Nurses in Burlington, Iowa, represented by CWA Local 7181, kicked off July with an overwhelming defeat of a decertification attempt supported by the Right to Work Foundation. Members rejected decertification 125-55 with a 90% turnout.

CWA Local 7181 President Liz Davies led a strong team, embracing systematic one-on-one conversations to combat an aggressive anti-union campaign. The opposition used classic messaging, including accusations that the union was a “third party,” that the company would have less flexibility working with a union, and that the union was standing in the way of pay raises. The CWA team maintained their positive, pro-union message and resisted distraction.

Union members left the decertification effort stronger than ever with their sights set on bargaining a strong contract and renewed organizing. The unit added 13 members during the campaign and is looking to continue growing.

On Tuesday, July 15, CWA members and retirees joined the AFL-CIO, UNITE-HERE, United Auto Workers, Charlotte-Metrolina Central Labor Council, and other local organizations to rally outside Two Wells Fargo Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Activists publicly condemned Wells Fargo for their illegal union-busting tactics and demanded that the company agree to a fair contract with Wells Fargo Workers United-CWA (WFWU-CWA) members.

“As branch employees, we are the face of Wells Fargo. We deserve to be compensated fairly and to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Wells Fargo personal banker and CWA Local 3901 member Brittany Ball. “We are asking Wells Fargo to stop their union-busting practices and intimidation tactics. We’re also asking Wells Fargo to understand that employees are only exercising their right to form a union—a federal right.”

After the rally, WFWU-CWA members joined CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. to deliver a petition with over 2,600 signatures to Wells Fargo management. With nearly 30 successful union elections at Wells Fargo branches across the country, including a group of conduct management investigators, the worker organizing effort at Wells Fargo is the first of its kind at a major bank in the U.S.

Healthcare workers represented by CWA Local 1168 and 1199SEIU reached a tentative agreement (TA) earlier this month with Kaleida Health. The three-year contract, if ratified, will cover approximately 8,000 workers, including nurses, professional, technical, clerical, service, and maintenance workers across three hospitals, multiple clinics, two nursing homes, and other work locations across Erie and Niagara Counties.

After five contract extensions, members were able to reach this agreement just two hours ahead of a strike vote. The TA includes wage increases every year of the contract, increases in a number of differentials including shift differential and training pay, as well as increases to pension pay. The TA also includes improvements to staffing levels and an expedited arbitration process. Most notably, union negotiators reached this agreement without any concessions on the part of members.

“With the combination of this contract and New York State staffing law, we can positively impact working conditions for members and provide safe, quality care to our community. We believe this agreement will keep Kaleida Health as the premier employer and best place to receive care in Western New York,” said CWA Local 1168 President and Registered Nurse Cori Gambini. “We reached an agreement the bargaining committee can be proud to bring back to our membership with a strong recommendation for ratification.”

To make this win happen, members relied on consistent communication and polling of workers. The mobilization team consisted of 60 lead mobilizers, including chief stewards, stewards, and rank-and-file members.

Social media played a much larger role in this round of bargaining as members took to platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube to share information and coordinate their efforts. A key piece of the social strategy involved the original animated video series, “Bargaining Basics.” This project breaks down complex topics like open bargaining, strike authorization, and the ratification process using memorable characters, humor, and sharp visual storytelling. Members produced 17 short episodes entirely in-house with a few more planned as they complete the ratification process—from scripting and voiceover to animation and release—ensuring members remain informed and energized all the way to the finish line.

Members will have their chance to approve or reject the agreement. The ratification vote will end on July 24.

On July 14, the AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better in a Union” Bus Tour made a stop in Charlotte, N.C., during the NAACP’s 116th Annual National Convention. CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., who is a member of the NAACP’s National Executive Board and took part in both events, delivered an uplifting message to attendees at the bus tour press conference, along with CWA Local 7050 member Tay Akins and other speakers representing the local labor movement, the NAACP, and the AFL-CIO.

President Cummings spoke on the tour theme, saying, “Like my colleagues here at the podium and millions of union workers across the country, I can tell you without a moment’s hesitation that ‘It’s better in a union!’ Work/life balance is better in a union. Job security is better in a union. Pay and benefits are better in a union.”

He also touched on the NAACP’s theme of “The Fierce Urgency of Now” and attacks on American values, saying, “Within our unions is a diversity that reflects the truth about America. We are not a monolith. We work in different industries and have different job titles. We live in rural areas, in suburbs, and in cities. We are straight and we are LGBTQ+. We are able-bodied and disabled. We are of different races and genders, and, yes, we hold different political views. But we all come together when working-class lives are at stake.

“We love our families and our country and want everyone in our communities to have the freedom to be themselves, pursue their dreams, and have a good life. We believe in prosperity, justice, and security for all, not just a privileged few.”

Click here to watch CWA President Claude Cummings Jr.’s full remarks.

Later that day, CWA Local 6215 Executive Vice President David Marshall and CWA Local 3680 President Yvonne Kinston took part in the NAACP’s Labor Town Hall, along with several other labor leaders, to highlight the pressing issues facing labor and current strategies to advance worker rights, equity, and justice.

Members of the CWA Human Rights Committee, led by Director of Human Rights, Education and Health and Safety Angie Wells, also played key roles in staffing and coordinating both the AFL-CIO press conference and other events during the NAACP convention.

On July 16, the final day of the convention, President Cummings and NAACP Labor Chair Williams presented awards at the NAACP Labor Awards Luncheon.

Last month, over 150 of CWA’s Public, Healthcare and Education Workers (CWA-PHEW) members and retirees attended a conference in Denver, Colo., hosted by CWA-PHEW Vice President Margaret Cook. The theme for the conference was “PHEW for the Many.”

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. lauded the work CWA-PHEW has done to protect worker rights across the country. “As union members, we have all answered the call to protect not just one another but the working class as a whole. But you here have taken that a step further. You have taken on the incredible responsibility of safeguarding our public institutions, our government offices, our institutions of higher education, and the well-being of strangers. For that, I salute each of you.”

CWA-PHEW Vice President Cook set everyone’s sights on the future, saying, “There is a lot of fighting coming our way, and we must get ready and organized for it. And I believe—no, I know—that the best way to do that isn’t for us to turn inward, isn’t for us to close ranks, not for us to stick to what we know and who we’ve already got.

“No, PHEW, the way we’re going to win those fights is by getting together with the many and for the many. Organizing new members, mobilizing the unmobilized for stronger contracts, getting out the vote and building our political power, building coalitions to take action to defend our public services, expand our public services, and transform them for the better.”

Several members of CWA’s Executive Committee and sector leaders took part in the conference, including CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt, CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton, CWA District 6 Vice President Derrick Osobase, CWA District 7 Vice President Susie McAllister, CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss, CWA Retired Members Council President (RMC) Gwen Parker, and CWA-PHEW Sector RMC President Lisa Kermish.

Conference workshops included ongoing class war, the attacks on higher education and the public sector, and winning strategies for collective bargaining.

CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers (PHEW) Vice President Margaret Cook hosted the CWA-PHEW conference in Denver, Colo.

A CWA panel of staff and members testified at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) public hearing on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings. CWA strongly supports the passage of an enforceable, comprehensive federal heat standard to protect all workers from preventable heat injuries, illnesses, and deaths.

The panel, led by CWA’s Deputy Director for Occupational Safety and Health Micki Siegel de Hernandez, included IUE-CWA Staff Representative Danny Sallie II, CWA Local 6222 Steward and Safety Chair Randy Rodriguez, and CWA Local 7019 Steward Ted Maple.

Siegel de Hernandez emphasized that heat protections are a life-saving necessity enabling workers to do their jobs safely. She asked OSHA to strengthen the worker and authorized representative involvement provisions, to address acclimatization protections for workers during sudden heat waves, to provide heat protections for non-traditional responders during emergency response activities in high heat, to address protections for transient and mobile worksites, and to include sedentary indoor workers in the final standard.

Sallie provided many examples of heat stress in manufacturing and of feasible, proactive protections.

Rodriguez spoke about heat exposure in telecommunications and how training can save lives.

Maple spoke about dangerous, high heat conditions faced by his represented members in San Antonio, who are airline cabin appearance agents who do security checks and cleaning inside stifling planes with no ventilation or cooling.

You can read the full testimony of CWA’s Panel here.

You can see OSHA’s Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings proposed rule here. You can see all of the public comments posted to the Heat Rulemaking Docket here.

Members of CWA’s Retired Members Council (RMC) stand in full support of workers at the University of California (UC). The technical, research, and healthcare professionals represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA Local 9119) have been bargaining a successor agreement with UC for more than a year and have engaged in several 1-day strikes. They, along with workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299 and members of the California Nurses Association, have been fighting for job security, work-life balance, safe staffing levels, and affordable healthcare.

Susan Orlofsky, a retired Senior Editor from UC San Diego and member of the CWA Local 9119 RMC, was arrested while standing up for her CWA siblings during a recent sit-in at the Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco. “Bringing negotiations to a successful conclusion helps not only the workers we represent but also the students, patients, faculty, and research that we support,” said Orlofsky.

“We know the importance of maintaining safe and responsive staffing levels and affordable benefits, and we’re happy to join with our brothers and sisters,” said CWA Local 9119 RMC Treasurer Judy Scarborough (retired from UC Santa Cruz).

“Hopefully, UC will come back to the table and bargain seriously so that UPTE-CWA doesn’t need to take further action,” said Lisa Kermish, RMC Public Sector President and retiree from UC Berkeley. “But if they do, we’ll be there to join them!”

CWA Local 9119 RMC member Susan Orlofsky joined UPTE-CWA members on the strike line. She, with over 20 others, was arrested in May at a sit-in at the UC Board of Regents meeting while protesting unsafe staffing levels, unfair wages, and rising healthcare costs.

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