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.
Unions Embrace Freedom Riders' Fight for Justice
Clapping, chanting and waving signs of support, union members and fellow activists gleefully greeted hundreds of immigrant workers and their supporters as they rolled into Washington D.C. on Wednesday on 18 buses from across the country to fight for justice for immigrants and their families.
CWA members from California and Texas were among participants in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, patterned after the Freedom Rides of the 1960s that helped shine a light on the civil rights abuses in the South.
One CWA member, Angela Mejia of Local 6222 in Houston, led her fellow riders in singing "We Shall Overcome," as they made their way through the throng of cheering supporters in a park area in southwest Washington. Another member of the local, Jesse Fuentes, strummed his guitar.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson were on hand as riders disembarked, offering hugs and handshakes while a spirited mariachi band played.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, who led a presentation about the Freedom Ride at CWA headquarters last week, praised the riders and called on union members to fight for their rights.
"Corporations exploit immigrant workers and treat them shamefully. They lobby for loopholes to keep this source of cheap labor. We in the labor movement should demand that these workers be given a path to full legal rights independent of their employers."
The two-week event generated lots of local and national publicity with stops across the country, leading to the Wednesday rally and a day of lobbying Congress on Thursday and rallies later in the week in New Jersey and New York.
Activists are fighting for legal status for undocumented immigrant workers who are in the United States and for policies that would make it easier for families to be reunited, as well as strengthened civil rights and labor protections.
"Immigrant workers work hard, pay taxes and sacrifice for their families," event organizers said. "They work as construction workers, doctors, nurses, janitors, meatpackers, chefs, busboys, engineers, farm workers and soldiers. They care for our children, tend to our elderly, pick and serve our food, build and clean our houses and what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream."
But they said the country's "broken immigration system keeps millions of hardworking immigrants from becoming full members and enjoying equal rights in this nation of immigrants."
The U.S. Border Patrol detained two of the Freedom Ride buses in El Paso for four hours last week. The riders stuck to a solidarity plan, presenting cards of assertion that they would remain silent without legal counsel and sang songs of solidarity. Agents boarded the buses several times, ultimately putting the riders in detention, separated by gender.
Ultimately the riders were allowed to leave, with no charges filed. For more information about the ride and how union families can help in the fight for immigrant justice, see the ride's website at www.iwfr.org.
CWA members from California and Texas were among participants in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, patterned after the Freedom Rides of the 1960s that helped shine a light on the civil rights abuses in the South.
One CWA member, Angela Mejia of Local 6222 in Houston, led her fellow riders in singing "We Shall Overcome," as they made their way through the throng of cheering supporters in a park area in southwest Washington. Another member of the local, Jesse Fuentes, strummed his guitar.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson were on hand as riders disembarked, offering hugs and handshakes while a spirited mariachi band played.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, who led a presentation about the Freedom Ride at CWA headquarters last week, praised the riders and called on union members to fight for their rights.
"Corporations exploit immigrant workers and treat them shamefully. They lobby for loopholes to keep this source of cheap labor. We in the labor movement should demand that these workers be given a path to full legal rights independent of their employers."
The two-week event generated lots of local and national publicity with stops across the country, leading to the Wednesday rally and a day of lobbying Congress on Thursday and rallies later in the week in New Jersey and New York.
Activists are fighting for legal status for undocumented immigrant workers who are in the United States and for policies that would make it easier for families to be reunited, as well as strengthened civil rights and labor protections.
"Immigrant workers work hard, pay taxes and sacrifice for their families," event organizers said. "They work as construction workers, doctors, nurses, janitors, meatpackers, chefs, busboys, engineers, farm workers and soldiers. They care for our children, tend to our elderly, pick and serve our food, build and clean our houses and what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream."
But they said the country's "broken immigration system keeps millions of hardworking immigrants from becoming full members and enjoying equal rights in this nation of immigrants."
The U.S. Border Patrol detained two of the Freedom Ride buses in El Paso for four hours last week. The riders stuck to a solidarity plan, presenting cards of assertion that they would remain silent without legal counsel and sang songs of solidarity. Agents boarded the buses several times, ultimately putting the riders in detention, separated by gender.
Ultimately the riders were allowed to leave, with no charges filed. For more information about the ride and how union families can help in the fight for immigrant justice, see the ride's website at www.iwfr.org.