Building a movement to combat student debt, CWA offers free, public clinics in Minneapolis

November 12, 2015 by
CWA members who attended the Nov. 4 student debt clinic include (L to R) Tom Laabs, Howard Terry and Naomi Holmes.

CWA members who attended the Nov. 4 student debt clinic include (L to R) Tom Laabs, Howard Terry and Naomi Holmes.

Naomi Holmes will run out of deferments on $57,000 in student debt this winter. Howard Terry took out a $30,000 loan to finish his graduate degree at the University of Phoenix. Tom Laabs’ wife, Liz, will graduate next year from the University of Minnesota with six figures’ worth of debt.

“When that school loan comes back, it’s going to be like a house payment,” Laabs said.

But Holmes, Terry and Laabs have more in common than their daunting student debt loads. The three are taking action to get relief for themselves – and bring more fairness to the student lending industry – through a series of clinics sponsored by their union, the Communications Workers of America.

[Free, public Student Debt Clinics, sponsored by CWA Minnesota State Council and CWA Next Gen, will continue Dec. 8-10 at the CWA Local 7200 offices in Minneapolis. For more information or to register, email cwa.mn.mobilizing@gmail.com.]

The first thing clinic participants learn is that they’re not alone. About 30 million Americans carry student debt, and it’s a major barrier for many families looking to work their way into the middle class.

“It’s surprising … the number of people who came to the class who have student debt or know someone who does,” Terry said after a clinic at the Local 7200 offices last week, which drew 31 participants.

What’s more surprising, he added, is how few people with student debt – about 200,000 – are taking advantage of free government programs for student debt relief, including loan forgiveness for people who work in public service and income-based repayment plans that can reduce interest costs.

Giving people the tools they need to take advantage of those programs – without paying a third party – is a big part of the CWA-sponsored trainings, which are open to the public.

“There are a lot of scams,” CWA organizer Richard Shorter said. “You can scroll through Facebook on any given day and see the advertisements.

“These organizations promote themselves as doing a good thing, but they charge fees to do the work for you when it’s free to apply. It only takes like an hour to sit down and do it yourself.”

The best resource for more information about dealing with student debt, Shorter said, is forgivemystudentdebt.org.

Participants in the CWA student debt clinics learn how they can advocate for fairness in student lending.

Participants in the CWA student debt clinics learn how they can advocate for fairness in student lending.

The clinics also provide an overview of the national landscape around student lending, including why so many people are forced to take out loans to cover the cost of higher education and the impact student debt has on families down the line.

Laabs said he was outraged to learn the inflation-adjusted cost of attending a four-year public college had quadrupled since 1980. He planned to contact his elected representatives about making college more affordable “because it’s gotten out of whack, and the cost has become just exorbitant.”

Terry added, “We pay for police forces and all these other things that are part of the public good, why don’t we start including education in that?”

CWA members said they also learned about the need for more regulation of for-profit colleges and universities, which are oftentimes not transparent with prospective students about whether their credits will transfer to most traditional institutions.

“Basically, they’re lying to people about being able to transfer credits,” Shorter explained. “A lot of people have to start all over again someplace else, myself included.”

Next Gen, the union’s young-worker contingent, developed curriculum for the clinics after surveying members about what mattered to them outside contract language and negotiations. An issue that affects 30 million Americans, Shorter said, is ripe for organizing.

“Working with our partners, we’re trying to build a movement around student debt,” he said. “This affects everybody.”

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Workers to rally outside courthouse as AT&T sues to deny their sick pay

July 13, 2015 by
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CWA members walk a picket line outside AT&T offices downtown Minneapolis during a grievance strike in May 2015.

AT&T is challenging a new Minnesota law allowing workers to use paid sick time to care for family members.

But as the Fortune 500 telecommunications company appears before a federal judge in Minneapolis on Friday, members of the Communications Workers of America will rally outside the courthouse with a simple message: AT&T is not above the law.

The rally will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 17, outside the U.S. Courthouse, 300 4th St. S., Minneapolis. [Click here to view the Facebook event page.]

AT&T’s challenge involves only workers with more than 25 years of experience with the company, who have seen their requests for sick pay to cover time spent caring for family members denied. Similar requests from less-tenured workers have been approved by the company.

CWA, the union that represents AT&T workers in Minnesota and across the country, has filed grievances on behalf of employees, and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry last year issued a direction to comply with Minnesota Statute 181.9413, which expands sick leave to cover family members.

But AT&T has delayed resolution on both fronts by challenging the law in federal court.

“AT&T is actually spending more money on lawyers to avoid following the law than it would cost them to comply with it,” CWA Local 7250 President Shari Wojtowicz said.

In May, AT&T workers staged a grievance strike in Minneapolis to show solidarity with co-workers who have been denied sick pay.

Debra Derke, an AT&T employee for nearly 30 years, estimated she’s lost eight months’ pay since her husband suffered a string of medical emergencies that began with a heart attack in August 2013.

“They’re basically discriminating against their most senior, most dedicated people, the people who have made this company what it is,” Local 7250 member Susan Anderson said. “It’s shameful, especially with the profits they have, the perks that their CEO gets. Yet they are basically trying to nickel and dime us to death.”

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Minnesota native wins election as CWA’s secretary-treasurer

June 29, 2015 by

sara-steffensFridley native Sara Steffens was elected secretary/treasurer of the Communications Workers of America, one of the largest labor unions in the country.

Steffens, 43, was sworn in at the union’s 75th convention in Detroit on June 8.

Steffens was previously acting secretary/treasurer of the NewsGuild-CWA, a sector representing journalists, language interpreters and others. A journalist and community activist, Steffens began her career as a reporter for the White Bear Press.

Steffens’ record of union activism includes successfully leading her co-workers at the Contra Costa Times and other Bay Area newspapers in an organizing campaign. The group is now represented by the Pacific Media Workers Guild in San Francisco.

Steffens and her co-workers were fired by the Bay Area Newspaper Group in 2008 for their activism, but she continued to work with the NewsGuild and CWA.

Steffens ran for CWA office on a slate with Christopher Shelton, a New Yorker and longstanding union activist who ran unopposed for president. Shelton succeeds Larry Cohen, who retired after serving as CWA president for 10 years.

CWA represents 700,000 workers in private and public sector employment in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

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Gold watch? Fountain pen? For 25th anniversary, AT&T guts MN workers’ sick leave

May 13, 2015 by
CWA Local 7250 members impacted by AT&T's sick-pay policy include Susan Anderson,

CWA Local 7250 members impacted by AT&T’s sick-pay policy include Susan Anderson (green coat), Dan Waalen-Radzevicius (black coat) and Deb Derke (red shirt).

Members of Local 7250 of the Communications Workers of America called a grievance strike yesterday. About 200 workers picketed outside AT&T’s offices downtown Minneapolis in support of their longest-tenured co-workers, who have seen requests for sick pay denied by the company.

AT&T claims it’s not required to allow workers with 25 or more years of experience to use their paid-sick time to care for family members – even though workers with less than 25 years experience can.

It’s an interpretation of a new state law that AT&T is defending in federal court. But in the meantime, where does that leave employees who have given a quarter-century or more to the Fortune 500 telecommunications company?

On the picket line yesterday, Debra Derke estimated she’s lost about eight months’ pay since her husband suffered a heart attack in August 2013 – the first in a string of major health crises. Derke’s husband suffered a second heart attack in March and is now paralyzed.

“We have a lot of doctor’s appointments that I need to attend. There are a lot of times when the PCA’s don’t show up. I’ve got to take care of him,” Derke said. “That’s my new normal. Every day I wake up to find out whether I can or can’t come to work.”

And though her contract says she has access to paid sick time, AT&T won’t let Derke use it to care for her husband, in effect, because she’s been with the company too long.

“It will be 30 years on Oct. 28, 30 years of my life supporting this company,” Derke said. “(AT&T CEO) Randall Stephenson hasn’t been there that long.”

Derke’s case is the most extreme, but other Minnesotans have filed grievances related to AT&T’s sick-pay policy as well.

Dan Waalen-Radzevicius requested four paid-sick days to care for his husband, whose injuries resulting from a stray-cat attack became seriously infected and left him drifting in and out of consciousness. Susan Anderson requested one paid-sick day to care for her husband as he began his battle against prostate cancer.

Waalen-Radzevicius has 29 years’ experience at AT&T; Anderson has 34. AT&T denied both workers’ requests.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Waalen-Radzevicius said. “Our CEO made $20 million-plus last year, plus bonuses, plus trips – everything. And he can’t afford to pay us this minimal amount?”

CWA estimates only about 100 workers statewide fall into the gap created by AT&T’s sick-pay policy, but workers of all ages and experience levels walked alongside Derke, Waalen-Radzevicius and Anderson on the picket line yesterday. Divide-and-conquer tactics won’t work with this group, they said.

“Someday they’re going to be in our shoes,” Anderson said of less experienced workers. “It’s great they’re supporting us. It’s what unions are all about.”

Union members look out for each other, Derke added, just like family members take care of each other.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s so heartwarming to know I’m not alone here. We all work here, and we are family.”

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AT&T workers in Minneapolis strike over sick pay for longest-serving employees

May 12, 2015 by

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Workers in AT&T’s credit collections department walked off the job in Minneapolis this afternoon, joining a “grievance strike” to demand AT&T stop denying sick pay to its longest-serving employees.

About 200 of the department’s 243 workers, members of Local 7250 of the Communications Workers of America, joined picketing outside AT&T’s offices at 9th Street and Marquette Avenue, according to union reports.

Striking workers plan to return to their posts tomorrow, Local 7250 President Shari Wojtowicz said. But the walkout put AT&T on notice that union members are standing behind their co-workers whose requests for sick leave have been denied.

CWA Local 7250 members picket outside AT&T's offices downtown Minneapolis.

CWA Local 7250 members picket outside AT&T’s offices downtown Minneapolis.

“I think it was unexpected for the company,” Wojtowicz said of the strike. “It’s unfortunate for our customers because we pride ourselves on our quality of customer service, but if we’re not able to take care of ourselves or our families, it’s difficult for us to provide that service anyway.”

[Related: For 25th anniversary, AT&T guts MN workers’ sick leave]

The grievances prompting the strike involve workers with 25-plus years of experience at AT&T, who are no longer eligible for sick pay when they miss work to care for an ailing family member, according to company policy.

Workers allege that policy is illegal under the Minnesota Parenting Leave Act, which lawmakers passed in 2013 to expand workers’ access to sick time during family health emergencies, whether it’s a child, parent or spouse who is ailing. State regulators agree, and a lawsuit between AT&T and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry is advancing in federal court.

“AT&T is actually spending more money on lawyers to avoid following the law than it would cost them to comply with it,” Wojtowicz said.

But Local 7250 members aren’t waiting for a judge to make AT&T do right by its longest-serving employees.

web.CWAstrike-picket1“They’re basically discriminating against their most senior, most dedicated people, the people who have made this company what it is,” Local 7250 member Susan Anderson said. “It’s shameful, especially with the profits they have, the perks that their CEO gets. Yet they are basically trying to nickel and dime us to death.”

The strike is unique to grievances between Local 7250 and AT&T, but the slow pace of negotiations between CWA and AT&T on contracts covering about 17,500 workers nationwide factored into workers’ decision to go on strike, Wojtowicz said.

CWA’s previous contract with Legacy-T, the branch of AT&T that covers Minneapolis, expired April 11, leaving workers without arbitration rights included in the agreement.

“Our members have taken matters into their own hands, walked off the job in the hopes the company will work with us to resolve this issue on behalf of all employees,” she said.

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Tellers, teachers, Somali immigrants take on big banks during St. Paul rally

April 14, 2015 by

web.CWA-banks-sceneBeen targeted with a high-pressure sales pitch at your bank recently? You’re not alone, according to a report released earlier this month exposing a “new era of predatory lending” in the industry.

But Wells Fargo employee Michael Lewis offered this plea to frustrated customers yesterday: “The average bank workers, they want to work with you,” he said. “We don’t want to sell you products you don’t need.

“Don’t hate the average worker; hate the banks please.”

And that’s just what activists did during a demonstration downtown St. Paul, outside the Wells Fargo building. Minnesotans for a Fair Economy organized the rally with the Committee for Better Banks, a national organization, backed by the Communications Workers of America and other labor groups, that seeks to improve working conditions at big banks, which raked in more than $100 billion in profits last year.

Marquez asks the public to support bank workers looking to improve their wages and conditions.

Diego Marquez asks the public to support bank workers looking to improve their wages and conditions.

“Every time I see the profit report from these banks – from my bank – I get upset,” bank worker and Better Banks supporter Diego Marquez said. “Why do I have to wear a tie to work and a suit if I can barely make above minimum wage?”

But bank workers like Marquez and Lewis weren’t the only ones with grievances to air against the big banks.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Denise Rodriguez called on U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, which do business with the St. Paul Public Schools, to commit to limiting foreclosures on families that have school-age children during the academic year.

Rodriguez and SPFT member Lily Tharoor, a social worker, described abruptly losing students from their classrooms or school buildings after their families received foreclosure or eviction notices.

“Academically, the kids don’t just stay where they are if they have all these disruptions; they actually fall back,” Tharoor said. “As a member of SPFT, I’m really very proud of the stand the union has taken on this subject. It’s very forward-thinking and really looking out for our students.”

Said Rodriguez: “This is a problem that adults created and that adults can fix.”

Meanwhile, representatives of Somali immigrant groups accused Wells Fargo and other big banks of refusing to work with community leaders on methods for sending financial support – via “remittances” – to family members in East Africa.

New federal regulations prompted U.S. banks to halt money transfers to Somalia in February. They cited concerns remittances might fund terrorism – concerns Sadik Warfa, a local Somali leader, called shortsighted and off the mark.

“I’m a proud American, and the thing is if you stop remittances, you are helping the terrorists because they will tell (people) that America hates us,” Sadik said.

Remittances from Somalis living abroad inject more than $1.2 billion into the country’s economy annually, more than foreign aid and investments combined.

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Labor urges Congress to pump the brakes on fast track

February 23, 2015 by
U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison and Rick Nolan host a field hearing on trade at Richfield City Hall.

U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison and Rick Nolan host a field hearing on trade at Richfield City Hall.

Unions are joining a national day of action to stop fast track March 4, and two members of Congress from Minnesota got an earful as to why last week at a field hearing in Richfield.

DFL Reps. Keith Ellison and Rick Nolan heard testimony from trade experts, union leaders, business owners and advocates for family farmers, who passionately exhorted the representatives to resist President Obama’s push for fast-track authority to enter trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership.

The Obama administration, looking for ever-elusive common ground with Republicans who took over Congress this year, has moved fast track and the TPP to the top of its agenda. And the president has plenty of powerful allies in that effort, Nolan warned.

“Not only the administration, but the multinational (corporations) are putting a full-court press on this thing,” the 8th District Congressman said. “Every member is getting collared and called and pushed and urged.”

Ellison wryly noted that White House representatives reached out to him as he was leaving Washington to return to the 5th District, letting him know they were aware of the field hearing – and less than pleased with it.

But testimony at the hearing raised several concerns with fast track and the TPP, a looming NAFTA-style trade agreement among 12 nations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

An undemocratic notion

By passing fast track, also known as “trade promotion authority,” Congress would limit its own ability to influence trade policy, forcing members to take an up-or-down votes on 1,000-page trade agreements like TPP without offering amendments.

“That’s clearly an abdication of responsibility on the part of the Congress of the United States,” Nolan said.

Worse, members of Congress are severely limited in their ability to monitor or influence the TPP negotiations, Nolan added. Draft agreements and transcripts of the talks are shielded from the media.

“We’re not allowed to even sit in on the negotiations,” Nolan said. “Now, finally, they’re saying they’ll let us look at some of the transcripts, but all the names and all the essential elements are eliminated. It’s kind of like reading the newspaper with a third of every article being eliminated. So it’s not really time very well spent.”

Machinists union representative Rick Ryan (R) testified before a field hearing on fast track and the Trans Pacific Partnership last month. Ryan appeared on a panel with CWA Minnesota State Council President Mona Meyer and Bob Ryan of the United Steelworkers.

Machinists union representative Rick Ryan (R) testifies before a field hearing on fast track and the Trans Pacific Partnership. Ryan appeared on a panel with CWA Minnesota State Council President Mona Meyer and Bob Ryan of the United Steelworkers.

Profits over people

Leaked drafts of the TPP hint at why Obama’s trade negotiators and hundreds of cleared “advisors” – most of whom represent multinational corporations – might not want the public to see their proposals. Like NAFTA and other free-trade agreements of the last 20 years, TPP appears to give corporations more power over the global economy.

These multinationals have dictated U.S. trade policies at the expense of middle-class wages and jobs for too long, said Mona Meyer, president of the Communications Workers of America’s Minnesota State Council. Look no further than the annual trade deficit of $476 billion.

“The promoters of TPP are again promising job gains,” Meyer said. “But we can do the math, and any job growth with be dwarfed by the flood of jobs that go offshore.”

Trade agreements put manufacturing jobs, in particular, at risk. About 6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and 60,000 factories have been lost since 2001.

Nilfisk, a company that manufactures industrial floor-cleaning equipment, employed 500 members of the Machinists union at a facility in Plymouth before NAFTA passed. After several rounds of outsourcing, Machinists District 77 representative Rick Ryan said, about 70 workers are left at the plant.

But Ryan warned the TPP goes beyond tariffs and trade.

‘Why are we not at the table?’

“It will affect all sectors of our economy, our courts, our intellectual property rights, labor standards, environmental standards and more – done at the bidding of the world’s largest multinational corporations, further benefiting the 0.1 percent at the expense of the 99.9 percent worldwide,” Ryan said.

How? Dave Levine, CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council, said TPP language could empower corporations to sue local governments that pass “buy local” laws – a school district looking to serve food from area farmers at lunch, for example. It’s one reason the council’s 225,000 member companies oppose fast track and the TPP.

“None of them got a call to be at the table,” he said. “If it’s good for business, why are we not at the table to bring our interests to the proceedings?”

Josh Wise, director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, noted that the TPP and other trade agreements create extrajudicial trade tribunals, presided over by judges with deep ties to multinationals, that have jurisdiction over local courts.

Lone Pine Resources, an energy company suing the government of Quebec over its ban on fracking, maintains its headquarters outside Canada “for the sole purpose of being able to challenge the fracking ban via the trade court rather than the judicial system,” Wise said.

Fair trade, not free trade

Ellison and Nolan entered the hearing already opposed to fast track and the TPP. Both insisted they were not against trade, but favored trade policies that strengthen labor and human rights, protect U.S. families us from unsafe imports and promote the export of goods instead of jobs.

“We built this economy with rules and regulations on health and safety, wages and benefits,” Nolan said. “To say that we’re going to allow anyone and everyone to come in here and dump their products on us without any countervailing measures … is to really destroy the essence of who we are and what we’re all about.”

Ellison added, “I believe American workers can compete with any workers in the world” if given a level playing field.

“I know that you guys will fight for democracy,” Wise told the members of Congress. “I wish you the best of luck in convincing your colleagues to do the same.”

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CWA rallies support for members charged in Black Lives Matter protest at MOA

February 6, 2015 by

MN Guild new logo 3-4-13The Communications Workers of America is rallying support for two members of the union who face criminal charges resulting from their participation in the massive protest against police brutality and racism at Mall of America in December.

Todd Dahlstrom and Kandace Montgomery, members of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, TNG-CWA Local 37002, are among 10 activists charged with unlawful assembly, trespassing and other crimes that, Bloomington authorities allege, occurred during the peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration that drew thousands to the mall Dec. 20.

Guild President Janet Moore and CWA State Council President Mona Meyer have made appeals to union members in recent weeks, seeking support for a defense fund established for the accused activists, who face thousands in legal fees and potential fines. [Click here to contribute.]

“It’s another twist on the corporate dominance in our country,” Meyer said in an e-mail appeal. “The Supreme Court in Citizens United gave corporations the right to steamroll our democracy by lifting all limits on spending corporate profits to silent our voices in the name of corporate free speech. Now those same profits are being used in the court system against our members to silence them for having actually exercised free speech.”

Dahlstrom is organizing director of the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO. Montgomery is an organizer with the progressive advocacy group TakeAction Minnesota.

TakeAction workers voted to form the Guild’s newest unit last fall.

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TakeAction employees unionize, join Newspaper & Communications Guild

October 7, 2014 by

MN Guild new logo 3-4-13Employees at TakeAction Minnesota, the progressive-advocacy group based in St. Paul, came together to form a union last week, joining the Minnesota Newspaper & Communications Guild, TNG-CWA Local 37002.

TakeAction employees conducted their organizing campaign under the terms of a “card check” neutrality agreement with their employer. More than two dozen employees signed cards requesting Guild representation. After a neutral arbitrator reviewed the cards Sept. 30, the new unit became official.

TakeAction and the Minnesota Guild announced the result of the organizing drive in a press release yesterday.

“TakeAction has long stood with the labor movement, and now we stand as a part of it,” said Terin Mayer, a TakeAction employee who worked on the organizing campaign. “This shows that as a progressive organization, we walk the walk.”

Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, credited employees for conducting their organizing drive in a “respectful and professional manner,” and he looked forward to bargaining a first contract with the new unit in a similar spirit.

“We congratulate our staff on choosing the Newspaper Guild as their exclusive representative for collective bargaining,” McGrath said. “As a people’s organization committed to making Minnesota more equitable and democratic, we fervently believe in the right of all workers to organize and bargain collectively. Our staff is no exception.”

Thirty-two TakeAction workers will make up the new Guild unit. It marks the 81-year-old local’s first successful organizing campaign in over a decade.

“We are delighted to welcome TakeAction employees to our union,” Guild President Janet Moore said. “As smart and dedicated folks, they’re an incredible fit with our organization.”

A sector of the Communications Workers of America, the Minnesota Guild represents about 630 members who work at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other publications, including The Union Advocate. TakeAction employees join a growing number of Guild members who do not work in publishing. The Guild also represents interpreters at Hennepin County Medical Center and workers at the Minneapolis branch of  Clean Water Action, a national progressive organization.

“For more than 80 years, Guild journalists have been speaking truth to power, and that tradition will continue with the addition of our Local’s newest members,” Moore said.

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‘Boots on the ground’ provide Labor’s edge in 2014

August 7, 2014 by
Linda Yang (L) and Diana Hill, both members of CWA Local 7250, put their skills into action during a phone bank at the Labor 2014 campaign school in St. Paul.

Linda Yang (L) and Diana Hill, members of CWA Local 7250, put their skills into action during a phone bank at the Labor 2014 campaign school in St. Paul.

From TV ads to robocalls, technology has changed the way political campaigns communicate with voters, but the most effective form of voter contact remains the same: one-on-one conversations.

That’s the guiding principle for Labor 2014, the statewide push to get union members to the polls in support of labor-endorsed candidates up and down the Nov. 4 ballot. Labor 2014 kicked off with a series of “campaign schools” across the state this summer, including one yesterday at the Minnesota Nurses Association offices in St. Paul.

“It’s about getting boots on the ground,” Kris Fredson, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s political director, said. “It’s going to take tens of thousands of conversations at the doors, on the phones and in the workplace to accomplish our goals.”

Re-electing Gov. Mark Dayton and U.S. Sen. Al Franken – and maintaining a labor-endorsed majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives – top labor’s list of priorities this fall. If recent history is any guide, margins in all three contests are likely to be razor-thin.

Dayton won election four years ago by less than 9,000 votes. Franken’s race six years ago was even closer, decided by a 312-vote margin. And eight races Minnesota House races were decided by 1,000 votes or less in 2012.

In close elections, voter turnout critical, and Fredson said the Labor 2014 campaign will focus on contacting members who don’t typically vote during elections when there’s no presidential race and getting them to the polls.

“A lot of these races are neck and neck, and we believe it’s the face-to-face contact with union members and their families that will make the difference,” Fredson said.

The daylong training yesterday readied about 100 rank-and-file activists for that work. Political organizers from the state AFL-CIO and regional labor federations in St. Paul and Minneapolis provided a crash course in engaging voters on the phone, at the doorstep and in the workplace.

The campaign school provided a first glimpse into the campaign world for Linda Yang. An employee of AT&T, Yang is a strong supporter of Dayton because of his support for public education and closing the achievement gap. Officers of her union, Communications Workers of America Local 7250, suggested she attend the campaign school.

LABOR2014-MN_0“It’s teaching me how to reach out to people I don’t know and talk to them about what’s going on and why we should vote,” Yang said.

The campaign school also brought volunteers up to speed on issues in play during the 2014 campaign season. Alaric Poseley-Hatton, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 7250, said it was good to talk through common questions he’s likely to hear before hitting the pavement or picking up a phone.

A seasoned political volunteer, Poseley-Hatton had some advice for the rookies in the room: “If you don’t feel comfortable, pair up with someone who is,” he said. “Eventually, you’ll start feeling comfortable, and then you can take on different roles. We’ve all got to do our part.”

CWA members accounted for a third of the participants at yesterday’s training. State Council President Mona Meyer said the campaign school provided an easy introduction for members like Yang who are looking to turn their convictions into activism.

“We’re showing them how easy it is to door-knock or phone bank, and getting them engaged in the big picture,” Meyer said. “The next 10 weeks are going to affect us for the next four years.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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