We had an amazing turnout for Thursday’s CWA District 1 Town Hall, with over 1,000 CWA members and retirees from New York, New Jersey, and New England joining via Zoom and YouTube livestream! Thank you to everyone who joined the call. If you missed it or want to share it with a coworker, you can find a recording of the Town Hall here.
And here are the slides from the call.
In this email, you’ll find links and materials we shared from the call and a summary of the topics we covered. The purpose of the call was to inform everyone about two main issues:
1. The broad attack on workers’ rights through changes at the National Labor Relations Board and other important agencies for labor
2. Harmful cuts coming our way due to ongoing funding freezes through presidential action as well as the huge tax cuts for billionaires that Congress is working on right nowThe massive turnout on this call makes it clear that CWA members are hungry to jump in and defend our rights. Here are things we can do right now to join the fight.
3 Ways to Take Action
1. Call your Member of Congress and tell them not to cut our healthcare
Click this link and enter your information or dial (202) 933-5399 to be connected to your member of the House of Representatives and ask them to vote NO on any budget that raises healthcare costs for union families or includes cuts to Medicaid.
Then share this great video below of CWA Local 1168 member Molly Sass explaining why cuts to Medicaid affect EVERYONE
2. Sign the petition demanding broadband funding goes to good jobs and building out fiber – NOT expanding Elon Musk’s satellite internet
The historic federal broadband investment passed in the 2021 Infrastructure Bill is one of the biggest accomplishments in the past years. Now it’s under threat. Non-union satellite internet providers like Elon Musk’s Starlink are putting pressure on the administration to redirect funds to their unreliable internet service – and away from our unionized workforce.
3. Come out to a rally or protest
If you’re in the NYC area, join us on Saturday, March 15th for a massive rally to protest cuts to our vital government services and federal workforce. Register here, and meet us at Foley Square at 11 am on the 15th!
Protests are being organized regularly throughout the country to fight back against attacks on our jobs and our rights. We’ll send out calls to action as we get them – or you can follow CWA District 1 on social media:
>>Notes from the Call
We covered a lot during our call. Below you can find a summary of the main issues.
1. Attack on Workers’ Rights
The new administration has launched a broad attack on workers and unions, most notably through changes at the National Labor Relations Board and other agencies and institutions that protect our rights. President Trump fired the General Counsel of the NLRB (and former CWA counsel) Jennifer Abruzzo and NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, severely impacting our ability to enforce labor law.
The law that gives American workers the right to form, support, and join unions is the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the main agency that enforces our rights. When CWA organizes new workers in the private sector, we turn to the NLRB to file for elections. When union workers get fired for protected union activity, when a company refuses to bargain in good faith, when employers change our working conditions without bargaining, or when they refuse to hand over information during bargaining, the NLRB is there to enforce our rights.
Not all of our members fall under the jurisdiction of the NLRB. Our airline members generally fall under the Railroad Act, which is enforced by the National Mediation Board (NMB), and our public sector members generally work under the various state labor boards, such as PERB in NYS and PERC in NJ. Changes at the NLRB eventually affect other labor boards too. So if you’re a public sector member or airline member, the negative changes at the NLRB aren’t good for you either.
Rigorous enforcement by the labor board allows CWA to organize more members to increase our power and negotiate strong union contracts. A strong labor board helps us all.
After firing Jennifer Abruzzo, President Trump appointed a new Acting General Counsel, William B. Cowen to the Board and Cowen already issued an order repealing many of the pro-union policies put in place by Abruzzo that CWA and many other unions benefited from:
- The new Acting General Counsel repealed a rule that mandatory anti-union meetings are generally unlawful.
- The so-called “Cemex doctrine”, where the Biden Board found that Employers must recognize and bargain with a Union where a union narrowly loses an election due to the Employer’s egregious unlawful conduct is also repealed.
- Lastly, the rule that Employers may not make unilateral changes to Healthcare benefits during bargaining has also been rescinded.
Many of these have immediate effect and will give employers wide latitude to violate workers’ rights.
Read more here for a summary of all the attacks on workers’ rights.
Here’s the NLRB Toolkit
2. Medicaid cuts, Project 2025 & harmful presidential funding freeze
But it’s not just the NLRB, we’re seeing many other changes that, taken together, amount to a radical rolling back of rights and reshaping of government, a government where the 1% have a lot more power to take our money and we have a lot less transparency or say into what’s going on. If that sounds familiar – you’re right – more than two-thirds of the proposals we’re seeing are straight out of Project 2025.
CWA is fighting back! CWA joined several lawsuits with the AFL-CIO and many other unions to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) takeover of Americans’ private data and to protect the confidential information of America’s working people.
The biggest money grabs up top: Last Tuesday, the House passed a budget plan that includes 4,5 trillion dollars in tax cuts – mostly huge tax cuts to billionaires – and to pay for that, they’re targeting about $880 Billion in Medicaid spending. The vote passed by 2 votes largely along party lines.
Medicaid cuts will affect all of us – whether you are on Medicaid or not. Medicaid makes up a huge amount of all healthcare and hospital funding in all states. Medicaid keeps hospitals open and provides quality care. If 21% or 83 Million Americans will lose their healthcare, costs will go up and all of us will have to pay for this in our next contracts.
- Explainer on the House budget from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Impact of the budget proposal by income group
- Medicaid Cuts by Congressional District
Here are a few other changes to know about
Paralyzing the EEO
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is responsible for protecting workers against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, and many other protected statuses. CWA uses the EEOC to get employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, and CWA Local 1180 famously won a longstanding EEOC case against the city of New York – as a result, the city had to pay multi-million dollars in raises to workers and back pay and other damages. Similarly to the NLRB, President Trump fired the EEOC Chair along with the EEOC’s three commissioners, the EEOC currently lacks quorum and can’t meet – effectively halting major actions like issuing new regulations or guidance.
OSHA under threat
As part of the Trump administration’s regulatory freeze, a new rule of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on heat protection is currently suspended. Heat is considered the leading cause of weather-related deaths on the job in America. Additionally, Rep. Biggs (R-AZ) introduced legislation to abolish OSHA, claiming workers’ safety is best handled by the employer.
Broadband funding in limbo & FAA’s Verizon contract going to Starlink
President Trump’s pause on the infrastructure bill has put the funding of the historic massive broadband expansion in jeopardy. Read more here.
At the same time, an already existing $2.4 billion communications contract that the Federal Aviation Administration awarded to Verizon in 2023 is close to being canceled and redirected to – surprise surprise: Elon Musk’s Starlink. This follows a string of government funding, tax cuts, and loans that Elon Musk has received totaling over $38 billion and counting.
Higher Education and Research funding in peril
CWA represents many workers in higher education, grad student workers, and researchers – many working on projects funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) or Veteran’s Affairs (VA). That funding is currently either already cut or in limbo. CWA is part of a network of unions in higher education and together we are fighting back. Actions and ways to get involved can be found here.
>>Let’s keep in touch!
A lot is going on – and we want to make sure our members are informed. You can expect more town hall calls, webinars, and other forms of outreach from us. If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions, you can always reach out to us at cwad1@cwa-union.org.
Please always remember, no matter what’s going on, our unity and solidarity are our biggest strengths.
In Unity,
Dennis G. Trainor
Vice President
CWA District 1