CWA Stands in Solidarity with West Virginia Education Workers

Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton issued the following statement after the West Virginia State Senate passed legislation this week to further restrict education workers’ right to strike by making participation in a work stoppage a “ground for termination:”

“CWA members are ready to stand with West Virginia teachers and school personnel every step of the way as they fight this anti-worker legislation. Their fight is our fight. When West Virginia teachers went on strike to improve working conditions and strengthen public education, they provided inspiration to the entire labor movement. These workers won gains for underpaid staff and for their students despite already facing restrictions on their right to strike imposed by the West Virginia Supreme Court in 1990.”

“This new legislation is an expansion of the decades-long attack on workers’ rights by Republican legislators. It’s a cowardly scare tactic to punish workers who take part in successful actions like those of the teachers last year and this year. Instead of restricting workers’ rights, we should be protecting and expanding them.”

“Should they decide to go on strike again, education workers will be walking beside CWA members on the picket lines – no matter how hard Republican legislators try to make working people the pawns of special interests. West Virginia education workers have shown Republican legislators in the recent years that nothing can stand in the way of working people who stand together.”