Jun 1, 2023 - CWA Call Center Workers Protest Illegal Layoffs and other news

Last week, CWA Local 3519 Vice President Ylonda Sherrod participated in a White House listening session on the use of automated technologies by employers to surveil, monitor, evaluate, and manage their workers.

Sherrod, who currently works as a Sales and Service Representative at AT&T Mobility and has been with AT&T for 17 years, shared her experience with the AI technology that AT&T has implemented and explained that although the tools are supposed to assist with customer concerns, they typically do just the opposite and contribute to a stressful work environment in the process.

“I think AI could be great for helping workers with simple tasks, but without the use of human creativity, it won’t be able to do the more complicated tasks that are usually needed to truly help the customers,” Sherrod told the group. “It is unfair that AI is being used to replace the invaluable experience of human workers. It’s even worse that us workers are basically training our replacements and being asked to help the creators make these systems better at doing our job. Company investments into more AI feels like a major threat to my job security as companies don’t have to ensure safe working conditions, livable wages, or affordable healthcare for AI in the same way that they have to for employees. The reality is that although I know that AI can’t replace my job, it doesn’t mean that companies won’t try to do that anyway.”

Sherrod was joined by trucking, warehousing, home health care, and app-based ride sharing workers who raised concerns about health, safety, privacy, fair pay, labor organizing, collective bargaining, and reasonable accommodations for disabilities. Officials from the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board attended to listen to the workers, ask questions, and learn more about the impact of these technologies from the people who actually use them.

Sherrod’s participation underscores the importance of union representation for workers who want to have a say in how these technologies are being used. While other workers are often afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation, she feels comfortable expressing her concerns since collective bargaining agreements prevent employers from disciplining or firing workers without cause.

The Biden-Harris Administration has issued a request for information from the public to learn more about these issues in order to help them develop new policies to protect workers and to promote best practices.

CWA Local 3519 Vice President Ylonda Sherrod (center) participated in a White House listening session on the use of automated technologies by employers to surveil, monitor, evaluate, and manage their workers.

Workers who are organizing with CWA at Maximus traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to urge Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera to investigate labor practices at Maximus, protect workers from unfair and unnecessary layoffs, and raise wages for contracted workers to $25 per hour. Maximus, the federal government’s largest call center contractor, provides services to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

At the rally, workers described poor working conditions, including low pay, unaffordable health care benefits, and few paths to promotion, especially for Black and Latinx women. Daija Arrington, a Maximus CDC call center worker, said that despite an excellent performance record, she was laid off just before Mother’s Day. “I believe the real reason I was laid off was in retaliation for speaking out about Maximus’s working conditions, and to scare my coworkers from supporting a union. But we have a right to speak out and tell the truth, and to organize to improve our working conditions. That’s why we’re calling on HHS to hold Maximus accountable for mistreating workers, help us keep our jobs, and make sure we’re paid the fair wages we deserve.”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) joined the workers’ protest, with Thompson declaring, “Maximus workers deserve to be rewarded for their hard work, not treated like they’re disposable and they don’t matter. It is imperative that HHS ensures that Maximus provides good jobs with living wages, and workers don’t have to face unfair and unnecessary layoffs.”

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens echoed the workers’ calls for dignity and respect. “Federal contractors like Maximus are meant to provide good, dignified jobs. Instead, Maximus workers struggle to get by with low pay and little time off. They are tired and fed up with being told they're essential but being treated like they're disposable….Maximus should be investigated by the Biden administration and the HHS. It’s long past time we hold this federal contractor accountable and ensure that all workers at Maximus are given the respect they deserve.” CWA Public, Health Care and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook also joined the protest in support of the workers.

After Maximus laid off more than 700 workers in May — the company’s second round of layoffs this year — workers took to the streets outside of call centers to protest. Some workers say they were laid off for speaking out about working conditions, and many of the layoffs were based in part on unplanned absences, and therefore could affect workers with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and caregiving responsibilities. The layoffs occurred after top Maximus executives saw more than $12 million in compensation last year.

In the wake of the layoffs, CWA has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that a Maximus manager made an implied promise of benefits to some workers in an effort to interfere with their organizing activity. Around the same time, a group of workers was forced to attend a meeting where a supervisor urged them to reject union representation and suggested that unionization could lead to layoffs and closure. CWA also alleges the company offered workers severance agreements that illegally restrict employees’ right to speak publicly about their experiences on the job.

You can support the workers by donating to their solidarity fund. Click here to donate.

A video of the event is available here.

Maximus call center worker Daija Arrington (top photo), CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens (middle photo), NAACP President Derrick Johnson (bottom photo, left), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) (bottom photo, center) rallied outside of the Department of Health and Human Services last week to urge Secretary Xavier Beccera to investigate labor practices at Maximus.

New York Times

Members of the New York Times Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31003, reached a groundbreaking tentative agreement with the New York Times after more than two years of negotiations.

The agreement will set new standards for working conditions, wages, and benefits across the media industry, including a $65,000 salary floor and immediate raises of at least 10.6 percent for all members. It also ensures that as the Times expands into local markets, new jobs will be part of the union and pay fair minimum salaries.

Members mobilized in a series of escalating actions to win these gains, including petitions, social media campaigns, mass protests, and a work stoppage.

“This deal is a victory for all the union members who fought for a fair contract that rewards our hard work and sacrifice,” said Bill Baker, New York Times communications coordinator and Times Guild unit chair. “It shows that the company cannot take us for granted and must be held accountable.”

More information on the contract is available here.

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Smithville Telephone Company, Inc.

CWA Local 4818 members at Smithville Telephone Company voted last month to ratify a collective bargaining agreement that includes an 8% wage increase over the next 3 years, increased lead and standby pay, and improvements to the day-at-a-time vacation allowance.

The workers mobilized in support of the negotiations, and held informational pickets before and after work that generated substantial local news coverage.

In a statement, the bargaining committee said that its goal was “to ensure that the livelihood of our members will be better at the end of the three-year agreement. As a committee, we believe this contract does just that.”

Reward Work Act

Last year, corporations spent $1.2 trillion buying back their own stock. CWA members have spoken out for many years about the importance of ending this practice, which diverts money that could be used to raise wages or invest in better equipment or services into the pockets of CEOs and wealthy shareholders.

Last week, two CWAers joined Representative Chuy García (D-Ill.) for the reintroduction of the Reward Work Act, which bans stock buybacks and increases worker power by requiring public companies to allow workers to directly elect one-third of their company’s board of directors. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore).

Isabela Gonzalez, a Genius worker at the Apple Washington Square store in Portland, Ore., said that “as an employee, it's hard to reconcile the reality that Apple is investing billions of dollars into stock buybacks instead of compensating workers for their skills and contributions to the company.” She continued, “Apple has bought back over $388 billion in stocks since 2018 and just this month announced that it would be investing another $90 billion into stock buybacks. These are profits that we, the workers, helped to make happen, but we reap very little of the benefits of those profits. This bill would put an end to that rigged system and force companies to reward employees for their hard work.”

Alissa Dillon, a United Airlines Flight Attendant and member of AFA-CWA Local 22021, noted that in the decade leading up to the pandemic, U.S. airlines spent 96 percent of their free cash flow on stock buybacks, while ticket prices and fees got higher, seats got tighter, and airlines tried to force workers to accept deep concessions. “Banning stock buybacks will force corporations to stop focusing on this quarter’s profits and invest for the long-term — that’s good for all of us,” Dillon said. “It will also require that employees get a real voice on corporate boards — meaning that when it comes time to make important decisions, workers will have a real voice at the table. The Reward Work Act will help rebalance our economy so that growth is invested in people, not a few billionaires on Wall Street.”

Apple worker Isabela Gonzalez (center) and AFA-CWA Local 22021 member Alissa Dillon (second from right) joined Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) for the reintroduction of the Reward Work Act.

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CWA General Counsel Shares Personal Testimony About the Union Difference

In this short, must-see excerpt from a U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing held last week, CWA General Counsel Angela Thompson shares the moving story of the difference her mother’s union job made in her life. Thompson’s mother, a white woman, was fired from a job after her employer learned that her daughter was Black. “The next job, when she got her union job, people might not have liked that, but they couldn’t fire her for it. She was protected by her union contract and her union family. And it made all the difference in the world.”

During the hearing, Thompson, a former CWA member who was a customer sales and service representative for Bell Atlantic, also detailed the important role the National Labor Relations Board plays in enabling workers to organize in fair and efficient ways and advocated for the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.

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Bipartisan Legislation Would Increase Protections for Flight Crews Pumping Aboard Aircraft

On May 19, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) announced new bipartisan legislation that would allow flight crews to pump breastmilk aboard aircraft safely.

“No one should be forced to stop nursing by their employer,” said Merkley. “I won’t stop fighting until all working mothers, in every sector, have the protections to remain in the workforce and continue pumping to provide for their infants.”

The PUMP Act of 2022, also sponsored by Sen. Merkley, guaranteed millions of mothers the right to pump at work, but a loophole left flight crews out of the legislation. The AIR PUMP Act would extend pumping protections to thousands of Flight Attendants and pilots.

AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson praised the proposed law. “I pumped while working as a Flight Attendant,” said Nelson. “Sadly, Flight Attendants have been threatened with discipline for doing what is best for their health and the baby in order to sustain their milk supply.”

A summary of the legislation can be found here.