News

CWA President Chris Shelton Encourages All CWAers to Get Involved in the Fight to Ensure Broadband Funding Supports Jobs for CWA Members
CWA leaders from across the country joined President Chris Shelton and CWA’s Broadband Brigade members for a virtual meeting earlier this month to learn more about how to get involved in CWA’s ongoing campaign to ensure that the federal broadband buildout funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill are used to support good jobs for CWA members. President Shelton thanked the CWA leaders for joining a critical conversation and stressed the need for everyone to get involved to help make sure as much of the work to expand access to high speed, affordable internet service for all communities is done by CWA members. “I’ve never been prouder of the work of this union than what I’ve seen this kick-ass group of members do. I urge you to work closely with them as we move forward with making sure that we take full advantage of this opportunity presented to us to secure good, union jobs and make a real difference for our country by bringing true high speed broadband to every community,” added Shelton, uplifting CWA’s Broadband Brigade members for their continued advocacy and hard work. Watch the video from the virtual town hall here. — Jun 23
CWAers Recommit to Fighting for Systemic Change at the 2022 Poor People’s Campaign Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington
On Saturday, hundreds of CWA members from across the country, other union members, activists, elected officials, faith leaders, community allies, and social justice advocates gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington. The event featured Christina Jimenez, a Maximus worker from Hattiesburg, Miss., who is organizing with her colleagues to form a union with CWA. Christina spoke up about the struggles of providing for her three children as a single mother while being denied a livable wage and affordable healthcare. Filled with so much passion and determination, she led the crowd in a chant saying, “We are not numbers, we are human.” The CWA members and other activists who participated in the assembly and march called on elected leaders to do more to address social and economic equality in all its forms and enact real policies to fully address poverty and low wealth from the bottom up. Watch the livestream from the event here. — Jun 23
IUE-CWA Activists Gather to Build Skills to Strengthen Our Union
Over 50 IUE-CWA local women’s committee chairs from across the country met in Washington, D.C., last week as part of IUE-CWA’s National Women’s Program. The goal of the program is to develop and provide ongoing support for local women activists throughout IUE-CWA. The two-day event featured guest speakers, panel discussions, and various activities to help build internal organizing and leadership skills. CWA President Chris Shelton, Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens, and other CWA Executive Board members, including CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings Jr.; CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton; CWA Telecommunications and Technologies Sector Vice President Lisa Bolton; CWA Public, Health Care and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook; NewsGuild-CWA President John Schleuss, and Southeast Region At-Large Executive Board Member Vera Mikell spoke to participants and expressed their support for the program. ~~~ In addition, IUE-CWA Diversity Ambassadors recently participated in a training in Atlanta, Ga., to share experiences and learn from each other. The group of phenomenal leaders left re-energized to go back to their local unions and promote diversity and inclusion to strengthen our union. — Jun 23
Media unions tell FCC to reject local news takeover
The NewsGuild-CWA and NABET-CWA petitioned the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to reject the attempted takeover of TEGNA by hedge fund Standard General and private equity firm Apollo Global Management. “Local news is being murdered by Wall Street. The attempted takeover of TEGNA is just the latest example. Standard General and Apollo don’t care about journalism. They care about money,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. “Our union — thousands of journalists and media workers — is aggressively fighting to save the news industry, local journalism jobs and our democracy.” “We call on the FCC to reject this takeover attempt because it will further erode local news and raise consumer prices at the worst possible time,” Schleuss said. The two media unions pointed out that a takeover of TEGNA would likely reduce local news jobs, raise consumer prices and violate the FCC’s ownership cap. Last week Standard Media CEO Deb McDermott sent an unusual email to TEGNA employees saying the company has “no intention, and have never had the intention, of reducing news or news staff at TEGNA stations.” Standard Media is a subsidiary of hedge fund Standard General. “The word ‘intention’ is doing a lot of work here,” Schleuss said. “Standard General isn’t promising to preserve jobs.” In an April 2020 presentation to the TEGNA board called “Tomorrow’s TEGNA,” Standard General said that TEGNA is overstaffed compared to its corporate peers, with double the number of employees per station. “They should be clear: Standard General plans to cut jobs,” Schleuss said. The Guild first raised questions in April about the proposed transaction: Would the deal further erode local journalism? Why are the companies asking for a waiver of foreign ownership rules without a commitment to preserve local journalism? Is the deal structured in a way to circumvent broadcast ownership limits? Will it raise prices for consumers? In May, The NewsGuild, Common Cause and Public Knowledge asked the FCC to delay the acquisition and requested more information. The FCC approved a one-month delay and requested more information from the companies involved in the acquisition. In early June NewsGuild President Schleuss called on President Biden in an open letter to urge the FCC to reject the attempted takeover of TEGNA. Both TNG-CWA and NABET-CWA represent workers at TEGNA stations and other media workers in TEGNA markets. TEGNA operates 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets. At the end of 2021, TEGNA reported 6,200 full- and part-time employees in its annual report filed with the SEC. The number at the end of 2020 was 6,430. TEGNA had cut 3.58% of its workforce during 2021. If Standard General thought that TEGNA had twice as many employees as necessary to generate profits in April 2020, and the company cut less than 4% of its workforce since those remarks were made, then Standard General apparently believes it necessary to cut hundreds more jobs from the company. _______________________ About The NewsGuild-CWAThe NewsGuild’s members include journalists, interpreters, translators, workers at organizations dedicated to fighting for social justice and the staff of nonprofit organizations. The NewsGuild is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents workers in telecommunications and information technology, the airline industry, health care, public service and education, manufacturing and other fields. About NABET-CWAThe National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians represents more than 10,000 workers in broadcasting and related industries. NABET is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents workers in telecommunications, news, manufacturing, state and local government, nursing, policing and other fields. CONTACT: Sally Davidow[email protected]202-368-3324 — Jun 22
New Report Exposes Cost & Quality Drawbacks of Fixed Wireless Technologies in Delivering Broadband to Rural Communities
CTC Technology & Energy finds cost, sustainability of fiber-to-the-premises networks outweigh fixed wireless amid nationwide broadband buildout NATIONWIDE — Amidst the largest ever federal investment in broadband buildout in the U.S., a new report finds fixed wireless technologies fall short of fiber optic networks when it comes to delivering cost effective, high quality broadband services in rural areas. The report, authored by CTC Technology & Energy (CTC), commissioned by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and published by the Benton Institute, analyzes a candidate fixed wireless network as compared to a candidate fiber optic network in the same real-world settings across a variety of rural geographies. Ultimately, the report finds that fiber networks are more suitable for rural broadband deployment when it comes to bandwidth, costs, overall quality, and long-term sustainability. The report, “Fixed wireless technologies and their suitability for broadband delivery,” aims to provide an accessible guide to current and anticipated future fixed wireless technologies. It comes as states begin to develop their broadband action plans to qualify for funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocates a minimum of $100 million per state for build-out. In all, the federal government has appropriated more than $100 billion towards providing Americans with high-speed, affordable internet through both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and American Rescue Plan. Key findings from the report include:
- Challenges – Fixed wireless network coverage is adversely affected by line-of-sight obstructions (including buildings and seasonal foliage) and weather, and it is challenging to design a fixed wireless network that is both cost-effective and provides comprehensive coverage of unserved areas.
- Bandwidth – The theoretical bandwidth of fiber is thousands of times higher than fixed wireless. Meanwhile, fixed wireless networks have inherent capacity limitations that sharply limit the number of users on a given network.
- Sustainability – Fiber is sustainable, scalable, and renewable. It offers greater capacity, predictable performance, lower maintenance costs, and a longer technological lifetime than fixed wireless technologies, and has no line-of-sight or capacity issues.
- Cost – While initial capital costs are higher for fiber than for fixed wireless network deployments (most of the capital cost for fiber relates to construction), ongoing operational costs for fixed wireless are higher. A major operational cost for fixed wireless is equipment replacement, while other large costs include construction of tower sites and wholesale internet.
“The U.S. is in the middle of the largest publicly-subsidized broadband buildout in history. With the potential to bring essential connectivity to millions of Americans currently lacking internet access, states must ensure that they are closely investigating all network options and choosing the most suitable technologies,” said CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton, who spoke at a webinar presenting the new report. “What we cannot do is expend public dollars on inferior technologies that have slower, less reliable service than fiber, once again leaving behind lower-income, rural, and tribal communities. That’s what the study shows in terms of dollars and cents. States must have long-term solutions and sustainability in mind when making these critical decisions.” With 22 percent of all Americans living in rural areas lacking access to fixed broadband services at threshold speeds, CTC and CWA’s analysis provides states critical insight into the technologies needed to ensure quality, sustainable, and affordable internet for millions. “The IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) creates the opportunity to bring broadband to unserved Americans that is the same or better than what served Americans have—and to ensure that what is built has a long, useful life. This analysis is informed by thorough street by street designs in multiple small town and rural environments to estimate costs and the technical strengths and weaknesses of fiber and wireless approaches,” said Dr. Andrew Afflerbach, P.E., CTC CEO and Chief Technology Officer. “The report demonstrates that in most environments, fiber and wireless have similar long-term total costs of operation. Moreover, fiber optics can continue operating and be upgraded at a much lower cost than a wireless network.” As states determine their broadband infrastructure for buildout, the report recommends state grant makers investigate the following parameters in order to ensure a high-performance, scalable, financially sustainable, long-lasting solution:
1. The proposed network’s speed and latency that will be immediately available, starting with a requirement of 100/20 Mbps to the premises.
2. The network’s speed & latency and cost to operate the network in five years, 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years.
3. The capital cost to construct the network and to deliver the level of service promised in five, 10, 15, and 20 years.
4. The network’s ability to provide cost-effective service to all individuals in the service area, including the strategy for obtaining line-of-sight for fixed wireless deployments.
5. The network’s resiliency, including the ability for key components to continue operating during a power failure or service cut and the ability to restore service quickly.
More detailed recommendations for states’ broadband buildout can be found on Page 51 of the report. ### About Communications Workers of America:The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, and manufacturing. About CTC Technology & Energy:CTC Technology & Energy is an independent communications and IT engineering consulting firm with more than 30 years of experience. We work at the highest levels on cutting-edge communications networking projects for public sector and non-profit clients throughout the U.S.
— Jun 22

Optical Workers Local 408