One Union, One Vision: CWA United

By CWA President Claude Cummings Jr.

As members of CWA, you are connected to people you might never have met or otherwise known. We work in different industries and have different job titles. We live in rural areas, in suburbs, and in cities. We are of different races and genders, and we hold different political views. But we all come together in our union.

Despite these differences, we face common challenges. Corporate CEOs, trying to boost profits to reward their wealthy investors, push to keep our wages low, reduce our benefits, and cut corners on health and safety protections. Instead of making sure that corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share, elected officials slash pensions for public workers and outsource our work.

What unites us is our vision for a better future: prosperity and justice for all, not just a privileged few.

Our union is the best tool we have to fight back against corporate greed and to claim that future. Maintaining our solidarity against those who promote hatred and division among us so that they can exploit our labor for profit is not easy, but it is essential.

That unity starts in our locals. Our strength comes from the bottom up, not the top down. We cannot effectively bargain and enforce our contracts unless our employers know that we will stand with each other no matter what. Get involved by attending local meetings and participating in committees.

We must also unite across our districts and sectors. If members of another CWA local in your area are mobilizing, join their rally. If they are speaking at a city council meeting on an issue that affects their industry, show up to support them. The more we understand about each other’s struggles, the better able we are to find solutions.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it—the next few years are going to be tough. Despite distancing himself from Project 2025 during the election campaign, Donald Trump and members of his administration are aggressively implementing parts of the plan to limit our freedom to organize new members and enforce our contracts.

Trump’s first step was illegally firing National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox. With only two NLRB board members remaining, the Board cannot issue rulings in most cases. Now employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act who bargain in bad faith, change the terms of our employment without bargaining, or do other things that interfere with our ability to join or participate in our union can delay action on our charges indefinitely.

His next step comes right out of the Project 2025 playbook. The Trump administration is no longer defending the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board against a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other union-busting companies. They are working on behalf of their billionaire backers to destroy the NLRB and other federal agencies that protect working people against corporate executives who violate our rights and limit our freedoms.

If we do not stop this power grab, Musk and Trump will keep on going. By recklessly firing essential federal workers and gutting programs, they are putting our livelihoods and our lives at risk. Next on the list is making it easier for employers to retaliate against workers who mobilize to improve their working conditions and banning all public employee unions.

I have been working with other union leaders to fight back against these illegal efforts to hand more control and wealth to billionaires and CEOs, including by filing lawsuits. Meanwhile, we cannot be intimidated.

I am calling on every one of you to mobilize for respect on the job, to organize so that new members can join our union, and to reach out to your elected officials to tell them to put working people first.

Together, we will fight for what we deserve. Corporate power is no match for our power when we act together. When we unite, we win.