Building a Political Movement: St. Louis: A Model for CWA Teamwork

For members of the CWA City Council in St. Louis, working together, swapping ideas and sharing resources is common sense and good business.

That’s why they enthusiastically support CWA’s Ready for the Future resolution to spur more collaboration and communication between the union’s diverse sectors and districts.

“We’ve got the Guild, print locals, a public sector, a large telecom local, a contingent of retirees,” said Shannon Duffy, administrative officer for TNG-CWA Local 36047. “Even though Local 6300 is the big dog, with about 5,000 members, they don’t attempt to dictate terms. Everybody speaks, everybody listens. We always arrive at consensus.”

The St. Louis locals meet the first Monday of each month and communicate often. They can count on each other to send members to rallies, picket lines and other events. But that’s not all. “As a larger local, if a smaller local needs to get to the state capital, for instance, we can help pick up the cost of a bus,” Council President and Local 6300 Vice President Jim Kolve said.

Representing public sector members across Missouri, Local 6355 President Bradley Harmon said he sees what a difference the City Council makes. “In St. Louis, we bounce organizing leads off each other, we show up whenever and wherever we’re needed, we march together in the Labor Day parade, our members and families get to know each other at an annual picnic,” he said. “CWA locals in every city would benefit from that kind of coordination and friendship.”

What makes it all work so well, Duffy said, is that, “We check our egos at the door.” As evidence, he notes that he and Harmon are floating ideas for organizing public sector journalists. “We don’t know whether they’d land in my local or his local, but we’ll figure out what the best fit is. We’re not concerned about it,” he said. “The important thing is that we’re all part of CWA and we’ve got to work together to keep growing.”