News

  • T-Mobile's Job Creation Promises Are Sheer Fantasy
    Testifying at a U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing, Shelton warned Congress that the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger will harm thousands of workers and consumers. CWA President Chris Shelton testified in front of Congress on Tuesday at a U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. At the hearing, Shelton warned that the proposed merger will harm thousands of workers and consumers. "This merger would kill American jobs," said Shelton. "We estimate that 30,000 Americans would lose their jobs if this merger is approved. The Wall Street firm, MoffetNathanson, estimates this merger would kill 20,000 jobs. Whether you take their number or ours, you should understand that T-Mobile's job creation promises are sheer fantasy." — Mar 14
  • House Passes Sweeping Pro-Democracy Bill
    On Friday, the U.S. House passed the For the People Act, sponsored by Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.). The sweeping pro-democracy bill contains reforms essential to fixing our political system, including voting rights, money-in-politics, redistricting, and government ethics reforms.   "CWA members are proud to support H.R.1, the For the People Act, a bold step toward fixing our democracy," said CWA President Chris Shelton. "Corporate CEOs and the wealthiest 1% have spent decades rigging the political process against working people by making it harder for them to vote, stacking the courts with activist judges who have allowed our elections to be flooded with massive amounts of unreported corporate money, and weakening ethics rules. It's time to fundamentally reform our political system by passing the For the People Act." Next, CWAers will be pushing for the For the People Act to get a full debate and vote in the Senate.   — Mar 14
  • CWA-Endorsed Candidate wins Phoenix Mayoral Election!
    On Tuesday, CWA-endorsed candidate Kate Gallego was elected as the next Mayor of Phoenix in a runoff election! A group of Arizona CWAers recently completed the first phase of CWA's Political Activist Training and went all-out to elect Gallego. Members of CWA's AZ Retired Members Council chapters also played a critical role in the campaign. — Mar 14
  • CWA Supports Carried Interest Fairness Act to Level Financial Playing Field
    One of the most outrageous loopholes in our tax code is the "carried interest" loophole, which allows hedge fund and private equity fund managers to claim part of what is really salary income as capital gains instead. As a result, they pay about 20% in taxes – a lower rate than that paid by millions of middle-class workers like teachers, firefighters, nurses, and customer service workers. To close this loophole, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Representative Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) this week reintroduced the Carried Interest Fairness Act, which would close the carried interest tax loophole. CWA strongly supports this bill, which would help level the financial playing field for working people. "For years, the carried interest tax loophole has allowed some of the wealthiest people in this country to pay a lower tax rate than millions of middle-income workers," said CWA President Chris Shelton. "Meanwhile, our country's infrastructure is crumbling, our young people struggle to pay college tuition, and critical programs like Social Security and Medicare are constantly under threat. It's time to close the carried interest loophole and make Wall Street pay its fair share." — Mar 14
  • Bill Introduced to Protect Journalists
    The NewsGuild-CWA and NABET-CWA are renewing support for the Journalist Protection Act, introduced this week in the Senate by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and in the House by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). The legislation was originally filed in 2018. "American journalists are facing assaults, threats, intimidation, and even murder simply for fulfilling their First Amendment duties by reporting the news," said NewsGuild President Bernie Lunzer. "The Journalist Protection Act strengthens the free press that's essential to our democracy." The bill would make it a federal crime to intentionally cause bodily injury to a journalist engaged in reporting news, or with the intention of intimidating the journalist or impeding news gathering. The term "Journalist" would include reporters, producers, news gathering crews, and photographers. The bill calls for punishment of up to six years in prison for convicted offenders. "Now more than ever, our industry needs the Journalist Protection Act to ensure both our members and their equipment have an extra layer of defense from attacks," said Charlie Braico, president of NABET-CWA. "It's also another way of saying in these turbulent times that yes, the First Amendment matters – and it's worth protecting." — Mar 14