Frank Mathews, director of the Communications Workers of America District 4, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss a wave of recent union organizing wins and CWA's voter mobilization program heading into the November election.
Mathews highlighted three recent victories: U.S. based Wikimedia Foundation workers voting overwhelmingly to join CWA Local 9415, The Daily Herald newsroom workers in suburban Chicago announcing their intent to form a union with the Chicago News Guild after seeing wages cut 15 percent over a decade alongside repeated buyouts and layoffs, and Unwired Broadband fiber technicians in California's Central Valley and NCR automated teller machine technicians in the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor both winning union elections despite employer opposition.
Mathews connected those wins to the 71 percent public approval rating for unions, which he attributed to economic pressure, a widening wealth gap and strong support from Gen Z and millennial workers. He also walked through CWA's three-pronged voter mobilization approach and directed listeners to cwa-union.org for CWA endorsements by state and the CWA congressional scorecard.
- Union public approval is at 71 percent, according to Gallup polling released Sept. 1. Mathews attributed the surge to economic pressures, including the affordability crisis and inflation, growing awareness of the wealth gap and a generational shift in which Gen Z and millennial workers are increasingly viewing collective bargaining as a path to fairness and economic security. He also noted an AFL-CIO survey that found unions are now trusted more than big business CEOs and both major political parties.
- Recent SWA organizing wins discussed include U.S.-based Wikimedia Foundation workers joining CWA Local 9415, Daily Herald workers in suburban Chicago announcing their intent to form a union after wages were cut 15 percent over a decade alongside buyouts and layoffs, Unwired Broadband fiber technicians in California's Central Valley voting to join despite significant employer opposition and NCR automated teller machine technicians winning their election in a unit covering Chicago, Madison, Wisc. and Milwaukee.
- CWA's voter mobilization program uses three tools: scale-to-win texting with personalized messages from local union members reminding members of voter registration deadlines, early voting dates and Election Day; phone banking; and handwritten postcards from members to members. CWA’s political resources at cwa-union.org include state-by-state endorsements updated daily and a congressional scorecard showing how candidates voted on the last 10 to 12 labor-priority issues, which Mathews described as the most important tool for members trying to understand why specific candidates are endorsed or not endorsed.
A Wave of Recent Wins
Frank Mathews opened with a run of recent organizing victories that illustrate the wave of worker activity and pro-union sentiment.
U.S.-based Wikimedia Foundation workers voted overwhelmingly to join CWA Local 9415. In the suburbs of Chicago, workers at the Daily Herald announced their intent to form a union with the Chicago News Guild. Mathews said the tipping point came after a decade of deteriorating conditions that included wage cuts, reduced workweeks and a series of buyouts and layoffs that steadily eroded the newsroom. Workers facing that level of sustained decline concluded that collective action was the only available path to stability, he said.
In California's Central Valley, Unwired Broadband fiber technicians voted to join the union despite significant anti-union pushback from the company. And in the corridor covering Chicago, Madison, Wisc. and Milwaukee, NCR automated teller machine technicians won their union election as well. Mathews said these wins are representative of a broader pattern driven by workers who have concluded that their employers are taking advantage of them and that collective bargaining is the answer.
What Is Driving the 71 Percent Approval Number
Gallup polling results released Sept. 1 found that 71 percent of Americans approve of unions, while recent AFL-CIO data found that more than half of non-union workers surveyed would join a union if they could.
Mathews said the numbers reflect three converging forces. The first is economic pressure. The affordability crisis, high inflation and soaring living costs have left a significant share of the workforce feeling underpaid and overworked in a labor market where large corporations are capturing a growing share of economic growth. The gap between what workers produce and what they receive is visible and felt daily, he said.
The second is the wealth gap. Growing public awareness of income inequality and the active movement by CEOs and billionaires to shift wealth away from workers and toward capital has turned public opinion toward institutions that counterbalance corporate power. The union is one of the few such institutions that workers can access directly, Mathews said.
The third is a generational shift in attitude. Generation Z and millennial workers are entering the labor force with a different relationship to collective action than the generations that preceded them during the decades of union decline. They see collective bargaining as a path to fairness and security and are acting on that view. Mathews said the shift is evident in who shows up at organizing drives and who sustains momentum through difficult campaigns.
He also noted that unions now poll as more trusted than big business CEOs and the major political parties. That is a significant shift from the perceptions that prevailed during the long period of union decline.
Getting Members to the Polls: The Three-Prong Approach
In advance of the November election, Mathews described CWA's voter mobilization program and the tools it is using to reach members before they head to the polls.
The approach has three components. Scale-to-win texting, which sends personalized messages from local union members to other members at key moments. Messages include reminders when voter registration deadlines are approaching, when early voting opens and the day before Election Day itself. The messages are personal in tone and include links to check or confirm registration status.
Phone banking runs alongside the texting program, reaching members who may be more responsive to a direct conversation. Finally, handwritten postcards from members to members add a personal dimension that digital outreach cannot replicate. Mathews said the combination of touchpoints is designed to ensure every member knows where to vote, when to vote and who CWA has endorsed, regardless of where they start.
How to Find CWA Endorsements and the Congressional Scorecard
Mathews directed listeners to cwa-union.org for two specific resources. The first is state-by-state CWA endorsements, which are being populated and updated daily as endorsements are finalized. Members can click on their state to see who CWA has endorsed in their races.
The second is the CWA congressional scorecard. This online tool shows how candidates voted on issues the CWA identified as labor priorities. It is the tool Mathews said matters most for members who want to understand CWA endorsements. Candidates who did not seek CWA's endorsement often did so because they understood their voting record on labor issues would make an endorsement unlikely. Candidates who sought endorsement were given a questionnaire focused on union and kitchen-table issues: the right to organize, protection of unemployment benefits, protection of Social Security, protection of healthcare and opposition to right-to-work. No fringe issues. Just the issues that determine whether workers can build and maintain a decent life.
To access these resources: go to cwa-union.org, click About in the top navigation and scroll to CWA Political at the bottom of the page.
More information on CWA is available at cwa-union.org.
Go Behind the Scenes of the Labor Movement
Every victory at the bargaining table starts with workers standing together. From the shop floor to the statehouse, hear how activists are fighting for better wages, safer conditions and a stronger future. Subscribe to the America's Work Force Union Podcast to get the latest interviews with the leaders and organizers building worker power across America.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
