Tentative Agreement Reached!

Contract Highlights

Wage Increases

• Effective 10/1/2022, a 5% wage increase.

• Effective 10/1/2023, a 2.5% wage increase.

• Effective 10/1/2024, a 2.5% wage increase.

• The Wage scale for Represented Counsel will be 7% above the Staff rep scale

No increases in percentage of healthcare premium!

Path to Permanency for SIF/Growth Fund Employees

• Regular full time status after 3 years (possible 6 month extension by mutual agreement)

• Car allowance and tuition aid after 2 years (allowance option only)

3 Year Contract expiring in 2025

Additional Improvements as follows:

• Improvements to Parental Leave

• APP Increase (1% increase in Employer Contribution to 8.5%)

• Increased Vacation for Employees with 0-14 years of service

• Increased car allowance +$25 each year of the agreement

• Increased Car Allowance Mileage to ½ IRS rate

• Increased non-overnight meal allowance from $17.50 to $25.00

• Increased phone stipend from $55 to $65 

Summary

• Gendered Language

  • Remove all gendered language from the contract by replacing “his/her” with “their” and “he/she” with “them.”

• Article 1 - Recognition

  • Eliminated the grouping “temporary staff” and add Senior Campaign Lead, Campaign Lead and Campaign Assistant.

• Temporary Staff - New Article

  • Campaign Titles

    1. Temporary staff with campaign titles are defined as those hired and employed for up to three (3) years on one or more SIF/Growth fund projects or campaigns, and hired into any of the three “campaign” job titles designated in Article 1.1 of the recognition clause. 

    2. An additional 6 months may be added for temp staff by mutual agreement

    3. Temporary Staff will be excluded from the following:

       1. Article 9 NCS - except for vacation allotment.

       2. Article 10.1: Temporary Employees do not have access to layoff and bumping language until reaching the three year mark.

       3. Article 12 -Transfer Expense

       4. Article 14 except for 14.6 and 14.7

       5. Article 16 - LOA

       6. Article 19 except for 19.5

       7. Appendix A- (Moving Expense is not exempted)

       8. MOUs:Staff Surplus and Vacancy Plan, Tuition Aid

    4. At the completion of two (2) years of employment in these campaign titles, the Employee shall no longer be exempted from Articles 9, 19 (except eligible Campaign Titles shall only have access to 19.2, Transportation and Mileage Expense Allowance, not staff cars), Appendix A, and MOUs and Tuition Aid

  • Temporary Staff that are used to replace Staff reps or DOCs will be excluded from:

    1. Article 5, Article 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, Appendix A, Staff Surplus and Vacancy Plan, Tuition Aid

• Union Shop- Article 2

  • The Union will be provided with 2 hours of orientation time.

• Employee Information - Article 4

  • The CWA will provide additional information to the Union

    1. Rate of Pay

    2. Work location

    3. Work and mobile phone number- if on file

    4. Funding source, SIF/Growth Fund & length of funding (if applicable)

• Leaves of Absence- Article 16

  • All represented staff who have less than six (6) months of Net Credited Service shall be entitled to four (4) sick days upon the first day of employment. 

• Parental Leave- Article 11

  • 6.2 Sick.Parental.Leave (click link for language)

• Vacations- Article 15

  • Less than 1 year of Service: One week of vacation during the calendar year in which at least three months (but less than one year) of net credited service are completed.

  • 0-4 years of service: Three weeks’ vacation during the calendar year in which one year of net credited service is completed and during each subsequent year until the year in which five years of net credited service are completed.

  • 5-9 years of service: Four weeks’ vacation during the calendar year in which five years of net credited service are completed and during each subsequent year until the year in which ten years of net credited service are completed.

  • 10+ years of service: Five weeks’ vacation during the calendar year in which ten years of net credited service are completed, and during each subsequent calendar year.

  • Vacation carryover language has been clarified to comply with various state laws but no changes to existing practice of carrying over 3 weeks of vacation per year.

  • Should a Staff Person die while actively employed by CWA, any unused vacation time shall be included in the employee’s final paycheck.

  • TA of Vacation Language.

• Life Insurance Article 20

  • Removal of Temp staff language, language cleanup.

• Tuition Aid

  • Courses must be related to work

  • The cost must be reasonable

  • A request for tuition aid must be made at least sixty (60) days in advance of any enrollment deadline.

  • If the employee voluntarily leaves employment within two (2) years of receiving the tuition aid towards a degree program , the employee shall refund CWA the full amount of the tuition aid received within those two (2) years.

  • The tuition aid shall be capped at $35,000 for all bargaining unit employees per fiscal year. Tuition aid shall be considered on a first come, first serve basis, except that, where more than one request has been made and not yet approved, priority shall be given on the basis of (1) allowing an employee to complete an ongoing program of study where a previous course in that program had already been approved and satisfactorily completed, and (2) seniority.

  • One-off employee professional development type courses are not part of the tuition aid program, do not count against the cap, and are provided for at the total discretion of CWA.

• Work From Home

  • Agreement has been extended but may be ended by either party with 120 day notice

• Job Preference Article 21

  • Extended to all BU employees

  • Nothing in this Agreement prohibits CWA from re-assigning employees at its discretion from one SIF or Growth fund project to another, provided this does not result in an involuntary relocation.  This may be done in lieu of posting a job.

  • When CWA determines, at its discretion, a job function and geography for a permanent Growth Fund position within the scope of the bargaining unit, the position shall be subject to the processes under this Article, except where the employee is already performing such a job function in such geography.   In such cases, such employees shall fill the permanent Growth Fund position.  If multiple employees are performing the job function in the geography, then the most senior of such employees shall fill the permanent Growth Fund position.

• Delete SIF/Growth Fund MOA in order to incorporate Campaign Job Titles into contract.

  • SIF/Growth Fund Clean up 

• Training and Development Committee

  • New MOU

  • Within sixty (60) days following ratification of the contract, the parties shall form a training and career development committee.  The purpose of the committee shall be to work collaboratively to assist in developing and implementing a comprehensive orientation program, opportunities for training and career development, and a mentorship program. There shall be four (4) CWA Staff Union members participating on the committee representing Staff Representatives, District Organizing Coordinators, workplace organizers in campaign titles, and legislative/political organizers in campaign titles.

• Layoff Article 14

  • Significant changes made to Layoff Article in order to incorporate Campaign job titles into contract. See full TA of Layoff article.

• Uniform Expense Treatment- Article 18

  • M&I - Increase from $17.50 to $25 dollars on non-overnight meal allowance.

  • Cell phone- Increase to $65 reimbursement if you use your own phone.

  • $55 dollar reimbursement for the internet if you MUST work from home- there is no office for you. You do not receive this if you elect to work from home.

  • Credit card- annual reimbursement up to 95 dollars - must be used for reimbursable expenses

• Health Insurance

  • No changes cost sharing remains at 1.25% of Salary for Employee Only and 2.00% of Salary for Employee, Spouse or Domestic Partner.

• Healthcare/Health Services- New Article. Reproductive and Gender Affirming Care Travel Reimbursement

  • CWA will provide up to $4,000 total in reasonable travel expense reimbursement for a covered person described below to travel to the nearest location in order to obtain reproductive or gender-affirming health services if such services are prohibited in the state where the covered person resides. This reimbursement may also be used to cover travel expenses for one support person. Covered persons are any bargaining unit member, spouse or dependent enrolled in CWA’s medical plan.The process for the covered person obtaining and for CWA providing this benefit will be designed at CWA’s discretion, in consultation with the Staff Union, and with the covered person’s privacy protected to the extent practicable.

• Probationary Period - New Article

  • All new employees will have a 6 month probationary period

• Side Letter – Dental Implants

  • CWA will add the option of dental implants with a 10% employer copay to its existing dental plan for active employees.

• Definitions

  • Added to clarify a few areas of the contract.

• Transportation- Article 19

  • Staff Reps, DOC’s, and represented council will continue be eligible for a staff car.

  • Effective October 1, 2022, the car allowance will increase to $575 per month.

  • Effective October 1, 2023, the car allowance will increase to $600 per month.

  • Effective October 1, 2024, the car allowance will increase to $625 per month.

  • Regular full-time employees, who have not opted for a staff car or are not eligible for one, are entitled to this allowance.

  • As of December 31, 2022, CWA will no longer administer Liberty Mutual automobile insurance payments, including payroll deductions, for employees. So long as Liberty Mutual continues to offer the discount, bargaining unit employees may instead obtain automobile insurance directly from Liberty Mutual at a ten percent (10%) discount by identifying themselves as CWA employees.

  • All bargaining unit employees shall consent to any necessary periodic motor vehicle records check to satisfy CWA’s obligations to its insurance company.

  • Due to current issues with vehicles being out of stock, CWA will be implementing a trial with alternative options for employees to be able to purchase a staff care. Please see Vehicle “Out of Stock” Purchase. Note: This applies only to Staff Rep, DOC, and Represented Counsel job titles.

• Hyatt Legal Plan

  • Deletion of Legal Plan option. Some limited legal benefits continue to be available from Lifeworks and UnionPlus.

  • Hyatt Legal will be replaced with the following benefits

    • Union Plus: https://www.unionplus.org/benefits/home/legal-help

    • Lifeworks Legal Options

    • Metlife Insurance has a Will Service for those employees that have Optional Life Insurance, but it will cost a fee to do the fee.

• Payment Treatment

  • 0-24 month Steps will be removed for Staff Rep, DOC, and Represented Counsel job titles. Scales will be adjusted accordingly. There are no employees in these steps. This is just language cleanup, since these steps had not previously been used.

• Duration

  • Effective October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2025

Bargaining Update #6

Bargaining Update #6

The Staff Union Bargaining committee has met with CWA for 12 bargaining sessions.  We continue to make progress at every session.  The current items that are open are as follows:

Temporary Staff - This article is part of a package proposal on the issues regarding SIF/Growth Fund issues and relates to the issue of a path to permanency.  We are close to an agreement on these issues.

Layoff - We have an outstanding proposal in this article related to job security.

Definitions - This will be a new article. Minor Language issues outstanding

Pension & 401(k) - We continue to have dialogue about making improvements to Pension/401(k).

Healthcare & Dental - We successfully fought off an increase in healthcare.  We have an agreement in principle to keep healthcare ‘as is’ and make a small improvement to the dental plan related to dental implants.

Transportation - We are in agreement in principle to modest improvements on the allowance and mileage.  There are still outstanding issues related to the staff car.

Duration - The Union has proposed a 3 year contract.

Wages - A fair wage increase continues to be a main priority. We are currently spending the bulk of our discussions to ensure that we leave no money on the table.

Mobilization Update

Thank you to the mobilization committee and to all of you for your support and participation with mobilization activities. We see you and we know CWA sees you, too. This is evidenced by the movement at the table. We are very close to a fair deal that we hope to be able to present to you all, very soon.

Here are 3 things you can do now to show your solidarity with the CWA Staff Union

1. Update your profile pic on your CWA Google account with our Staff Union logo

2. Add the logo image to your email signature line and include a statement of support, ex. “Proud Member of the CWA Staff Union”

3. Update your Zoom account

   • You can change your Zoom profile pic in the Settings

   • Add our CWA Staff Union Zoom Background to your meetings

Stay vigilant and stay mobilized!  

Contract Expiration

We have gotten some questions about what happens if we do not have a contract at expiration.  If a contract expires before the next contract is in place, almost all the terms of the expired contract continue while the parties bargain (the exception being union security and arbitration provisions).

The next bargaining sessions are 9/29 and 9/30 via zoom.

Bargaining Update #5

The Staff Union Bargaining Committee met with CWA via Zoom for partial day sessions on August 19th, 23rd, and 24th.

• The parties were able to reach a TA on the following items:

  • Vacations: Increase of one week of vacation for everyone with less than 15 years of service.  Additional clarification of language to comply with various state laws.

  • Reproductive and Gender Affirming Care Travel Reimbursement (up to $4000).

• We have had positive discussions and movement on the SIF/Growth Fund Issue. In conjunction with this issue, we spent a lot of time over the last few days discussing the layoff article and incorporating SIF/Growth fund titles into this article.

• We had dialogue with the Secretary/Treasurer's office over issues with Staff Car requests and are waiting for additional information from them over this issue.

• CWA owes us a complete response to our economic proposal.

• Our next bargaining session is September 7th.

If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Executive Board Member or mobilizer. 

Bargaining Update #4

The Staff Union Bargaining Committee met with CWA via Zoom for a half day on July 29.

• The parties were able to reach a TA on the following items:

  •  Probationary Period: 6 month probationary period for all new hires.

  •  New Training and Development Committee. 

  • Improvements for the in-town Per Diem and Cell Phone Allowance

  • Monthly allowance for employees who do not have a workspace or office and work from home.

• We continue to discuss the framework for the elimination of two tiers in the contract and creating a path to regular full time for our members in campaign job titles. This is connected to a package proposal on a number of issues including Job Bidding, Tuition Reimbursement, Layoff, and the Temporary Employee Language.  We are still working through language issues with a number of these articles.  We continue to remain apart on the length of service required for those in campaign titles to earn regular-full-time status.   

• We are still having discussions with CWA regarding their hiring practices of Campaign Titles.

• The S/T office is slated to update the bargaining committee on outstanding car requests - an update to our members will follow.

• Our economic response is still pending, until we have more info on the APP.

• Our next scheduled meeting is August 19, 2022.

Our mobilizers are in the process of collecting statements from as many members as possible. Huge shout out to D3 and D1 for leading the pack on this.  If you haven’t sent in a statement, photo, or video - it’s not too late - please submit yours to your mobilizer as soon as possible. We must mobilize!!

As a reminder if your PC is having issues, please contact PC support and let us know if you continue to have issues.

If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Executive Board Member or mobilizer. 

Bargaining Update #3

The Staff Union Bargaining Committee met with CWA (Jody Calemine, CWA Chief of Staff and Marilyn Klinger, Director of HR) for two days on July 19 and July 20. 

•  The Staff Union presented additional non-economic and economic proposals, including proposals to increase the benefit of the APP and to investigate a “Rule of” option for the plan.  

• We had additional discussion on a number of items.  Over the two days, we continued to discuss the framework for the elimination of two tiers in the contract and creating a path to regular full time for our members in campaign job titles.  We remain far apart on the length of service required for those in campaign titles to earn regular-full-time status.

• We are still having discussions with CWA in regards to the hiring practices of Campaign Titles.

• We’ve had continued talks of our concern around members who have outstanding car requests.

• We are waiting for a complete response to our economic proposals.

We thank all the members who have sent in words of support and encouragement.  We cannot do this without you!  The mobilizers are in the process of collecting statements from as many members as possible.   If you haven’t sent in a statement, photo, or video, please submit that to your mobilizer as soon as possible.

If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Executive Board Member or mobilizer.