CODE-CWA Newsletter: May 12
Writers Guild of America is on strike! Solidarity with @WGAEast@WGAWest!Photo source.
For the first time since 2007, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike. After six weeks of negotiations, writers voted with 97% support to strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Among these major Hollywood Studios, Apple Studios unsurprisingly is refusing to negotiate a fair contract. Members of the Apple Retail Workers Union-CWA in Oklahoma City released a statement in solidarity with WGA members on strike, affirming that “Apple’s refusal to play fair will not stop us from fighting for our fair share. We are united and we will prevail."
It’s the workers, not the bosses, who make these large companies run. WGA members exercising their right to their labor power is demonstrating exactly that; entire productions are shutting down as WGA writers are standing up to the executives and saying “no more.”
Workers across industries have been standing up, too. With CODE-CWA, tech, game and digital workers are joining together to exercise our power. Learn more and get involved with organizing with CODE-CWA!
Trainings
Join us on Saturday, May 13 at 10AM ET/ 7 AM PT or Sunday, May 21 at 1PM ET/ 10AM PT for an organizer training, where we talk about connecting with co-workers and union basics.
Join us on Saturday, May 20 at 1 PM ET/ 10 AM PT for a building the committee training, where we talk about how to build a strong organizing committee.
Check the CODE-CWA organizer training program for upcoming classes!
Worker News
Members of Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA-CWA, CWA Local 9510. Shoutout to @takesAEGIS! Photo source.
Tell SEGA of America leadership: Live up to your values & support workers’ rights!
A supermajority of workers at Sega of America have announced that they’re unionizing with CWA in order to have a seat at the table and improve working conditions. Stand with Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA (AEGIS-CWA) and call on Sega of America leadership to commit to union neutrality and not interfere with workers’ rights to unionize! Sign the petition here
Alphabet Workers Union-CWA becomes its own local!
Alphabet Workers Union-CWA is now its own union local: CWA Local 9009. When AWU-CWA launched, workers were a part of CWA Local 1400, a preexisting local that helped workers get started and taught them the ropes. Now AWU-CWA is ready to stand on new legs as its own local and move their virtual HQ from New Hampshire to Mountain View, CA. Read more from Alphabet Workers Union-CWA here.
New Joint Employer Rule to Test Tech Companies’ Union Playbook
Workers at YouTube Music voted unanimously to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union, a Communications Workers of America affiliate, which will force Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc., into contract negotiations with a union for the first time in its history. Read more on Bloomberg
Apple Executive in Charge of TV+ and Sports Businesses to Depart
Apple’s Executive, in charge of its TV+ and Sports businesses, Pete Distad, is leaving the company, marking the third major departure from Apple’s services organization this year. Could it be the continued pressure of workers joining together to organize? Read more on Bloomberg
Why 340,000 UPS workers are preparing to strike in the US
United Parcel Service (UPS) workers and the company are in negotiations over a new contract. The workers, who are vital to the country’s economy, often don’t have time to return home for a full night of sleep or are forced to rest in shelters because their pay is too low to afford a room. Workers are demanding better pay, more full-time work, and better job security among other benefits. Read more on Peoples Dispatch
150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting
More than 150 workers whose labor underpins the AI systems of Facebook, TikTok and ChatGPT gathered in Nairobi and pledged to establish the first African Content Moderators Union, in a move that could have significant consequences for the businesses of some of the world’s biggest tech companies. Read more on Time
ChatGPT is powered by these contractors making $15 an hour
“We are grunt workers, but there would be no AI language systems without it,” said Savreux, who’s done work for tech startups including OpenAI, the San Francisco company that released ChatGPT in November and set off a wave of hype around generative AI. “You can design all the neural networks you want, you can get all the researchers involved you want, but without labelers, you have no ChatGPT. You have nothing,” Savreux said. Read more on NBC
This Week in History
4th May, 1886 – A mass rally in Chicago in honor of International Workers’ Day (May 1) in Haymarket Square was targeted and violently repressed, resulting in an international movement in defense of the eight workers put on trial. This incident placed the U.S. working class, and especially the movement for the eight-hour work day, at the center of the world workers’ movement.
Song of the Week
Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'
Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it
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Apple Workers Awarded Settlement by NLRB in Apple Retail Workers Union-CWA Victory
