Wednesday, February 15, 2023
CWA secured billions of dollars of federal funding for States to build out broadband to unserved and underserved areas as part of the Infrastructure Bill and the American Rescue Plan.
In 2022, our Legislative & Political Action Team members fought hard to ensure that all the money allocated to New York State, $1.6 Billion in total, had strong labor standards attached so that as broadband is expanded in New York, the work goes to high-road employers with highly-skilled union labor, like us.
These wins included:
- Prevailing wage so that good union employers, like ours, don’t get undercut by low-road subcontractors.
- Preference for companies that have strong workplace safety standards
- Qualifications so the companies our members work for get this funding
- Prioritizing providers that offer speeds of 1GB up and down
Just recently, we saw how the last few years of political work have begun to pay off for our members. While most of the federal money has yet to be awarded in New York State, recently, Onondaga County, NY received 11.1 million in funding to expand broadband to rural areas. Through a partnership with CWA, Verizon secured that bid[1] and now all that new work is going to us! This was a major victory - and just beginning of the work we need to do to expand work for our members.
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