A HUGE YEAR FOR UNIONS!

Workers stepped up, fought hard, and won historic victories this year. Despite a deck stacked against us, hundreds of thousands of union members came together to build a movement with more momentum than we’ve seen in decades. CWA members and other unions across the country are winning major fights that will directly impact our lives, our work, and our families. 

Striking & Winning

A wave of strikes rolled through the country this year as the United Auto Workers, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Writers Guild shut down the auto and entertainment industries. All of them won big—the UAW even reversed a plant closing in Belvidere, IL. The Teamsters came within hours of striking at UPS before winning a historic deal, and in the week following, the online job site Indeed reported a 50% spike in searches for UPS jobs. This proves yet again, despite what the bosses try to tell us, that people really do want to work—when they’re compensated fairly.

Funding Healthcare Centers

Fresh off the heels of our historic 2021 Safe Staffing legislation to protect NYS healthcare workers, we won a $500 million increase in state funding for so-called “safety net and distressed hospitals,” and a 7.5% increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospitals and long-term care facilities. This represents a huge boost for hospitals that have been struggling since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and should help bring some relief to our healthcare worker members. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

Union Membership Rises

U.S. workers are organizing in droves. In CWA District 1 alone, we’ve welcomed new members from tech companies like Activision Blizzard and TCGPlayer, nonprofits like the National Audubon Society and the Trevor Project, universities like Fordham and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and more.

Expanding Broadband Access

CWA’s “Broadband Brigade” fought to ensure that the billions of dollars of state and federal funding for broadband buildout go to unionized workers. In November, the NYS “ConnectALL” office issued guidelines that include our recommendations:

• Requirement for “fiber-to-the-home” projects with few exceptions
• High-road employers with a directly employed workforce (not subcontractors!) and strong “in-house” training are heavily preferred
• Bidders must publicly share their workforce plans

We also helped Verizon win a separate $11.1 million grant to build out broadband in underserved areas around Syracuse, creating 35 full-time jobs.

Eliminating Fees for SUNY Workers

CWA Local 1104 members in the State University of New York (SUNY) system have been fighting for years to eliminate the unbearable fees they’ve been required to pay to their employers—some amounting to as much as 15% of their salaries. In the past two years, members have successfully fought to eliminate fees at several individual universities, and this year we persuaded the NYS legislature to begin a total phase-out of these fees. That’s millions of dollars going directly into our members’ pockets.