A Thousand Young Workers Fight for Change

Young workers aren't going to wait for the world to change – they're determined to fix it themselves.

Last week, more than 80 CWA members joined a thousand young union members, students and community activists in Chicago for the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Worker Summit. There, they mapped out strategies to create an economy that works for all, tackling student debt, low wages, discrimination in the workplace and a number of other issues that young workers face on the job.

Victoria Fisher, a CWA Local 1037 member and CWA Next Generation lead activist, helped lead a workshop – TPP: Trading Away Our Future? – that discussed how this major trade deal is being negotiated behind closed doors. Having a hard time getting a job now? Imagine what it will be like if thousands more jobs are offshored, Fisher warned.

She also helped host a workshop on internal organizing for young workers, teaching them how to mobilize their co-workers.

IBEW and CWA activists also presented a workshop on how solidarity across sectors sustained the historic FairPoint strike. Todd Foster of IBEW Local 2327, Stephanie Hill of CWA Local 1400 and Sarah Bigney of the Maine AFL-CIO discussed how workers from different backgrounds and professions can mobilize together, sustain each other, build a collective communications strategy and win.

And on the last day of the summit, CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins joined union leaders for a plenary session on leading the future.

Watch the video here.

CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins with CWA activists at the AFL-CIO's Young Workers Summit in Chicago.