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Dec. 10 Rallies Re-Ignite Fight for Workers' Right
About 500 members of IUE-CWA Local 84755 in Dayton, Ohio, helped stage one of the largest International Human Rights Day demonstrations in the country Dec. 10, calling attention to the erosion of workers' rights in the United States and the specific plight of Delphi workers who are facing drastic wage and benefit cuts in the wake of their company's bankruptcy.
The union members marched from their plant to the rally, where CWA President Larry Cohen told a crowd of 3,000 that workers' rights are human rights, and are fundamental to a democracy.
"This is the oldest democracy in the world and we're not going to stand by and watch democracy be shut down," Cohen said. You can hear Cohen's full speech and see pictures from Dayton and other cities at ga.cwa-union.org/december10.
Dec. 10 marked the 57th anniversary of the United Nation's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On that date and the week leading to it, tens of thousands of American workers in dozens of cities and workers around the world held rallies, marches, teach-ins and other events to renew the fight for workers' rights. CWA played a leading role in many cities.
"All over the United States, workers are routinely harassed, intimidated, threatened and even fired when they try to have a voice at work," Brooks Sunkett, CWA vice president for public, health care and education workers, told a crowd in Jackson, Miss. "If we allow this behavior to continue, we are going in exactly the opposite direction of every other major democracy in the world."
The events were coordinated by the AFL-CIO, which hosted a large-scale rally in Washington at which workers marched from the Federation to the White House. "America used to stand proud before the world as a land where the right of working people to have a union was respected. But today, that right has been destroyed," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson said. "The right-wing politicians cut back the law to just about nothing, and the corporations trample on workers' freedom like it's their personal doormat."
Clyde Rucker, a CWA member in Maryland who was fired for organizing at Verizon Wireless, told his story at the Washington rally and other fired and unfairly disciplined workers spoke out across the country.
Rucker, joined by Cohen, Executive Vice President Rechenbach and Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling helped lead the crowd of 3,000 around the block and to the White House, where union members marched in a gigantic circular picket line.
In Boston, about 5,000 union members and other activists staged a Worker Freedom Trail march, complete with Minutemen and a town crier, with stops at some of Boston's most notorious anti-worker businesses.
Kicking off the week of events, CWA helped lead rallies in Pittsburgh and New Jersey on Monday, Dec. 5. In Pittsburgh, workers talked about Comcast's union-busting and followed up all week by encouraging area residents to pay their Comcast bills in person and attach stickers in support of workers' rights. In New Jersey, speakers included Alexis Anderson, one of the leaders of CWA Local 1037's campaign to organize 6,000 state-paid daycare workers.
Some of the events have highlighted where a neutrality agreement has led more than 13,500 workers to join CWA since July. "Cingular is the most important organizing campaign in the last five years," AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff told reporters nationwide during a conference call.
On the same call, Cohen made the point that CEOs would never work without contracts, yet they expect exactly that of workers. "You hire lawyers to bargain for your multimillion dollar contracts, the most obscene the world has ever seen, then you hire a different bank of lawyers who make sure front-line workers never get a chance to bargain for themselves," he said, adding that fighting for democracy in America means "democracy in the workplace, human rights in the workplace."
The union members marched from their plant to the rally, where CWA President Larry Cohen told a crowd of 3,000 that workers' rights are human rights, and are fundamental to a democracy.
"This is the oldest democracy in the world and we're not going to stand by and watch democracy be shut down," Cohen said. You can hear Cohen's full speech and see pictures from Dayton and other cities at ga.cwa-union.org/december10.
Dec. 10 marked the 57th anniversary of the United Nation's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On that date and the week leading to it, tens of thousands of American workers in dozens of cities and workers around the world held rallies, marches, teach-ins and other events to renew the fight for workers' rights. CWA played a leading role in many cities.
"All over the United States, workers are routinely harassed, intimidated, threatened and even fired when they try to have a voice at work," Brooks Sunkett, CWA vice president for public, health care and education workers, told a crowd in Jackson, Miss. "If we allow this behavior to continue, we are going in exactly the opposite direction of every other major democracy in the world."
The events were coordinated by the AFL-CIO, which hosted a large-scale rally in Washington at which workers marched from the Federation to the White House. "America used to stand proud before the world as a land where the right of working people to have a union was respected. But today, that right has been destroyed," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson said. "The right-wing politicians cut back the law to just about nothing, and the corporations trample on workers' freedom like it's their personal doormat."
Clyde Rucker, a CWA member in Maryland who was fired for organizing at Verizon Wireless, told his story at the Washington rally and other fired and unfairly disciplined workers spoke out across the country.
Rucker, joined by Cohen, Executive Vice President Rechenbach and Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling helped lead the crowd of 3,000 around the block and to the White House, where union members marched in a gigantic circular picket line.
In Boston, about 5,000 union members and other activists staged a Worker Freedom Trail march, complete with Minutemen and a town crier, with stops at some of Boston's most notorious anti-worker businesses.
Kicking off the week of events, CWA helped lead rallies in Pittsburgh and New Jersey on Monday, Dec. 5. In Pittsburgh, workers talked about Comcast's union-busting and followed up all week by encouraging area residents to pay their Comcast bills in person and attach stickers in support of workers' rights. In New Jersey, speakers included Alexis Anderson, one of the leaders of CWA Local 1037's campaign to organize 6,000 state-paid daycare workers.
Some of the events have highlighted where a neutrality agreement has led more than 13,500 workers to join CWA since July. "Cingular is the most important organizing campaign in the last five years," AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff told reporters nationwide during a conference call.
On the same call, Cohen made the point that CEOs would never work without contracts, yet they expect exactly that of workers. "You hire lawyers to bargain for your multimillion dollar contracts, the most obscene the world has ever seen, then you hire a different bank of lawyers who make sure front-line workers never get a chance to bargain for themselves," he said, adding that fighting for democracy in America means "democracy in the workplace, human rights in the workplace."