Corporate lobbyists have spent decades weakening our laws to keep the balance of power tilted in favor of CEOs and the super-rich. Without worker power, the 1% gets richer while our wages stay stagnant, our working conditions get worse, and our economy stays rigged in favor of the wealthy.

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, H.R. 2474, would give CWA members more power to win the wages, benefits, and working conditions we deserve. It would protect strikers, make it easier for workers to join unions, prevent the misclassification of workers as independent contractors, deal a blow to "right-to-work" laws, and a lot more.

Last week, CWAers across the country participated in a National Day of Action by making calls to Congress urging them to side with working people over corporations and pass the PRO Act. The pressure is working! This week, the bill picked up bipartisan support, with Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Chris Smith of New Jersey joining 214 House Democrats in cosponsoring the bill.

Ask your Member of Congress to support the PRO Act now.

CWA members who work at New Flyer in Minnesota traveled to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) conference in New York City last week to deliver a letter to Chris Stoddart, the President of the bus division of New Flyer Industries, urging him to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement to create better jobs, equal opportunity, and healthier communities for workers across the country.

Community Benefits Agreements have been used in recent years to ensure that taxpayer-funded investment centers on worker and community needs. More than 60 percent of New Flyer's income comes from taxpayer-funded purchases of their products.

The coalition of CWA, IUE-CWA, and community, labor, civil rights, and environmental groups that delivered the letter also gave Stoddart a copy of a new report from Jobs to Move America that details worker complaints about racial discrimination and sexual harassment and concerns about health and safety at a non-union New Flyer factory in Anniston, Ala.

At the conference, CWAers shared their stories about how getting a union in their workplace helped them unite and tackle issues more effectively, and talked about how they want more workers to have a voice on the job without fear of retaliation, including the workers at the Anniston plant. With the help of their union, the Minnesota CWA members won significant limitations to forced overtime, a major new heat stress policy and safer work processes, wage increases, and more inclusive treatment.

CWA members at New Flyer in Minnesota shared their stories about how getting a union in their workplace helped them unite and tackle issues more effectively, and talked about how they want more workers to have a voice on the job without fear of retaliation, including the workers at the Anniston, Ala., plant.