News

  • Biden Administration’s Leadership on Broadband Will Bring High Speed Internet to Millions of Households and Create Good Jobs
    Today’s announcement that 20 internet service providers have committed to lowering the cost of plans for households that are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program is good news for the millions of Americans who cannot afford high speed, high quality broadband connections. Securing these commitments continues the Biden Administration’s strong leadership on not only building out broadband but making sure it is affordable. In addition to promoting the Affordable Connectivity Program in their communities, members of CWA’s Broadband Brigade have been working to ensure that grants provided to states by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for broadband buildout go to high road employers and help create good, union jobs. While affordability and accessibility are important, they are not enough. Internet service providers must be held accountable for the services they provide. Unfortunately, many of the same providers who have agreed to lower prices have been trying to derail the Senate confirmation of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission. Without a full slate of Commissioners, the FCC cannot provide the oversight and enforceable protections necessary for truly affordable, accessible broadband. ### — May 9
  • CWA Member Discusses Grassroots Organizing Efforts with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Labor Secretary Walsh at White House Event
    Washington, D.C - Today, Alex Speidel, one of the lead organizers from United Paizo Workers/CWA, met with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, and other worker organizers at the White House to discuss how he and his co-workers at Paizo won voluntary recognition for their union. Workers at Paizo help produce the popular award-winning Pathfinder and Starfinder tabletop game series. Speidel and his co-workers formed United Paizo Workers/CWA in the fall of 2021 in response to the departure of several long-term employees amid allegations of managerial impropriety. In addition, the workers raised concerns about a pattern of inconsistent hiring practices, pay inequity across the company, allegations of verbal abuse from executives and management, and allegations of harassment ignored or covered up by those at the top. During the meeting, Speidel told the group that freelancers who worked for Paizo began to refuse assignments from the company in solidarity with the workers’ request for voluntary recognition of their union. He said that this action strengthened the workers’ position and likely contributed to Paizo’s decision to grant voluntary recognition. When a majority of workers have signed cards indicating that they support forming a union, they often ask their employer to voluntarily recognize and bargain with the union. Under current law, employers are not required to agree. Instead, even when overwhelming majorities of workers provide written support for the union, many employers force them to undergo a lengthy process to hold a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election. That current process offers many opportunities for the employer to exploit the law to delay the election, allowing them more time to wage an anti-union campaign. “It was very exciting to meet with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Secretary of Labor Walsh today. Being able to discuss CWA’s campaign to organize game and tech workers, and to share the incredible work being done by the United Paizo Workers and our team of freelance writers, was truly an honor, and I’m so glad to have been invited. It is my hope that the administration continues their support of workers who are organizing to join unions in all industries, and that we are able to take this momentum back to CWA to continue the CODE-CWA campaign. Every worker deserves a union!" CWA’s CODE-CWA project supports workers in the tech and game industries who are organizing for change at their workplaces. CODE-CWA workers at Activision’s Raven Software studio are currently voting in their union election. Apple retail workers organizing with CODE-CWA’s support will begin voting in the first-ever union recognition election at Apple on June 2. President Biden has put working people front and center in his policies. Vice President Harris and Secretary Walsh serve as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The Task Force’s mission is to identify actions the Executive Branch can take to support worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining. ### — May 5
  • Organizing Update
    Tower Climbers On May 1, International Workers’ Day, founding members of the Tower Climbers Union (TCU)/CWA held a national town hall to share their vision for the future and developments in their efforts to improve conditions and standards in the wireless industry. During this historic, first of its kind event members discussed topics impacting workers including work/life balance, health and safety, industry pricing and wages, working conditions, and more. “One of the issues in our industry is the culture and the things that are taught to us young. Things like working from sunup to sundown and if you leave early you feel this guilt,” said tower climber and TCU/CWA East Coast Organizer Carl Milloy. “There is always this saying in our industry: ‘either you have all the time and no money, or all the money and no time.’ I think it’s long past due that we stand together and we make the changes needed.”  CWA President Chris Shelton spoke to the workers and encouraged them to continue organizing and to keep fighting for what they want. “We have to get as many people as we can to fight the good fight, to make sure that these companies understand that they have to give you the respect that you deserve in a job that's very, very hard to do,” Shelton said. The town hall comes less than two weeks after an overwhelming majority of wireless tower climbers at QualTek in Henderson, Nev., filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. TCU/CWA has several hundred founding members in 35 states and the number continues to grow. ### Maximus Check out this new video from federal call center workers at Maximus, who went on strike on March 23 – the anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Even in the face of strong resistance from the company, the workers have been organizing to form a union with CWA, get better pay, and improve working conditions. — May 5
  • Bargaining Update
    Bergen County Board of Social Services Last Thursday, Bergen County Board of Social Services employees, members of CWA Local 1089, marched outside their office in Rochelle Park, N.J,. to demand a fair contract. The workers have been working without a contract for 16 months. Nearly 200 workers and their supporters attended the march and called on the county to come back to the bargaining table and address the workers’ demands. These essential workers help residents connect with critical benefits like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and more. Bergen County Board of Social Services employees, members of CWA Local 1089, rallied outside their office for a fair contract. ### Frontier Communications CWA members at Frontier Communications in California continue to bargain for a new contract after a previous deal was rejected by the membership. Although some progress has been made, the company remains stagnant on several issues including wages, job security, and issues related to working from home. Last Thursday, the union and the company entered into federal mediation which is scheduled to continue until the end of this week. CWA members at Frontier Communications in District 4, who have been bargaining since early April, are continuing to mobilize for fair wages, better healthcare, improved working conditions, and more. In recent years, the members have had to deal with a number of issues including the company’s bankruptcy, dangerous working conditions, mandatory overtime due to staffing shortages, and the challenges of the pandemic. Check out this new video of the members calling on the company to recognize their value and contributions and to treat them with respect by addressing their demands through fair bargaining. Watch this new video from CWA members at Frontier Communications in District 4 and leave a comment to support their contract fight! ### American Red Cross Blood services workers at the American Red Cross (ARC) have been mobilizing for months for a fair contract. The workers have been on the frontlines throughout the pandemic, keeping their communities and donors safe and healthy. They are demanding respect and a fair contract that guarantees affordable health care and safe working conditions including adequate staffing levels. In addition, the workers are seeking to prevent harmful levels of turnover among trained staff so they can collect our lifesaving blood supply. The coalition of unions representing workers at ARC is calling on ARC management to give the workers the contract they deserve. CWA represents hundreds of mobile and fixed site blood collection staff in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York, who are responsible for drawing blood from patients and donors, coordinating donor drives, and more. — May 5
  • Worker Power Update
    CWA Activists in Texas Continue the Fight for Equitable Broadband Access Last Wednesday, activists from CWA Local 6215 spoke before the Dallas City Council to urge the city to attach labor standards to public funds that are used to expand broadband internet access to unserved communities. The labor standards will ensure that these funds are used in a way that will create more good union jobs and require telecom companies to maintain high training and safety standards. CWA Broadband Brigade member Robin Johnson and AT&T prem techs Sean Wilborn and Britni Cuington provided an overview of the proposed labor standards and explained why this is an important issue for workers and the community at large. Each time one of the CWA members spoke, every CWA member in the audience stood up in solidarity wearing red CWA shirts. Since last fall, when the Dallas Broadband and Digital Equity Strategic Plan was first announced, CWA members have been meeting with Dallas City Council members and city officials, mobilizing their members to make phone calls, educating their members about CWA's broadband campaign at worksites, and signing up their members to the Political Action Fund. The members plan to continue mobilizing and partnering with community allies to include our labor standards in the Dallas Broadband Strategic Plan. CWA Local 6215 members spoke before the Dallas City Council to urge lawmakers to attach labor standards to public funds used for expanding broadband access. ### CWA-Endorsed Candidates Win in Ohio On Tuesday, CWA-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan and gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley won their primary elections in Ohio. Ryan, currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is a longtime workers’ rights advocate who has championed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. As mayor of Dayton, Ohio, Whaley has a long history of building solidarity with the labor movement and actively fighting for working people in the state. Other CWA-endorsed candidates, including Democratic congresswomen Marcy Kaptur and Joyce Beatty, as well as Ohio Supreme Court candidates Judges Marilyn Zayas, Terri Jamison, and Jennifer Brunner, also won their primary elections. In addition, CWA District 4 Staff Representative Ron Gay, who is running for Mahoning County Democratic Central Committee, won his primary election. Erika White, President of CWA Local 4319 and CWA Executive Board member, who is running for Ohio state representative, will take part in a primary later this year. — May 5