What Does “CAW” Stand For Now?

A message to the 135 Central Alabama Water employees terminated March 13, 2026 — and to the 400+ who remain.

Friday, March 13, 2026 will be remembered by many families in Birmingham as a day of shock, confusion, and pain. One hundred and thirty-five workers from Central Alabama Water walked into work expecting a normal day and instead walked out carrying the weight of sudden uncertainty.

For many of you, the questions started immediately.

How will I make it?
What do I tell my family?
What happens to my benefits?
What happens next?

The emotions are real: fear, anger, bewilderment, disbelief. After years, decades, of service, many of you were dismissed with little warning and even less respect for the lives that would be affected.

But today, I want to introduce something else.

The letters CAW may still appear on the buildings and documents, but for many workers in Birmingham, CAW now stands for something very different.

It stands for “CARELESS ABOUT WORKERS.”

And unfortunately, the events leading up to this moment did not happen overnight.

The takeover of what was once the Birmingham Water Works Board by the Alabama Legislature was not simply administrative restructuring. Many people in Birmingham have recognized what it represents: a long pattern of structural and systemic racism in which institutions that serve Black communities become targets of political takeover and control.

For years, Jabo Waggoner and others in state leadership pursued legislation aimed at dismantling the authority of Birmingham’s locally governed water system. What we are witnessing today is the culmination of those efforts.

When communities that have historically been excluded begin talking about equity and equality, something happens. Power that has been centered for centuries becomes uncomfortable. Conversations about fairness are mischaracterized as attacks. Efforts to correct inequities are labeled as problems.

What we often see instead is fragility around power.

Not because someone is being attacked, but because systems that favored one group are finally being examined.

And when those systems are examined, sometimes the response is not reform, but removal.

To many observers in Birmingham, the destruction of stable jobs at Central Alabama Water echoes a darker moment in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre, when the thriving Black business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

While the circumstances are different, the pattern is familiar:
A successful institution rooted in a Black community becomes a target.
Control is taken.
Economic stability is disrupted.
Jobs disappear.

And the message whether spoken or unspoken, is clear: We are still in control.

But I want to speak directly to the 135 workers who lost their jobs on March 13.

I understand more than you may realize.

In June of 2025, after a career totaling 32 years, I too was laid off from AT&T. Thirty-two years of dedication ended with a decision made in a room I was not sitting in.

The shock of that moment is something I will never forget.

But I was able to survive that transition for one important reason: my union contract.

Because of the protections negotiated through the Communications Workers of America, I had guidance on financial planning, retirement preparation, and worker protections throughout my career. That guidance helped me invest, build a pension, and contribute to a 401(k).

Those things are sustaining my transition today.

Not luck.

Not charity.

ORGANIZATION.

As the theologian Dr. James Cone said:

“Whites often lynched blacks simply to remind the black community of their powerlessness.”

This termination of over 135 (ranging from 30 to 100) let go the day after the Super Bowl is a modern-day lynching in the workplace.

To the 135 workers terminated Friday:
Your story is not over.
Your value is not defined by this decision.
And your future will not be determined by those who dismissed you.

You will make it through this moment.

But we must also speak honestly to the more than 400+ employees who remain at Central Alabama Water.

This moment is not only about the workers who were terminated.

It is about you.

Yesterday it was them.
Tomorrow it may be you.

Do not believe every report, statement, or “finding” issued by this newly constructed board. Many of the individuals making these decisions are following an agenda set in higher offices far removed from the daily work of the people who keep water flowing in Birmingham.

If there was ever a time for workers to stand together, that time is now.

Not later.

NOW!

Organizing is not something a company gives you permission to do.
It is something workers demand when they decide their voices deserve to be heard.

You do not have to face this moment alone.

If the employees of Central Alabama Water want protection, dignity, and a voice in their workplace, they can organize.

And they should.

Contact the Communications Workers of America
📞 205-945-1979

Because the truth is simple:

When workers stand alone, they can be dismissed.

But when workers stand together, they become impossible to ignore.

And for Birmingham’s water workers, the time to stand together is now. ✊