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Bernie Rocks Buffalo. Took Detour to Visit with Local 1122 of the Communications Workers of America
Before Bernie Sanders spoke to over 11,000 people on Monday at the University of Buffalo, he made a brief unscheduled stop.
. . .
The audience at Sanders’s first stop was a lot quieter, a lot older, a lot whiter—and a whole lot smaller. They were pleased to see Sanders, but there was no mistaking the scene at Local 1122 of the Communications Workers of America for a rock concert or a sporting event. These were 25 shop stewards at Verizon who had to prepare their members to go on strike on Wednesday morning, and the mood in the room was a mixture of anxiety and defiant anger.
. . .
When Sanders arrived, the stewards, who had been discussing the likelihood that Verizon would try to discipline or discharge members, interrupted their strategy session to listen to the man Larry Cohen, the former president of the union who now leads Labor for Bernie, told them had always had their backs. “I want to thank you for standing up to the outrageous greed of corporate America,” Sanders told them, pointing out that Verizon had booked $ 39 Billion in profits over the past three years. The company recently bid billions for the loss-making Yahoo—yet continues to demand its workers pay more for their health coverage.
. . .
On paper, Buffalo doesn’t look like Sanders country. Two years ago, when Zephyr Teachout’s underfunded campaign gave Andrew Cuomo a bloody nose in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Cuomo carried Erie County by a 52 percent margin
. . .
Yet Katrinna Martin-Bordeaux, chair of Young Black Democrats of Western New York, told me that in her part of town “the community is leaning heavily towards Sanders.”
Her confidence was matched by Brian Nowak, who started organizing Buffalo For Bernie ten months ago. “We’ve got the numbers. We can win this,” he said.
. . .
The audience at Sanders’s first stop was a lot quieter, a lot older, a lot whiter—and a whole lot smaller. They were pleased to see Sanders, but there was no mistaking the scene at Local 1122 of the Communications Workers of America for a rock concert or a sporting event. These were 25 shop stewards at Verizon who had to prepare their members to go on strike on Wednesday morning, and the mood in the room was a mixture of anxiety and defiant anger.
. . .
When Sanders arrived, the stewards, who had been discussing the likelihood that Verizon would try to discipline or discharge members, interrupted their strategy session to listen to the man Larry Cohen, the former president of the union who now leads Labor for Bernie, told them had always had their backs. “I want to thank you for standing up to the outrageous greed of corporate America,” Sanders told them, pointing out that Verizon had booked $ 39 Billion in profits over the past three years. The company recently bid billions for the loss-making Yahoo—yet continues to demand its workers pay more for their health coverage.
. . .
On paper, Buffalo doesn’t look like Sanders country. Two years ago, when Zephyr Teachout’s underfunded campaign gave Andrew Cuomo a bloody nose in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Cuomo carried Erie County by a 52 percent margin
. . .
Yet Katrinna Martin-Bordeaux, chair of Young Black Democrats of Western New York, told me that in her part of town “the community is leaning heavily towards Sanders.”
Her confidence was matched by Brian Nowak, who started organizing Buffalo For Bernie ten months ago. “We’ve got the numbers. We can win this,” he said.
http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-rocks-buffalo/
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