• Action Alert! Petition for a Fair Contract for CWA1180-Bird Union Members
• Local 1170 Members to Frontier Communications: Our Members Do the Job RIGHT!
• Child Care Workers Fight for Better Working Conditions
• Wall Street Journal Workers Say Enough is Enough!
• Western NY CWAers Celebrate Pride Month!
• CWA Locals Work to Elect Pro-Worker Tim Alexander for Congress
• Action Alert – Tell the NYS Assembly to Protect Call Center Workers!
• CWA District 1 Joins Coalition Telling Gov. Hochul: Don’t Leave Upstate Behind

Action Alert! Petition for a Fair Contract for CWA1180-Bird Union Members

CWA 1180-Bird Union members have been negotiating with the National Audubon Society for more than two years for their first contract, while Audubon has dragged their feet and tried to weaken the union. Recently, management denied discretionary raises to CWA 1180-Bird Union members that were given to other staff. This follows a pattern of pay inequity and a well-documented toxic culture for women and people of color at Audubon—one of the reasons that the workers decided to unionize to improve.

You can help – Sign the petition to tell Audubon leadership: FAIR CONTRACT NOW!

Local 1170 Members to Frontier Communications: Our Members Do the Job RIGHT!

CWA Local 1170 members – along with Locals 1298, 1111, and 1122 – are standing up against outsourcing and fighting to put a stop to a company that is increasingly trying to weaken the union and force givebacks in bargaining. Local 1170 started bargaining for their next contract with Frontier Communications in May, with several other locals following soon, and members are mobilizing now to show the company that we will not stand for the continued use of contractors doing union work. These contractors are frequently from out of state, undertrained, and don’t know the communities like our members do, leading to increased risk of accidents and poorly done work (in 2022, Frontier was fined $5 million for “reckless” fiber-optic work in Connecticut).

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Child Care Workers Fight for Better Working Conditions

CWA Local 1037 members, who provide in-home family child care services in Passaic County, N.J., flexed their collective muscle earlier this month with a picket outside of 4Cs, a Child Care Resource and Referral Agency responsible for administering the county’s Family Child Care Registration Program.

The members, who provide in-home care for children, delivered a petition signed by nearly 100 family child care providers to 4Cs, detailing the unfair treatment and lack of respect. They are demanding that management address these issues, which, they contend, impact their ability to provide consistent and stable services to families across their community.

Though this fight has been going on for months, management continues to ignore the issues. The childcare providers remain steadfast in their drive for equality and dignity and are determined to continue until their voices are heard and the issues are resolved.

Wall Street Journal Workers Say Enough is Enough!

On May 30, Media Company Dow Jones laid off five workers at the Wall Street Journal, after laying off 45 workers earlier this year—despite record profits.

“There seems to be no justification for doing this other than a wish to cut costs to the bone and maximize profits without regard to the destruction of employee morale, loyalty, and the quality of our report,” said a Wall Street Journal worker.

Ben Kesling, a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is an award-winning reporter who worked at WSJ for 10 years, said that he was laid off in one minute and 45 seconds—”less time than it takes to microwave a Salisbury steak”. Members of the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE)-NewsGuild CWA 1096, took a stand last week to say “Enough is enough!” Workers walked out for a mid-day rally at WSJ offices in New York City, before posting individual notes of protest and solidarity with the laid off workers on the office door of WSJ Editor in Chief Emma Tucker

Western NY CWAers Celebrate Pride Month!

CWA Locals in Western New York, including Locals 1122, 1133, 1168, and 1186, joined the Buffalo Pride Parade on Sunday, June 2nd, to help kick off Pride Month!

Political Action Updates

New Jersey

With a big statewide Primary Election happening in New Jersey as we speak, CWA Locals 1036 and 1033 have been hard at work to help elect pro-worker candidate Tim Alexander for Congress.

Over the past two days, CWA Local 1036, joined by CWA Local 1033, held two phonebanks, calling over 540 New Jersey voters to talk about Tim’s strong record of standing with workers, and to make sure that people have a plan to vote.

During each phonebank on June 2nd and 3rd, Tim took the time to join and personally thank CWAers, as well as talk a bit about the campaign—during last night’s phonebank, his wife Anna even joined to make calls!

New York

Action Alert – Tell the NYS Assembly to Protect Call Center Workers!

Working for the State should not come with the risk of losing your job every ten years.

New York State contracts with private sector employers to provide call center services. Currently, a contract changing hands can mean mass layoffs for the skilled and experienced workforce, causing significant harm to the workers, our communities, and the public who will experience a disruption in service as the new company gets up to speed.

For example – nearly 300 of our own CWA members at the State-contracted E-ZPass Customer Service Center on Staten Island are facing layoffs right now after the State rebid the contract to a new company and did not ensure any retention protections. We can’t let this happen again. We need to take action now to protect workers and good union jobs.

We’re fighting for a bill that would require New York State to protect its workforce and retain its workers when a call center contract changes hands. Email your NYS Assembly Member to urge them to bring the bill to the floor for a vote and stand with workers!

CWA District 1 Joins Coalition Telling Gov. Hochul: Don’t Leave Upstate Behind

On May 31st, CWA District 1 Area Director Deb Hayes spoke alongside other members of the Raise Up NY coalition, which includes labor, community groups, and members of the business community, to call for raising the minimum wage and making sure that no worker in New York is left behind. Speakers advocated for the Upstate Parity and Minimum Wage Protection Act (S8154/A9093), a bill that would establish a statewide minimum wage floor as well as guarantee annual raises for workers across the state.

“We cannot leave Upstate behind,” Deb said to the crowd. “Rent is up 35.5%, while wages have risen just 12.8%. We cannot, absolutely, afford a lesser wage increase. There are too many people who work minimum wage jobs every day, who can barely afford to live. This is a moral issue and we cannot leave anyone behind.”

CWA District 1 Area Director Deb Hayes speaking for the Upstate Parity and Minimum Wage Protection Act [photo by Tom Campbell, WNY Labor Today]

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