CWA President Cummings Defends Our Voting Rights Before Congress

Earlier this week, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. met with other labor leaders and members of Congress to discuss the role of labor unions in defending our right to vote. Senator Alex Padilla (CA) hosted the roundtable discussion, part of a series of discussions with community, religious, and labor leaders to discuss ways to protect voting rights for Americans.

The current administration, which has worked to undermine confidence in the voter system, declared widespread voter fraud, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, seized ballots from the 2020 election, encouraged rampant gerrymandering, pushed for legislation that would impose financial burdens for voting, and has attacked vote-by-mail, which millions of Americans depend on to have their voices heard.

The panel included Executive Director of National Nurses United, Puneet Maharaj; President of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten; President of the National Education Association, Princess Moss; President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Patrick Moran; Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, Joseph Bryant; AFL-CIO Director of Civil, Human, and Women’s Rights, Alex Rias; and President of the American Postal Workers Union, Jonathan Smith.

Said President Cummings, “We will use every tool at our disposal. Whether it’s in the halls of the legislature, in the courts, or in the streets—we will do everything in our power to defend the right of working people to make their voices heard. Because protecting democracy is not separate from the work of the labor movement. It is the work.

“Working people built this country. They keep it running every day. And they deserve to have an equal voice in the democracy that governs their lives.”

Click here to watch President Cummings’ Congressional testimony.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.