District 9 Conference

The 2018 District 9 conference was held on March 5th-7th.  The conference started off with word that our CWA brothers and sisters in Frontier West Virginia and Ashburn, Virginia went on strike on March 4th 2018. More info can be found on their website https://district2-13.cwa-union.org/bargaining/company/c/frontier_communications-d213 . We had many inspirational speakers that covered many topics. Some of the highlights included speeches from the folks at UPTE that included the current fight on Janus the court case before the supreme court that is trying to undermine the power of organized working people. We also heard from Sara Nelson the International President for AFA on some of the ongoing fights including 10 hours of rest and keeping jobs under U.S. contracts not companies overseas. We also went over the financial information for the District and some of the changes that were made for improvement. We went over Union Strong and how important it is for us to live it and make it our goal to be strong and organized. One of the ways we can improve is to get the new and younger members active in NextGen https://www.cwa-union.org/nextgen . We need to build up our political power so we can effectively fight for our rights and the labor movement as a whole on the political battefield. A strong PAF (Political Action Fund) helps us to aid in the fight of bills  that support us and to defeat bills that try to destroy what we are fighting for. Some of the current fights are H.R. 2909/S. 1565 The Call Center Bill and to support the Politicians that support the fight for workers and their families. The 2018 Conference was a success in my opinion,  and hopefully the skills learned will help us to build a stronger and more powerful union.