Earlier this month, we\nhighlighted how the For\nthe People Act<\/em> will give people more choices about where and when\nthey vote. You can read that article here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The For the People Act<\/em> also\naddresses the voter registration process, which is one of our nation’s greatest\nelection administration hurdles. The outdated process that requires\nink-and-paper forms is largely to blame. The For\nthe People Act<\/em> improves the voter registration process by making\nsecure registration available online and giving voters the opportunity to\nregister to vote on the day of the election. The act protects registered voters\nby limiting states’ ability to purge registered voters from the eligibility\nlist during federal elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Laws regulating voting, the\nrole of money in politics, and corporate lobbying have not kept up with changes\nin American politics. But corporate executives want to keep things the way they\nare so they can keep calling the shots. They’re doing whatever they can,\nincluding spreading misinformation about the bill, to hold on to their power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can’t let them get away\nwith it. Tell Congress that it is time to update our voting system so that\nevery eligible voter can register to vote. Click here to send an email<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CWA stands in solidarity with\n200 Marathon Petroleum workers, members of Teamsters Local 120, who have been\nlocked out by management after a 24-hour strike on January 22 at the St. Paul\nPark refinery in Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In an effort to appease the\npredatory hedge fund Elliott Management, Marathon Petroleum is trying to cut\nunion jobs and contract work out to push up the company’s stock prices. CWA\nmembers know Elliott’s tactics well from its attempts to extract short-term\ncash from companies like AT&T and Frontier Communications, and they are\ndisastrous for workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marathon’s other cost-cutting\nmeasures have included increasing workloads on high-intensity positions to the\npoint where union representatives raised safety concerns for both workers and\nthe local community. Marathon should end this lockout now and reject Elliott\nManagement’s anti-worker demands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CWA is joining 44 allied\nunions and organizations in urging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and\nPrevention (CDC) to update its COVID-19 guidance to fully reflect the latest\nscientific evidence regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission through aerosols that infected\npeople emit when they breathe, speak, cough, sneeze, or sing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the previous\nadministration, the CDC\u2019s refusal to recognize aerosol transmission of\nSARS-CoV-2 led to weak guidance, leaving workers and the public unprotected\nfrom COVID-19. As a result, countless workers in every industry \u2013 including\nhealth care, grocery, meatpacking and processing, warehousing, food service,\neducation, transportation, and manufacturing \u2013 have been infected,\nhospitalized, and died from COVID-19 because their employers followed weak CDC\nguidance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognizing the scientific\nevidence and making these changes are essential and necessary steps to bringing\nthe COVID-19 pandemic under control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Austin\nAmerican-Statesman<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, journalists at the\nGannett-owned Austin\nAmerican-Statesman<\/em> voted to form the Austin NewsGuild. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited to move\nforward with a voice in our future and to continue to #KeepAustinInformed,\u201d the\norganizing committee tweeted<\/a> when the results were announced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Missouri ACLU<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Employees of the Missouri\nACLU announced last week that they are joining the United Media\nGuild\/NewsGuild-CWA Local 36047. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs we continue to build a\nmore perfect union, and in the spirit of the ACLU, we expect our union to be\nrecognized and look forward to beginning the bargaining process,\u201d the\norganizing committee said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n HuffPost Canada<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Workers at HuffPost Canada\nand Huffpost Quebec filed for union certification with the Canada Industrial\nRelations Board (CIRB) on Tuesday after a majority of staffers signed cards\nshowing support for joining CWA Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn an increasingly unstable\nindustry, we want to solidify what we love about working at HuffPost, as well\nas improve conditions for both current and future employees,\u201d organizing\ncommittee members said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CWA Canada President Martin\nO\u2019Hanlon welcomed the group: \u201cThese are tough times in the media industry and\nit is more important than ever that people have a real say in their workplace \u2013\nfor their own good and for the success of the company,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Southern California News\nGroup<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Journalists at 11 daily\nnewspapers owned by the Southern California News Group announced Wednesday\nplans to join TNG-CWA. The SCNG is owned by Alden Global Capital\u2019s MediaNews\nGroup, the New York-based hedge fund notorious for slashing newsroom budgets to\nthe bone. Last week, Alden Global announced a $630 million deal to buy Tribune\nPublishing newspapers, even as it refuses to invest in its own newsrooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur journalists have labored\nfor years under increasingly difficult conditions. We intend to reverse that\ntrend,\u201d members of SCNG Guild said in a statement announcing their plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday, essential workers\nacross the country held a series of “Moral Monday” rallies outside of\nstate offices of U.S. Senators in support of a $15 per hour minimum wage, the\nelimination of the subminimum wage for tipped workers, union rights for all,\nand full and just COVID-19 relief. The events were organized by CWA, the Poor\nPeople\u2019s Campaign, SEIU, One Fair Wage and other allies, and livestreamed\nonline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “I only receive the bare\nminimum required by law for my job as a federal contractor worker, just around\n$11 an hour for complex work,” said Tonya Jackson, who works at a Maximus\ncall center as a home health aid for supplemental income. “When your\nemployer pays you the legal minimum, whether the criminally low federal minimum\nwage of $7.25, or the minimum amount the federal government has set for its\ncontractors’ employees, it tells you something. It tells you that your employer\nwould gladly pay you less if they could get away with it.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maximus employs one of the\nlargest federally-contracted workforces in the country, under a contract with\nthe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to operate call centers\nthat handle Medicare and ACA Federally Facilitated Marketplace calls. Maximus\nworkers at the CMS call centers are organizing to join the CWA to win better\nworking conditions and a voice on the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “A $15 minimum wage and\nexpanded union rights would go tremendously far in ensuring frontline workers \u2013\nthe backbone of our economy \u2013 can put food on the table going into year two of\nthe COVID-19 pandemic,” said CWA Secretary Treasurer Sara Steffens.\n“It is no secret that families and communities everywhere are struggling\nnow more than ever, and they deserve the promise of good benefits and dignified\nwages. As they work day in and day out \u2013 at times risking their own health \u2013 to\nget America back on track, a living wage is the least our government can do,\nand the only thing that will help our economy and communities recover and\nthrive.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch the livestream archived here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Sunday, the CWA Next\nGeneration program hosted a virtual workshop on the topic of “Non-Contract\nUnion Organizing.” Next Gen lead activist for the Public, Health Care, and\nEducation Workers sector and CWA Local 7799 member Maddie Pettine moderated a\nlively discussion featuring a panel of young members from three locals without\ncollective bargaining agreements. Allison Becha, a member of United Campus\nWorkers-CWA (UCW-CWA) Local 3865 in Knoxville, Tenn; Brian Palomo, a member of\nUCW-Arizona\/CWA Local 7065 in Tucson; and Chewy Shaw, a member of Alphabet\nWorkers Union\/CWA Local 1400, which represents workers at Google and other\nAlphabet companies, each explained how their unions are fighting for, and\nwinning, worker power by organizing around issues of importance to young\nworkers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, members at\nUCW-CWA in Tennessee are fighting for a graduate fee waiver in a state with\nsome of the highest fees in the nation. Shaw and his co-workers are shining a\nlight on unfair labor practices by Google against low-wage data center workers,\ndemonstrating that it’s not necessary to have a contract in order to hold\ncorporations accountable. Brian’s local has only been up and running since last\nAugust, having organized in the midst of the pandemic. He talked about the\ncreative strategies he and his co-workers have devised to organize while social\ndistancing in the COVID era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In thanking the panelists and\nthe participants who joined on a Sunday, CWA Telecommunications and\nTechnologies Vice President Lisa Bolton, who directs the Next Gen program, said\nthe minority or non-contract approach to forming a union, while unfamiliar to\nmany of us, is an important tool for organizers. “It’s these kinds of\ncreative approaches, often taken up by young workers, that will help us build\nreal power for working people.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the Fight Back\nFilm Series, CWA Next Gen will host a watch party this Sunday, February 28, at\n1pm Eastern, featuring the new film “One Night in Miami” in honor of\nBlack History Month. To join, click here<\/a>. For updates on upcoming virtual\nworkshops and other Next Gen initiatives, follow along on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Philippines, the\nRodrigo Duterte regime will stop at nothing in its efforts to use violence and\nintimidation to target working people. Things have only gotten worse for\nFilipino workers and union activists during the pandemic, as they fight against\ndangerous, unsafe conditions that put their lives in jeopardy on the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, CWA District 1\nDeputy Organizing Director Tim Dubnau and District 1 Deputy Legislative &\nPolitical Director Becca Miller spoke on a livestream about how CWA is fighting\nto pass the Philippines Human Rights Act<\/a> (PHRA) to protect working\npeople in the Philippines who are suffering under the Duterte regime. CWA\nmembers have worked closely with workers in the Philippines<\/a> to lift\nstandards for call center workers and fight against corporate greed. Watch the livestream here.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the People: Removing Barriers to Voter Registration To loosen the hold corporate money has on our country, we must build worker power, and to do that, we need the For the People Act. It is one of the most … Continue reading
\n\n\n\nSolidarity with Locked-Out Teamsters at Marathon Petroleum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/509\/273\/original\/2_Marathon_Solidarity_Picket_20210214_300.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
CWA members joined the picket line in support of locked out Marathon Petroleum workers in Minnesota.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNurses, Unions, and Allies Urge CDC to Acknowledge COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission to Help Bring Virus Under Control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOrganizing Update<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/509\/269\/original\/4_Austin-NewsGuild-WE-WON_300.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
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\n\n\n\nWorkers Hold Rallies Fighting for $15 Minimum Wage, Union Rights for All, Full and Just COVID-19 Relief<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Moral](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/509\/262\/original\/5_Moral_Mondays_Minimum_Wage_500.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens <\/em>(center) and Tonya Jackson <\/em>(right), a Maximus worker who is organizing to join CWA, were featured on a livestream of \u201cMoral Monday\u201d rallies in support of a $15 per hour minimum wage.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWinning Worker Power Without Collective Bargaining<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCWA Joins with Workers in the Philippines to Show Solidarity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Solidarity](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/509\/250\/original\/7_PHRA_Solidarity-w-Philippines_600.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
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