Organizing Update

Lawrence School District Paraeducators

A group of more than 400 paraeducators – classroom teaching assistants – in the Lawrence school district in Kansas are organizing to join with CWA. On Monday, in a major victory for these workers, the Lawrence Board of Education voted 6-1 to direct the superintendent to file the necessary paperwork for formal recognition of the Paraeducator Association of Lawrence (PAL-CWA), with a final vote set for August 10.

"This has been a four-year crusade to create a workplace with respect, equality, communication, and security for paraeducators in our district," said Mary Lee, a Lawrence paraeducator. "We have struggled, as an organizing group, through difficult times. We continued to fight so that Paraeducators could receive adequate training, support, and a living wage."

Check out this video of the workers encouraging the school district to recognize their union.

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Hope Community, Inc.

Frontline staffers at Hope Community, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening communities and the power of community members in Minneapolis, won voluntary recognition of their union, United For Hope. The workers will become part of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild/TNG-CWA Local 37002.

In a video announcing their union, they said, "We have organized ourselves to more deeply align with our belief that as everyday people, we have the power to change our own lives!"