With assistance from CWA, 40 current and former employees will receive a raise and back pay from a Lionel Henderson call center in Hyattsville, Md., which serves as a FEMA National Flood Insurance Program subcontractor. Latoya Williams, a former Lionel Henderson employee who raised concerns about her pay to CWA and to the press, will receive $1,296.70.

Williams was glad to have had the opportunity to stand for something very important not just for herself, but also for her coworkers and those who will come after. "It was one of the best feelings knowing I stood up for us to be treated fairly. I might have given up if I didn't know that CWA had my back, and that meant so much to me."

Since 2016, CWA has filed two complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that Lionel Henderson violated the Service Contract Act, a federal prevailing wage law that applies to CSRs and other workers who provide services to the federal government. The Department found that Lionel Henderson misclassified these CSRs to pay them less and, between its two investigations, recovered over $100,000 in back pay for the workers. The company has also agreed to reclassify its employees going forward.

Thirteen CWA leaders participated in the 2019 Minority Leadership Institute last week. The week-long residential program focused on leadership development in the labor movement, with participants learning how to use storytelling as a tool for effective organizing; developing essential skills needed in bargaining, handling grievances, and arbitration; and honing social justice and political advocacy skills. Participants also learned how they can use online communications and social media to organize.

The MLI program was established 30 years ago as CWA's internal training program designed to promote the involvement of members of color, women, LGBTQ, and other underrepresented members within CWA at every level of our union. One representative from each District and Sector attends each year. The program has been instrumental in developing phenomenal CWA leaders.

The MLI class also participated in a rally at the Philippines Embassy to free labor organizer Anne Krueger and to protest human rights abuses of union organizers in the Philippines.

CWA District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton, CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings Jr., Public Sector Vice President Margaret Cook, Western Region At-Large CWA Executive Board Member Dante Harris, Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Lisa Bolton, and CWA Assistant to the President Ameenah Salaam attended the graduation ceremony.

First row – Left to Right: Joaquin Chavez, Local 9119; Eric Chapman, Local 3808; Vernida McKoy, Local 2252; Mark Bautista, Local 9404.
Second Row – Left to Right: Marvin Wells, Local 7110; Kevonna Neely, Local 1133; Tarea Smith, Local 6143; Martin Monteblanco, Local 27019; Mariela Topete, Local 59051; Mericle Long Local 4501.
Third Row – Left to Right: Aaron Kelley, Local 32035; Tameka Rittenburg, Local 81455; Akeyia Johnson, Local 6507.

Hawaiian Airlines

This week, Hawaiian AFA-CWA Flight Attendants held weeklong pickets at HNL (Honolulu) and LAX (Los Angeles) airports to mark the company's 90th birthday and highlight their fight for a fair contract and benefits.

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Altice

Workers joined together in the freezing cold before their shift to call for Altice to negotiate a fair first contract for 140 workers in Wappingers Falls and Westchester, N.Y. They have been bargaining for more than six months now. The main issue at the bargaining table is job security. The union is refusing to let the company treat their members as second class citizens – they want the same protections the Altice workers in Brooklyn, members of CWA Local 1109, have, and are willing to do whatever it takes to secure them.