About
Margaret Cook is the first Afro-Latina to head the office of CWA Vice-President of the Public, Healthcare, and Education Workers Sector. Elected by an overwhelming majority to national office in July 2019, she provides representation to over 130,000 union members in the United States and Puerto Rico. Margaret’s mission is to build the power of CWA public sector, healthcare, and education workers, and to mobilize a national agenda for economic justice and democracy.
Margaret is achieving these goals by organizing, strategic campaigning, education and training, and mobilization. Under her leadership, the CWA PHEW Sector unites voices of members from across CWA in action for the common good. She has used SIF funds for a national PHEW mobilization to utilize the stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan. Locals used the tools provided to push legislators to raise minimum wages, provide essential pay to frontline workers, and to invest in restoring employment in depleted areas. In 2021, Margaret established the PHEW Activist Academy which is held quarterly throughout the year. There have been various workshops on software, Student Loan Debt, Pensions, and Media strategy with the CWA NewsGuild.
Margaret is a third generation union member: her grandfather is a retired shop steward with AFSCME and her father was an active member of the HTC who played shortstop for his local’s softball team. A long-time union fighter from the age of 21, during her 8 years with the PSC-CUNY Union in New York, Margaret organized and fought for Paid Parental Leave and healthcare for Adjunct Professors. Margaret showed true bravery in CWA United Campus Workers – Tennessee Local 3865. She joined the local on her second day of work in 2016 and she was elected as the Memphis Chapter Vice President in 2017. There she helped to lead the fight for $15 at the University of Memphis and her local won that battle in 2021 which changed the lives of thousands of workers across TN for the better.
Margaret is a very active member of the CWA National Executive Board where she serves as a focused voice for the CWA PHEW Sector. She holds memberships with the Coalition for Labor Union Women (CLUW), the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and the A. Phillip Randolph Institute (APRI). Margaret is an alumni of both Hunter College High School and the City College of New York where she obtained a degree in English Literature. She has an enormous loving family including twin daughters (Tatyana & Tyara), a son in love (Josh), two cats (Pepper & Pumpkin) and her grandpuppy Benjamin who all live at home with her. Margaret was born and raised in Harlem, New York with strong family roots in Memphis, TN and the Dominican Republic.