CWA Locals Energized as Election Day Nears

With less than three weeks until Election Day, CWA locals across the country are stepping up efforts to elect a worker-friendly Congress as well as state and local leaders that put working families first.

"Collectively, we are reaching tens of thousands of voters, and those are the kind of numbers that can make all the difference come Election Day," CWA President Larry Cohen said. "The work our members are doing on their weekends and evenings is literally of historic importance."

Here's a sampling of CWA activities leading to the Nov. 7 election:

• Local 6320 members in St. Louis, Mo., spent eight nights this month calling more than 7,300 phone numbers for CWA households, leaving messages at many but making direct contact with hundreds of members and retirees. The local is also participating in the AFL-CIO's labor walks and will make another round of phones calls the week before the election.
  
  
• District 4 members from six locals leafleted downtown Cleveland on Oct. 16 for U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and governor's candidate Ted Strickland. Scores of CWA members are taking part in labor walks and phone banks for Ohio's candidates and worker-friendly governors and U.S. House members in states throughout the district. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat running for reelection, visited CWA members at a phone bank Monday night, thanking them for their hard work.
  
  
• In Nevada, CWA locals are eagerly supporting Jack Carter, son of President Jimmy Carter, for the U.S. Senate. Locals are taking part in regular phone banks and precinct walks.
  
  
• District 7 locals in Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Washington have loaned staff to the AFL-CIO for fulltime political work. In addition to federal races, the district is hugely focused on the state houses in Arizona and Colorado, hoping to match Democratic governors with a veto-proof majority in each chamber in order to pursue collective bargaining bills for public workers in both states. District 7 boasts that CWA has more people taking part in labor walks in Colorado than any other union in the state.
  
  
• CWA Headquarters employees are joining local union activists in the Washington, D.C. area in staffing phone banks and knocking on doors for candidates in key Senate races in Virginia and Maryland.
  
  
• In New York, between seven competitive races for Congress and Democrat Eliot Spitzer's campaign for governor, union members are especially busy. Thirteen phone banks are set up throughout the state, literature about issues and candidates is being distributed at CWA worksites and members are going door to door at union households.
  
  
• A half-dozen New Jersey locals have turned out more than 100 members for labor walks in their state.

In addition to the enormous amount of volunteer work, locals have provided COPE funding for candidates and some made officers and staff available to work part-time on campaigns.

The CWA News staff reminds locals that photographs are an essential part of election coverage. Please make sure to assign someone to take pictures of your members as they work phone banks, knock on doors, participate in rallies or take part in other campaign activities.