Special

On April 4, the contract covering 110,000 workers between the Communications Workers (CWA) and AT&T expired. Bargaining is continuing while CWA members keep working. The company booked a $12.9 billion profit last year. Eighty-eight percent percent of voting members authorized a strike in late March. The last negotiations, in 2004, led to a four-day strike.

At this writing a strike is not imminent, but the union is keeping the pressure on with rallies and demonstrations, usually accompanied by this song.

Ray and Rachael Rodriguez co-wrote it with Toronto hip-hop artist Special, as a means to reach out to their local's next generation of union members.

Ray and Rachael are members of CWA Houston Local 6222. He works as a cable splicer and she is a customer service rep. Both are stewards and hold other local offices.

Special -- also known as Riley Wallace -- got involved when a friend of the Rodriguezes contacted his management team. Ready to Strike was originally intended for a Local 6222 rally, but word of it spread to other chapters, who shared it on the internet. Special also recorded a second version that strips out the local references. The original version is heard here.

---

We need solidarity in the front line
Why would I support it 'cause hey I want to get mine
Kicking at union hall, times hard,
We work hard and dammit we deserve it all

Hey my kids need to eat, mortgage payments is due,
And I gotta to put shoes on my feet
So I guess you can say that I am
      fighting for my family
On the front line, I guess it’s the man in me

Red shirt 'cause it represents my unity
Ray Rod says he did, its nothing new to me
And I'm a help you do
I'm a tell you what we've got to do

Put your hands up
CWA Local 6222
Wear your red, stand strong, 'cause its rough like Luther
One Union One Fight, and you know it's One Future!

Get ready to strike
Get ready to walk the line
Protect my healthcare, don’t lower my wages
Realize Recognize Mobilize Stay Alive

Get ready to strike
Get ready to walk the line
Protect my healthcare, don’t lower my wages
Realize Recognize Mobilize Stay Alive

We gotta fight for the next generation
Look at all the problems we're facing
We gotta stand strong, look
      what we're wearing
Same color is the power, rules no matter
      if there caring

If we fight we gonna make them care
Front line, we're gonna be right there
They're trying to lower our wages in this economy
That’s outrages Special like 10 inch stages

And I speak hope thru the speakers
U N I T Y just like Latifah
So when u get the green light get ready to strike
I got you Special to hold you down on the mike

The Uverse Stewards Army, the Uverse Techs
In the front like looking at Ray Rod, like what's next?
He says it might get rough like Luther
One Union One Fight, 'Cause you know it's One Future!

Get ready to strike
Get ready to walk the line
Protect my healthcare, don’t lower my wages
Realize Recognize Mobilize Stay Alive

Get ready to strike
Get ready to walk the line
Protect my healthcare, don’t lower my wages
Realize Recognize Mobilize Stay Alive

Get ready to strike
Get ready to walk the line
Protect my healthcare, don’t lower my wages
Realize Recognize Mobilize Stay Alive

---

Personnel: Special. Photos (except for Special) by CWA members.

References: Labor Notes, CWA, CWA Local 6222, Wall Street Journal.

---

Listen in streaming RealAudio on a 56k modem or better.
Download a free RealOnePlayer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) or QuickTime Player.

---

Music Archives

	July 2009 Special Get Ready To Strike Ray and Rachael Rodriguez Riley Wallace Photos: CWA
	June 2009 Billy Edd Wheeler Coal Tattoo Billy Edd Wheeler Photo: Earl Dotter
	May 2009 Joe Jencks Adonde Pertenezco Joe Jencks Photo: Scott Robinson
	April 2009 Rabble Rousers Card Count Bill Collins Photo: Corbis Bettmann
	March 2009 Dan Hall Lake Seaman's Union Men Dan Hall and David Norris Photo: Lee Rowe
	February 2009 Pete Seeger Talking Union Almanac Singers (Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger) Photos: Unknown.
	January 2009 Los Lobos, Santa Isabel School Children's Choir De Colores Traditional Cover: Domingo.
	December 2008 Steve Earle Christmas In Washington Steve Earle Photo: Jim West.
	November 2008 Emma's Revolution Coast of Maine Sandy O, Pat Humphries Photo: William B. Folsom.
	October 2008 Bev Grant & Dissident Daughters In America Bev Grant, Bruce Markow Photos: National Park Service, Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott
	September 2008 Jon Fromer Little One Jon Fromer Photo: Emily Kunstler
	August 2008 DC Labor Chorus Picket Line Songs Andries vanTonder, Susie Rucks, Traditional Photo: Unknown
	July 2008 Tayo Aluko Go Down Moses Traditional Photo: NARA
	June 2008 Anne Feeney How Long? Anne Feeney Photo: Dick DeMarsico
	May 2008 Pat Wynne When Rats Dream Pat Wynne, Bernard Gilbert Photo: NHGRI
	April 2008 George Mann Rest, Papa Rest George Mann Photo: Howard Goldbaum
	March 2008 Lynn Marie Smith Rebuilding The Union Movement Lynn Marie Smith, A Taste Of Honey Photo: Jim West
	February 2008 Dropkick Murphys Worker's Song (Handful of Earth) Ed Pickford Photos: Jim West, Fred Askew
	January 2008 Joe Uehlein Artists See The World In A Different Light Joe Uehlein, Dave Alvin Photo: FBI
	December 2007 Finest Kind Homeless Wassail Ian Robb Photo: Unknown
	November 2007 Guy Carawan Which Side Are You On? Florence Reece Photo: Harlan County Library
	October 2007 Paul Robeson Water Boy Avery Robinson Photos: Alan Lomax, Joseph John
	September 2007 Billy Bragg The Internationale Eugène Pottier, Pierre Degeyter, Billy Bragg Lithograph: Unknown
	August 2007 Si Kahn Go To Work On Monday Si Kahn Photo: Earl Dotter
	July 2007 The NewLanders The Altoona Freight Wreck Fred Tait-Douglas, Carson Robison Photo: Unknown
	June 2007 Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello And Now What? Zack de la Rocha Poster: Ahmed Resistol
	May 2007 Coco Brown I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson Oil: M. Baer
	April 2007 Ry Cooder Strike! Traditional, new verses by Ry Cooder Drawing: Vincent Valdez
	March 2007 Teresa Healy, Tom Juravich Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim, Tom Juravich Painting: Ralph Fasanella
	February 2007 Detroit Cultural Workers and Artists Caucus Walking 500 Days by Bob Vasseur Photos: Pat Beck, Daymon Hartley
	January 2007 New York City Labor Chorus Ode To Workers by Friedrich Schiller, L. V. Beethoven, Jeff Vogel Photo: Unknown
	December 2006 Charlie Bernhardt Children Of Abraham by John McCutcheon Photo: Jerry Anderson
	November 2006 Ted Warmbrand Who's The Criminal by Ted Warmbrand Photo: Mizue Aiseki
	October 2006 Woody Guthrie Buffalo Skinners by Woody Guthrie Painting: Neil Waldman.
	September 2006 Freedom Song Network Rockin' Solidarity by Ralph Chaplin, David Welsh Painting: Irving Fromer.
	August 2006 Seattle Labor Chorus Torn Screen Door by David Francey Photo: Eric Nelson
	July 2006 Emma's Revolution Bound For Freedom by Pat Humphries, Sandy O Puppet: SOAW Puppetistas
	June 2006 David Rovics Used To Be A City by David Rovics Photo: George Waldman
	May 2006 Len Wallace Leaving The Fishing Behind by Len Wallace Drawing: H. W. Elliott, J. W. Collins
	April 2006 Marc Blitzstein The Nickel Under The Foot by Marc Blitzstein Photo: Unknown
	March 2006 Judy Gorman Step By Step by American Miners Association, Waldeman Hille, Pete Seeger Cartoon: Mark Hurwitt
	February 2006 John Handcox The Planter And The Sharecropper by John Handcox Photo: Evelyn Munro Smith
	January 2006 Lynn Marie Smith U.N.I.O.N. by Henri Belolo, Jacques Morali, Lynn Marie Smith Photo: Rebecca Cook
	December 2005 John McCutcheon Christmas In The Trenches by John McCutcheon Drawing: Frederice Villiers
	November 2005 Davis Gloff, Michael Carluccio, Larry Schrock Radio, Guns, and Money by Steve Jones Poster: W. DeLappe, Holly Syrrakos
	October 2005 Chris Chandler, David Roe The Pageant of the Paterson Silk Strike by Chris Chandler, Lisa Stolarski John Henry's Slow Rag by David Roe Poster: Robert Edmund Jones
	September 2005 Brooklyn Women's Chorus We Were There by Bev Grant Ceramic mask: Geri Gventer
	August 2005 Anne Feeney Shut 'Cha Down by Anne Feeney Photo: United Airlines
	July 2005 Francisco Javier Herrera La Tierra by Eduardo Robledo Photo: Ellis Boal
	June 2005 Si Kahn He Lies In The American Land by Andrew Kovaly / Pete Seeger Photo: It's All Relative
	May 2005 Luci Murphy, Pam Parker Mother's Day by Peter Jones Publicity photos
	April 2005 Angel Martinez Memoirs of Bernardo Vega by Bernardo Vega, Juan Flores, César Andreu Iglesias Photo: Unknown
	March 2005 Pam Parker We Speak Louder Than Machines by Steve Jones Photo: Jim West
	February 2005 Maria Dunn Troublemaker by Maria Dunn Photo: Glenbow Archives
	January 2005 The Troublemakers Troublemakers Theme by Pauly Gailiunas Graphic: Ricardo Levins Morales
	December 2004 Joe Jencks Christmas In Mansfield by Joe Jencks Painting: Ray Tapajna
	November 2004 Kelly Wideman A Capella Banjo by Samuel Augustus Ward, Katherine Lee Bates, Earl Scruggs Photo: Jim West
	October 2004 Chris Bricker, George B, Utah Phillips, George Mann Hail To The Thief / Stupid's Pledge / I'm George W by George Mann, James Sanderson, Utah Phillips, Stephen Foster Cover art: Quenton of rushlimbaughonline.com
	September 2004 Laurel Blaydes, Joe Jencks, Chapman Zon What Will I Leave Behind / If I Had A Golden Thread by Si Kahn, Pete Seeger Photo: Jim West
	August 2004 Utah Phillips 1910 Spokane Free Speech Fight by Utah Phillips Photo: Roger Leisner
	July 2004 Dave Lippman I Hate Wal-Mart by Dave Lippman Photo: Jim West
	June 2004 Finland Station Unemployment Compensation Blues by Les Pine, Jerry Silverman Photo: Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration
	May 2004 John McCutcheon What It's Like by John McCutcheon Photo: Hormel Foods
	April 2004 Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger A Little A' This 'N' That by Pete Seeger
	March 2004 Charlie King & Karen Brandow Moving Day / We Shall Not Be Moved by Fred Stanton / Traditional Photo: Unknown
	February 2004 Fruit Of Labor Solidarity by Fruit Of Labor
	January 2004 Tom Juravich Ring Some Changes by Tom Juravich Photo: Ellis Boal
	December 2003 Anne Feeney War On The Workers by Anne Feeney Photo: Jim West
	November 2003 Rebel Voices Hospital Workers by Paul McKenna Photo: Ellis Boal
	October 2003 Águila Negra El Mojado by Flaco Jimenez Photo: Jim West
	September 2003 Joe Uehlein Jerusalem by Steve Earle Photo: Ellis Boal
	August 2003 AFT Singers We're An On-Time Union by Dottie Peoples, Gloria Britton-Ellis Photo: Michael Campbell
	July 2003 Jon Fromer, Francisco Herrera I Cannot Sleep by Malvina Reynolds Photo: Ellis Boal
	June 2003 Pat Wynne Toxic Dreams by Pat Wynne Photo: Pat Wynne
	May 2003 Susan Lewis, Janet Stecher, Luci Murphy Mean Things Happening / Roll The Union On Ain't You Got A Right by John Handcox, Guy Carawan Photos: Labor Heritage Foundation, Highlander Center
	April 2003 George Mann & Julius Margolin If I Only Had A Brain by Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, George Mann Photo: White House
	March 2003 Ray Korona The People Are In Charge by Ray Korona Album cover: David Beyda
	February 2003 Charlie King One Puppet Town by Charlie King Album cover: Mark Hurwitt
	January 2003 Pat Humphries No Sweat by Bev Grant Graphics: Margaret Randall, Pat Humphries
	December 2002 David King Reindeer Games by David King Doll: Linda Anderson
	November 2002 Bev Grant Labor Of Love by Bev Grant
	October 2002 Charlie Ray Fetty III The Mobile Inspirational by Charlie Ray Fetty III Colorado state fair parade float: USWA Local 2102
	September 2002 Joe Glazer The Mill Was Made Of Marble / I Ain't No Stranger Now by Joe Glazer

---

Songs not otherwise attributed were recorded at the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange in 2001, 2003, 2004, or 2005 at the National Labor College/George Meany Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. Engineers: Bob Barnes, Ellis Boal, Charlie Ray Fetty III, Joe Jencks, Ray Korona, George Mann, Dave Sless, Isaac Wilson.

Listen in streaming RealAudio on a 56k modem or better.
Download a free RealOnePlayer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) or QuickTime Player.