebuilding of the storm-ravaged Gulf coast.

To make a donation to U.S. Labor Against the War or for more information go to www.uslaboragainstwar.org.