Tom Smith

Tom Smith came into organizing in the wake of the 1999 WTO protest “Battle in Seattle.”  As the Global Justice Movement faded post-9/11, he became more involved with the labor movement. Tom worked as university staff in dormitory housekeeping and the campus library, where he was involved in early organizing efforts with the independent United Campus Workers union (UCW) at the University of Tennessee. Tom was one of the 26 original members of UCW who affiliated with CWA in 2002.  Even though collective bargaining is illegal in Tennessee, UCW-CWA has grown to 2300 members, and inspired thousands of higher education workers in other Southern, right-to-work-for-less states to build campus unions with CWA.

Prior to his promotion to CWA's National Organizing Director in June 2019, he was the District Organizing Coordinator for CWA's southeastern region District 3.  Formerly a lifelong Tennessean, he presently lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife and two children.