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CWA Local 4319 retiree and veteran Jim Hendricks was honored at the Greater Northwest Ohio AFL-CIO Fall Dinner for his service to our country with a commemoration from Senator Sherrod Brown. Hendricks was joined at the event by his wife Brenda (left) and Local 4319 President Erika White (right), who is also an at-large member of the CWA Executive Board.

Kentucky’s Pro-Labor Governor Beshear Re-Elected

Supported by CWA members, Kentucky’s pro-labor governor, Andy Beshear, won a resounding victory in his bid for re-election on Tuesday. CWA activists from Districts across the country hosted phone banks in support of Governor Beshear and Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman, reaching out to union households. IUE-CWA and CWA ran a joint member engagement program and participated in the Kentucky AFL-CIO labor program for this effort.

Bolstered by strong union support, Governor Beshear grew his margin of victory from 5,000 votes in the 2019 election to nearly 70,000 votes in 2023.

CWAers join AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler to get out the vote for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

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CWAers Win Campaigns from New Jersey to Virginia

Supported by their union brothers, sisters, and siblings, CWAers are running for office, and winning.

Penny Franklin, President of IUE-CWA Local 82160, was re-elected to the Montgomery County School Board in Virginia this week.

In New Jersey, Joseph Hiles of CWA Local 1085 was elected Mayor of Woodstown. Jessica O’Connor, CWA Local 1033, was elected to the Palmyra Council, and Michele Liebtag, CWA Local 1085, was elected to the Frenchtown Council. Other CWAers are serving the students in their communities; Adam Bierman, CWA Local 1033, was elected to the Princeton Board of Education and John Kendall, IUE-CWA Local 81103, was elected to the Haddon Township Board of Education.

In Ohio, CWA Local 4340 member Bill Dunham was re-elected to the Newburgh Heights City council and in New York, Chris Ryan, CWA Local 1123, was elected as Onondaga County Legislator.

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Voters Flip Virginia Legislature in Rebuke to Anti-Union Governor

In a powerful rebuke of Governor Youngkin and his anti-union policies, voters across Virginia flipped the state legislature to unified Democratic control. CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. appeared in a series of radio ads to turn out the vote for pro-labor legislative candidates and CWAers made phone calls, sent text messages, and knocked on doors in partnership with the Virginia AFL-CIO labor program. Union voters helped hold the Democratic majority in the state senate and flip the House of Delegates.

The new Democratic majority in the House of Delegates includes union members Destiny Bolling and Jeion Ward. Delegate Jeion Ward serves as President of the Hampton Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 4260, and is a member of the Executive Council of the Virginia AFL-CIO. Newly-elected Delegate Destiny Bolling serves the Commonwealth’s 330,000 union members through her role as Communications Director of the Virginia AFL-CIO.

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Pro-Worker Candidates Win in Texas, Mississippi, Indiana, New York, and New Jersey

In addition to CWA members who won big this week (see story above), CWA-endorsed candidates succeeded in races across the country.

In a high-profile race for mayor of Houston, America’s fourth largest city, labor champion Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee advanced to a run-off election that will be held on December 9. At her election night gathering, Jackson Lee thanked CWA members and President Claude Cummings Jr. for supporting her based on her record of accomplishments on behalf of working people.

In Mississippi, CWA members launched a comprehensive campaign to educate and turn out the vote. As a result, pro-worker candidates won state house and senate seats in 10 out of 12 races where CWA made an endorsement.

In Indianapolis, Ind., CWA-endorsed Mayor Joe Hogsett retained his seat, becoming the first three-term mayor in the city in 40 years. This was predicted to be a close race, but voter turnout efforts, including by CWA members who participated in the Labor to Labor program and also ran text banks, resulted in a big win.

In New Jersey, where CWA members did over 1,000 shifts of canvassing and phone banking, all of CWA’s endorsed candidates won. Pro-worker Democrats won back two Assembly seats they had lost in 2021 and increased their majority in the New Jersey State Legislature.

In New York, CWA-endorsed candidates prevailed in New York City Council races and in County Executive contests in Erie and Monroe Counties. CWA members are already gearing up for 2024, and helped launch an ambitious project, called Battleground New York, to increase the number of pro-worker Democrats in Congress.

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We will have additional information about other key races from across the country in next week’s newsletter!

TV Ontario

After 11 weeks on the picket line, CWA Canada Local 30213 members at TV Ontario (TVO) have voted to accept a new collective bargaining agreement. The contract includes a wage increase of 7.7% over three years, a $500 training budget per employee, and voluntary buyout packages. It also improves access to permanent job opportunities for temporary staff.

The workers at TVO showed courage and resolve in a difficult fight against an employer that was looking for major concessions at the bargaining table.

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Audubon

Attendees at the 2023 Audubon Leadership Conference in Colorado learned as much about labor contracts as conservation efforts last week. The union employees of the National Audubon Society brought their fight for a fair contract to the conference, holding rallies and educating attendees from Audubon chapters across the country about their struggle for a fair contract that will strengthen the organization.

The union members, represented by the Bird Union-CWA Local 1180, have been working to negotiate a first contract with Audubon for 20 months. At the leadership conference, they called on Audubon CEO Dr. Elizabeth Grey to stop ducking her responsibility to settle a fair contract with a billboard truck that brought the workers’ message directly to national and chapter leadership.

The workers won a critical victory last month when the NLRB determined that Audubon violated federal labor law during its negotiations with the Bird Union-CWA by bargaining in bad faith and violating the rights of its workers. Earlier this year, Audubon rolled out new, enhanced benefits only to non-union staff while withholding the benefits from union staff, then presented them to the union as contract proposals and urged the union to quickly accept the substandard and incomplete contract in order to access the new benefits.

“At the bargaining table, we’ve been fighting for the benefits that our families need, like expanding paid parental leave beyond the two weeks we currently have,” said Lindsy Buckland, a member of the bargaining committee. “While dragging out negotiations, Audubon expanded parental leave benefits for non-union staff but denied that benefit to us. For my coworker who had a baby this year, that is time that they will never get back with their family.”

Members of the Bird Union-CWA march on the Audubon Leadership Conference in Estes Park, Colo.

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UPTE-CWA

UPTE-CWA Local 9119 members across the University of California (UC) system have been joining together to fight for improvements to pay and working conditions.

Recently, after coping with excessive staff turnover, increasing responsibilities, and high inflation, research associates from the UC Davis Genome Center sent a letter requesting an equity increase for all UPTE-represented staff members. Management responded positively with a 6% raise for the majority of lab members, excluding probationary employees who were new to the lab.

Audiologists at UC San Diego organized to address the low pay and high turnover rates that were impacting the quality of care they could provide. Together, as a union, they researched market conditions, creating a comprehensive spreadsheet that demonstrated how their compensation fell far behind other regional employers, contributing to turnover that hurts UC patients. After submitting their research and proposal to management, and making it clear that they were prepared to stand together until the issues were addressed, they secured a 17% across the board raise.

For months, optometrists at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have been bargaining with UC for an agreement that properly recognizes market conditions for the important work they do. Management has been dragging its heels, so optometrists showed up in force at a recent UC Regents Health Services Committee meeting to speak about the important work they do and their need for fairer workplaces. At the meeting, the workers presented a photo petition asking UC management to engage in good-faith bargaining.

Over the summer, UCSF Campus social workers mobilized to address inadequate compensation. They had been told for years that raises weren’t possible because funding for campus social work positions comes from the City and County of San Francisco or other external sources. After delivering a petition with over 100 signatures to the chair of the psychiatry department demanding pay equity, they won pay increases of 14%-15% for most workers. They will continue to fight to secure equitable pay and stop misclassification for those job titles that were not included in the raises.

Also at UCSF, physician assistants are fighting for solutions that will improve patient care and better support frontline providers. Five months ago, they met with management to present their demands on recruitment, retention, and pay equity issues and have yet to receive a response. Last week, members distributed flyers outside of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Mission Bay Campus to highlight the ways that these unresolved issues impact the care that their patients rely on them for.

UPTE-CWA Local 9119 members who work as physician assistants distributed flyers to highlight the ways that recruitment, retention, and pay equity issues impact patient care.

Natural Resources Defense Council

This week, environmental nonprofit workers announced their organizing victory at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The new unit is wall-to-wall, covering more than 350 scientists, attorneys, and workers of all types who will bargain together to make their workplace stronger. The NRDC has agreed to voluntarily recognize their union, represented by Washington-Baltimore News Guild-CWA Local 32035.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this collective accomplishment. Organizing alongside my coworkers in solidarity around our vision for a better NRDC has been a powerful experience,” said Lizzy Kaval, an Equity Alignment and Integration Manager who has been with NRDC since 2014, and one of the union’s lead organizers. “Together, we are an unstoppable power house. We are utilizing every means available to us as a union to kickstart that journey at NRDC.”

“I am thrilled that the NRDC Union has joined the Communications Workers of America,” said Lauren Phillips, an attorney who has worked at NRDC since 2020. “I love my job at NRDC—every day, I get to work for a healthy and livable planet. And it was my love of my job and this workplace that made me excited to unionize. And I’m especially proud that we organized a wall-to-wall union where everyone will bargain together.”

Leaders from across CWA recently graduated from the 2023 CWA Minority Leadership Institute (MLI). This year marked the 40th anniversary of MLI, which aims to promote the involvement of members of color and women at all levels of the union. Both CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. and Staff Representative Ruth Marriott were alumni of the inaugural 1983 class.

The CWA Minority Caucus, which advocates for greater education and training opportunities for underrepresented members, was one of the early supporters of the program. Current Minority Caucus President Maurice Washington presented a comprehensive workshop on the history of the Minority Caucus and the history of MLI. Director of Human Rights, Education and Health & Safety, Angie Wells, said, “On this 40th Anniversary of MLI, we are so appreciative of the unyielding support of the Minority Caucus.”

This year, twelve CWA leaders, one from each District and Sector, participated in a week-long program to enhance their skills in public speaking, organizing, mobilizing, collective bargaining, legislative advocacy, and building solidarity.

Participants discussed values, combating discrimination and harassment, and organizing coalitions while practicing skills and sharing experiences.

CWA staff, instructors from the University of Iowa Labor Center, and other guest speakers conducted training sessions throughout the week. IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew gave remarks at the opening dinner and President Cummings conducted an in-person session on union activism with the participants.

Later in the week, CWA Chief of Staff Sylvia J. Ramos hosted a Leadership Forum with the class and attended the graduation ceremony.

Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam led a panel on Strategies for Developing Leadership. The panel consisted of Executive Board Diversity Committee Chair Kennebrew, along with CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton, CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce, CWA Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Lisa Bolton, and At-Large Board Members Vera Mikell, Erika White, and Keith Gibbs.

Throughout the week, past MLI graduates guided discussions with the class about the impact MLI had on their careers, inspiring participants to pursue more leadership opportunities within the union and beyond.

When asked to summarize his time at the MLI, Ra’Amon Ta’Neter, President of CWA Local 3907, replied, “That’s impossible. There’s no quick way to summarize my MLI experience, but it was amazing!”

Twelve CWA leaders participated in this year’s week-long Minority Leadership Institute program to enhance their skills in public speaking, organizing, mobilizing, collective bargaining, legislative advocacy, and building solidarity.

In a display of unity and support, CWA District 4 staff and local leaders joined forces with striking workers in the heart of Detroit. They stood shoulder to shoulder with the UAW Blue Cross Blue Shield and casino workers, who are currently engaged in a battle for fair contracts.

The camaraderie was notable as they walked and picketed alongside the striking workers. It was more than a gesture; it was a statement of solidarity. The Blue Cross Blue Shield and Detroit casino workers are striking with unwavering determination for fair wages and equitable working conditions.

“It was an honor to join our UAW and casino worker Brothers and Sisters on the front lines,” said District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews, reflecting on the experience. “Walking the line with them, you could feel the collective strength that comes from workers standing together.”

The resolve of these workers, supported by CWA’s solidarity, sends a powerful reminder that the fight for labor rights is as urgent and vital as ever. CWA leadership’s presence in Detroit is a testament to the union’s commitment to the cause and the collective power of workers united for a common goal.

CWA District 4 local leaders and staff, including Assistant to the Vice President Curt Hess, and Administrative Directors Frank Mathews and Mike Handley, joined forces with striking Blue Cross Blue Shield and casino workers in the heart of Detroit.

The CWA Joe Beirne Scholarship Program will award 16 partial college scholarships of $4,000 each for two years for the 2024-2025 academic year. CWA members, their spouses, children, and grandchildren are eligible for the scholarships, including the dependents of retired, laid-off, or deceased members.

Applications are available at cwa.org/beirne-application. The deadline to apply is April 30, 2024.

The Beirne scholarship program is made possible by funding from CWA locals. Read more about the program here.

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Available now through November 23.