News

District 3 Newsletter July 2017

17 Jul, 2017

DISTRICT 3

July 2017 - #7

CWA Local 3122 - Celebrates PAF Success
CWA Local 3181 Stewards Training News
CWA Local 3603 is Union Strong
CWA Local 3616 Administratives Professional Day
Taking on Runaway Inequality in North Carolina
CWA Local 3804 and 3806 Wire Tech Training

CWA 3122 Celebrates PAF Success

CWA Local 3122 held a picnic on May 21st at Tropical Park in Miami. The more than 200 attendees included members, their families plus honored guests. The festivities were highlighted by lots of good food, enjoyable beverages, a bounce house for the kids, contests and a live band called The Mojo Scoundrels.

In addition to having as much fun as possible on a sunny Sunday afternoon, a focal point was to celebrate our local’s support for CWA’s Political Action Fund or PAF. Local 3122 has a proud tradition of being strong contributors to PAF (in past years known as COPE); however, this year we have special reason to recognize the way our members have stepped up their efforts. Currently 429 of our members are participating yielding in excess of 3500 dollars each month. Over 200 of these either increased their weekly amount or became first time participants. These individuals realize the importance of generating a voice for working families in the public arena to such an extent that our local now ranks first in District 3 and nationally in most PAF categories!!

Among our guests for this event were Nick Hawkins (Assistant to the District 3 VP), State Representative Robert Asencio, FL Senate Candidate Annette Taddeo and Tim Canova who recently announced his candidacy for US House District 23. All are strong Union supporters and proved it when we walked the picket line at our nearby Mobility Store on SW 40th Street. They joined dozens of us in support of our sisters and brothers on strike in other CWA districts.

A good time was had by all as we had the opportunity to share the day with each other and our families. A special thank you to the members of our entertainment committee and to all who contributed to making this picnic a success.

Submitted by Yates Fulbright, VP CWA Local 3122

Left to Right -- Local 3122 President Donald Abicht, Annette Taddeo,
Fred Frost, Tim Canova, Glenda Abicht, Robert Asencio

Nick Hawkins, Assistant to Vice President Honeycutt leading the picket line

CWA 3181 Stewards Training News

Participants: John Banzhaf, Dylan Owens, Ted Dancel, Mark Warme, Erik Littelton, Michelle Balcom, Glenn Delk, Vincent Cheones, Peter Steinborn, Richard Geores, Ted Jackson, Wayne Brandes, and Joe Pertrick.

Pictured above are the the Steward Training participants that was conducted by CWA with Staff Representative, Jorge Rodriguez. Thanks Jorge. A good time was had by all. These individuals volunteered their time to go through this training so they may be better educated to represent the Members of CWA Local 3181. Thank you all for getting involved.

Rick Poulette, President
CWA Local 3181

CWA Local 3603 is Union Strong

Since the inception of the CWA Strong campaign, a phenomenal change has taken place at CWA Local 3603 in Charlotte, NC. With Local President Bonnie Overman's support, their organizing committee has hit the ground running.

In March 2016, the Local had an overall percentage of 61.1% members signed up. Its organizing committee of six participated in a training on March 22nd. The focus of the training was having in-depth conversations with their coworkers and asking for membership cards to be completed.

Organizing committee member Michael Roberts said, "Local 3603 has seen its membership increase tremendously. In my experience working to organize our union as part of CWA Strong, if our members don't see us, we don't exist. With our increased site visits, our members are getting informed and educated and becoming CWA activists."

As per the membership development report for May, this Local now has 76.9% members signed up. They have made a commitment to keep organizing to become stronger than ever.

Local 3603 is working hard to make their union CWA Strong.

CWA Local 3616 - Administratives Professional Day

Wednesday, April 26,2017 was Administrative Professionals day where CWA Local 3616 thanked our own Secretary/Treasurer for all her hard work & amazing organizational skills. Thank you for all you do for us Cheryl Warren!

Pictured: Left to Right - Wyteria Rucker, AVP - Residential Repair Call Center, Cheryl Alexander-Warren, Secretary/Treasurer, Dale Smith, Executive Vice President.

Message from Cheryl - I am the one who is truly BLESSED to work with and for a Great Group of Co-workers and Organizations. I have to admit it feel WONDERFUL to know you are APPRECIATED! Thank you CWA Local 3616 and Much Love to you ALL!!

Submitted by Local 3616

Taking on Runaway Inequality in North Carolina

In Greensboro, NC, a workshop on Runaway Inequality brought together 22 CWAers and members of four community partner organizations to take action on the economic inequality that affects working families and our communities.

Joining CWA activists were participants from AFGE, the Alliance for Retired Americans, and two local AFL-CIOs.

CWA's North Carolina Senior Campaign Lead Cesar Leyva said activists now are working together to stop the Financial Choice Act, a bill that would roll back finance industry regulations and monitoring implemented in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Act. Wall Street is lobbying hard to get rid of these safeguards that were adopted to help prevent another financial crisis like the one caused by Wall Street and investors in 2008.

The workshops are building on the relationships that North Carolina CWAers and community groups formed in 2016. More "Runaway Inequality" workshops are set for June 15 in Charlotte and June 29 in Raleigh.

Submitted by Cesar Leyva, Senior Campaign Lead