cwa protest in ft. worth

On Friday, a group of protesters gathered outside of the Fort Worth Convention Center which was housing the State Democratic Convention. They weren't Republicans protesting Democratic presence in their city and they weren't pro-life fanatics protesting the Democratic platform's position on abortion. They were regular working people from the union Communication Workers of America.

Mike Littleton, the Southern Area Director of the CWA, said that the group was protesting the announced layoffs from AT&T. "We don't feel it's right that employees are laid off while in the meantime, the company is doing well." Over 200 people in the immediate Ft. Worth area will lose their jobs with the communications giant. Mr. Littleton pointed out that with only about 2,000 Ft. Worth area citizens actually working, 200 out of work is a big proportion. He said that most of the layoffs would affect telephone operators.

Mr. Littleton said that the protestors gathered on the sidewalk at about 12pm and planned to continue their protest until 3pm. He also said that more protests were planned across the five state southern region. Of the fifty or so protestors in Fort Worth, he figured that about half were delegates to the State Democratic Convention. Other delegates gathered around the protestors in support, joining in on their chants. McBlogger notes that several candidates, including Democratic candidate for Attorney General David Van Os, marched at various times during the protest. Candidate for U.S. Congress District 26, Tim Barnwell, also marched with the protestors and shook their hands. Barnwell would represent part of Tarrant County if elected to Congress.