Biden’s State of the Union Reinforces Pro-Union Policies

Approximately 600 workers at Activision Central Quality Assurance have joined CWA. This marks the first union to form at Activision since Microsoft and CWA reached a labor neutrality agreement in 2022.

Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA joins the wave of game workers at Raven Software, ZeniMax, Blizzard Albany, SEGA, TCGPlayer/eBay, and more, who have organized with CODE-CWA to build a better workplace. The workers will be joining CWA Locals 9400 (California), 6215 (Texas), and 7250 (Minnesota).

“Microsoft continues to keep its commitment to let workers decide for themselves whether they want a union,” said Communications Workers of America President Claude Cummings Jr. “Time and again, other big companies in the industry have made the decision to undermine and attack their own employees when they join together to form a union. Microsoft’s choice will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry.”

“As members of Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA, we’re showing what is possible when workers are able to freely organize. As individual workers, there is only so much positive change we can create. We all want to build long-term, sustainable careers in this industry, and having a seat at the table as a union will allow us to work together collectively to make a better workplace,” said Tom Shelley, Technical Requirement Specialist and member of Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA.

Last week, President Joe Biden offered the American people a stark contrast between the political agenda of his predecessor and his own plan to build “up and out” the middle class. During his speech, President Biden showed that his support for working people is unwavering.

Biden made history by being the first sitting president to stand on the picket line with striking workers during the auto worker strikes last year. Biden used the State of the Union to highlight his other accomplishments, including investing $40 billion in fiber optic infrastructure to ensure that every American has access to high-speed internet by 2030—and attaching labor standards to the funding to help create more good union jobs. He also touted his investments in domestic manufacturing and bringing more jobs back to the United States. He received a standing ovation when he said, “The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class!”

He called on lawmakers to pass the PRO Act and reaffirmed his commitment to building the middle class by making sure households earning more than $400,000 per year pay their fair share of taxes, while protecting hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Biden returned again and again to his central theme, stating, “When America gets knocked down, we get back up. We keep going. That’s America. That’s you, the American people. It’s because of you, America is coming back; because of you our future is brighter; it’s because of you that tonight we can proudly say, ‘The state of our union is strong and getting stronger.’”

President Joe Biden delivered a rousing State of the Union address where he reaffirmed his commitment to supporting unions and rebuilding the middle class.

In the longest-running strike in the country, workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have maintained their solidarity and their picket lines for more than 500 days. Strikers from CWA Locals 14827, 14842, and the Pittsburgh NewsGuild (TNG-CWA Local 38061), with support from striking Teamsters and PPPWU workers, launched an advertising campaign this week that will tell the story of journalists, production, advertising, and delivery workers fighting to provide award-winning local journalism to the people of Pittsburgh.

The ad campaign will air on digital and streaming platforms, radio, and billboards across the city, sharing the stories of workers who have been fighting for a fair contract since 2017 and have been denied pay raises since 2006. Courts have found that the Post-Gazette has been bargaining in bad faith for years and has violated the law by unilaterally cutting off the workers’ healthcare.

The Post-Gazette has had the ability to settle the strike at any time, simply by complying with the law, as ordered by the courts, and through NLRB settlements. The Post-Gazette’s refusal to negotiate a fair contract deprives the city of local journalism and information.

Billboards featuring CWA Local 14827 member Kitsy Higgins and Teamster Jordan Pass on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette went up across Pittsburgh this week.

CWA members from across New Jersey met last week to lobby elected officials at the state capitol. CWA Local 1033 hosted the Legislative Training and Lobby Day with assistance from CWA staff from New Jersey and New York.

Local Political Directors Michele Liebtag (CWA Local 1036) and Anthony Mitchell (CWA Local 1037) instructed members on lobby procedure, how to speak to lawmakers, and how best to push their legislative priorities. N.J. Assembly Labor Committee Chair Anthony Verrelli (D) added to the instruction and conducted one-on-one sessions with members from Locals 1084 and 1033.

The group then walked the short distance to the statehouse to meet with lawmakers. The Lobby Day drew CWA members from Locals 1000, 1014, 1032, 1033, 1036, 1037, 1040, 1084, 1089, and 1091. Represented nurses shared personal stories of understaffing and called on legislators to co-sponsor safe staffing legislation. Other members thanked lawmakers for breaking the gridlock that had stalled affordable housing construction for over a decade.

Afterward, many members shared that they felt empowered by their time lobbying for the issues that matter to them and their families.

CWA members from across New Jersey met for a Legislative Training and Lobby Day. Assembly Labor Committee Chair Anthony Verrelli (D) met with members during their training to help prepare them to lobby at the N.J. statehouse.

Last week, CWA Local 7603 Steward and Director of CWA’s Idaho Fiber Technician Apprenticeship Program (FiTech) Jeremiah Clever met with Nawid Mousa, the Director of the Afghan Cultural Center of Idaho, to discuss ways CWA can help uplift the community of Afghan refugees who have relocated there. The two came to an agreement to provide fiber apprenticeship training to the Afghan refugee community, many of whom hold advanced degrees that they are eager to put to use. Said Clever, “We are extremely excited to provide them a new career path that will allow them to earn a living and provide for their families in their new country.”

Last year, CWA Local 7603 was awarded a $2 million grant to establish a registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship program for broadband technicians in Idaho aimed at preparing the skilled workforce needed to improve and upgrade Idaho’s broadband infrastructure. The program supports unemployed, underemployed, and incumbent workers, including groups like the Afghan refugees who may not otherwise have access to high-quality employment opportunities in the region.

This project will be funded 84 percent by the Federal Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs Grant Program ($1,999,815) and 16 percent by leveraged funds ($389,840).

CWA Local 7603 President Jeremiah Clever posed with members of the Afghan Cultural Center after reaching an agreement to offer a fiber technician apprenticeship program to Afghan refugees in Idaho. Pictured from left to right are Behrouz “Ben” Beheshti, President Clever, Harry Mondor, and Director of the Afghan Cultural Center, Nawid Mousa.

CWA District 4 members from Locals 4250, 4299, and the Chicago NewsGuild (TNG-CWA Local 34071) volunteered last week with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, where they packaged approximately ten thousand pounds of food for those in need. This will ensure food pantries throughout Cook County are stocked and ready to help local communities.

Don’t forget to tune in to CWA’s “Our Power” radio show—a justice-filled hour of talk, solidarity, and worker power! The show airs every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET on KYOK. Listeners from across the country can tune in at https://kyokradio.org.

South Bend Tribune

Journalists at the South Bend Tribune (NewsGuild-CWA Local 34071) in Indiana have reached a historic two-year collective bargaining agreement—the first since newsroom staff voted to form a union in 2020. Under the agreement, the company has committed to filling long-vacant positions, and workers will receive raises, among other benefits.

“Across the board, I think it’s about a 14 percent [raise]. Some people are higher. Some people are lower,” said unit member Gayle Bell of Local 34071. “So we were really pleased with that. We feel like we got good jurisdiction language, good layoff language.”

The South Bend Tribune is owned by Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain. The NewsGuild-CWA represents approximately 1,400 workers at Gannett papers across 50 bargaining units.

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