On December 4th, we held a regional D7 Internal Organizing training at CWA Local 7704’s union hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. The training was conducted by Ted Hooker (D7 Organizing Coordinator). Elsa Elizondo (Local 7704), Joe Naunchick (Local 7781), and Kirah Solomon (Local 7781) contributed by leading small group discussions during role-playing exercises. All three had attended a previous D7 district-wide Internal Organizing training (Joe and Kirah – March 2017, Elsa – June 2017) in Denver, CO. Enida Shuku (D7 Internal Organizing Campaign Lead) also contributed by working with Ted to create the agenda and preparing the materials. The training class consisted of seven local leaders from three D7 locals in Utah.
We conducted an 8-hour training from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. This time included a 15-minute break to grab food for a working lunch as well as 15-minute morning and afternoon breaks. We used the D7 Internal Organizing training curriculum that was originally created by Katie Romich (D7 Staff Representative) and Ted Hooker for the March 2017 district-wide training and also included our presentation on Broadstripes that was created by Ted Hooker and Enida Shuku for the June 2017 district-wide training.
The class was engaged in the curriculum and seemed highly motivated to learn new skills for doing the work of building our union through internal organizing. They also seemed motivated to share the information with other local leaders and to continue working on internal organizing plans for their locals. Attendees also committed to building and serving on their local’s internal organizing committee. Feedback from the training was overwhelmingly positive and I am confident that the training achieved the goal of building the CWA Strong program in Utah.
The following were collected during the training:
• 3 Internal Organizing Planning Worksheets
• 7 CWA Strong Pledge cards
• 9 commitments to sign up for Broadstripes training
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.
In solidarity,
Ted Hooker
CWA District 7 Organizing Coordinator
303-770-2822 (office)
