Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Obituaries
IUE Pioneer George Collins Brought Workers' Voice to Politics
George Collins, a retired secretary-treasurer of IUE who took part in numerous international trade missions and was a pioneer in labor's political movement, died Feb. 13 in a Pennsylvania hospital of congestive heart failure. He was 84.
Collins, who was born and raised in New York City, began his career at the Sperry-Rand Corporation on Long Island in the 1940s. He quickly became active in his local, now IUE-CWA Local 81425, serving as a shop steward, building chairman and secretary.
According to his official IUE biography, Collins "played a major role in the struggle to free electrical workers from the control of a communist-dominated union (the UE) and was one of the first field representatives of IUE after it was chartered by the CIO in 1949."
He spent the next three years traveling throughout the country urging electrical industry workers at General Electric, Westinghouse, Sylvania, RCA and other plants to join the democratic IUE. By the early 1950s, more than 300,000 workers had become IUE members. IUE merged with CWA in 2001.
In 1952, Collins was elected vice president of IUE District 4. After being named the union's acting secretary-treasurer in 1962, he was elected in 1964, running on a ticket with IUE founding President James Carey.
Collins served for four years and then became part of the IUE staff, helping pioneer the Committee for Political Education (COPE) that today is a critical part of labor's efforts to fight for workers' rights in the political arena. "He pushed for the cause of American workers and made sure that senators and congressmen got the workers' side of the story," his son Stephen Collins said.
Collins also was instrumental in global labor relations as IUE began reaching out to overseas unions during the 1960s. He helped IUE establish close ties with the Japanese Electrical Union, making numerous trips to Japan to lay the groundwork for an exchange of technicians.
Collins, who lost his wife, Muriel, in 1991, most recently lived in Lewes, Del. In addition to Stephen, he is survived by a daughter, Kathleen Ferruggia; sons Richard and Daniel; two brothers and two sisters; 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Union was 'Life's Work' for Staffer Dan McLeod
Dan McLeod, a former CWA representative in Seattle, Wash., died Jan. 16 of heart failure. He was 75.
"His life's work was his union," said Nancy McLeod, his wife of 50 years. "He was committed to helping his fellow workers and protecting their rights."
In addition to servicing Pacific Bell locals and working to organize other companies in Seattle, McLeod worked tirelessly on safety and health issues that affected the members, CWA Representative Linda Rasmussen said. She described McLeod, who had a second career as a yoga instructor, as "always independent and a free spirit."
McLeod retired in May 1985, shortly after AT&T's divestiture of the Bell System and during CWA redistricting, when the upper West Coast was split off from District 9 and became part of District 7.
Born in Canada, McLeod went to work for Pacific Telephone in December 1951 as a splicer and installer. He served CWA Local 9430 in San Mateo, Calif., as steward, chief steward, legislative-political chair, editor, vice president and, for 12 years, president. He was also active in the Democratic Party in San Mateo County.
McLeod went to work for the union in Seattle in 1973 and in July 1975 joined the staff as a CWA representative assigned to that office, then representing members in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.
Survivors include his wife Nancy of Salem, Ore., daughters Crystal and Catherine, sons Michael and Steven, and eight grandchildren.
'Fiery' Staff Rep Lynn Amen Always Ready for Battle
Marilyn (Lynn) Amen, a retired CWA representative in District 6, died Nov. 1, 2002, after complications from heart surgery. She was 76.
"She was fiery, very strong, very opinionated," said her son, Chris, of Cordova, Tenn. "She was the original 'I am woman, hear me roar.' She was the poster child for it."
Amen began her career as a telephone operator for what is now Southwestern Bell and became active in her Kansas City local, rising to president and winning a number of organizing awards, her son said.
"The union was strong and she made it stronger," he said, remembering how she'd invite members to her home to discuss problems they were having at work. "She would really go to bat for the employees. She was always ready to do battle."
Amen joined the staff as a CWA representative in St. Louis, Mo., in August 1977. From November 1984 until her retirement in 1989, she worked alternately in the Kansas City, Mo., and Topeka, Kan., offices.
She lived in Missouri at the time of her death, near her daughter, Genie. She is also survived by four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Union Activist Brings History to Life In 'Honoring Sergeant Carter'
Before Allene Carter began her odyssey, Sgt. Eddie Carter's story was destined to die with the few remaining veterans alive to remember the daring black soldier and his World War II heroics.
They remembered how the Nazis opened fire on his U.S. Army squad outside a German warehouse in March 1945. How Carter crawled toward the enemy as bullets flew, wounding him in a leg, arm and hand. How he single-handedly killed six Nazi soldiers and captured the two who were still alive, walking across the field to his unit with a knife to one prisoner's neck and a machine gun pointed at the other's belly.
But they didn't know the whole story. And no one would have without the passion, energy and librarian-like research and organizing skills of Carter's daughter-in-law, Allene Carter, a steward in a Los Angeles County unit of five police dispatch supervisors represented by CWA Local 9400.
"Honoring Sergeant Carter," a 212-page hardback published in January by HarperCollins, was a labor of love for the tenacious union activist.
"This is a dream come true," Carter said in late February as she wound down a book tour that took her to Ohio, New York and the Washington, D.C. area, where her signings included a date at the Pentagon.
Carter set out in the late 1990s to learn why the U.S. Army turned its back on her father-in-law after the war, wrongly branding him a communist in an era when racism and fears of communism combined to devastate lives and careers. The accusations crushed Eddie Carter, a man whose commanding officer in Germany called "a tremendous soldier" who "soldiered 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
The book tells not only Eddie Carter's life story but details his daughter-in-law's fight for justice long after his death in 1963. Years of letters and phone calls to the government to uncover records and push for the truth ultimately led to a formal apology from President Bill Clinton and a Medal of Honor for the redeemed soldier.
Allene Carter has been delighted by reviews of the book, which have called the story "fascinating," "extraordinary," "important and inspiring."
"The story of Eddie Carter reveals the venom of racism during a war presumed to be for freedom and equality," said Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States." "It is also a touching story of romantic love and heroic integrity struggling against color prejudice and political hysteria."
That an important piece of once unknown American history is being passed on to another generation is especially gratifying to Allene Carter. She was overwhelmed by stops on her tour at three schools in Youngstown, Ohio, where students listened raptly and gave her standing ovations. One teen-age girl was amazed to find her own grandfather in the book, a man who served with Eddie Carter.
"Part of my speech to the children is, 'I'm passing my baton to you. It's up to you to keep this going, to do research and make history accurate,'" she said. "I can see their enthusiasm, see the light bulb go on for them. They realize that ordinary people can make a difference."
George Collins, a retired secretary-treasurer of IUE who took part in numerous international trade missions and was a pioneer in labor's political movement, died Feb. 13 in a Pennsylvania hospital of congestive heart failure. He was 84.
Collins, who was born and raised in New York City, began his career at the Sperry-Rand Corporation on Long Island in the 1940s. He quickly became active in his local, now IUE-CWA Local 81425, serving as a shop steward, building chairman and secretary.
According to his official IUE biography, Collins "played a major role in the struggle to free electrical workers from the control of a communist-dominated union (the UE) and was one of the first field representatives of IUE after it was chartered by the CIO in 1949."
He spent the next three years traveling throughout the country urging electrical industry workers at General Electric, Westinghouse, Sylvania, RCA and other plants to join the democratic IUE. By the early 1950s, more than 300,000 workers had become IUE members. IUE merged with CWA in 2001.
In 1952, Collins was elected vice president of IUE District 4. After being named the union's acting secretary-treasurer in 1962, he was elected in 1964, running on a ticket with IUE founding President James Carey.
Collins served for four years and then became part of the IUE staff, helping pioneer the Committee for Political Education (COPE) that today is a critical part of labor's efforts to fight for workers' rights in the political arena. "He pushed for the cause of American workers and made sure that senators and congressmen got the workers' side of the story," his son Stephen Collins said.
Collins also was instrumental in global labor relations as IUE began reaching out to overseas unions during the 1960s. He helped IUE establish close ties with the Japanese Electrical Union, making numerous trips to Japan to lay the groundwork for an exchange of technicians.
Collins, who lost his wife, Muriel, in 1991, most recently lived in Lewes, Del. In addition to Stephen, he is survived by a daughter, Kathleen Ferruggia; sons Richard and Daniel; two brothers and two sisters; 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Union was 'Life's Work' for Staffer Dan McLeod
Dan McLeod, a former CWA representative in Seattle, Wash., died Jan. 16 of heart failure. He was 75.
"His life's work was his union," said Nancy McLeod, his wife of 50 years. "He was committed to helping his fellow workers and protecting their rights."
In addition to servicing Pacific Bell locals and working to organize other companies in Seattle, McLeod worked tirelessly on safety and health issues that affected the members, CWA Representative Linda Rasmussen said. She described McLeod, who had a second career as a yoga instructor, as "always independent and a free spirit."
McLeod retired in May 1985, shortly after AT&T's divestiture of the Bell System and during CWA redistricting, when the upper West Coast was split off from District 9 and became part of District 7.
Born in Canada, McLeod went to work for Pacific Telephone in December 1951 as a splicer and installer. He served CWA Local 9430 in San Mateo, Calif., as steward, chief steward, legislative-political chair, editor, vice president and, for 12 years, president. He was also active in the Democratic Party in San Mateo County.
McLeod went to work for the union in Seattle in 1973 and in July 1975 joined the staff as a CWA representative assigned to that office, then representing members in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.
Survivors include his wife Nancy of Salem, Ore., daughters Crystal and Catherine, sons Michael and Steven, and eight grandchildren.
'Fiery' Staff Rep Lynn Amen Always Ready for Battle
Marilyn (Lynn) Amen, a retired CWA representative in District 6, died Nov. 1, 2002, after complications from heart surgery. She was 76.
"She was fiery, very strong, very opinionated," said her son, Chris, of Cordova, Tenn. "She was the original 'I am woman, hear me roar.' She was the poster child for it."
Amen began her career as a telephone operator for what is now Southwestern Bell and became active in her Kansas City local, rising to president and winning a number of organizing awards, her son said.
"The union was strong and she made it stronger," he said, remembering how she'd invite members to her home to discuss problems they were having at work. "She would really go to bat for the employees. She was always ready to do battle."
Amen joined the staff as a CWA representative in St. Louis, Mo., in August 1977. From November 1984 until her retirement in 1989, she worked alternately in the Kansas City, Mo., and Topeka, Kan., offices.
She lived in Missouri at the time of her death, near her daughter, Genie. She is also survived by four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Union Activist Brings History to Life In 'Honoring Sergeant Carter'
Before Allene Carter began her odyssey, Sgt. Eddie Carter's story was destined to die with the few remaining veterans alive to remember the daring black soldier and his World War II heroics.
They remembered how the Nazis opened fire on his U.S. Army squad outside a German warehouse in March 1945. How Carter crawled toward the enemy as bullets flew, wounding him in a leg, arm and hand. How he single-handedly killed six Nazi soldiers and captured the two who were still alive, walking across the field to his unit with a knife to one prisoner's neck and a machine gun pointed at the other's belly.
But they didn't know the whole story. And no one would have without the passion, energy and librarian-like research and organizing skills of Carter's daughter-in-law, Allene Carter, a steward in a Los Angeles County unit of five police dispatch supervisors represented by CWA Local 9400.
"Honoring Sergeant Carter," a 212-page hardback published in January by HarperCollins, was a labor of love for the tenacious union activist.
"This is a dream come true," Carter said in late February as she wound down a book tour that took her to Ohio, New York and the Washington, D.C. area, where her signings included a date at the Pentagon.
Carter set out in the late 1990s to learn why the U.S. Army turned its back on her father-in-law after the war, wrongly branding him a communist in an era when racism and fears of communism combined to devastate lives and careers. The accusations crushed Eddie Carter, a man whose commanding officer in Germany called "a tremendous soldier" who "soldiered 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
The book tells not only Eddie Carter's life story but details his daughter-in-law's fight for justice long after his death in 1963. Years of letters and phone calls to the government to uncover records and push for the truth ultimately led to a formal apology from President Bill Clinton and a Medal of Honor for the redeemed soldier.
Allene Carter has been delighted by reviews of the book, which have called the story "fascinating," "extraordinary," "important and inspiring."
"The story of Eddie Carter reveals the venom of racism during a war presumed to be for freedom and equality," said Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States." "It is also a touching story of romantic love and heroic integrity struggling against color prejudice and political hysteria."
That an important piece of once unknown American history is being passed on to another generation is especially gratifying to Allene Carter. She was overwhelmed by stops on her tour at three schools in Youngstown, Ohio, where students listened raptly and gave her standing ovations. One teen-age girl was amazed to find her own grandfather in the book, a man who served with Eddie Carter.
"Part of my speech to the children is, 'I'm passing my baton to you. It's up to you to keep this going, to do research and make history accurate,'" she said. "I can see their enthusiasm, see the light bulb go on for them. They realize that ordinary people can make a difference."