CWA’s Everyday Heroes

Editor's Note: The weekly CWA electronic newsletter has begun an occasional feature on locals, members and retirees who are helping to change their communities one good deed at a time. If you have a story to tell, please write us at news@cwa-union.org.

Local 3805 Helps Seniors Get Ready for Digital TV

CWA-represented technicians and retirees from Local 3805 helped senior citizens in and around Knoxville, Tenn., get ready for the nation's transition to all-digital broadcast TV earlier this month.

Members and retirees volunteered and were trained to make house calls to install and program digital converter boxes, which are necessary for viewers who have analog-only TVs and no cable or satellite service.

The local paired up with the Knox County Community Action Committee to identify seniors in need and provide help, after training by an engineer from WATE-TV in Knoxville. Local 3805 President Debbie Helsley said the volunteers can attest that hooking up the boxes and making them work properly isn't as easy as publicity about digital conversion makes it sound.

The instructor "brought an old TV from his house — one of those old knob TVs that only has channels 2 to 13, and it worked out real well for his demonstration," she said. "But he showed us that there's a lot that can go wrong when you hook them up."

Some of the seniors used the government's $40 coupon to buy converter boxes, but others are on such tight budgets they couldn't afford even the extra $10 or so the coupon didn't cover. Helsley said she knows of volunteers who used coupons and paid the balance themselves to provide seniors with the boxes.

Local 3805 Retired Members' Council President Sue Stewart said retirees were eager to help. "It's been gratifying to be able to use our special skills to make sure our seniors won't lose an important connection to their community and the world when the digital conversion takes place," she said.'

CWA Utility Workers Pull Man from Fire in Oklahoma

Norm Howard didn't hesitate for a moment May 21 when he saw smoke about 50 feet away from his city water department truck in a Stillwater, Okla., neighborhood. He backed up, spotted flames coming from a single-story home, called in the fire and ran toward it.

"I walked around the house trying to see anybody, hear anybody," said Howard, who recently helped organize his department in Stillwater through CWA Local 6012. "I was calling out and beating on doors and windows, then I heard the victim."

A 55-year-old man was near the back door, overcome by the thick, dark smoke. Howard broke open the door and found the man burned on his face and arms, gasping for air. He tried to lift him to safety outside, but the victim was too badly injured for Howard to move by himself.

Howard got him as close to the door and fresh air as he could, then got a hand from his coworker, Steve Cunningham, also a new member of Local 6012. Cunningham had been working on water meters on a street nearby and heard the fire call.

Firefighters arrived just a couple of minutes later, finding the two utility workers with the burn victim in the back yard. They checked Howard and Cunningham for smoke inhalation, but both were OK. The man died of burn injuries three days later.

Howard is a member of the bargaining committee negotiating a first contract for 250 newly organized city workers, including 25 water utility workers.

"None of us who know Norm were surprised by his courageous, selfless response to the situation he found himself in," said CWA District 6 Staff Representative Judy Graves. "He is a leader in the truest sense of the word - in his workplace and his community."