1,000 IUE-CWA Members and Supporters Rally Ahead of Bargaining

Over 1,000 members and supporters of IUE-CWA Local 83761 held a rally outside their GE Haier worksite in Louisville, Ky., last week.

With their contract expiring at the end of the year and contract negotiations scheduled to begin next month, members are concerned about the unfair tiered pay system and the high worker turnover. IUE-CWA Local 83761 President Dino Driskell spoke to that concern, saying, “Turnover is incredibly high right now. We have over 2,100 members with less than 2 years seniority. They’re looking for reasons to stay, but as it stands, there’s no incentive since they can never advance to a higher tier. This is going to be a major point for improvement during these negotiations.”

Prior contract negotiations have been contentious, with workers filing unfair labor practice charges against the company in 2020. Those charges were upheld by the National Labor Relations Board. President Driskell anticipates another tough negotiation saying, “This isn’t a destination job as it once was, and these 2,100 members don’t have the livable wage, retirement, or healthcare plan that used to keep people from walking.”

According to Driskell, the negotiating team already has a proposal to address the flawed tier system. Expectations among members are high, but Driskell is confident his team can come away with an agreement members will support.

IUE-CWA Local 83761 President Dino Driskell (at the mic) addressed the crowd at a recent rally held by members and supporters outside of GE Haier in Louisville, Ky.

The Congressional Labor Caucus welcomed CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. as a featured guest earlier this week. President Cummings updated members of Congress on CWA organizing campaigns, including our support for federal call center workers at Maximus. His remarks also included a plea for increased support from members of Congress for workers who go on strike while engaged in bargaining. Cummings pressed the caucus to prioritize passage of critical labor rights legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, urging them to put it at the top of their agendas in January when the new Congress takes office.

The Congressional Labor Caucus was founded in 2020 with a mission to advance the needs of working people and the labor movement in Congress.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., seated next to Rep. Nikki Budzinksi (D-Ill.), addressed members of the Congressional Labor Caucus earlier this week, using the opportunity to highlight CWA’s organizing work and encourage the caucus to pass pro-worker legislation, including the PRO Act.

CWA District 4 and IUE-CWA members took to the phones earlier this month to call potential union voters. In total, nearly 60 volunteers made over 850 calls, reporting a high connectivity rate. Voters, according to event organizers, responded positively to questions and information about CWA-endorsed candidates.

With only weeks before the November election, pressure is high to turn out voters for pro-union candidates up and down the ballot. This phone bank focused on several candidates but primarily on Sen. Sherrod Brown, a four-term senator from Ohio with a proven track record as a champion for labor.

Click here to sign up for phone banking or to find other ways to volunteer.

CWA District 4 also hosted a Labor Walk, a canvassing event to knock on union members’ doors and have face-to-face conversations about pro-worker candidates. Approximately 20 members, including activists, organizers, staff, and District 4 leadership walked the Fairview Park and Rocky River communities in Cleveland, Ohio. The District 4 Legislative Department helped coordinate the action. Canvassers enjoyed great weather for their walk and reported very positive contacts in the community.

CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton expressed gratitude for the assistance from Deputy Director of Organizing Tim Dubnau and Assistant Director of Organizing Yonah Camacho Diamond.

CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton (standing) spoke to volunteers ahead of canvassing in Cleveland, Ohio.

CWA members joined in a community axe-throwing event in Pennsylvania to help support Representative Melissa Shusterman’s (D-Pa., pictured at center) re-election campaign. CWA Local 13000 member Dennis Dunn (front, kneeling) took home the 1st place trophy.

After more than two years of hard bargaining, mobilizing, and organizing, members of the CWA Local 1180-Bird Union have ratified their first union contract with the National Audubon Society. Members ratified the contract in a unanimous vote.

Members made significant progress on fair compensation, winning their first guaranteed, across-the-board raises at Audubon. Across-the-board raises have been shown to improve pay equity, an important goal for Bird Union members. Union members won up to 7% annual raises and significant annual bonuses. The contract also improves important employee benefits, such as paid parental leave, which will increase from two weeks to 12.

“Members have been waiting a long time for the benefits and protections that a contract provides,” said Soncey Kondrotis, a member of the CWA Local 1180-Bird Union and Audubon employee. “We will finally see raises, bonuses, and wage leveling that has been promised for years—money that people have needed in these years we have been bargaining. Through the process of forming our union and negotiating our contract, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the great people we have at Audubon, and I only see this organization changing for the better.”

Members of the CWA Local 1180-Bird Union voted unanimously to ratify their first contract with the National Audubon Society, a non-profit environmental organization.

Earlier this month, the bargaining team at CWA Local 1122 reached a tentative agreement with Crisis Services, a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive crisis response center operating a round-the-clock mental health hotline in Erie County, N.Y. CWA members manage cases of domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as manage crisis situations that involve self-harm. Their duties also include taking inbound emergency calls and determining the future risk of patients before returning them to their communities.

The bargaining committee, after polling members, determined the most critical issues for contract negotiations were wages and paid time off. Another major concern was work/life balance. The tentative agreement addresses these concerns with proposed raises each year of the three-year contract. Should the contract be ratified, members would also receive increases in shift differentials, bilingual pay, lead-staff pay, masters-level pay, and license reimbursement.

CWA Local 1122 President Tom Antonio, addressing members covered by this tentative agreement, said, “We will never be able to get the wages you deserve for the incredible work you do. But, in my opinion, we did a pretty good job.”

The bargaining team has held explanation sessions with members to answer questions ahead of the ratification vote set for October 2. The bargaining team recommends ratification.

Members of the bargaining team for CWA Local 1122, who reached a tentative agreement with Crisis Services, took a moment to show their solidarity with AT&T workers recently on strike in CWA District 3.

Last week, Flight Attendants at PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. PSA Flight Attendants are fighting for double-digit base pay increases, which would include pay for time spent boarding, sick leave, work rule improvements, and more. After several months of stalling, management put forth a proposal described in an AFA-CWA press release as “insulting,” with base pay increases that “fall far short of the cost of living and increases at mainline carriers.”

The outcome of current contract negotiations will affect approximately 1,300 PSA Flight Attendants.

Lee Wilkes, president of the PSA chapter of AFA-CWA, stated, “We can’t afford to wait any longer. We’ll be back at the table next week with a message for management: It’s time to Pay Us, or CHAOS™. PSA Flight Attendants need improvements now!”

AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™. With CHAOS™, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where, and how to strike without notice to management.

AFA-CWA members posted a banner on Facebook to help spread the news of their determination to bargain a contract that keeps up with the cost of living.

Last week, Alaska Airlines finalized its $1.9 billion purchase of Hawaiian Airlines, in the biggest airline industry merger in nearly a decade. The combined airline plans to keep both the Alaska and Hawaiian brands. AFA-CWA represents Flight Attendants at both airlines and has negotiated a Merger Transition Process Agreement to provide critical job protections during the merger transition and operational integration.

AFA-CWA elected leaders from the airlines will be meeting to review the merger process and the structure for continuing daily representation and enforcement of each contract until a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement is negotiated and ratified. At the same time, the AFA-CWA Alaska Airlines negotiating committee is working to achieve a tentative agreement that can be ratified with immediate relief for Alaska Flight Attendants and a stronger foundation for negotiating the joint agreement.

Last week, NABET-CWA joined six public-interest, media reform, media justice, and other labor organizations to file an amicus curiae brief defending the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadcast ownership rules.

The FCC’s media-ownership rules are designed to promote competition, viewpoint diversity, ownership diversity, and the delivery of local content by broadcast stations licensed to serve communities all across the United States. Broadcasting conglomerates and the trade groups representing them argue that the FCC should eliminate more of the few ownership limits that remain on the books.

In the brief, NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico responded to the argument for fewer ownership regulations, saying, “Locally-owned broadcast television and radio stations and the jobs they create are critical to the well-being of our communities. Consolidation in the media industry and Wall Street’s downsizing and stripping of local news operations for profits, along with the ‘narrowcasting” of information on the internet, has left Americans more isolated and divided than ever. The FCC’s ability to enforce local broadcast ownership rules is critical to preventing further harm.”

Click here to read the full press release.

CWA Local 1101’s Elizabeth Mercado has been selected by the AFL-CIO as an honoree for National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15). Mercado has been a CWA union activist and leader for more than 23 years. She has held many positions in both her union and her community—from serving on her local school board as the first Puerto Rican woman (and, eventually, president), chairing the CWA National Women’s Committee from 2021 to 2023, working as a Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Trabajadoras Fellow, and beyond, Mercado continuously demonstrates her commitment to the community, workers’ rights, and human rights.

Click here to read more profiles of incredible Hispanic union leaders.

CWA Local 1101’s Elizabeth Mercado has been highlighted by the AFL-CIO during National Hispanic Heritage Month for her outstanding contributions to her union and community.

Bob Batz Jr., (center) wins an award for excellence in the media industry for his work for the strike publication, Pittsburgh Union Progress.

Name: Bob Batz Jr.
Local: The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, TNG-CWA Local 38061
Workplace: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Title: Associate features editor and writer
Experience: Just weeks shy of 30 years at the PG
Strike Time: 23 months and counting
Quote: “I exercised my legal right to strike from a job I loved because my employer broke federal laws and stole from me and my co-workers.”
Inspiration: “I’m inspired by my many striking colleagues who continue to do daily local journalism for the Pittsburgh Union Progress without being paid for it. That says everything.”

To support striking workers and families, you can do any of these three things today:

1. Donate to the strike fund that’s used to pay for rent, utility bills, car repairs, groceries, and to keep their pets alive and well.
   
2. Order a T-shirt repping their strike publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress. All proceeds go to the same strike fund.
   
3. Subscribe to the Pittsburgh Union Progress for free news on the strike, the lives of working people in Western PA and beyond, and more.