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.
Show Us the Jobs' Bus Tour Puts Human Face on National Crisis
Three WashTech-CWA members and a West Virginia member who lost her AT&T job were among 51 unemployed workers who told their stories in March to crowds in 18 cities from St. Louis, Mo., to Washington, D.C. - stops on the AFL-CIO's "Show Us the Jobs" bus tour.
The personal stories, captured by local and national media, challenged the Bush administration's hollow claims about economic recovery and put faces to the net loss of 3 million jobs since Bush took office.
"In my community, there are hundreds of applicants for just a couple of job openings and the pay is not enough to cover my monthly bills," said CWA Local 2001 member Sharon Godwin, who was laid off from her 27-year job as an AT&T telephone operator last September, one of 100 workers affected by outsourcing at her location.
In spite of a reported spike in job creation in March, every state but Hawaii is lagging far behind White House projections for growth and many family-wage technology and manufacturing jobs have been replaced with service-industry jobs that pay an average of 21 percent less, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The WashTech-CWA members on the bus were Myra
Bronstein of Washington state, Charlie Seaman of Georgia and Natasha Humphries of California. Their stories, along with tour photos and video clips as well as state-by-state fact sheets on job losses, are available on the tour website at www.showusthejobs.com. WashTech, CWA's high-tech affiliate, is a Newspaper Guild-CWA local based in Seattle.
Bronstein 40, had worked in information technology at WatchMark Corp. for two years when she and her co-workers were told they were not only being laid off but would have to train their Indian replacements. If they didn't, they'd lose their severance package. She has been searching for a new job for 10 months, and her unemployment benefits just ran out. She wants to go back to school, but can't afford it.
"Displaced IT workers are not eligible for NAFTA retraining benefits," she said. "And what assurance would I have that after going to school my new industry wouldn't start outsourcing and offshoring? If I've learned anything from this experience, it's that all jobs in this country are in danger."
Humphries, 31, who worked for handheld computer maker Palm, also lost her job to India. She was flown there to train people, with the company's repeated assurances that her own job was safe. It wasn't. A single mom of a 6-year-old son with sickle-cell anemia, she has been unemployed for six months.
"Seeing the stress unemployment has put on me only makes things harder for him," she said. "When I asked him what his New Year's resolution was he said, 'To get Mommy a job so she'll be happy again.'
Seaman, 55, was laid off from Georgia Pacific due to downsizing. For the first time in his life, he found himself becoming an activist. He began a website, www.OnShoreAlternatives.com to educate consumers about which companies outsource and which do not.
"Until I was laid off a year ago, I had no idea how prevalent outsourcing had become," Seamon said. "As soon as I began looking for a new job, I began hearing about companies that were moving their IT and HR departments to India. I saw people around me being laid off, because their jobs were now being done overseas. Career counselors were telling me that I had to "dumb down" my résumé to find work."
He went from a $90,000 a year job to earning just $112 so far this year with the website. But he's hopeful it will lead to steady income. "The hardest part of all this is not being able to be a safety net for my family," he said. "This is the first time in my life that I don't think good is prevailing in this country."
In West Virginia, Godwin, 49, has helped organize support groups for others coping with job loss. "The closing of our office and loss of other jobs in West Virginia has made it a very stressful time," she said. "I am helping with retraining and have been a peer support to co-workers. Most have yet to find any work, and I worry about them giving up the struggle. They have had times where they can't provide for even the simplest medications needed to maintain their families' health."
The personal stories, captured by local and national media, challenged the Bush administration's hollow claims about economic recovery and put faces to the net loss of 3 million jobs since Bush took office.
"In my community, there are hundreds of applicants for just a couple of job openings and the pay is not enough to cover my monthly bills," said CWA Local 2001 member Sharon Godwin, who was laid off from her 27-year job as an AT&T telephone operator last September, one of 100 workers affected by outsourcing at her location.
In spite of a reported spike in job creation in March, every state but Hawaii is lagging far behind White House projections for growth and many family-wage technology and manufacturing jobs have been replaced with service-industry jobs that pay an average of 21 percent less, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The WashTech-CWA members on the bus were Myra
Bronstein of Washington state, Charlie Seaman of Georgia and Natasha Humphries of California. Their stories, along with tour photos and video clips as well as state-by-state fact sheets on job losses, are available on the tour website at www.showusthejobs.com. WashTech, CWA's high-tech affiliate, is a Newspaper Guild-CWA local based in Seattle.
Bronstein 40, had worked in information technology at WatchMark Corp. for two years when she and her co-workers were told they were not only being laid off but would have to train their Indian replacements. If they didn't, they'd lose their severance package. She has been searching for a new job for 10 months, and her unemployment benefits just ran out. She wants to go back to school, but can't afford it.
"Displaced IT workers are not eligible for NAFTA retraining benefits," she said. "And what assurance would I have that after going to school my new industry wouldn't start outsourcing and offshoring? If I've learned anything from this experience, it's that all jobs in this country are in danger."
Humphries, 31, who worked for handheld computer maker Palm, also lost her job to India. She was flown there to train people, with the company's repeated assurances that her own job was safe. It wasn't. A single mom of a 6-year-old son with sickle-cell anemia, she has been unemployed for six months.
"Seeing the stress unemployment has put on me only makes things harder for him," she said. "When I asked him what his New Year's resolution was he said, 'To get Mommy a job so she'll be happy again.'
Seaman, 55, was laid off from Georgia Pacific due to downsizing. For the first time in his life, he found himself becoming an activist. He began a website, www.OnShoreAlternatives.com to educate consumers about which companies outsource and which do not.
"Until I was laid off a year ago, I had no idea how prevalent outsourcing had become," Seamon said. "As soon as I began looking for a new job, I began hearing about companies that were moving their IT and HR departments to India. I saw people around me being laid off, because their jobs were now being done overseas. Career counselors were telling me that I had to "dumb down" my résumé to find work."
He went from a $90,000 a year job to earning just $112 so far this year with the website. But he's hopeful it will lead to steady income. "The hardest part of all this is not being able to be a safety net for my family," he said. "This is the first time in my life that I don't think good is prevailing in this country."
In West Virginia, Godwin, 49, has helped organize support groups for others coping with job loss. "The closing of our office and loss of other jobs in West Virginia has made it a very stressful time," she said. "I am helping with retraining and have been a peer support to co-workers. Most have yet to find any work, and I worry about them giving up the struggle. They have had times where they can't provide for even the simplest medications needed to maintain their families' health."