CWA Local 1180 Members Authorize a Strike If Management Cannot Come to a Fair Agreement

Workers at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Members of CWA Local 1180, announced [yesterday] that they have voted to authorize a strike if necessary in response to abrupt, retaliatory layoffs and bad-faith bargaining by NDWA leadership.

On September 17, NDWA management announced that 28 union staff members would be laid off – about one in three positions in the bargaining unit – after giving union leadership less than one hour’s notice. Management had known for months that major funding was uncertain but pushed forward with rapid expansion, expensive consultants performing work union members could do, and a budgeted multimillion dollar 2025 assembly. 

The layoffs disproportionately target union staff, shrinking the bargaining from the time of its founding in 2022 at 66% to a proposed 55% and gutting key chapters and programs. The layoffs would radically alter services of the organization. And while union staff are being cut, NDWA leadership has refused to commit to freezing or eliminating high-paid, non-union positions.

“We are NDWA, and we are willing to strike because we want this organization to survive and to be worthy of the workers it was built to serve,” said Summer Kim, an impacted staff member and member of the NDWA Staff Union Bargaining Committee. “The organization intends to lay off organizers who have been domestic workers’ main touch points for a decade, union members who have spoken out against racist mistreatment, and staff who have built this organization from the ground up. At the same time, NDWA insulates highly-paid leadership who can’t name a single domestic worker member. NDWA is a labor rights organization that publicly advocates against the very same treatment our union members have endured. Domestic workers deserve an organization that practices the values it preaches – and that starts with treating its own staff fairly.”

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On November 11, after weeks of bargaining and union actions including a nationwide Day of Action on November 9, NDWA management offered to reduce the number of union layoffs by only five positions in exchange for sweeping concessions that would weaken the union and make it easier to repeat this crisis. The proposal included eliminating cost-of-living adjustments for multiple years, weakening compensatory time, weakening collective action, shortening grievance timelines, and changing layoff language to give management more power.

“CWA Local 1180 and our members are strongly urging NDWA management to hear our concerns and engage in an open, productive conversation about how to save these jobs. Our members contribute tremendous value to this organization, and there is no justification for letting the number of members targeted to be let go, while hiring at the same time nonunion staff. We expect NDWA to come to the table in good faith and work with us toward a fair and responsible solution.,” said Gloria Middleton, president of CWA Local 1180.