CWA President Larry Cohen on Election Results

Contact: Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, cjohnson@cwa-union.org

Washington, D.C. – Following is a statement by President Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, on the results of Election 2012.

“Throughout this very long political campaign, at CWA, we’ve been clear that elections are about choices. Americans who want to ensure a place for working families in our economy made a clear choice in re-electing President Obama.

Tens of thousands of our members, activists and volunteers, stepped up and did amazing work, not only in returning President Obama to office but in electing representatives who will stand with working Americans and not look for ways to cut programs that working families count on and more tax breaks for the wealthiest in our nation.

Our members and activists took a stand for democracy in many ways in Election 2012.

• In Ohio, thousands of CWA activists, working with the Stand Up for Ohio coalition, made the difference in this election. They started more than a year ago, getting 1.3 million signatures to block the Republican plan to destroy public workers’ collective bargaining rights. They turned back a similar attempt to suppress the vote. And they mobilized to re-elect President Obama and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, among others.

• In Pennsylvania, well before Election Day, our members, working with the NAACP, the Transport Workers Union and other groups, registered new voters in the face of the most restrictive voter identification law in the U.S. and are fighting back against a wave of voter suppression.

• In Virginia, CWA leafleted hundreds of worksites across the states, knocked on thousands of doors in labor walks and made thousands of phone calls to support President Obama and Tim Kaine for the U.S. Senate.      

CWA and our progressive allies are looking ahead, determined to work to abolish the bars to democracy that threaten our democratic process. These are: Senate rules that make progress on any issue just about impossible; the obscene amount of money in politics that was all too evident in Election 2012; voter suppression, and barriers to legalization for millions of immigrants. These have no place in our democracy. We know that the choices made this Election Day will move us closer to economic justice and democracy for all.”

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CWA represents 700,000 workers in telecommunications, airlines, media, public service, health care and manufacturing.