Jade Kelly
Pronouns: She/They
Unit: United Campus Workers Colorado
Job: Senior Regional Affiliate Manager - NCWIT - CU Boulder
Contact: president@cwa7799.org or 928.458.6488
Candidate for President
Why I’m Running
I have served as the Local 7799 President for the past year and during that time I have been deeply inspired by the grassroots organizing in all 5 of our local's unions. We have a real opportunities that lie ahead of us in this following year and potential as a unified, public worker statewide union to make revolutionary change. In order to achieve that solidarity, we need to commit to a democratic, member-led union where we fight for our own liberation and where our demands/timeline come directly from us, the workers.
As we have seen in the past year, our employers will ignore polite requests, established worker protections, and basic human decency in order to cut costs and to make a larger profit. Our union is our opportunity to give workers a seat at the table where our safety, our protections, and the public good is put above profit.
As President of CWA Local 7799, I would continue to support and embolden members as we organize our coworkers, establish our demands, and present them in a way that's impossible to ignore. I believe given my experience, I would thrive in this role and would do everything in my ability to continue building the power our union holds.
Experience
As a current President of CWA Local 7799, the co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ caucus for the Colorado Musicians' Union, and a former UCW Colorado Steering Committee representative, I have a long history of representing a broad range of workers on issues relating to compensation, benefits, retirement, anti-discrimination policies, child care, gender equity, and protections from sexual harassment.
I know how to organize at work, in the state legislature, and when denied a seat at the table, build a new table where workers we the workers are in charge of setting the demands, timeline, and who controls the power moving forward . I strongly believe in the power that exists with public workers uniting across in Colorado and make meaningful changes in the terms of our employment.