Next Steps on the "For the People Act"

CWA members made thousands of calls to their representatives in Congress, and their efforts paid off when Congress passed the For the People Act, sponsored by Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.), earlier this month. The sweeping pro-democracy bill contains reforms essential to fixing our political system, including voting rights, money-in-politics, redistricting, and government ethics reforms. Now, CWAers are turning their attention to pushing for the For the People Act to get a full debate and vote in the Senate.  

CWA members joined a town hall call last week to celebrate the success of passing the bill in the House and lay out next steps to keep fighting for the bill to become law. CWA President Chris Shelton, Rep. Sarbanes, and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) spoke with the members on the call.

"If we don't make sure that our democracy works for the people, we will never be able to pass legislation to save call centers from offshoring, protect our union rights, make it easier for other workers to join CWA, rein in the power of Wall Street, and make sure the 1% pays their fair share of taxes," said Shelton. "We must make sure that the Republican-controlled Senate takes this legislation up for a vote, and if they don't, we need to take to the streets. We need to email, call, and visit our Senators to tell them that they need to hear our voices."

On the call, 91% of CWA members polled said they would put pressure on their Senator in support of the For the People Act. Top issues for those members included getting big money out of politics, fighting corruption, ending gerrymandering, and expanding voting rights.

Listen to the full call here.