Lumen Technologies Announces that They Will Only Give Martin Luther King Day off to Non-Union Employees

Lumen Technologies, formerly known as CenturyLink, recently informed its employees that while non-union workers are being given Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, union members will not be.

The announcement, made by Lumen’s Executive Vice President of Human Resources Scott Trezise in an email, proclaims that giving the holiday off is part of an effort to make Lumen more “diverse and inclusive.” However, a separate email from Stephanie E. Miles, Lumen's Director of Labor Relations, clarifies that the policy will not apply to union members.

CWA represents more than 10,000 employees at Lumen performing work in the telecommunications industry.

“If Lumen executives care for diversity and inclusion, they must correct the wrongful exclusion of union workers from the holiday,” said CWA District 7 Vice President Brenda Roberts. “Dr. King was assassinated while in Memphis organizing for workers’ rights, and throughout his life, workers’ rights were a core part of his work. It is deeply wrong to give this holiday to non-union workers and withhold it from union workers.”

“It is against Dr. King’s message and legacy to exclude union workers from the holiday,” said CWA Vice President of Telecommunications and Technologies Lisa Bolton. “To use a holiday that honors our country’s most important civil rights and labor rights figure as a bargaining chip to pit union and non-union workers against each other is a petty slap in the face to all working people.”