Union Facts
The Facts About CWA
The Communications Workers of America (CWA), America's largest communications and media union, represents more than 700,000 men and women in both the private and public sectors of the economy. Over 2,000 collective bargaining agreements protect workers in telecommunications and information technology; media and publishing; health care, higher education, law enforcement and public service; in the airlines and in manufacturing.
CWA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the worldwide Union Network International.
The Facts About Organizing
Getting union representation is the best way to gain the working conditions that you and your co-workers deserve. With a union, you have the legal right to bargain over your pay, benefits, employment security, health and safety, and retirement, etc. A union also gives you the ability to negotiate over company policies that affect promotions, job bidding, layoffs, and many other aspects of your job.
Having a union and the right to bargain collectively with your employer is not some old-fashioned idea that’s time has come and gone. Top executives of every major corporation negotiate their own compensation, retirement and severance packages with the companies for which they work.
There is a pattern—a script—that most employers follow when you start talking union:
- Make empty threats and promises.
- Tell lies about the union.
- Start floating rumors to discourage you.
- Refuse to have an open, honest debate so you can hear the truth.
Learn more about what your employer might say.
Our experience tells us that it's best when workers organize themselves if they are to create a viable organization in their workplace. CWA organizers and staff can help. But it's the workers who must join together and build their organization. After talking with your co-workers to find out their issues, you can call CWA to talk with a union organizer. He or she will set up a meeting with you and some of your co-workers. Together, you will create a plan for a organizing a union in your workplace.
Learn more about how to organize a union where you work.
The Facts About Labor Unions
"It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic modern nation that it has free and independent labor unions."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Labor unions are made up of working people working together to solve problems, build stronger workplaces and give working families a real voice. Unions give workers a voice on the job about safety, security, pay, benefits—and about the best ways to get the work done. Union workers earn 28 percent more each week than nonunion workers and are much more likely to have health and pension benefits. Unions give working people a voice in government. They represent working families before lawmakers, and make sure politicians never forget that working families voted them into office.
