CWA Local Defeats Decertification and Defends Union Organizer

Members of CWA Local 7250 working for Rove Pest Control in St. Paul, Minn., recently foiled an attempt by the company to decertify their union. The workers formed a union in September 2023 in response to a lack of dignity, stagnant wages, and a sometimes chaotic work environment due to the high turnover rate. Since December 2023, the workers have been negotiating a first contract even as the company launched an aggressive decertification campaign.

CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson, speaking about the anti-union campaign, said, “Rove put the one anti-union worker in the unit in charge of training new employees. This person used the position to lobby and vet the new employees in terms of union support. One young woman was laid off after she twice declined to sign the petition calling for a decertification.”

During the lead-up to the vote, CWA Local 7250 representatives and pro-union workers held conversations with the new employees, explaining the tactics the company was using and the benefits of collective bargaining. The final vote tally returned only a single vote against the union, demonstrating the power of organizing and solidarity.

A CWA bargaining committee made up of workers from the unit and CWA Local 7250 representatives has now returned to the table to complete the contract.

CWA Local 7250 is also engaged in a battle at Activision Quality Assurance in suburban Minneapolis, where a union organizer was unjustly terminated. Allen Junge, a key worker/organizer who helped win union recognition for the Activision Quality Assurance group in 2024, was fired after the company accused him of violating company policy via the company Slack communications app.

In a press release, CWA Local 7250 noted, “We believe that Allen's termination is not about safety but about retaliation for his key role in standing up for co-workers and unionizing Activision. The company has refused to engage in good-faith discussions about this discipline and lied about specific details of Allen's termination.”

Last week, representatives of the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Activision with the National Labor Relations Board.

You can help get Allen reinstated by signing the union’s petition.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.