CWA Members Stood Up For Workers’ Rights On April 4th

Before The Rally at 140 West Street. Click on the photo to view the photo gallery.

CWA members all over the nation stood up for workers’ rights on April 4th and Members of CWA Local 1101 were proud to join them! Many of our members met at 140 West Street after work and walked to the Rally As One. 

Embracing the April 4 movement proposed by CWA just a few weeks earlier, hundreds of thousands of people across the country made their voices heard Monday in their workplaces, their communities and outside businesses and government buildings in the intensifying national fight for workers’ rights and economic justice. 

“April 4th was an amazing day, from Puerto Rico to Hawaii, and we can all be proud of our union,” CWA President Larry Cohen said. “Elected officials and employers are on notice that we will resist their attacks on our bargaining rights and our standard of living. Unorganized workers are more aware that they can organize and that we and other unions will be there with them.” 

Cohen proposed to the AFL-CIO Executive Council in early March that unions and progressive allies plan events for April 4, the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s murder in Memphis. King was there to stand with hundreds of striking sanitation workers who were fighting for dignity, safe working conditions and bargaining rights. 

CWA locals organized more than 300 community events and another 300 at worksites, where members wore red and “Stand Up for Workers’ Rights” stickers, passed out literature and had lunchtime gatherings, among other activities. 

Many April 4 events got good local media coverage that mentioned CWA and even quoted some members. Speaking in Maryland Heights, Mo., about CWA-represented child welfare workers, Local 6355’s Richard von Glahn said, “Our members make anywhere from $22,000 to $31,000 a year. They protect children from child abuse. They’re not the bad guys.” 

CWA members helped plan and participate in events around the country. Many videos have been posted on YouTube.com and are easily found by searching for “April 4” and “CWA.” Hundreds of photos from across the country are posted on CWA’s Flickr page. Click here to view them. 

In New York City, more than 5,000 CWAers and members from 35 other unions and allies rallied at City Hall. 

CWAers also used April 4 to draw attention to the fight for bargaining rights at T-Mobile. Members handbilled at 18 T-Mobile call centers across the country, including New York, Oakland, Maine, Wichita, Kan., and Thornton, Colo. 

At workplaces nationwide, CWA members planned a variety of actions. Some stood up on the job, every hour at some workplaces. Some marched into work together and tens of thousands wore red, as well as stickers, black ribbons and armbands.