Volume 71, Issue #3 | Fall 2011
"I'm Mad and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore"
Jeanette Spoor could be living a life of leisure in retirement. Instead she's at rallies, on picket lines, meeting with allies to build coalitions of activists and, most recently, helping lead protests against a New York congresswoman who wants to kill Medicare.
"I just don't think I could go to sleep at night without giving it my best shot," says Spoor, the president of CWA Local 1103's Retired Members' Chapter. "I have stamina and energy and I'm going to fight for what I believe in."
"I Can't Think About Pain. I Think About Helping People"
Trading lazy summer days for the chance to make a difference, CWA activists turned up the heat on lawmakers at "August Accountability" events from coast to coast.
Together with allies, they packed town hall meetings, protested outside politicians' district offices, leafleted at airports, wrote letters and made phone calls throughout August and early September. And now they're ready for more.
New Laws Attack Democracy's Most Fundamental Right
A deluge of new laws are forcing Americans to fight for the most basic right of all in a democracy: the right to vote. In Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and other states where GOP governors and state legislatures spent the first part of 2011 attacking workers' rights, voter suppression was next on the agenda. Here's what happening in three states and what CWA members and allies are doing about it.
"This Is Nothing More Than an Effort to Suppress the Vote"
Not only does Wisconsin now require all voters to show state-issued photo ID, Gov. Scott Walker's administration has even tried to make it harder for people to get the identification they need.
The Republican governor ordered 10 DMV offices around the state closed this summer, but public outrage forced him to reverse the decision. But CWA members say there are still many battles to fight.
"Many People Could Be Prevented from Voting"
Ohio's law cuts the early voting period from 35 days to 16, bars poll workers from redirecting lost voters to their correct precinct, and bans county election boards from continuing to send mail ballot applications to all registered voters.
"The Most Vicious Attack I've Ever Seen"
The ability to turn out a large pro-worker vote on Election Day is the only thing that helps even the odds against the hundreds of millions of corporate dollars that pour into political campaigns.
Florida's Gov. Rick Scott and GOP lawmakers know this. In May, they rammed through a law that severely limits voter registration and early voting.