UPDATE According to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the tower climbers employed at QualTek in Las Vegas now have full collective bargaining rights with Local 9413 in Nevada. The union announced the results of the election by the company’s tower workers yesterday in Las Vegas. In April, Inside Towers reported on QualTek workers in Henderson, NV petitioning the National Labor Relations Board for admittance into the CWA.
“This is a historic day for hundreds of TCU/CWA members and thousands of tower hands have been watching this closely, hoping for this first victory,” said CWA’s Organizing Coordinator Yonah Diamond. “It’s time for tower hands throughout the country to follow the lead of the union brothers at QualTek in Las Vegas and stand up and say ‘Union Yes!’”
Inside Towers obtained a recently drafted mission statement for the nascent tower workers union that trumpeted the workers’ “skills, dedication, blood, sweat and tears that build and maintain America’s communications infrastructure.” The document called for a union strong enough to “push back on turf vendors and carriers,” whom the organizers say are ‘squeezing’ small and medium sized contractors. The overall stated mission of the CWA is “to champion and defend the interests and well-being of all tower climbers and all who perform work at a wireless site.”
The statement listed the following guidelines:
- We will fight for safety first, always.
- We will build and sustain a higher standard of living and security for workers in the wireless industry.
- We will unite all members into one strong union.
- We will maintain relationships founded upon trust, accountability, integrity, and shared goals.
- We will provide a skilled and productive workforce while ensuring high standards of safety and quality.
- We will secure adequate pay for workers and financial justice from wireless carriers.
- We will fight for better work/life balance for workers in the industry.
- We stand in solidarity with small and medium-sized subcontractors.
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