Why does CWA Get Involved in Politics?

From Dennis Trainor, CWA District 1 Vice President

We get questions at times from our members about why CWA engages in politics. We’re a labor union, a strong, fighting union that makes it possible for us to stand together to fight for good wages and benefits, and make sure that every worker has the opportunity for a good life.

What does that have to do with politics?

The reality is that our fight — on the job and at the bargaining table — is deeply affected by politics. Our priorities as union members are affected by the legislators we elect to office and the laws they pass, the policies they put in place.

Healthcare ... Pensions and retirement security ... Workplace conditions

They’re all impacted by elected officials and the decisions they make. Even our very right to organize, bargain, and strike is affected by the laws and regulations that electeds set.

We could choose to sit politics out — but that would mean being left out of the room where decisions are being made and leaving it all to big corporations and the richest Americans to make decisions for us. If our union doesn’t have a voice in those decisions, powerful corporate interests will dominate them.

Our political work isn’t about party loyalty — it’s about strategic campaigns to improve the lives of our members.

We represent a diverse membership, and I’m very proud of that diversity and our ability to come together to fight for our wages and working conditions, and for the rights we all deserve. But I also know that because of this diversity, some of the issues we take on may feel distant to some and deeply personal for others. We’re not always going to agree on every issue! But the bottom line is that these things do have real, everyday impacts on working people, and staying silent means losing our voice and our ability to influence them for working people. That is not an option.

Just as we fight for a voice at work, we fight for a voice in our communities — because our lives, our jobs, and our futures depend on it.