CWA Executive Board Authorizes Setting of CenturyLink Strike Date

Contact: Al Kogler, CWA District 7 Communications, akogler@cwa-union.org and 303-770-2822

Washington, D.C. -- The Executive Board of the Communications Workers of America has authorized the setting of a strike date for CWA members at CenturyLink (the former Qwest Communications).

CWA members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike last October, by an 88 percent vote. That’s the first step of CWA’s three step process required before a strike can take place. The second step is the Executive Board authorization, which occurred on Feb. 13, and the final step in the process is the setting a strike date by the president; that step hasn’t yet occurred.

The CWA bargaining team has been working for a fair contract at CenturyLink since negotiations got underway on Aug. 15, 2012. The contract expired in October but has been extended while bargaining continues.

Critical issues include contracting out and offshoring of work and other job concerns. CWA represents 13,000 workers at CenturyLink, in these states:  Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa.