Next Generation Activists Storm Minneapolis

CWA's 2012 Next Generation class.

Nearly 50 young workers taped dollar bills over their mouths, marched into a Wells Fargo lobby and laid down in front of the bank's trademark stagecoach in protest.

The "die-in" was part of CWA's Next Generation conference in Minneapolis, where activists attended a four-day training on organizing and political action. They learned how to lobby, use social media for union work and build coalitions. Workers discussed the economic slump, foreclosures, voter suppression and how to mobilize more young people.

And those concerns drove them to Wells Fargo last Friday afternoon, where they challenged the bank's detrimental financial influence in politics, including its involvement in getting a voter ID amendment on Minnesota's ballot this November. Jake Lake of CWA Local 1101, who serves on the national AFL-CIO's Young Workers Advisory Council, read a list of the group's demands.

"We demand the top 1 percent of this country stop destroying our country," he said. "Wells Fargo, the Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Business Partnership and the politicians they front have launched an assault on our democracy."

Workers left the lobby chanting, "This is what democracy looks like!" and "We are the 99 percent!" Watch them take action here.

Youth unionization rates are two and a half times lower than those of workers ages 40 to 65. So in order to grow the movement, it's critical to involve more young workers. Through Next Generation, CWA is working to develop young leaders, take advantage of new technologies for communication, organize a growing generation of workers who are not in a traditional employment relationship and launch grassroots groups across the country.

"I didn't know what to expect going into this training. Maybe some background on union history?" said Aiden Sheffield of AFA-CWA 29012. "Well, I learned that — and so much more! I realize how important it is that we stand up together and take part in our democracy — that must be taken back by labor. They say it takes a village, and it really does. I have a better understanding of what I need to do."