CWA Statement on FCC Proposal, Improving Customer Service and Protecting Consumers Through Onshoring

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Claude Cummings Jr., President of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, released the following statement in response to the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – CG Docket Nos. 26-52, 17-59, and 02-278:

For more than a decade, CWA has led the fight to onshore call center jobs and protect consumer data and privacy. Our members have tirelessly advocated for vital protections for workers at home and abroad and for the customers they serve, making this issue a truly bipartisan concern and passing legislation to help protect jobs in both red and blue states across the country. The FCC proposed rulemaking contains key elements that are modeled on CWA’s policy, but the FCC’s approach is insufficient in achieving the public’s goals of bringing good jobs back to our communities, improving customer service, and protecting consumer data and privacy.

The challenges facing customer service workers have changed dramatically with technology advances, and our policy response has evolved as well. Today, quality customer service and call center jobs are threatened not just by offshoring, but also by corporate cost-cutting through the use of AI agents. A modern policy response must include the right for customers to request a human representative who can resolve their concerns with human intelligence, common sense, and empathy.

Furthermore, because the FCC can only address telecommunications companies under its regulatory authority, this proposal leaves entire swaths of the economy unaddressed, including major call center employers like American Airlines, Amazon, big tech, and the financial industry.

The FCC proposed rulemaking also ignores the structural underpinnings of offshoring: companies can exploit workers overseas in pursuit of profits because of the lack of enforcement of labor standards, driving a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions. We will not solve the offshoring problem or restore good jobs to the American people until we take action to enforce labor standards and level the playing field. Ultimately it is corporate greed that often prevents workers from providing quality customer service.

We welcome the dialogue with the FCC and the Trump administration on how we can address the rights of consumers and call center workers. Ultimately, an effective solution must include bipartisan federal legislation.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion