To Ensure That CHIPS Act Funding Creates Good Jobs, Intel Must Sign a Binding Agreement

A statement from CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. and IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew:

As part of today’s announcement of $8.5 billion in federal grants and loans to microchip manufacturing giant Intel, the Biden Administration has made it clear that they expect the company to respect the right of workers to organize unions. The administration must do everything possible to demonstrate that Intel understands and intends to meet its expectation that the company will neither hold mandatory captive audience meetings nor hire anti-union consultants.

High expectations, however, are not enough. Working people deserve guarantees that public funds will support family-supporting jobs, not just boost corporate profits.

Intel and others seeking CHIPS funding must join companies like Akash Systems, Microsoft, AT&T, and GE and negotiate binding labor peace and workforce development agreements that ensure that workers will have a free and fair process for forming unions at their facilities. Such agreements build trust between workers and employers and promote stability in business operations. They are critical to the success of the CHIPS and Science Act and to fulfilling the commitment of the Biden Administration to ensuring that federal funds are used to support union jobs and build strong communities.

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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’s industrial division, IUE-CWA, represents workers at one of the only union-represented microchip factories in the country. CWA recently announced an agreement with a semiconductor company, Akash Systems, in Oakland, California.

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