The following statement is from CWA President Claude Cummings Jr.:

Our union has become the latest target of a corrupt administration that weaponizes the legal process against law-abiding Americans exercising our Constitutional rights. CWA is a union that harnesses the power of our collective voice and peaceful protest to stand up for one another, to keep our neighbors safe, and to build good jobs to provide for our families. We are part of a proud tradition of ordinary Americans who join together in union halls and church basements to make this country better.

But our values of unity, of community, are under attack by a president and his Department of Homeland Security that sends government spies to surveil community meetings in church basements. But mark my words: CWA is a union with a long history of standing up to bullies and billionaire bosses. We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced in our solidarity with our members, with our communities, and with our neighbors.

Our union halls remain open. Our fight continues. Together, we will speak out, we will vote, we will fight, and we will win.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Microsoft XBOX workers are calling on the company to respect their critical role in identifying appropriate use cases for generative artificial intelligence by negotiating a strong union contract.

(NATIONWIDE) — As XBOX workers negotiate their first union contracts with Microsoft, generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is a significant sticking point with management. A new survey of video game workers finds that the workers who develop beloved video game franchises are determined to protect human creativity and job quality from corrosive uses of AI.

The survey, conducted by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in collaboration with researchers at Cornell University and Western University, surveyed 759 video game workers about GAI, including hundreds at Microsoft XBOX studios. This preliminary report summarizes findings from respondents who identified their employer as a Microsoft XBOX studio (209 respondents) and those who identified their employer as a non-Microsoft studio (155) and excludes respondents who did not provide their employer. Findings include:

• A majority of workers expressed concern that AI would be used to replace some or all parts of their jobs, with 40% extremely concerned and another 20% moderately concerned.
• Microsoft studio respondents were significantly more likely than workers at other video game companies to report risks of layoffs within the next two years driven specifically by automation and outsourcing. Over 54% of Microsoft workers felt that automation- or outsourcing-related layoffs were somewhat or very likely, compared to less than 35% of workers at other studios.
• Among those respondents who use GAI, a majority agreed that it creates additional work correcting mistakes (59%), while 50% agreed that it makes work more stressful and 56% disagreed that it improves the quality of games.
• Regarding the degree of worker influence over the use of GAI, Microsoft respondents reported less influence compared to non-Microsoft respondents. Only 27% of respondents from Microsoft studios reported having high levels of influence over how they used GAI tools in their work, compared to 42% from non-Microsoft studios.
• The issues of highest concern across all survey respondents, with over 70% reporting they were ‘extremely concerned,’ were ethical: concerns with AI stealing intellectual property and having a negative environmental impact.

“Our data show that fears and frustrations about AI are real and warranted,” said Johanna Weststar, Western University Associate Professor of Management & Organizational Studies. “Game workers are no stranger to technological innovation, and their expertise and experience can improve AI implementation decisions.”

CWA-represented XBOX workers are the developers, artists, engineers, producers, user researchers, and customer support staff behind some of the video game industry’s most profitable games, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and more.

As XBOX workers ramp up their public mobilizations calling for Microsoft to bargain more constructively, these survey findings demonstrate workers are the conscience of the video game industry. XBOX workers are calling on company leaders to embrace a high-road approach to the development and implementation of GAI that centers workers and the quality of the games that they take such care to produce.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Take Action to “Save Our Devs”!

On August 18, join CWA, video game workers, and gamers for coordinated rallies across the United States and Canada!

Last month, hundreds of our fellow members working at Microsoft’s gaming division—now rebranded as XBOX—received discretionary layoff notices without prior notice to the union. While Microsoft continues to boast billions of dollars in annual revenue, XBOX workers behind the entertainment industry's most profitable and iconic franchises are treated as disposable.

CWA members have countered these layoffs with common-sense protections at the bargaining table, but management sits on those proposals without real responses or change.

An injury to one worker is an injury to us all. We are calling on Microsoft to reverse these layoffs and to bargain first contracts with our members!

Click here to RSVP to a rally near you.

Tune into UVW-CWA's Twitch livestream at 9:30AM PT/12:30PM ET to watch the rallies virtually.

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Support the Double the Wage Act

CWA political ally Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) recently introduced the Double the Wage for Overtime Act, designed to put more money in your pocket. This bill would increase the pay for overtime hours worked from the traditional time-and-a-half.

Click here to show your support for higher wages!

In July, members of the CWA Broadband Brigade scored a victory in the fight for universal, high-speed internet access. During a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) Technology and Communications Committee, members took up the Universal Service Fund (USF) Modernization Resolution, officially making it an NCSL directive. The resolution will no longer need annual approval but will now remain in place for four years.

CWA staff worked with Broadband Brigade member Marcus Chambers and CWA District 2-13 Administrative Director Lisa Fazzini to locate a sponsor for the resolution. Former NewsGuild-CWA President Linda Foley, who is now a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, sponsored the resolution.

The USF Modernization Resolution asserts the NCSL’s support for modernizing the USF to ensure it remains sustainable and relevant in a broadband-first era. This directive will help support good jobs for CWA members and make service more reliable and affordable for customers.

The NCSL represents legislatures in the states, territories, and commonwealths of the U.S. Its mission is to advance the effectiveness, independence, and integrity of legislatures. It is also tasked with fostering interstate cooperation and facilitating the exchange of information among legislatures.

This win is a direct result of the efforts of our Legislative and Political activists engaging political allies to promote policies that improve working conditions for our members. This work is supported by members through donations to the Political Action Fund.

On August 6, CWA Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam (pictured above, center-right), NABET-CWA Local 52031 President Bantu Opiotennione (right of Salaam), and NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico (far right) joined activists from CWA, Free Press, and Reporters Without Borders in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) building in Washington, D.C., ahead of the Commission’s vote on removing the national television ownership cap. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr oversaw the vote, which resulted in a 2-1 decision in favor of removal, paving the way for Nexstar Media Group to acquire TEGNA, Inc. and potentially control 80% of the nation’s television market. 

The Commission's rule change is expected to bring on a wave of broadcast mergers, which would result in worker layoffs and shuttered newsrooms. NABET-CWA and others have argued before the FCC that increased consolidation of broadcast companies raises issues of media ownership and censorship.

You can find a brief video of NABET-CWA President Braico speaking at the protest on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Last month, members of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA Local 9119) organized a rally in collaboration with Parent Voices Oakland against the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) moving critical services impacting children to less accessible locations.

Over the past year, UCSF has moved bone marrow treatments and interventional radiology from the Children’s Hospital Oakland (CHO) across the bay to San Francisco—creating dangerous barriers for immunocompromised children battling cancer, sickle cell anemia, and other serious illnesses.

“Dozens of families who used to get care here in Oakland are being told to go back and forth across the Bay when their child's immune system is at its most fragile. These kids and families don’t need additional obstacles to being healthy and safe. We're calling on UCSF to keep specialized pediatric care in Oakland, where our community can access it,” said UPTE-CWA member and clinical social worker at CHO Paola Portillo.

Members of the Oakland City Council, county staff, parents, and supporters attended the rally.

Over the past few weeks, CWA members and retirees have been participating in Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accountability actions, calling for congressional leaders to investigate allegations of gross misconduct, including improperly accessing sensitive union information from the National Labor Relations Board. More than 50,000 people have signed petitions in support of accountability.

In CWA District 7, activists delivered a petition to Arizona Congressional District 6 Representative Juan Ciscomani calling on him to investigate DOGE. Activists, pictured above, included (left to right) Ginger Lane (CWA Local 7019), Torrie Dodd (CWA Local 7050), Luis Gutierrez (CWA Local 7026 President), Frank Cota (CWA Local 7026 Vice President), and Cindy Rodriquez (CWA Local 7050).

CWAers also visited the office of Representative Maria Elvira Salazar in Florida.

Click here to sign the petition.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union released the following statement from CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. and CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook:

On Monday, the Trump Administration and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon resumed its fanatical campaign to mold America’s higher education system into its extreme ideological vision. The so-called “National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards” is an attempt to bring back its extreme Higher Ed Compact, which campus workers and courageous higher ed leaders from across the country resisted and ultimately defeated last year.

Though some of the most severe elements of Compact 1.0 have been revised, this second version rehashes many of Trump’s grievances and mischaracterizations of our universities and the people who teach, work, and study there. Compact 2.0 may be disguised as concern for free expression, safety, affordability, and accessibility, but working people are not fooled by this fig leaf. This Administration has slashed funding for research, viciously repressed free expression and assembly, attacked student diversity, and repeatedly pursued punitive litigation against universities that resist its agenda.

What they want is to destroy higher education in America by attacking its faculty, staff, students, and institutions. 

No doubt there are real challenges with the higher education system in this country, from the rising price of tuition the Trump Administration will not help alleviate to the unregulated proliferation of AI the Trump Administration supports to the existential cuts to research and discovery the Trump Administration itself has made. Compact 2.0 does nothing to address these challenges.

Real change will come from the participation of the people who make our campuses work and run and the people who they serve; it will not come from threats nor from misleading claims and misinformation. Our union and our allies must mobilize to stop Compact 2.0 just as we helped stop Compact 1.0 and continue to push a program that defends our higher education system from these attacks, even as we seek to transform and expand it in support of our students, public education, discovery, and democracy.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Support AFA-CWA’s Kaela Berg for Congress

Kaela Berg is an AFA-CWA union Flight Attendant and state representative running to represent Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District! Please join CWAers across the country to help turn out the vote ahead of Kaela’s primary election in mid-August.

In the Minnesota State House, she worked to fully fund Minnesota’s schools, prevent gun violence, protect health care, and end union busting.

Now, she wants to take that fight to Washington to lower the cost of groceries, healthcare, and housing. She believes the wealthiest must pay their fair share, that healthcare access should be protected, and that we must strengthen our education system.

Join us on Thursday, August 6, at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT for a virtual phone bank. Register here: CWA.org/Kaela.

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Attend the CWA Human Rights Conference!

From August 16‒19, join the Human Rights Committee in Atlanta, Ga., for its annual conference. Guests include President of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) David Huerta; politician, author, and activist Stacey Abrams; Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson; Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams; AFL-CIO Director of Civil, Human and Women's Rights Alex Rias, and many others.

Online registration has closed but you can still register at the event!

Contact Mikeya Jones for help booking accommodations.

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Tell Congress to Protect Workers From Dangerous Heat

Extreme heat has engulfed the nation, with cities coast-to-coast breaking all-time heat records this summer. But while workers continue to face dangerous and potentially deadly working conditions, anti-worker leaders in Congress are quietly attempting to stop any heat safety protection laws from being passed, now or in the future.

H.R. 6213, the misnamed Heat Workforce Standards Act, would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from creating or enforcing any national heat safety law.

Tell Congress to protect workers from heat—and not block heat safety protections. Dial 844-937-2517 or fill out the form on this page to make a call.

Visit aflcio.org/heat to find resources on how to protect yourself and your co-workers from extreme temperatures.

NewsGuild of New York-represented staff (TNG-CWA Local 31003) at ProPublica have won a first contract with the nonprofit investigative newsroom in a deal that gives staff up to 24% raises over the life of the agreement, mandates transparency around the use of AI, protects hybrid work, offers significant healthcare savings, and more.

Last week, members of the ProPublica Guild-CWA, which represents more than 150 reporters, video journalists, development professionals, copy editors, and other staff, overwhelmingly voted to ratify their four-year contract.

“This contract is a major step forward for our members,” said Agnel Philip, a data reporter and unit chair of the ProPublica Guild-CWA. “What we won is a testament to our hard work and shows what we can achieve when we stand together.”

Click here to read more about the first contract reached by ProPublica Guild-CWA members.

Congratulations to our ProPublica Guild-CWA members on their victory!

 
Members of the ProPublica Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA Local 31003) held a one-day unfair labor practice strike in April.