Oct 22, 2026 - CWA Activision Members Authorize Strike

CWA District 4 members, retirees, and staff met at the end of September in Detroit, Mich., for their district meeting, hosted by CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton. Celebrating “The Power of Us!,” CWA Executive Board members in attendance included CWA Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Lisa Bolton; CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook; and CWA Central Region Executive Board Member Reginald Small. CWA Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam also attended the meeting. Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber provided a warm welcome to attendees.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., speaking on recent Department of Homeland Security attempts to intimidate CWA, said, “We have a proud tradition of standing up to bullies and bosses. We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced in our solidarity with our members, with our communities, and with our neighbors. Our union halls remain open. Our fight continues.

“Why? Because when we fight, we win!”

Conference attendees also heard, via video messages, from pro-worker U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and voting rights advocate and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson.

Members and retirees participated in unit bargaining meetings and interactive workshops on topics including “Confronting AI in Our Bargaining,” “Advocacy and Union Work,” and took part in the Legislative and Political Department’s Fighting Oligarchy training. Vice President Hinton also presented several awards to members for their outstanding commitment to our shared union values.

Said Vice President Hinton, “We hold the power, but we must be present…be at the table. We must reject the evil, divisiveness, cruelty, and greed!"

 
CWA District 4 members, retirees, and staff met in Detroit, Mich., to share ideas and learn more about how the district is working to build collective power.

Last week, quality assurance (QA) testers at Activision Publishing—represented by CWA Locals 6215, 7250, and 9400—voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike following recent delays at the bargaining table. This vote gives CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. the authority to call for a strike if negotiations continue to stall. Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA (AQAU-CWA) and Activision have been negotiating a first contract for over two years.

On October 14, workers held an action outside the Activision Publishing building in Bloomington, Minn. The breakdown in negotiations caused by the company’s delays comes at a critical time in the production and release cycle of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, one of Activision’s most profitable franchises.

“Bargaining has been a long, exhausting process spanning over two years, with our committee making responsible moves while the company continues to stall on critical issues like wages, accommodations, and worker protections,” said AQAU-CWA bargaining committee member and QA Functional Tester Emily Danko. “Despite our efforts to bargain in good faith, meaningful progress has been difficult, leaving key issues unresolved. Our members remain united and continue to mobilize. We are exploring every option available to secure the fair contract we deserve.”

CWA represents nearly 2,500 workers at Activision-Blizzard. Based on the call of President Cummings, workers may be on strike as early as October 22.

Click here to read the full AQAU-CWA press release.

AT&T Forged Fiber

On October 20, Fiber Technicians and Facility Specialists at Forged Fiber, AT&T’s newest wholesale fiber joint venture, launched informational pickets across eight states (Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) to demand a fair contract.

At stake in negotiations is AT&T’s attempt to outsource critical infrastructure work to non-union contractors, despite directly employing over 1,100 highly-trained union technicians who transferred from Lumen Technologies when AT&T acquired its fiber business earlier this year. These pickets come just as AT&T is seeking regulatory approval to sell a 50% stake in Forged Fiber to BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

This is AT&T’s second wholesale fiber joint venture. The first, Gigapower, launched as a partnership with BlackRock in May 2023. CWA has repeatedly raised concerns about Gigapower’s contractor-based business model and released a report in July that found Gigapower’s first phase has been plagued with deployment delays, missed buildout targets, and costly litigation with former contractor partners.

“AT&T has achieved success as a union company, with experienced and highly skilled union labor,” said CWA District 7 Vice President Susie McAllister. “But instead of building on a successful union model, AT&T seems determined to replicate its race-to-the-bottom strategy that already failed at Gigapower. Our members at Forged Fiber are demanding that AT&T bargain in good faith and not put our communities and customers at risk by using substandard contracted services.”

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Seattle Times

In September, approximately 60 CWA members at the Seattle Times—represented by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild (TNG-CWA Local 37082)—engaged in their first informational picket in over 20 years in response to months of delays at the bargaining table.

After more than six months of negotiating, members and management are no closer to agreement on wage increases. Members filed an unfair labor practice charge in June after Seattle Times management refused to bring a wage proposal to the table. When their offer finally came, it fell far short of expectations and the needs of members. Wage concerns are being driven by cost of living increases and prolonged inflation.

Another major concern is the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite members bringing these concerns to the table, management has refused to implement guardrails to protect workers and the readership from abuses of AI.

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Horizon Air

AFA-CWA Flight Attendants with Horizon Air, along with allies, were out in force last week, picketing for a living-wage contract at six airports across the western United States, including Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (pictured above). Horizon Air Flight Attendants play a critical role in Alaska-Hawaiian’s network, yet management is two and a half years past due on delivering a fair contract.

Click here to watch a recap of the Horizon Air pickets.

On September 30, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed two significant pro-labor bills into law. These wins come after intense relationship-building with key members of the Delaware House and Senate, including multiple informational sessions to keep elected officials informed of CWA’s legislative priorities. CWA Local 13101 President Mike Watson played a decisive role in ushering these bills into law.

Under previous Delaware law, striking workers were only eligible for unemployment benefits if they were experiencing a lockout. The new law updates the requirement to include labor disputes outside of lockouts, making it possible for striking workers to qualify for benefits. This could alleviate some of the financial burden associated with strike actions. Workers will also be free to decline meetings of a religious, political, or anti-union nature, and employers are barred from any disciplinary action resulting from workers’ absences.

Congratulations to President Watson and all of the CWA legislative and political activists making Delaware a better place for organized labor!

Last week, CWA hosted a webinar on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) harmful deregulation of telecom networks. Members of CWA’s Broadband Brigade joined experts to discuss how the FCC under President Trump is accelerating the retirement of traditional copper wire service without proper oversight, which puts union jobs and public safety at risk.

“You cannot separate the contracts we negotiate, the safety on our worksites, or the future of our work from who sits in the White House, who sits in the governor's mansion, and who holds the gavel in Congress to conduct oversight,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. during the webinar. “When anti-union politicians take these offices, they appoint Wall Street loyalists who dismantle our protections and rubber-stamp the destruction of union work.”

You can contribute to CWA's efforts to document the harms of unaccountable copper retirement. CWA is collecting stories from residents and workers about how the copper retirement process is playing out in the real world and the challenges with getting an adequate, affordable replacement service. Submit your stories at CWA.org/CopperStories.

A recording of the webinar is available to view, as is a fact sheet on copper retirement to further educate and inform community members and local officials on this important issue.

Last week, CWA staff and elected officers, including (left to right) Senior Airlines Research Associate Angela Marie Hatcher; NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico; CWA Legislative and Political Department National Field Coordinator Charlie Ramos; CWA Senior Web Developer Neil Payne; Strategic Research Associate Hooman Hedayati; CWA Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook; Assistant to Vice President Cook Thomas Walker; and CWA Organizing Data Specialist Lisa Lai wrote postcards to CWA members and retirees in Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida urging them to get out to vote for pro-worker candidates.