About CODE-CWA
Workers Organizing For a Voice.
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries.
We work at major multinational tech companies and tiny startups. We work at small indie game studios and AAA game publishers. We work at top down corporations and equitable worker co-ops.
We use our collective strength to improve conditions for temp, vendor, and contractor workers; to fight against the unethical use of our labor; to end hiring, wage, and retention discrimination; and to ensure that our work is a benefit to our society, not a burden.
A Fighting Union!
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) are hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities!
We are a strong, democratic, and fighting union that doesn't back down from a challenge: whether it's taking on massive tech & media monopolies, fighting police repression of journalists, or ending federal government shutdowns by threatening to strike.
Our History
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) was launched in early 2020 as a new initiative by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to support workers’ organizing efforts in the technology and game industries.
Tech and game companies’ meteoric growth in recent years has been accompanied by growing concerns around workers’ rights and workplace conditions, including the disconnect between the companies’ stated values and the societal impact of the technology. CODE-CWA provides resources for workers who are joining together to demand change.
The Communications Workers of America has a long history of building power with workers in the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector. CWA was founded by telecom workers, and supports media workers through its Newsguild-CWA and NABET-CWA sectors. In the late 1990’s CWA’s WashTech local did pioneering work to address issues faced by Microsoft’s contract workers.
In recent years CWA has built working relationships with worker-led movements in the tech and game industry. Worker-organizers from across the North American Game Workers Unite movement attended the 2019 CWA Convention to connect with CWA members and discuss their shared concerns, which led to the GWU Toronto chapter signing a partnership agreement with CWA Canada. In early 2020 CODE-CWA held it's first worker convening, flying dozens of worker organizers from throughout the tech, games, and digital industries to learn from one another, build connections, and engage in organizer training. Since then we've organized unions at multiple companies, led successful strikes, hosted livestream events, and more.
The workers and organizers in the Communications Workers of America are proud to help self-organizing workers take their movement to the next level, building genuine power for the betterment of their conditions, products, and mission in the world through the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees!