About CWA
December 1954. CWA members on strike against Alabama Telephone Company.
CWA was founded in 1938 at meetings in Chicago and New Orleans. First known as the National Federation of Telephone Workers, the union became the Communications Workers of America in 1947.
CWA got its start in the telephone industry, but today it represents workers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada in the communications and information industries, as well as the news media, the airline industry, broadcast and cable television, public service, higher education, health care, manufacturing, high tech fields, and more.
In 1992, Microsoft workers sued Microsoft in Vizcaino v. Microsoft because they were misclassified as freelancers or independent contractors. Microsoft responded by granting the workers either employee status or transferring them to temporary employment agencies. However, contingent workers still faced different employment conditions from Microsoft employees. Contingent workers wore orange badges, while employees had blue badges. The badge colors determined certain perks, like whether they could participate in certain events, shop in the company store or not. In the year 2000, one third of the 19,000 Microsoft Puget Sound workforce were contingent workers.
The disparities between Microsoft employees and contingent workers when it comes to respect, wages and benefits led some contingent workers to form WashTech in March 1998. Later on affiliating with CWA.
On May 19, 2017, 21,000 AT&T Mobility workers in 36 states and Washington, DC walked off the job. The CWA was fighting for a fair wage increase that could cover rising healthcare costs, and for a higher base pay or commission plan for RSCs. AT&T offered a 2% increase per year, which was not enough to cover healthcare increases.
After 11 months of bargaining and a three-day strike, the CWA reached a tentative agreement with AT&T Mobility. The Orange contract set new standards for pay and job security for wireless retail, call center, and tech workers. CWA members overwhelmingly voted to ratify the agreement.
tentative agreement with AT&T Mobility.
June 1947. CWA formed