Photo Credit: Tower Climbers Union/CWA
According to an announcement on the Tower Climbers Union website today, the official union local of the Tower Climbers Union/CWA will launch on July 4th, 2023.
The article read, “Having an official TCU/CWA local means access to membership benefits as well as being able to elect our own union leadership for our local. More information on elections is coming soon.”
“Once our union local officially launches, all TCU/CWA union members will have access to new benefits, including discounted dental and vision plans, phone plan discounts, legal services, and more,” the article said.
The local union may be headquarters somewhere in Las Vegas, NV, since the majority of 11 wireless tower technicians at QualTek voted for union representation with the CWA in an election conducted in May of 2022 in Henderson.
QualTek’s local office is the only company that TCU has been successful in achieving an election. However, no reports have been issued by the union that a contract has been reached.
It could take over 420 days, according to a Bloomberg analysis of construction contract ratifications from 2004 to 2021, since the CWA will have to build the agreement from the ground up, and it doesn’t have a template with any company that employs the services of tower climbers.
Adding to the delay will likely be QualTek’s current financial woes.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month with hopes that its debt could be cut almost in half. Its top 30 unsecured creditors are owed nearly $168 million.