CWA President Claude Cummings Joins President Biden on Air Force One

Earlier this month, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (USTR) invited CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. and IUE-CWA Division President Carl Kennebrew to serve on the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy. In this role, President Cummings and President Kennebrew will be able to review draft texts of U.S. trade negotiations, enabling them to provide feedback on behalf of our union to make sure that our trade policies support good union jobs for CWA members and other workers across the country.

In recent decades, a large majority of the advisers that the USTR has appointed to review trade negotiating texts have served on behalf of corporations, many of whom stand to profit by offshoring our jobs to lower-wage countries where they can exploit workers. With CWA and IUE-CWA represented, the Biden Administration has once again shown its respect for the views of working people by welcoming us to have a seat at the table to protect workers’ interests.

CWA Director of Government Affairs Dan Mauer took a literal seat at the table when he testified last week at a roundtable hosted by Democratic members of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Mauer spoke in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s recent actions to combat the illegal dumping of goods by Chinese government-controlled companies that displaces American manufacturing jobs.

Pride at Work celebrated its 30th anniversary and closed Pride Month with an awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C. This year’s award recipients included AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson for her outstanding advocacy and allyship with the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Starbucks United for their exemplary work organizing workers across the country, many of whom identify as LGBTQ+.

Accepting the honor, Nelson fired up the crowd, saying, “Capitalists, since the beginning of time, have used four D’s: divide, delay, distract, and demoralize. It’s our job to make sure that we’re attacking those four D’s every single day. We cannot allow anyone to be marginalized, to allow anyone to be discriminated against because they’re coming for us next.”

Nelson was introduced by AFA-CWA International Vice President Keturah Johnson, who also serves as the National Treasurer for Pride at Work. Johnson thanked Nelson for her tireless work and for her willingness to uplift others and allow people to advocate for themselves.

Members of Pride at Work celebrated AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson (center). CWA Chief of Staff Sylvia J. Ramos (left of center in red) also attended, and AFA-CWA International Vice President Keturah Johnson (second from left, front row) gave the introduction for Nelson.

Above: CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. descends the stairs after a flight to Detroit, Mich., last week with President Joe Biden and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
Below: CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. attended President Biden’s Detroit rally, where Biden laid out his plan to win in November.

CWA Local 1400 members in Massachusetts ratified their first union contract last week with the progressive electoral tech company ActBlue. The issues most important to workers included workplace protections, establishing grievance and arbitration procedures, and codifying benefits to prevent discrimination and harassment. ActBlue tech workers drive the core internal work that keeps the fundraising platform running and helps to expand the organization’s mission.

The new, industry-leading contract includes significant wage increases, a first-of-its-kind prohibition on any kind of surveillance of staff using artificial intelligence, professional development tuition reimbursement; and assurance that ActBlue management will remain neutral if any non-union-represented employees choose to unionize in the future.

“By exercising our solidarity and collective power, our union has won a contract with solid protections that will meaningfully impact our working conditions and our lives,” said Cynthia Mancha, an ActBlue worker and member of the Bargaining Committee.

Union members voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratification by 95% of the membership.

Members of CWA Local 1400, working for progressive tech company ActBlue, celebrated ratification of their first union contract last week.

Members of CWA Locals 2002 and 2007, working under the Optimum brand in West Virginia, reached a tentative agreement last week with Universal Cable Holdings, LLC, part of Altice USA, Inc. Contract negotiations began in February, and the tentative agreement includes significant wage increases over the course of the new, three-year contract as well as new minimum salaries for technicians.

The ratification vote is scheduled to be completed on July 26.

The union technicians of Altice formed their union with CWA in 2019 and ratified a first contract in 2020 that guaranteed pay raises, provided job security, and established grievance and arbitration rights for the workers.

Altice is a telecommunications company, providing services under the Optimum brand in West Virginia. Altice is the fourth-largest telecommunications provider in the country and also operates a low-cost broadband option, Altice Advantage Internet, for eligible customers.

Last week, members of the Denver City Council voted unanimously to allow the question of municipal collective bargaining to appear on the ballot this November. Without this vote, the coalition pushing for the measure—which includes members from CWA, the Teamsters, and SEIU—would have had to garner over 63,000 signatures to ensure the measure goes before the people in a vote. Now, activists can focus on the next step, raising public awareness ahead of November.

In Denver, police, firefighters, and teachers already have collective bargaining rights, while approximately 7,000 more public employees, including library workers and park rangers, do not. Public employees from CWA Local 7777, Local 7799, and the Denver NewsGuild (TNG-CWA Local 37074) have spoken before the Denver City Council and are preparing for victory in November.

Click here to see our coverage of the start of this campaign.

Coalition members rallied outside the Denver Municipal Building earlier this week after receiving word of the unanimous vote to put the question of collective bargaining for municipal workers on the ballot this November.

CWA Local 9413 President Marc Ellis attended a Broadband Roundtable in Nevada late last month. The guests included Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), one of the champions of making sure that broadband projects create safe, union jobs. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo also attended the discussion, along with Nevada broadband industry CEOs and Executive Directors.

The discussion centered on “middle mile” broadband buildout, creating the infrastructure to move internet between cities and out to rural areas. One topic of concern for CWA was the perceived “labor shortage” affecting the telecom companies. President Ellis made sure the companies present understood that there are CWA members ready to get to work and that the only real concern was whether these jobs being created would be safe, good-paying, career-building jobs.

Said President Ellis, “We [CWA] need to make sure this isn’t just a cash grab but is the career-building opportunity President Biden intended. CWA workers are highly skilled and highly trained, nobody does it better than us.”

With another $416 million yet to be awarded in Nevada, President Ellis is determined to make sure the created jobs work for working people and that smaller telecom companies are either hiring union workers or their workforce is being organized.

CWA Local 9413 President Marc Ellis (in the red shirt) attended a roundtable hosted by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) (blue jacket, center) and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo (white checkered jacket) to discuss broadband buildout in Nevada.

Natalie Duleba uses a megaphone to address the crowd. Photo by John Moss.

Name: Natalie Duleba
Local: The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, TNG-CWA Local 38061
Workplace: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Title: Copy editor/page designer/web editor
Experience: 10 years on copy desks in Fairbanks, Alaska; Baton Rouge, La.; and Pittsburgh, Pa.
Strike time: 20+ months (since day one!)
Quote: I went on strike for “brain” reasons: we deserve fair pay, affordable health care, and respect from the Post-Gazette. But I stay on strike (and will until we win) for “heart” reasons—my fellow strikers, who continue to fight for one another at great personal sacrifice. I am so proud and honored to stand with them. I know that our bond, forged in this long battle, is unbreakable and that we will continue to support each other well after the dust settles.
Inspiration: My fellow strikers, who not only inspire me but who also keep me going through rough patches. Being able to spend time with them and get to know them has been incredible. I’ll remember the tough times, sure, but also the shared laughter that is getting me through it all.

If you’d like to support these striking members please consider donating to their strike fund.

You can also get yourself a (striking worker-run) Pittsburgh Union Progress T-shirt with an order and donation to the strike fund (follow directions here to get yours).