CWA Leaders Attend Legislative University

Earlier this week, nearly 100 CWA leaders from 26 states came to Washington, D.C. for the first-ever Legislative University. The Legislative Political Action Teams focused on sharpening their grassroots organizing skills and learning better ways to move members of Congress.

On the first day of the gathering, the group heard from Rep. Donna Edwards, a Maryland Democrat elected in 2008. Edwards discussed the importance of letters and phone calls flooding into Congress, noting that members track every single communication their offices receive. Sometimes, she said, all it takes is ten phone calls to make her take a stance on an issue.

The next day, Rep. Steve LaTourette, an Ohio Republican who is a strong supporter of organizing rights, addressed the group. LaTourette discussed how to work with Republicans and praised CWA’s consistency on health care: CWA warned Democrats who opposed health care reform that we would not help them in the November election and we didn’t.

Participants in Legislative University 2011 also heard from a panel of Hill staffers, who offered up a candid discussion about how to contact and engage in dialogue with congressional aides. “It was great to hear from them directly what they think of us,” one CWA leader said. “The bottom line was, it’s important to develop relationships with these folks.”

At the same time that Legislative University was taking place, members of the Sierra Club were in Washington, D.C. for the 2011 Green Jobs Conference, sponsored by the Blue-Green Alliance of union and environmental groups. CWA leaders met with their state counterparts from the Sierra Club and were able to deepen the bonds and relationships between labor and environmentalists, two groups that are extending their ability to work together when it comes to pushing for good-paying, clean jobs.

CWA President Larry Cohen participated in a panel discussion at the conference, and talked about the union between green jobs and workers' rights. “Green jobs for all of us here means jobs where workers have rights,” he said. “We’re living in a time when corporate America is literally shutting down our rights and we’ve had enough of it and we want jobs with justice, not just any old jobs.”

Cohen added that labor and environmentalists have a shared commonality. “Labor and environmental groups need to demonstrate how the economic justice issues that we work on are related – for secure sustainable jobs, health care for all, retirement security, and bargaining and organizing rights.”