Hundreds of CWA House Parties Launch Fall Campaign for Obama-Biden

Above, Local 2201 members attended Obama watch party in Richmond, Va., with Pres. Larry Cohen and VP Ron Collins pictured at center;  below, 75 flight attendants gathered at home of AFA-CWA Local 24046 Pres. Nick Birchfield near Detroit.

Thousands of CWA members attended hundreds of house parties across the country on August 28 for the historic speech by Senator Barack Obama as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in front of 84,000 people at Denver's Mile High Stadium.

The parties—at least 800 in all-- not only energized members and their families for the election season, they reinforced the importance of electing lawmakers who will pass the Employee Free Choice Act – and a president who will sign it, as Obama has pledged to do.

"The speech got members pumped up and wanting to volunteer to get Obama in the White House," said AFA-CWA Local 24046 President Nick Birchfield, whose house party near Detroit drew about 75 flight attendants who gathered around TVs inside and outdoors. Earlier, Birchfield said they watched the CWA Employee Free Choice video and collected postcards of support from anyone who hadn't already signed one. It was one of the biggest CWA parties across the country.

CWA President Larry Cohen urged members and locals to capitalize on the parties' momentum and get to work on worksite leafleting, conversations with members, voter registration drives and any other outreach to fellow union members and working families.

"Employee Free Choice, affordable universal health care, retirement security and fair trade deals that won't keep shipping our jobs overseas – the simple fact is, Barack Obama supports these critical issues; John McCain doesn't," Cohen said. "In fact, Senator McCain has made it clear that he would veto Employee Free Choice, he would tax your employer-paid health care benefits, he would try to privatize Social Security and he would rubber stamp every trade deal with no regard for workers or the environment. We can't let that happen."

Cohen attended a speech-watching party in Richmond, Va., at Local 2201's headquarters. More than 50 members turned out, including District 2 Vice President Ron Collins. "Our members were genuinely excited about Barack's speech and lot of them signed up for precinct walks," Local President Chris Lane said. "The opportunity to have our national president and district vice president here also got people really fired up."

Another 40 CWAers gathered at the Local 7777 hall in Denver, watching on a 60-inch screen rented by District 7. Local Executive Vice President Lisa Bolton said they would have had an even bigger crowd but many of their members were at the speech or working there as volunteers. The group included CWA Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell, District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly and retired CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling who were in town for the convention. "We just had a blast," Bolton said. "Now that we're done with our Qwest contract, we're ready to jump right into Labor 2008."

Other officers and DNC delegates, including Executive Vice President Annie Hill, watched the speech in person at Mile High.

At least one CWA party got media attention. CWA members meeting at a Midland, Texas, restaurant, in the heart of Bush country, were featured on the local TV news after the speech. Local 6127 Vice President Gina Foster told the reporter that the speech was, "Wonderful, very uplifting. He truly is pro-labor, for education, he supports our military and Social Security. We love that about him."

At a restaurant in Knoxville, Tenn., about 40 members of CWA local 3865 watched the event together. "Overwhelmingly people were blown away by Senator Obama's speech and felt inspired to go out and do the work necessary to see that he is elected," said Cameron Brooks, a staff member for the local. Members even got other customers to sign postcards supporting Employee Free Choice.

Local 4217 in Belleville, Ill., had a dozen members turn out at a pub – even though someone had ripped down all their Obama signs pointing to the room they'd set up for the watch party.

In Macon, Mo., about 15 Local 6355 members gathered in a hotel breakfast room and "even those who may not have been die-hard supporters were feeling energized after the speech," member Laura Jackson said.

Ten people turned up at the home of Claudia Gaskin, Local 1037, in Bloomfield, N.J. Obama "moved all of us in a promising way," she said. On the other coast, about 60 people came to Local 9505's party at a Palmdale, Calif., restaurant, where hosts raffled off Obama buttons and stickers after the historic speech.

In Washington state, about 25 people gathered at the home of Stan Wylie, Local 7800. He registered his party with Obama's website, so it also drew several community members. "It was a very nice mix of personal friends, fellow unionists and random Obama supporters," he said. "We were all in agreement that Obama is what is right for our country, and we were impressed with the depth and passion with which the speech was delivered."