WHY WE WEAR RED
Red means sacrifice
Red means solidarity
Red means CWA Strong!
We wear red on Thursdays in memory of CWA Local 1103 Chief Steward Gerry Horgan. Our union brother was run down on a picket line in Valhalla, NY, during the 1989 strike at NYNEX.
The four month strike over health care benefits was just two weeks old when the daughter of a manager, who was working as a scab, accidentally hit Gerry with her car while breaking through a picket line.
Horgan was the first, and until 2003, the only CWA member killed while picketing. His death is the reason why CWA members still today wear red in solidarity on Thursdays.
The Idea started small, we asked all of our members to wear red on Thursday to remind the Company of the blood they had spilled and to show support for our fallen brother. It quickly spread nationwide as a sign of solidarity. Every Thursday at CWA locations across the country, a sea of red has become an ongoing sign of solidarity. Wearing red is a simple but effective way to show the Company that we stand together as a Union. We all have personal lives and beliefs but in the workplace every member needs to share the same goal; better wages, benefits, job security, and respect in the workplace.
No company that we represent can take away the wages and benefits that we have fought so hard to achieve when we stand together. Our solidarity will make these companies prosperous and provide good jobs for generations to come but only when we stand united.
Solidarity is not just an idea –
It is a belief that together we can protect and improve our way of life.
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