Category: Communications Workers of America

Source: Communications Workers of America

Washington, D.C. — A new report released today by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has revealed that Gigapower—the joint venture launched by AT&T and private equity investment giant BlackRock to build fiber broadband networks—appears to be failing to meet its on-time buildout targets, withholding key performance metrics from investors, and facing legal challenges in a $200 million dispute that calls the business model into question more than three years after its launch.

The report, “Gigapower’s Flimsy Phase One: Deployment Delays, Missed Targets, and Litigation,” analyzes Gigapower’s deployments in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, and New Mexico through corporate disclosures, municipal public records, litigation documents, and field investigations. It builds on two prior CWA reports that exposed widespread workforce fragmentation and substandard work in the company’s early deployments in Arizona.

The report examines court filings in a lawsuit between Gigapower and its former prime contractor, Tilson Technology Management, in which Gigapower alleged that in Arizona, Tilson failed to deploy broadband to even a single living unit in 2023 against a target of 11,000. This mirrors slow progress across the markets CWA investigated. In Minnesota, the City of Bloomington issued ten separate stop-work orders to Gigapower and its contractors between April and October 2024. In Nevada, the City of Las Vegas issued a notice of default in January 2025, triggering what Gigapower itself described as an “extended pause” that “imperiled Gigapower’s entire Las Vegas network.” In New Mexico, the City of Albuquerque issued a two-week stop-work order to Gigapower in December 2024, and by November 2025, the company had reached only approximately one-fifth (20%) of its forecasted buildout target in the city.

The report also finds that Gigapower’s “lowest bidder” contractor model may be putting workers and communities at risk. Across three different markets, approximately 20% of contractors CWA identified working on Gigapower projects appear to have been unlicensed or unregistered in their respective states. In Bloomington, that figure exceeded 40%. In one especially egregious case, the New Mexico Department of Justice found that Boreworxx Construction LLC—a Gigapower subcontractor that was unlicensed when it began work—illegally filed liens on nearly 200 residential properties in Albuquerque “in an attempt to frighten and manipulate homeowners” and pressure Gigapower’s general contractor, Circet USA, into paying for Boreworxx’s fiber work that allegedly was not completed satisfactorily.

“After more than three years and billions of dollars in commitments, AT&T and BlackRock have not proven their Gigapower thesis. Highly trained, union broadband technicians have been sounding the alarm about this race-to-the-bottom workforce model from the beginning. Now city officials, residents, and contractors are up in arms, too. Investors deserve transparency, communities deserve safe and reliable deployment, and workers deserve good union jobs. Gigapower is delivering none of the above,” said Fernando Roman, CWA District 7 Campaign Lead and a broadband technician of 25 years.

The report further documents that, despite repeated assurances from AT&T CEO John Stankey that the company would disclose Gigapower-specific penetration rates, revenue figures, and connection numbers to investors, AT&T continues to report Gigapower’s metrics only on a combined basis with its multiple other fiber ventures. New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin recently noted that Gigapower’s locations “are still too small to matter after over two years of being in business.”

Gigapower’s legal entanglements add another layer of potential risk. Former prime contractor Tilson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2025 and then sued Gigapower for more than $200 million in July 2025 for breach of contract. In October 2025, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of Tilson’s claims to Winston I LLC, a litigation finance vehicle whose objective, according to industry analysts, is solely to maximize recovery.

Beyond delays and litigation, the report finds Gigapower’s overall strategy is showing signs of flimsiness. The company failed to win any funding under the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program; walked away from discussions with cities including Omaha and Phoenix; and took more than two years to announce its first non-AT&T tenant on its supposed open-access network.

CWA is calling on investors and public officials to demand transparency and accountability from AT&T and BlackRock and to rethink Gigapower’s race-to-the-bottom workforce approach.

Read the full report here.

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About CWA

The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, Wiki Workers United U.S. (WWU-US)/Communications Workers of America (CWA) demanded voluntary recognition from the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia and sister projects. This request comes from a supermajority of union-eligible workers who have signed union authorization cards. WWU-US is organizing with the CWA to represent eligible U.S.-based workers.

WWU-US/CWA has set a deadline of Friday, July 24th, for the Wikimedia Foundation to respond to its request for voluntary recognition.

Recent events at the Wikimedia Foundation have drastically escalated worker concerns regarding transparency, trust, the organization’s future, and leadership’s commitment to the free knowledge movement. The Foundation’s workers call on the organization to uphold its stated values and recent public commitments supporting the right to form a union [1][2], giving workers a promised and long-deserved voice.

This announcement follows a similar request for voluntary recognition[3] made by WWU-UK, the UK branch of WWU, represented by the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW), a national branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Together, the two branches reflect a growing movement among Wikimedia Foundation workers to establish collective bargaining through the legal frameworks available in their respective countries.

WWU-US/CWA also extends its sincere gratitude to the volunteer community. Over 1,000 volunteers and community members who have collectively made more than 15 million edits have publicly signed petitions supporting Wikimedia Foundation workers and affirming the importance of giving workers a meaningful voice in shaping the future of the movement[4][5]. The WWU Organizing Committee is deeply appreciative of this extraordinary demonstration of solidarity.

“We are hopeful that the Wikimedia Foundation will honor their stated values and quickly come to the table so that we can verify that an overwhelming majority support the union. We are proud to support this group of dedicated and talented workers. We are also deeply grateful for the strong solidarity of the volunteer community, the backbone of Wikipedia and its sister projects, that has pledged to stand shoulder to shoulder with these brave workers.” – Tim Dubnau, Organizing Director, Communications Workers of America

“We congratulate our colleagues in the United States on reaching this important milestone. While labour law differs between our countries, our shared goal is the same: ensuring Wikimedia Foundation workers have a meaningful voice in shaping their workplace.” – John Chadfield, National Officer, Communication Workers Union

Wiki Workers United is a global solidarity union of Wikimedia Foundation workers committed to strengthening worker voice, transparency, equity, and shared stewardship. The WWU-US/CWA branch represents eligible U.S.-based workers seeking collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

For more information: https://wikiworkersunited.org

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:BMeehan-WMF#Update_from_Bernadette_May_24
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)&diff=prev&oldid=1355455480 
[3] https://utaw.tech/news/wikipedia-recognition 
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Workers_United#Individuals 
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Workers_United_solidarity#Signatures 

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America
NATIONWIDE – Microsoft eliminated an initial wave of 1,600 jobs across its Xbox division, including hundreds of union video game workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). 

“When Microsoft sought to grow its video game division, corporate executives made an agreement with video game workers and their union, CWA, to respect their right to organize for a new day for workers across Microsoft’s video game studios,” said Claude Cummings Jr., President of CWA. “Although our union signed neutrality agreements with Microsoft, we have been extremely disappointed by a company that has slow-walked our members at the bargaining table, making CWA members wait for the protections of a union contract. But make no mistake – whether our members have a contract in hand, or are still at the bargaining table, CWA members at Xbox have the power and protection of union membership. When Microsoft decides to treat the workers who built Xbox as expendable, it should know who they’re dealing with. This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight with each and every member at CWA — hundreds of thousands of people strong.”

“As Microsoft restructures, the workers powering its biggest franchises deserve protection, not to be treated like disposable line items,” said Derrick Osobase, Vice President, CWA District 6. “It is our CWA members who make the games that make Xbox valuable. Today’s layoffs decimated the teams at id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, and ZeniMax Online Studios, legendary studios whose employees brought us games like Doom, Quake, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. The layoffs that occurred this week will lower the quality of these iconic games and make them less fun to play with longer delays in releases, ultimately just hurting the players and driving down revenue for Microsoft.”

“Our union will take all necessary legal and contractual action to defend our members and their rights,” said Mike Davis, Vice President, CWA District 2-13. “We will demand immediate bargaining – over fair severance, over vendor-contract decisions, over internal placement so that qualified employees can move into open roles, and over recall rights. That’s the difference a union makes. Organized workers have a seat at the table on the decisions that affect their lives and families, and that includes layoffs. Workers without a union are left to accept whatever cards they are dealt by management for any given decision.”

 

“These workers put their hearts and souls into creating best selling video games people around the world loved,” said Carmel Smyth, President of CWA Canada. “We hope their talent and dedication to excellence is recognized and respected by one of the world’s richest employers.”

 

Across Microsoft’s Xbox division, more than 3,500 workers have chosen to form unions with CWA since 2022, following Microsoft’s agreement to a neutrality framework that allowed workers to make that choice freely, without fear of retaliation or coercion. Xbox’s best-selling games can now boast union-represented labor, including household video games like The Elder Scrolls, Diablo and Overwatch. 

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Source: Communications Workers of America

Highlights of the four-year contract include wage increases, improved working conditions providing an increase in time between calls, and more.

Source: Communications Workers of America

Claude Cummings Jr., president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, released the following statement in response to Elon Musk’s SpaceX initial public offering (IPO):

Today, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is officially the largest IPO in stock market history. The company’s whopping $1.7 billion valuation is not a reflection of the company’s actual worth but of Elon Musk’s exaggerations about his AI business and corrupt capture of federal subsidies for his satellite broadband subsidiary. As if that weren’t bad enough, Wall Street’s facilitation of Elon Musk’s financial shell game will force this investment through index funds into the retirement and college savings plans of working Americans everywhere, whether they want to invest in SpaceX or not.

Musk’s Starlink, which is a part of SpaceX, successfully lobbied the federal government to redirect funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to subsidize satellite broadband, an inferior technology compared to fiber-to-the-home, which leaves rural communities behind.

CWA represents workers in the telecommunications industry who know what high-quality broadband looks like. This is why CWA filed a letter with the SEC urging the agency to scrutinize whether low Earth orbit satellite companies like Starlink can fulfill their multimillion-dollar promise to truly provide reliable internet service.

Investors should be wary of billionaires and trillionaires eager to steal infrastructure dollars from the American worker. CWA members will not be fooled by the bosses and billionaires who overpromise and underdeliver.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America

Highlights of the tentative agreement include wage increases, improved working conditions providing an increase in time between calls, and more.

Huntington, W.Va. ‒ DirecTV workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have reached a tentative agreement for a new contract that covers 300 customer service call center workers in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, and Colorado.

The new proposed four-year contract includes a 13.4 percent compounded wage increase throughout the life of the contract; an increase in the time interval between calls, doubling the current duration; and quality, affordable healthcare, preserving prescription drug co-pays.

Top priorities for workers at the bargaining table include lower health care costs; fair working conditions—including more than a ten-second break in between calls; and wages that reflect the real cost of living. The union members demonstrated their commitment to these goals by voting to authorize a strike if necessary in April 2026.

Details of the tentative agreement contract are being provided to Local leadership, and a ratification vote will be held on June 26.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America

The following statement is from CWA President Claude Cummings Jr.:

Texas’s 18th Congressional District has long held a special role in the fight for civil rights. It is the seat of power that launched the careers of champions from Barbara Jordan to Sheila Jackson Lee to Sylvester Turner. Now, the torch of the 18th has been passed to Representative Christian Menefee, a leader who has already shown himself to be a fighter for working people as the first Black Harris County Attorney.

I also want to express my gratitude for a true champion for working people, Congressman Al Green, who was steadfast in his support of the labor movement through his decades of public service and fought for our civil rights. In fact, he’s often been ahead of his time. Everyone is seeing the attack on voting rights and civil rights today. Well back in 2008, when Texas officials tried to make it harder for Prairie View A&M students to vote, Congressman Green led the entire Congressional Black Caucus to demand that the Department of Justice step in and protect equal opportunity to the ballot box.

While I count both candidates as true friends of working people, this election also marked a great loss for the people of Houston. This election was shaped and deformed by a Supreme Court that ruled to unwind decades of voter gains and remove all voting power for Black and brown communities. Houston’s voting maps were redrawn because the Voting Rights Act was gutted.

Now that the election is over, it is time for us to unite against the real threat to democracy. Working people across this country are watching what happened in Houston, in Louisiana, in Alabama, in Florida, in Mississippi, and in Tennessee. When politicians grow so bold as to think that it is they who pick the voters, we must exercise the power of our ballots to show that power rests always with the people. Now is the time to put aside the politics of the primary season and focus on electing leaders who will defend our democracy against the bullies and the billionaires.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America

Nearly 700 library workers vote to join Communications Workers of America Local 6360 in Kansas City

Kansas City, Mo. — Workers at the Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) — one of the largest public library systems in the United States — have won their union election in a landslide, voting 436 to 164 to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6360. Their union election win comes amid a wave of library and public-sector organizing across the country and adds nearly 700 workers to CWA’s growing public-sector membership.

“We are the heart and soul of the library,” said MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 member and MCPL Platte City Library Center Programming Associate Jennie Broyles. “With this victory, we will now have the rights, protections, and tools needed to provide our communities with the best library service in the country.”

The Mid-Continent Public Library covers three counties across the Kansas City metropolitan area, serving more than 880,000 residents. The new bargaining unit represents nearly 700 part-time and full-time librarians, early literacy associates, information technology staff, delivery services staff, and other employees who keep the library system running.

“We love the work we do, but for too long, we have been left out of key decisions. This win means we finally have a real voice to build a fairer workplace,” said MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 member and MCPL Colbern Road Library Center CSA Jordan Noland. “An overwhelming majority like this leaves absolutely no room for doubt. I’m so incredibly proud of everyone for standing strong together, and we’re ready to carry this exact energy to the bargaining table.”

In March, workers gathered at the North Independence Branch to announce that more than 60% of union-eligible employees had signed a public declaration of support. Library workers say the union will give them a stronger voice in decisions that shape services, staffing, safety, and access across the system.

“From everyone that was there in the beginning four years ago to those that started supporting this week, we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of us,” said MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 member and MCPL Green Hills Early Literacy Associate Kelli Mulligan Lindsey. “Together we can do anything, and together we can continue to make the library a place for everyone in our community.”

MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 will now work toward bargaining a first union contract. Workers say their priorities include addressing chronic understaffing, raising wages for the lowest-paid library staff, ensuring safety on the job, and making sure decisions at MCPL reflect the expertise of the people who serve the community every day.

“This is an incredible victory for MCPL workers, who demonstrated the power working-class people have when they unite to build real power on the job,” said CWA District 6 Vice President Derrick Osobase. “This victory will inspire workers across our District as we organize to build the working-class movement so urgently needed to meet this moment in our country.”

For union updates, follow MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 on Instagram and Facebook.

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About CWA

The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Source: Communications Workers of America

The four-year agreement includes an improved benefits package, industry-leading wage increases, and more.

NATIONWIDE – AT&T Orange Mobility workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have ratified a new contract that covers 9,000 workers in customer service, retail, technical support, and other positions across 36 states and the District of Columbia.

The four-year agreement includes a top-tier benefits package and industry-leading wage increases. Other highlights include new job security provisions, call center scheduling improvements, and more.

“This is a strong contract that delivers long overdue benefits and wage increases while securing jobs for the workers who make AT&T millions,” said Dennis G. Trainor, Vice President, CWA District 1. “This agreement serves as a reminder that strong contracts are not won at the bargaining table but in the streets and on the shop floor where CWA members mobilize and fight for their fellow AT&T workers and the customers they serve.”

On March 19, over 95 percent of AT&T workers covered by the Orange Mobility contract voted to give CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. the authority to call a strike if negotiations between CWA and the telecom company failed to reach a fair agreement. A tentative agreement was reached with the company on April 30, and after a two-week voting period, an overwhelming majority of workers voted to ratify the agreement.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.