Last week, CWA members met in Kansas City, Mo. for the CWA District 6 Annual Conference. Led by CWA District 6 Vice President Derrick Osobase, the conference focused on its theme, “Be the change,” encouraging members to take the initiative and work toward building a stronger, more unified union. “Our camaraderie and our unity is our strength,” said Osobase, “our strength is in our solidarity.” 

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. inspired the crowd during his keynote speech. “Our unity is powerful,” said Cummings. “More powerful than an executive order. More powerful than the billionaires. Our unity gave us the weekend. It gave us child labor laws. It gave us protections on the job against racist staffing policies, against ‘last hired, first fired.’ We the people understand that power. We’ve used it again and again to fight, and win, on the side of justice.” Cummings added, “We don’t back down. We are the change. And we fight back.”

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam addressed the gathering, as well as several members of CWA’s Executive Board including CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton; CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce; Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook; Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Lisa Bolton; Western Region At-Large Diversity Executive Board Member Keith Gibbs; and Central Region At-Large Diversity Executive Board Member Reggie Small. AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson could not attend but spoke to members via a pre-recorded video message. 

Members attended breakout sessions for AT&T Southwest, AT&T Mobility, Telecommunications and Technologies, airline workers, public workers, and retired members with the RMC. Workshops covered topics including “Grievances and Arbitrations,” “Health and Safety,” “Gender Justice,” “Environmental Justice,” and political training. 

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