News Letter
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- UPTE-CWA Demands Safety and Transparency After Member’s Murder
- Fighting Back Against AI “Slop”
- CWA Members Attend First-Ever “Fighting Oligarchy” Training
- UVW-CWA Members Hold Industry Vigil at the Game Awards
- Fighting for Affordable Healthcare
- Quake and Doom Video Game Developers Join CWA
- Check Out These Union-Made Gifts!
- Sign Up for Union Member and Retiree Discounts and Rewards
- And More…
UPTE-CWA Demands Safety and Transparency After Member’s Murder
Last week, UPTE-CWA Local 9119 members held a vigil to honor their colleague who was stabbed and killed while working at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Workers have repeatedly raised concerns about the absence of basic safety infrastructure at the hospital, including a lack of metal detectors or equivalent screening procedures, inconsistent security presence, and no standardized protocols for high-risk patients or regular safety huddles. In the wake of this tragedy, UPTE-CWA is demanding immediate changes, including a safety plan, minimum staffing and caseload limits, and improvements to workplace violence prevention.
“No one should have to fear for their safety at work,” said UPTE-CWA President Dan Russell in a statement. “Our members have long sounded the alarm about unsafe conditions and chronic understaffing that put them at risk every day, as they serve as the social workers and behavioral health clinicians on the front lines of the city’s mental health crisis.”
Friends and colleagues created a memorial at a vigil to honor an UPTE-CWA member who was killed while working at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Fighting Back Against AI “Slop”
NewsGuild-CWA members kicked off December with a national AI Week of Action to push back against the growing use of artificial intelligence that undermines trust in the news. Through the “News, Not Slop” campaign, journalists made it clear that AI must support news work and not replace it.
The week began with the announcement of a landmark arbitration win by POLITICO journalists over the company’s unilateral rollout of AI tools, one of the first major labor rulings in the country enforcing AI protections in a union contract.
During the week, the NewsGuild-CWA launched NewsNotSlop.org, hosted a national town hall, and took action with rallies and flyering to bring more readers and members into the fight for AI protections in Guild contracts.
Last Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to try to stop state legislators from regulating AI to protect our jobs and our privacy. “American workers have been clear: workers impacted by technology must guide how it is implemented. This executive order violates the will of the American people,” CWA said in a statement. “For AI to serve working people, we must have a strong voice in how it is developed and used. Together, we will continue to fight to build a future where technology enhances human potential, supports good jobs, and strengthens our communities.”
“Slop” earned a distinguished honor this year, being named Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year. “Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything,” Merriam-Webster said in its announcement. We could not agree more.
Keep AI slop out of our news. Stand with journalists and sign the News, Not Slop petition here.
CWA Members Attend First-Ever “Fighting Oligarchy” Training
Earlier this month, 14 CWA members gathered in Miami for our first-ever Fighting Oligarchy training. This new political education training focuses on the current political crisis in this country in which the millionaire and billionaire class has taken hold of our politics. This class explores how working-class movements here at home and abroad have taken on these oligarchs and won while providing participants the skills to go back to their worksites and engage their fellow members toward political action.
Telecommunications, passenger service, and non-profit workers gathered in Miami for CWA’s first-ever Fighting Oligarchy training.
UVW-CWA Members Hold Industry Vigil at the Game Awards
In response to layoffs and shuttered studios, United Videogame Workers-CWA held a vigil during the 2025 Game Awards.
In response to record-breaking layoffs and shuttered studios across the video game industry, United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433 (UVW-CWA) held a candlelight vigil demonstration outside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Calif., during the 2025 Game Awards to emphasize the true heart and soul of the industry: the workers. UVW-CWA was joined by other community allies and labor unions in the Los Angeles area, including SAG-AFTRA, United Auto Workers, and National Writers Union.
“Despite so much loss and heartache, video game workers in 2025 have channeled their grit, passion, and initiative, which has built so many memorable game worlds, into building better ones for workers,” said UVW-CWA Local 9433 President Aurelia Augusta. “We’ve hit both the streams and the streets to demand change for the abuses and outrages that workers suffer every day. We’ve proudly stood in solidarity as union victories have blossomed across the industry, from Blizzard to ZeniMax. Next year and beyond, we will continue to fight for video game workers who don’t just dream of a better world but demand it.”
Read more here. Video game workers in the United States/Canada who are interested in becoming members can apply here.
Fighting for Affordable Healthcare
With premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care plans set to skyrocket unless Congress takes action, CWA members and retirees in Florida, Ohio, and Texas tried to meet with their U.S. Senators to discuss their concerns.
Senators Ashley Moody (Florida) and John Cornyn (Texas) and their staff members refused to meet with the CWA delegations. In Ohio, CWA members were able to leave a message for Senator Jon Husted at the front desk, but last week he voted against a three-year extension of the subsidies.
If President Trump and his congressional allies let ACA tax credits expire, it will raise insurance costs for all of us, put hospitals at risk of closing, and eliminate over half a million health care jobs.
Without the ACA tax credits, millions of working people will not be able to afford health care coverage. Insurance providers will raise prices for employer-sponsored coverage to make up for the lost revenue. Employers will shift the cost increase to workers through higher premium contributions and increased deductibles and co-pays.
See how your Senators voted here.
Above: CWA Activists in Florida (left) and Ohio (right) tried to meet with their U.S. Senators to discuss their concerns about affordable healthcare.
Below: Watch what happened when CWA members tried to meet with Senator John Cornyn (Texas).
Quake and Doom Video Game Developers Join CWA
Video game workers at the company behind the popular franchises Quake and Doom voted to join CWA last week. The 165 workers at Microsoft subsidiary id Software will be members of CWA Local 6215 in Richardson, Texas.
“The union is a way for us, the developers, to take back control of the industry we love and to ensure that it delivers high-quality products from high-quality workers who have health benefits and longevity beyond quarterly profits,” said CWA Local 6215 organizing committee member and id Software Producer Andrew Willis.
“Texas has emerged as a force in building collective power for video game and tech workers across the state and across the industry,” said CWA Local 6215 President Ron Swaggerty. “We look forward to sitting across the table from Microsoft to negotiate a contract that reflects the skill, creativity, and dedication these workers bring to every project.”
There are now over 3,800 CWA-represented video game workers at Microsoft.
Check Out These Union-Made Gifts!
Looking for the perfect last-minute gift? The AFL-CIO has published its annual union-made holiday gift guide featuring apparel, books, games and toys, and more, many of them made by CWA members! Check it out at go.aflcio.org/gifts.
Sign Up for Union Member and Retiree Discounts and Rewards
Text PLUS to 49484 or click here to get weekly offers from Union Plus through CWA.
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And More…
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