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International Solidarity

The Communications Workers of America is an international union in its own right as well as being a very active member of the world-wide union movement. As industries have become more globalized and employers have become multinational with interests around the world, CWA has kept pace with an expansion of its international program.

Although deeply rooted in the United States, CWA has a long history of representing workers outside America’s borders. Our union’s involvement in Canada, for example, goes back more than 40 years when it represented thousands of workers in the telecommunications industry.  In the past two decades, CWA gained global members through a number of its merger partners. The Newspaper Guild brought members in Puerto Rico and Canada, the ITU and the IUE in Canada, and the Association of Flight Attendants has members in London, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Tokyo and San Juan.

In recognizing the presence of thousands of members in Canada, CWA approved the creation of CWA/SCA Canada in 2007 as an autonomous region within the union.
 
Several CWA Districts have active Solidarity Committees of interested Local officers and staffed by the District International Coordinators. These Committees assist in the selection of projects for the Districts to support, and work to raise awareness of the Solidarity projects.

A critical element of CWA’s international program is the partnerships that it has developed with global unions and their members.

CWA continues to expand its work with unions around the world, using innovative approaches to building bargaining power with international employers.

The Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union International Solidarity Fund offers CWA Members and Locals an opportunity to voluntarily fund Union-to-Union projects that support workers around the world. Learn more about the Solidarity Fund.

e-Newsletter
News
January 25, 2024

Biden Administration Protects Labor Rights in Call Centers

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the United States has asked the Mexican government to review whether call center workers are being denied the right to free association and collective bargaining.
IUE-CWA Rallies for May Day
News
May 4, 2023

IUE-CWA and the Italian Federation of Metalworkers Pioneer New Era of Global Solidarity Among GE Union Workers

This May Day, a group of General Electric workers from across the country joined members of IUE-CWA Local 81201 in Lynn, Mass., to celebrate the ratification of a new groundbreaking 2-year contract.
Press Release

CWA’s Statement on the Brutal Murder of BIEN Union Organizer Alex Dolorosa

We are saddened and outraged by the cruel and violent murder of Alex Dolorosa, a union organizer and a paralegal with the BPO Industry Employee Network (BIEN) in Bacolod, Philippines. Unfortunately, his tragic murder only reinforces the reason that the Philippines repeatedly is ranked annually as one of the world’s deadliest countries for worker organizers. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and colleagues at BIEN at this horrible time.