The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico).[1][2] The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada (French: Syndicat des communications d'Amérique) representing about 8,000 members. CWA has several affiliated subsidiary labor unions bringing total membership to over 700,000. CWA is headquartered in Washington, DC, and affiliated with the AFL–CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center,[3] the Canadian Labour Congress, and UNI Global Union.
History
In 1918 telephone operators organized under the Telephone Operators Department of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. While initially successful at organizing, the union was damaged by a 1923 strike and subsequent AT&T lockout. After AT&T installed company-controlled Employees' Committees, the Telephone Operators Department eventually disbanded.[4] The CWA's roots lie in the 1938 reorganization of telephone workers into the National Federation of Telephone Workers after the Wagner Act outlawed such employees' committees or "company unions". NFTW was a federation of sovereign local independent unions that lacked authority over the affiliated local unions leaving it at a serious organizational disadvantage. After losing a strike with AT&T in 1947, the federation led by Joseph A. Beirne,[5] reorganized as CWA, a truly national union, which affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1949. The union's Canadian members split away in 1972, forming the Communication Workers of Canada.[6]
Strike was in answer to management's effort to prohibit workers from striking. An expensive strike due to significant number of illegal firings and civil suits from Southern Bell. Out of 200 fired strikers, 150 were reinstated following legal action, with over $200,000 in back pay awarded.[13] AT&T was forced to acknowledge the union.
1983 AT&T strike: Last contract with the Bell System before its breakup. Bell System sought givebacks. The contract resulted in Wage increases, employment security, pension, and health improvements.
1986
AT&T
175,000
25 days
COLA clause suspended in contract - former Bell System contracts vary substantially from the AT&T contract.
1989
AT&T
175,000
n/a
Child and elder care benefits added to contract. COLA clause removed from contract
Verizon strike of 2000: Strike was due to mandatory overtime demands. Provisions for stress were won.
2011
Verizon
45,000
13 days
Strike was due to major wage and health care cuts by Verizon, a forced pay-for-performance plan and movement-of-work job security provisions. Contract extended.
2012
AT&T
20,000
2 Days
AT&T West; California, Nevada, and AT&T East; Connecticut - Unfair labor practice strike during contract negotiations.[15]
2016
Verizon
40,000
49 Days
Verizon strike of 2016: Issues include healthcare and pension costs, moving call center jobs overseas and temporary job relocations.[16] Call center jobs were returned to the bargaining unit; pension increases won; healthcare reimbursement added and first Verizon Wireless contract reached.[17]
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Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Assets Liabilities Receipts Disbursements
According to CWA's Department of Labor records since 2006, when membership classifications were first reported, the total reported membership has varied greatly and unpredictably due to the addition and removal of reported membership categories.[19] As of 2014, around 27%, or a fourth, of the union's total membership are classified as "non-dues-paying retirees", and not eligible to vote in the union. The other, voting eligible, classifications are "active" (65%) and "dues-paying retired" (8%). CWA contracts also cover some non-members, known as agency fee payers, which number comparatively about 7% of the size of the union's membership. This accounts for 166,491 "non-dues-paying retirees" and 52,240 "dues-paying retirees", plus about 43,353 non-members paying agency fees, compared to 404,289 "active" members.[1]
National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) represents over 10,000 workers employed in the broadcasting, distributing, telecasting, recording, cable, video, sound recording and related industries. Established in 1934, it affiliated with the CWA in 1994.[22]
CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers represents more than 140,000 workers including social workers, educators, and health care providers, including state workers across New Jersey.[23]
University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA) represents 18,000 clinical lab technicians, computer resource specialists, editors, lab assistants, museum scientists, social workers, staff research associates, student affairs officers, and writers at all campuses and medical centers of the University of California. Established in 1990, it affiliated with the CWA in 1993.[25]
Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU-CWA) formed in 2023 with its first win in an Alberqueque, New Mexico branch office. Since this first win, the division has successfully organized 20 local branch offices across the country.[26][27]
^Rideout, Vanda (2003). Continentalizing Canadian Telecommunications. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN9780773524255.
^"Major union launches campaign to organize video game and tech workers". Los Angeles Times. 2020-01-07. Retrieved 2021-11-11. But despite this swell in labor activism, employees at no major video game studios and only a handful of tech offices have formally voted to form or join a union.
Bahr, Morton. From the Telegraph to the Internet: A 60 Year History of the CWA. Washington, DC: Welcome Rain Publishers, 1998. ISBN978-1-56649-949-1
Palladino, Grace. Dreams of Dignity, Workers of Vision: A History of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Washington, DC: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1991.
Schacht, John N. The Making of Telephone Unionism, 1920–1947. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1985. ISBN978-0-8135-1136-8
