Category: Communications Workers of America

Source: Communications Workers of America

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) Executive Board released the following statement:

We unequivocally condemn the horrifying and inexcusable attacks by Hamas on October 7.

We urgently call for a stop to the ongoing siege of Gaza and strongly support a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the opportunity to deliver humanitarian aid.

The loss of life in Israel and Palestine over the past three months has been staggering – over 25,000 people have been killed, many of them children. Thousands of others are missing or injured.

More than 100 Israeli hostages remain in captivity and nearly all Palestinians living in Gaza have been driven from their homes, facing starvation and disease in addition to the constant risk of death or injury due to the ongoing bombardment of residential areas by the Israeli military. As always, it is working people who are most unable to escape the violence of war and who are bearing the brunt of the suffering.

Those who wish to divide us have taken advantage of heightened tensions to fan the flame of hatred, putting CWA members, retirees, and members of our families and communities at risk from antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks.

Though it has been elusive, we must keep hoping and striving for peace. The global movement for economic justice requires solidarity, and solidarity is impossible in the face of war, terrorism, occupation, and repression. We urge elected leaders to come together to bring an end to the violence and set the stage for long-term solutions that bring safety, security, and democracy to the region.

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Source: Communications Workers of America

Microsoft’s announcement that it will be laying off 1,900 video game workers makes clear that, even when you work at a successful company in an extremely profitable industry, your livelihood is not protected without a voice on the job. While CWA-represented members at Zenimax, Raven, and Blizzard Albany will not be impacted by these cuts, we are heartbroken that the lives of so many dedicated and talented video game workers will be disrupted. Every video game worker deserves not only their fair share, but also the peace of mind that comes from having a say over the impact of job cuts.

Through organizing, workers have established basic workplace practices that are now common —from the eight hour work day, to the five day workweek. By coming together and exercising their right to organize, workers in the video game industry can make layoff protections standard practice for all workers. This is the power of organizing.

We will continue to support workers at Microsoft and across the video game industry who want to have a union voice on the job.

“Layoffs in the video game industry are becoming the norm, even at companies that continue to deliver huge profits. It hurts to see our coworkers, who are so passionate about this work, who actually make these video game companies so successful, be the first impacted by any cuts or layoffs at work. Companies will claim that we’re all a family, but a family doesn’t layoff or outsource people. It’s clear that one way or the other, the only way forward is for all of us to come together as workers to protect each other. Union representation can’t always protect against layoffs, but through union representation and the bargaining process, video game workers can establish greater transparency and policies that put our needs first, including layoff protections. That’s why we want every video game worker to join our union. Together, we have the power to set new standards for our industry so that we can do the work we are passionate about safe from exploitation,” said Wayne Dayberry, Senior Quality Assurance Tester and member of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA.

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Source: Communications Workers of America

In historic first, U.S. Trade Representative invokes USMCA in defense of call center workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Communications Workers of America released the following statement in response to United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s announcement that the United States has asked Mexico to review whether call center workers at the Atento Servicios, S.A. de C.V. facilities in the city of Pachuca, state of Hidalgo, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Atento is a multinational corporation offering outsourced customer support services to companies in financial, telecommunications, healthcare, and other sectors.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. issued the following statement:

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s decision to invoke the USMCA Rapid Response Mechanism in defense of the workers in Hidalgo is an historic first for call center workers. Call center workers have long worked in an industry that knows no international borders. Ambassador Tai’s action protects workers in both the United States and Mexico by strengthening rights across the industry and combating the longstanding race to the bottom. Our members and our union stand in solidarity with the workers of Atento Servicios, S.A. de C.V. in their fight for union recognition and the just pay and benefits that they have earned and deserve.

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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

After blatantly and unlawfully terminating workers for forming a union, Musk’s nonprofit ordered to reinstate workers and recognize their union

DENVER, Colo. – In an extraordinary ruling, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado has ordered Kimbal Musk’s nonprofit Big Green to reinstate workers whose positions were eliminated in 2021 in a blatant attempt to thwart the workers’ desire to form a union. Following the precedent set in the NLRB’s Cemex decision last year, United States District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher of the District of Colorado has further issued a bargaining order, compelling Big Green to recognize the workers’ union and bargain a union contract.

Big Green is a nonprofit organization founded by multi-millionaire Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon Musk, that built and operated “learning gardens” at schools to teach children about healthy eating and agriculture. Staff became concerned about racism in Big Green’s operations but experienced retaliation when they attempted to raise their concerns through the organization’s proper channels, including its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. When the DEI council was disbanded, the workers’ dedication to the organization’s mission and the schoolchildren that they served led them to organize as a union.

On June 28, 2021, a majority of the program coordinators and program managers at Big Green demanded recognition for their union, the Denver Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 37074. Big Green management responded with a campaign of intimidation, surveillance, and retaliation against the very employees who brought the learning gardens to thousands of schoolchildren.

On September 13, 2021, days after facing off with their workers in a pre-election hearing before the NLRB, Big Green laid off the entire 10-person bargaining unit, claiming that the sudden layoffs were part of an organizational restructuring. Coming in the early weeks of the school year, the layoffs left teachers at 650 schools with a gap in their lesson planning as learning garden events were canceled without notice.

“It is very validating to see the law affirm that I did the right thing. I was shamed and threatened by leadership within Big Green for exercising my right to organize,” said Colleen Donahoe, an unlawfully terminated program coordinator in Indianapolis, Ind. “Regardless of the remedy, I’m glad to see them held accountable for betraying their staff and abandoning the schools we worked with.”

“This settlement is a wake-up call for top-down organizations to value workers who are on the ground every day,” said J.P. Miller, one of the unlawfully terminated program coordinators. “In nonprofit programming, workers are exploited, overworked, and underpaid. Obviously, this applies to the for-profit sector even more so, but our hope is that this decision will have a meaningful impact in the ongoing movement for workplace reform and labor rights.“

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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

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied T-Mobile’s request for review of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that found that T-Mobile had created an illegal workplace organization and enforced the NLRB’s decision. As a result, T-Mobile must follow the NLRB’s order to disband the organization and post a notice informing employees of their right to join a union. The company-controlled organization, called T-Voice, was established in 2015, in the midst of worker efforts to form a union at the wireless company.

With this ruling, the Court has recognized that when members of employer-established workplace organizations like T-Voice make suggestions about working conditions as part of their participation in the group, those organizations are, in fact, labor organizations. Such “company unions” are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Rather than allowing workers to freely and fairly choose whether or not to join a union, T-Mobile established T-Voice in an attempt to undermine worker organizing at the company.

The establishment of T-Voice is just one in a string of labor law violations at the company, which merged with Sprint in 2020. Throughout the merger process, CWA raised concerns about the impact of the merger on workers and consumers, particularly the effect of store closures on jobs and wages. T-Mobile’s anti-union actions made it impossible for workers to win the protections offered by collective bargaining agreements.

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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