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September 5, 2008
Hundreds of CWA House Parties Launch Fall Campaign for Obama-Biden
Thousands of CWA members attended hundreds of house parties across the country on August 28 for the historic speech by Senator Barack Obama as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in front of 84,000 people at Denver's Mile High Stadium. The parties—at least 800 in all-- not only energized members and their families for the election season, they reinforced the importance of electing lawmakers who will pass the Employee Free Choice Act – and a president who will sign it, as Obama has pledged to do. "The speech got members pumped up and wanting to volunteer to get Obama in the White House," said AFA-CWA Local 24046 President Nick Birchfield, whose house party near Detroit drew about 75 flight attendants who gathered around TVs inside and outdoors. Earlier, Birchfield said they watched the CWA Employee Free Choice video and collected postcards of support from anyone who hadn't already signed one. It was one of the biggest CWA parties across the country. CWA President Larry Cohen urged members and locals to capitalize on the parties' momentum and get to work on worksite leafleting, conversations with members, voter registration drives and any other outreach to fellow union members and working families. "Employee Free Choice, affordable universal health care, retirement security and fair trade deals that won't keep shipping our jobs overseas – the simple fact is, Barack Obama supports these critical issues; John McCain doesn't," Cohen said. "In fact, Senator McCain has made it clear that he would veto Employee Free Choice, he would tax your employer-paid health care benefits, he would try to privatize Social Security and he would rubber stamp every trade deal with no regard for workers or the environment. We can't let that happen." Cohen attended a speech-watching party in Richmond, Va., at Local 2201's headquarters. More than 50 members turned out, including District 2 Vice President Ron Collins. "Our members were genuinely excited about Barack's speech and lot of them signed up for precinct walks," Local President Chris Lane said. "The opportunity to have our national president and district vice president here also got people really fired up." Another 40 CWAers gathered at the Local 7777 hall in Denver, watching on a 60-inch screen rented by District 7. Local Executive Vice President Lisa Bolton said they would have had an even bigger crowd but many of their members were at the speech or working there as volunteers. The group included CWA Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell, District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly and retired CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling who were in town for the convention. "We just had a blast," Bolton said. "Now that we're done with our Qwest contract, we're ready to jump right into Labor 2008." Other officers and DNC delegates, including Executive Vice President Annie Hill, watched the speech in person at Mile High. At least one CWA party got media attention. CWA members meeting at a Midland, Texas, restaurant, in the heart of Bush country, were featured on the local TV news after the speech. Local 6127 Vice President Gina Foster told the reporter that the speech was, "Wonderful, very uplifting. He truly is pro-labor, for education, he supports our military and Social Security. We love that about him." At a restaurant in Knoxville, Tenn., about 40 members of CWA local 3865 watched the event together. "Overwhelmingly people were blown away by Senator Obama's speech and felt inspired to go out and do the work necessary to see that he is elected," said Cameron Brooks, a staff member for the local. Members even got other customers to sign postcards supporting Employee Free Choice. Local 4217 in Belleville, Ill., had a dozen members turn out at a pub – even though someone had ripped down all their Obama signs pointing to the room they'd set up for the watch party. In Macon, Mo., about 15 Local 6355 members gathered in a hotel breakfast room and "even those who may not have been die-hard supporters were feeling energized after the speech," member Laura Jackson said. Ten people turned up at the home of Claudia Gaskin, Local 1037, in Bloomfield, N.J. Obama "moved all of us in a promising way," she said. On the other coast, about 60 people came to Local 9505's party at a Palmdale, Calif., restaurant, where hosts raffled off Obama buttons and stickers after the historic speech. In Washington state, about 25 people gathered at the home of Stan Wylie, Local 7800. He registered his party with Obama's website, so it also drew several community members. "It was a very nice mix of personal friends, fellow unionists and random Obama supporters," he said. "We were all in agreement that Obama is what is right for our country, and we were impressed with the depth and passion with which the speech was delivered." Many Locals Exceeding Million Member Mobilization Target
After an "August Blitz" to gather cards and member photos supporting Employee Free Choice, CWA is now close to reaching 70 percent of the overall target of at least 82,000 cards as part of labor's Million Member Mobilization. As of Wednesday, 54,404 cards sent in from locals had been entered in the database and about 6,000 more were in piles waiting to be entered. Many locals used viewing parties Aug. 28, where members gathered to watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech, as an occasion to enlist more members in the mobilization. Some locals this week hit or passed the 50 percent mark. Among them, Local 4309 in Cleveland has turned in 540 cards so far from its 1,055 members. President Pam Wynn reported that directors for its various units organized one-on-one discussions with members in the workplace, noting that, "It became a competition between our private and public sector units to get the most cards." The local represents AT&T and Hyatt Legal Services members in the private sector, as well as state probation officers and workers at Cleveland State University. For Local 7603 officers and activists in Boise, Idaho, "We're a right to work state here and we have to work twice as hard," said President Brant Duvall. And they did, collecting 300 cards out of 586 members, with a goal of upping that to three-quarters of the membership. The local tied the campaign to its recent Qwest contract mobilization efforts, telling members that bargaining power and fighting for health care "is all about having strong unions," said Duvall. Local 2001 in Charleston, W.Va., turned in over 700 cards out of a membership of 1,000. Local President Linda Miller cited the work of Vice President Ken Williams in "carrying the message everywhere," at work locations as well as community and church events. Said Williams, "People in this state see what has been happening to the economy and jobs, and they see how the Employee Free Choice Act will help our communities." Other locals in West Virginia also are well over their goal, he reported. Besides collecting cards and photos to display in the U.S. Capitol to show massive support for Employee Free Choice, the mobilization is identifying an army of grassroots activists to help push through this vital legislation next year to help more workers organize and strengthen the middle class. Since last week's Newsletter report, 38 more locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up at least 15 percent: District 1: 1083, 1117, 1122, 81204, 81215, 81320, 81323, 81347, 81380, 81475, District 2: 2101, 2108, 82109, 82160, 82627, District 3: 3122, 3179, 3403, 3607, 3616, 3704, 3708, 83767, District 4: 4032, 4107, 4318, 4377, 4640, 4780, 84888, 84924, 84999, District 6: 6137, District 7: 7505, 37194, District 13: 14848, 38218 and 88651. IN BRIEF:
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