March is Women’s History Month. As part of the celebration, a group of CWA activists attended the International Women’s Alliance (IWA) Political Conference in Washington, D.C. They joined hundreds of people representing organizations across IWA. The participants engaged in discussions on advancing the working women's agenda and the global women's rights movement and marched together to take a stand against economic exploitation.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the CWA Human Rights Department is hosting a special virtual event on Tuesday, March 21, at 7pm EST, with Ellen Cassedy, a labor leader of the renowned 9to5 Movement. The 9to5 Movement was not only the inspiration for the iconic film and song, 9 to 5, but it is a testament to the fact that anyone can organize—and win. Click here to register.

In addition to the town hall, you can take a deeper dive into learning about the compelling organizing of these women through Ellen’s new book, Working 9 to 5: A women’s movement, a labor union, and the iconic movie. For 25% off, enter the promotional code WORKING25 at checkout.

Union members and family members save up to 35% off Avis or Budget base rates for spring travel with @UnionPlus. Terms apply. Click here for more details.

(SYRACUSE, NY) — A majority of workers at eBay-owned TCGPlayer won their union election on Friday, March 10 and will be represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1123. TCGPlayer is one of the largest online marketplaces for verification services, card games, comics, and collectible trading cards. It was acquired by eBay in November 2022. The workers, known as TCGUnion-CWA, are the first group of eBay workers to win union representation in the U.S.

“We are ready to take on a more active role in determining the conditions of our work to ensure a better quality of life for ourselves, and a better quality of service for our customers. We’re excited to finally have a seat at the table, a real voice on the job, and the protections provided by our union to ensure fairness and dignity in the workplace,” said Jennifer Bonham, a worker at TCGPlayer. “We strongly believe that by joining together to form our union we can make TCGplayer a more equitable workplace where Authentication Center workers can thrive for years to come.”

In 2020, workers at TCGPlayer made attempts to form a union with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The company quickly countered those efforts by hiring notorious union-buster Littler Mendelson to spread disinformation and in the last weeks leading up to the election, workers pulled their petition with the National Labor Relations Board due to the pandemic. In January 2023, workers at TCGPlayer restarted their organizing and filed for a union election with CWA, becoming the first group of eBay workers in the U.S. to seek formal recognition. Despite the onslaught of attacks and multiple labor violations from the company, workers did not back down and voted in favor of joining the union.

The union-represented group will include all 272 non-supervisory workers within TCGPlayer’s authentication center, including Generalists and Specialists across the Sorting, Pulling, Receiving, Shipping, Operations, Research and Development, Inventory, Comics, Quality, and Training departments. These workers are physically responsible for ensuring that every shipment in and out of TCGPlayer is completed accurately and that they match quality standards.

"I joined the union effort at TCGPlayer because I wanted to raise up the voices of my peers and correct the existing imbalance of power,” said Paul Neri, a worker at TCGPlayer. “This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever fought for, but knowing that my colleagues came out in droves to stand together against efforts to silence our voice and erase our collective power made the fight worth it. With our new union, we will be a united force for the betterment of our workplace and so many others.”

Last week, CWA filed an unfair labor practice against TCGPlayer accusing the company of interfering with, restraining and coercing employees engaging in protected and concerted union activity. In addition, TCGUnion-CWA is currently waiting to hear from the NLRB on several unresolved unfair labor practice charges which include the surveillance of employees who wore insignia identifying them as supporters of the union by TCGPlayer managers, as well as illegally forcing employees to attend mandatory anti-union meetings to influence their decision about whether or not to join a union.

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Follow TCGUnion-CWA at @TCGUnionCWA

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.

Communications Workers of America member Autumn Mitchell, a Quality Assurance tester from Microsoft’s Zenimax studio, participated in a White House roundtable today hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

The roundtable highlighted forward-looking companies that are respecting their workers’ right to form unions. Union members and executives from each company briefed Harris and Walsh on their experiences. Also participating were the United Auto Workers with Ford, the Baltimore Building and Construction Trades Council with Orsted, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers with Siemens.

“It was an honor to be invited to the White House to share our experience forming a union at Zenimax with Vice President Harris and Secretary Walsh,” said Mitchell. “When Quality Assurance workers at Activision announced they were joining CWA, they were threatened, intimidated, and illegally denied raises. Nothing like that happened when we decided to organize at Zenimax. I have a lot of respect for Microsoft’s leadership for taking a different approach and continuously working with us in good faith. I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure on them to act just like all of the other tech and video game companies. But they made a commitment to trust us to make the decision that was best for us and they stood by that commitment.”

While tech and video game companies like Amazon, Apple, and Activision have launched aggressive and often illegal anti-union campaigns to attack their employees who want to join unions, Microsoft has taken a different approach.

Last year, the company established its Principles on Employee Organizing and Engagement with Labor Organizations, outlining an “open and constructive approach” to promoting “dialogue, collaboration, and trust between business and labor.” This was followed by the announcement of a ground-breaking, legally-binding labor neutrality agreement between CWA and Microsoft. The agreement, which would apply to the Activision Blizzard workforce once Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of the company is approved, committed Microsoft to a neutral approach when employees express interest in joining a union.

In December, workers at Microsoft’s ZeniMax studio announced that they were organizing with CWA. Microsoft agreed to a process that would enable the workers to freely and fairly decide if they wanted to form a union, in accordance with the company’s stated principles. Managers were trained to remain neutral and refer any questions about the union to the organizing committee. Employees indicated their preference for the union either by signing a representation card or voting via a secure, online portal. In early February, a neutral arbitrator reviewed the results and certified that the ZeniMax workers had voted to be represented by CWA.

“Today’s White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment roundtable showed Vice President Harris and the Biden Administration’s continued commitment to encouraging union organizing and collective bargaining,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens. “Microsoft’s approach to worker organizing – letting the workers decide for themselves whether or not to join a union – is a model that other companies should emulate. By following the European Commission's approach on approval of the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard with consumer protection conditions, the Federal Trade Commission could bring this constructive approach to almost 10,000 video game industry workers in an industry that perpetuates some of the most toxic working conditions.”

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Striking NewsGuild-CWA members at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and their supporters held a rally outside of the C-SPAN office in Washington, D.C., demanding the immediate removal of Allan Block, Chairman and CEO of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s parent company, Block Communications, from C-SPAN’s Board of Directors. Last December, CWA’s Executive Board sent a letter to C-SPAN calling on the company to eject Block from its Board, citing his union-busting activities, including his refusal to provide workers at the Post-Gazette with basic necessities like healthcare and raises, as well as swearing at and slapping a union representative with a bag of food after being asked why he refuses to negotiate in good faith. His behavior also includes supporting the January 6 insurrection and attempting to sway reporting to be pro-Trump.

Representative Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who was one of the first to show solidarity with the strikers by refusing to speak with the Post-Gazette, addressed the crowd. “If you have been paying attention, if you have been listening to what’s going on when we talk about threats to democracy, as we stand out here in front of C-SPAN…we know that the press is the cornerstone of democracy,” Lee said. “But if our workers are being mistreated in that process, then who’s going to be there on the front lines to uncover so much of what happens in [Congress] if we can’t count on our sisters and brothers in labor to be there on the spot day in and day out?”

“I am really awed and inspired by our Pittsburgh strikers. You all have been so brave and so courageous standing up for community journalism, standing up for the news that your communities need and standing up for your rights, the rights that every worker has in the United States,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens, who attended the rally.

“[T]oday, we are sending C-SPAN a message loud and clear: if you want to remain ethically appropriate, if you want to keep your respected profile, if you want to continue to do the work of getting every American insight into how our federal government runs – drop the Block,” added NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss, who also participated in the rally. The workers, who have been on strike for more than four months and launched a petition demanding Block’s removal from C-SPAN’s Board, were joined by CWA leaders including AFA-CWA International Vice President Keturah Johnson and other supporters.

Rep. Summer Lee with striking CWA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette members and supporters at a rally outside of the C-SPAN office in Washington, D.C. (Photo/Alexandra Wimley, Pittsburgh Union Progress)

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Comic Book Workers United

Workers at Image Comics, members of Comic Book Workers United (CWA Local 7901), ratified their first contract on March 1 after a year of negotiations. The new contract includes a formal procedure to address issues at the workplace and structured annual wages which provide more transparency, a key goal for the bargaining team. The workers, who became the first comic book workers to form a union in the U.S. last January, are proud of their solidarity in the face of the company’s stalling tactics during negotiations and see this contract as the next step in their journey as a union. They intend to continue to build power and raise standards at Image Comics and across the industry.

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ARC of Essex County

Public workers at ARC of Essex County, members of CWA Local 1037, who advocate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, overwhelmingly ratified a new contract. The new three-year contract includes higher wages, higher longevity bonuses, increased carryover vacation time and sick time, increased clothing allowance, and more. Click here for more details.

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Thryv, Inc.

After almost a year of negotiations, CWA District 1 and 2-13 members at Thryv, Inc. (formerly Dex Media), a small business management platform, reached a tentative agreement for a new contract. The contract includes improvements to wages and working conditions, such as base salary increases, locality upgrades including a promotional base salary increase, a stock purchase plan, and the addition of Juneteenth as a recognized holiday. Read more here.

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Breezeline

CWA Local 13000 members at Breezeline (formerly Atlantic Broadband) have reached a tentative agreement for a new contract that includes annual wage increases, improved standby and vacation allowances, an additional floating holiday, and more. The bargaining team also successfully fought back against several harmful proposals from the company. Read more here.