CWA Members Will Not Be Intimidated by Threats Against Nonviolent Protest

The following statement is from CWA President Claude Cummings, Jr.

Last week, Arizona state legislator John Gillette called for Representative Pramila Jayapal to be “tried convicted and hanged” for encouraging nonviolent protest.

Rep. Gillette’s statement is alarming to anyone who embraces our country’s legacy of nonviolent social change, but it is of particular concern to union members.

In the remarks that outraged Rep. Gillette, Rep. Jayapal specifically referenced the labor movement, saying, “We want to help you seed, participate, and coordinate these nonviolent resistance actions that are going to make a difference over the next coming months. If we were in the labor movement—and shout out to any of our union members that are on this call—we might call this getting strike ready.”

In his social media post, Rep. Gillette equated being “strike ready” with advocating for the overthrow of the American government.

Rep. Gillette’s remarks are part of a disturbing pattern of threats aimed at Americans who join together to advocate for a better future for themselves and their families. Last year, for instance, while 17,000 CWA members were on strike at ATT Southeast, Donald Trump said that striking workers should be fired. As President, Trump has repeatedly called for peaceful protestors to be jailed, made false accusations of “domestic terrorism” against nonprofit organizations, and deployed the U.S. military in our cities, authorizing troops to use “full force” against protestors.

Rep. Jayapal is a tireless advocate for justice who will not be intimidated. Neither will we. CWA members stand up to bullies and authoritarians - whether they try to silence us from a CEO’s office or from the White House.

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