- Communications Workers of America, one of the country's largest labor unions, is launching a new initiative to support workers' organizing efforts in the tech and gaming industries, the group announced Tuesday.
- Tech and gaming employees have become increasingly vocal about workplace issues, speaking out on things like sexual assault and harassment, pay discrimination, and being over-worked.
- The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees, or CODE-CWA, will aim to help workers "reach the next level in their efforts to exercise their right to join together and demand change," CWA president Chris Shelton said in a statement.
- CWA has hired organizers from labor group Game Workers Unite and the Fight for $15 campaign to lead the new initiative.
- In November, CWA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of four Google workers who allege they were fired as retaliation for their organizing activities.
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Communications Workers of America, one of the country's largest labor unions, is launching a new initiative to help tech and gaming workers seeking to organize, the group announced Tuesday.
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees, or CODE-CWA, will provide organizers in the industries with resources and support.
"Companies in the technology and game industries have gotten away with avoiding accountability for far too long," CWA president Chris Shelton said in an emailed statement, adding that "workers in these industries are exposing the reality behind the rhetoric."
CWA has hired Emma Kinema, co-founder of labor group Game Workers Unite, and Wes McEnany, one of the leaders of the Fight for $15 campaign, to help lead the initiative.
"Workers in the tech and game industries face unique challenges, and CWA's expertise taking on massive corporations in the technology, media and telecom sector is a big asset as workers build genuine power to address these challenges," Kinema said in a statement.
Over the past few years, workers in the tech and gaming industries have become increasingly outspoken on a range of workplace issues including sexual harassment, discrimination, unequal pay, and "crunch time," a practice that involves over-working employees ahead of product launches.
Recently, Google cafeteria staff in the Bay Area, Google contractors in Pittsburgh, and employees at Kickstarter have all unionized, while various tech labor groups have sprung up. At the same time, major tech companies like Amazon, Tesla, Uber, and Google have been accused of trying to thwart workers' efforts to unionize.
In November, CWA filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of four Google workers who allege they were fired in retaliation for their involvement in organizing activities and voicing dissent over company policies. Google has denied claims that it fired workers for their organizing efforts.
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