Missouri Members Turn State Capitol into Sea of CWA Red

CWA Local 6355 President Bradley Harmon leads members into the Missouri state capitol Wednesday for Lobby Day.

Lobby Day in Missouri drew 400 CWA members to the Missouri state capitol on Wednesday for meetings with lawmakers and their staffs about vital workers' rights and working-family issues.

"Every time you turned around in the state capitol, no matter what floor you were on, you'd see a group of people in red CWA shirts," said Richard von Glahn, organizing director for Local 6355, which represents 7,000 public workers statewide.

The local has been getting "overwhelmingly positive feedback" from members, von Glahn said, even those who had the eye-opening experience of learning how difficult it can be to persuade lawmakers on the other side of the aisle. "Some people probably came away with a clearer understanding of the things we're up against," he said.

Other locals also sent members to Jefferson City, including 17 who came by bus from Local 6450 in Kansas City. Local President Colleen Downing said they talked with lawmakers about some of the controversial bills, including one that would require state workers to pay an $8 fee to have union dues deducted from their paychecks.

Some Republican lawmakers, who include many freshmen because of Missouri's term limits, said they weren't aware of the bill, and didn't seem to like it. One of them summed up his opposition: "It's a tax," he told Downing. She also discovered that some Republicans are opposed to a right-to-work law, a temporarily shelved anti-union measure that the legislature could resurrect at any time.

When it does, Missouri CWAers will be ready. "Some of them drove four and a half, five hours to get to the capitol," von Glahn said. "They said, 'It was a long day, a hard day, but we can't wait to go back.'"