Talk worker rights with your legislators
Why meet with legislators?
Encourage them to expand workers rights either by supporting only a strong Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bill or a stand-alone Protections for Public Workers organizing bill.
While no bill is yet introduced, the goal is also to get them to tell leadership that we will only accept a strong bill that expands worker power, not a labor suppression bill that looks like it might expand rights but is actually harmfully restrictive.
Build relationships with legislators.
Our union will have many future opportunities to support important legislative efforts. We should strive to build long-term, collaborative relationships with those in office.
Public legislative support will blunt anti-union efforts in the workplace and in the media.
What to do:
Before reaching out, please contact Alex Wolf-Root at vicepresident@cwa7799.org to express your interest in legislative outreach.
We will help you prepare for your meeting and perhaps coordinate multi-member meetings.
Email your legislator politely asking to set up a meeting.
Introduce yourself with your name, that you’re a constituent of theirs, list your job, and mention your union (unit + CWA Local 7799) membership.
Say that you’d like to meet to talk about supporting public sector workers like yourself and your co-workers.
See the “Legislator Query Example,” below.
If you have not gotten a response after two or three weeks, you can send a polite follow-up asking to meet.
Once your meeting is set with the legislator or their staff, contact Alex Wolf-Root and let him know when you will be meeting.
We may provide additional details and information or partner you with another CWA Local 7799 member for the meeting.
Feel free to confirm the meeting a day or two ahead of time as well, as things can get quite hectic during legislative sessions.
You can expect the meeting to last anywhere between 15-30 minutes, depending on their schedule.
You may meet with staff instead of the legislator. This is quite common and not necessarily an indication that they do not support this issue.
Be sure to take notes on who you met with and when.
Talk about whatever other issues are important to you.
Report back.
Follow up with Alex Wolf-Root to let us know how the meeting went.
Legislator Query Example
Dear Senator Tabor,
My name is Trey Packer, a constituent in your district who works for Facilities Management at CU Boulder. I am also an active member of UCW Colorado – CWA Local 7799, the wall-to-wall union for workers at all University of Colorado campuses.
I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you regarding expanding rights for all public workers, which would give workers like me the opportunity to improve our workplaces and build a stronger and more prosperous Colorado. I realize there is significant pressure to not expand collective bargaining rights, at least not without unacceptable worker suppression aspects, this session, but there is still much we can do to expand rights so that we can freely organize to improve our public institutions without fear of retaliation from management.
Please let me know when you would be available to meet to discuss this important issue.
Sincerely,
Trey
Lovingly made by the Public Workers for the Public Good of CWA Local 7799