Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Find “Power In Unity” at Annual Conference

Hundreds of CWA members from across the union gathered in Atlanta last week for the first in-person Public, Healthcare & Education Workers conference in four years. The CWAers met to exchange ideas, learn essential union-building skills, and celebrate solidarity.

In a video address, CWA President Chris Shelton highlighted recent mobilization efforts and important wins for public workers in New Jersey, California, and Michigan, and ongoing battles in Florida, Texas, and Minnesota. Shelton also congratulated United Campus Workers-CWA members for an amazing 20 years of defending campus workers’ rights across the country.

During his remarks, he called out corporate executives and anti-worker politicians for pursuing their agenda of privatizing and eliminating public services, saying, “They are committed to exploiting every opportunity, including the pandemic, to pursue their agenda” and are blocking federal legislation to give all public sector workers the right to form a union and collectively bargain. “I am counting on each and every one of you to ensure that we are building power by consistently strengthening our mobilization in every workplace, every local, and every district.”

Addressing the meeting, CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens uplifted the various organizing, bargaining, and political victories in the public sector and across the union. She also referenced the significance of seizing the momentum workers are building by increasingly taking collective action to demand better. “Sisters and brothers, union siblings, the balance of power is swinging our way. The old limits no longer apply. There is a lot of work before us. None of it is easy, but all of it is worthy of our full-hearted efforts. This is a year where every day matters. Every day is full of promise for our CWA members and our labor movement,” she said.

CWA-PHEW Vice President Margaret Cook opened the meeting with remarks on the conference theme of “Power in Unity,” saying, “In every corner of this sector, in every single one of our Districts, we aren’t just talking about solidarity—we’re acting on it. We’re taking on the fights, together. Standing in unity. And winning.” Cook also warned of looming threats to democracy that union members will defeat only through solidarity.

Conference plenary sessions included discussions of new challenges for public workers in Florida, racial and gender justice in public sector organizing, how to build solidarity across the union, and the need to support the wellbeing of members. Conference workshops addressed practical ways to build worker power to advance workers’ interests at the bargaining table and in state and national legislatures.

Attendees heard inspiring words from Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, as well as an invocation from IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew and messages from District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney, CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt, CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton, District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings Jr., District 7 Vice President Susie McAllister, District 9 Vice President Frank Arce, and AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson.

CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook (left of center) with CWAers at the 2023 PHEW annual conference.