S-T Talk - July 2025

July 11, 2025

Prior issues of S-T Talk are available on our website. Just visit cwa.org/s-t-talk

2025 CWA 80th CONVENTION

The 2025 CWA 80th Convention begins at 9 a.m. on Monday, August 11, 2025, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center located at 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

Go to cwa-union.org/convention for the most up-to-date information. Did you know we have accessible rooms within our discounted room block? When making your online reservation, check the box marked “handicapped accessible” and in the note, provide your particular request. Look for additional accessibility accommodations throughout the convention, such as an early entrance to the convention hall, live captioning, and more.

Since we have three hotels for housing this year, we are providing shuttle service from the hotels to the convention center, including one handicap accessible bus at The Omni William Penn & Wyndham Grand. The last day to make your room reservation is July 15, 2025.

For those Secretary-Treasurers who are attending Convention, our very own Jason Busch will be facilitating a workshop with information on budgets, LM preparation and DOL compliance on Sunday, August 10th at the David L Lawrence Convention Center (Room 319) from 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Again, we will be saving the Earth, one lanyard at a time….. remember to bring yours, in fact go ahead and pack it in your suitcase now so you don’t forget !!

QUARTERLY LOCAL S-T TOWNHALL ZOOMS:

Our next gathering of S-Ts is on August 26, 2025. Be sure to update your email in Aptify so we can send you the Zoom invitation. During our August Townhall, Krystal Dehaba from the Compliance team will provide guidance on navigating LM season with confidence — covering everything from early filing preparation to effectively managing amendment requests from the Department of Labor.

We are always looking for topics to cover that are of interest to you, so please email stoffice@cwa-union.org and let me know what is of interest to you.

COPE-COMPLIANCE:

The IUE Labor Organization Bond is set to expire on January 1, 2026. Compliance will automatically renew the bonds at their current coverages, unless a local requests an increase or decrease.

To calculate the bond amount required per Landrum-Griffin, please use the following formula:

(Total Assets + Total Receipts) x 10% = Amount of Coverage Required

If, after calculations are complete, you find your local would like to make a change, please contact cwamail@cwa-union.org. Include your name, position at the local, phone number, current local mailing address, and the new amount. We will review your request against our records to ensure compliance with the Department of Labor and Landrum-Griffin, and if we find that the request is valid, the new bond coverage amount will go into effect January 1, 2026.

Bond coverage is not required for locals entirely comprised of public worker employees.

COPE APTIFY TRAINING

The COPE/Compliance Department does not have any future Aptify training scheduled at this time. However, if you need assistance or would like an individual or group COPE/Aptify demonstration, please make your request by emailing COPEQuestions@cwa-union.org.

DISASTER RELIEF INFORMATION:

Union Plus: A complete resource for all things Disaster Related assistance from Union Plus.

Please distribute this flyer with valuable information to your members. unionplus.org/assistance.

Updated CWA Disaster Relief Applications for the US and Canada

Now, a convenient fillable form and easier process when your property is declared a complete loss.

Disaster Relief Fund Member Handbook - US

Disaster Relief Member Handbook - Canada

DUES

Moving to the Electronic Age

Want your dues money to arrive faster and on a more consistent schedule? Then see if you can get your employers to move to electronic payment and reporting! Anything received on paper, be it a check or a dues report, has to go through many hands before it can get processed in Aptify - and the bigger the unit, the longer it can take to manually process.

Want to see which of your units are still manual? Bring up the My PUs report in the District/Local/Sector section and look at the Input Type column. Even switching smaller units can have an impact over time, so we encourage all locals to take a look!

Specifics/Options for payment and reporting are below, but we also have this in a .pdf document under Additional Resources in the Learning Lab on the portal. You can get it HERE.

    Payment Options

             o Truist Bank, Richmond, VA
             o ACH ABA #: 021052053
             o Checking Acct #: 89485506
             o Acct Name: CWA Holding Acct

     · Check (include copy of member payment detail w/ check)
             o CWA Dues, PO Box 79176, Baltimore, MD 21279-0176

     · For WIRE information (it is *NOT* the same as above), please reach out to:    
       CWADues@cwa-union.org

     · Electronic Remittances can be sent to: CWADues@cwa-union.org

Electronic Submission of Member Payment Details
File formats accepted: MS Excel, comma-delimited, tab-delimited, or text (Excel preferred)

Information Needed: (Items with *are not required, but would be helpful to us)

• Payroll ID #
• SSN* (Required if payroll ID is not # unique to each employee – have to have some way to know that Mary Smith used to be Mary Jones before she got married/divorced.)
• Last Name
• First Name
• Middle Initial*
• Hourly Pay Rate* (actual hourly rate, not calculated based on hours worked)
• Dues Paid
• Street Address Line 1*
• Street Address Line 2*
• City*
• State*
• Zip*
• Job Title
• Work Location* (if applicable)

To submit files via email, send to CWADues@cwa-union.org. Please include the payroll period and company name in the subject line.

To submit files securely via our FTP site, please contact our IT Department at pchelp@cwa-union.org for setup information and instructions.

Any follow-up questions regarding payments or file/report submission can be directed to our Finance & Membership Department at 202-434-1366.

FINANCE

Great news, we moved to our new financial system, Business Central, effective July 3rd. This is a web-based, Microsoft cloud-based system. With this new system, we will no longer be using PN3 to process payments. You will still receive reimbursement via ACH and remittance advice as normal, however, they will come from a new email cwapaymentreq@cwa-union.org so please check your spam. Please direct any questions to cwapayables@cwa-union.org.

MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS

Training on Social Media, Graphic Design, and Other Communications Tools

Join CWA’s Communications Department for our regularly scheduled monthly trainings on communications tools and strategies. In addition, we have a video library of previous training sessions for on-demand learning.

Check out our training schedule and recordings of previous training sessions here: cwa-union.org/CommsTrainings. You can also ask a question or request one-on-one training to address your specific needs.

Don’t forget that we offer FREE website hosting, email, texting, and other online tools for locals! Learn more at cwa-union.org/for-locals/websites.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It):

MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS

Make sure your members are receiving the CWA Newsletter and other communications!

CWA’s weekly newsletter helps keep members informed about everything happening across our union. Encourage your members to visit cwa.org/signup to sign up.

Members can also receive weekly text messages from CWA with information about discounts and other UnionPlus benefits that are available to them by texting PLUS to 49484. Message & data rates may apply. Recurring messages. Visit cwa.org/sms for Terms & Conditions and cwa.org/privacy for Privacy Policy.

In Unity,

Ameenah Salaam
Secretary-Treasurer