Legislative & Political
Political Action
In an era of pervasive digital surveillance, you deserve the right to privacy at work. AB1221
Workers are no strangers to being spied on by the boss. But as technology continues to advance, the ways in which your boss can snoop on your business have both increased and become far more invasive. Today, your boss has access to powerful artificial intelligence-powered tools such as speech and biometric data monitoring, retina tracking, emotional and gait analysis and facial recognition, keeping tabs on you at all times. Worse, there is very little accountability for what your boss does with this data, who they share it with, or even who they sell it to. The possibilities are frightening: An employer could use surveillance data for predictive behavior analysis to prevent workers from exercising their constitutional rights or even to determine their immigration status or whether they are pregnant. That’s about to change. California Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, has introduced a bill, Assembly Bill 1221, to ban employers from using these highly invasive technologies and to restrict how and when they can share your data with a third party. Simply put, AB 1221 bans your boss from using technologies such as emotional or gait analysis, which are not only extremely invasive but also unreliable and potentially discriminatory, to spy on you while you work, and it specifically bans employers from using surveillance tools to obtain or infer protected statuses or personal information, such as your health status or the likelihood of unionizing. The bill also requires your boss to notify you in advance when they are introducing surveillance tools, so you can know exactly when, where and how you are being watched. AB 1221 limits how your data can be shared and makes both your boss and any third-party that has your data legally liable if that data is ever breached. Finally, the bill requires your boss to provide corroborating evidence to validate any surveillance data before you can be disciplined or fired, ensuring that human oversight over the technology remains in place. You deserve the right to privacy at work.Contact your state lawmakers and tell them to vote YES on AB 1221! |
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CWA D9 Opposes AB 470
In rural areas of California, with less reliable cellular coverage and inconsistent broadband access, landline telephones are a lifeline to emergency services, community resources, business connections, and friends and family.
A bill before the California Assembly, AB 470, would eliminate AT&T’s obligation to provide telephone services to every home and business in its service territory.
This isn’t AT&T’s first attempt to shirk its obligation to California telephone customers. Just last year, the California Public Utility Commission rejected AT&T’s bid to drop its carrier of last resort responsibilities and the California legislature rejected a bill similar to AB 470.
Call members of the California Assembly's Committee on Communications and Conveyance and tell them, Californians need reliable telephone services and that AT&T must continue to meet its obligations to California’s seniors, farmers, and rural and underserved communities.
Please make a Call - (916) 602-4858 or https://action.cwa.org/call_campaigns/protect-ca-rural-telephone/
The CWA Political Action Fund (PAF) is a non-partisan political action committee that fights for workers' political power. It is your chance to have your voice - and the issues you care about - heard at the local, state and national levels of government. Voluntary contributions to the fund go toward policies and candidates that defend workers' rights.
PRO Act for Worker Power
The PRO Act Means More Power For Union Members
When workers organize, mobilize, and strike together we can build power and win the wages, benefits, and working conditions we need and deserve. But that can be extremely difficult when our current laws keep the balance of power tilted in favor of CEOs and the super-rich.
The problem is, when CEOs and the 1% hold so much power, our economy and laws stay rigged in favor of the wealthy. They get richer while our wages stay stagnant and our working conditions get worse. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is historic legislation that will put power in the hands of workers and reverse decades of legislation meant to crush unions. The bill will completely change labor law as we know it and shift power away from CEOs to workers.
The PRO Act legislation has passed in the House of Representative, March 9, 2021:
The PRO Act will now,
Protect strikes and other protest activities. The bill will make it illegal for employers to permanently replace striking workers and make secondary strikes and boycotts legal.
Make it easier to bargain. The bill will eliminate obstacles for workers to get their first union contract.
Help strengthen protections for workers forming a union. The bill will establish compensatory damages for workers and penalties against employers when they fire or retaliate against workers for forming a union.
Prevent the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.
Deal a blow to “right-to-work” laws.
And much more!
Build Better Broadband
Americans need high speed, affordable broadband to work, learn, shop and succeed in the world today, but millions of us don’t have reliable internet access.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden, will send $65 billion in grants to states and communities across the country to build and improve their broadband networks.
These funds must be spent wisely so the job is done right, which includes using the best available technology and making sure that the work is done by trained, experienced union workers. That’s why CWA members are getting involved at the state and local level to set labor standards and strengthen oversight agencies.
SB 1460, the Broadband Labor Standards Act
Tell the California Senate Appropriations Committee: Support Strong Labor Standards!
A bill before the California Senate's powerful Appropriations Committee, SB 1460, the Broadband Labor Standards Act, would give CWA members and other union workers a seat at the table for developing labor standards for broadband deployment projects that are awarded grants by state agencies, expand high-quality training and education for workers entering the telecommunications industry, and expand opportunity and economic prosperity for California workers.
Please enter your information to be connected to members of the Appropriations Committee to let them know you support strong labor standards in California for building a robust broadband network.
Together, we will continue to fight to:
- Strengthen workers' rights by passing legislation like the PRO Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act that will make it easier for private and public sector workers to organize unions and bargain fair contracts.
- Build a fair democracy by passing legislation like the For the People Act so our government serves the people, not just wealthy and corporate interests, and everyone can exercise their right to vote.
- Protect good, union jobs by stopping offshoring and outsourcing of work and eliminating rules like "One-Touch, Make-Ready.”
- Ensure the tax code works for everyone by making the super-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.
- Ensure quality, affordable internet access to all, built by union workers.
CWA Political Action Fund is how we the Union have won victories across the country!
- President Joe Biden who has been the most vocally pro-union president in decades has vowed to strengthen organized labor and collective bargaining.
- We took back the Senate by electing two pro-union senators in Georgia.
- The PRO Act and the For the People Act have passed in the House of Representatives.
- Since 2019, six states have passed laws to stop corporations from sending call center jobs overseas.
- Stopped the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal by CWA activists and our broad coalition of groups by exposing the risks that the trade deal posed to jobs.
- The American Rescue Plan was signed into law by President Biden, providing COVID relief to workers and working class families and thier unions.