Listen: Unions Urge 10,000 to Boycott T-Mobile
The CWA is among a group of unions urging customers to boycott T-Mobile in answer to the company’s craven kowtowing to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of “What’s Going On?” Communications Workers of America [CWA] President Claude Cummings Jr. joins Julianna Forlanno to discuss a nationwide boycott of T-Mobile in response to the wireless carrier’s about-face on DEI and embrace of President Trump and Elon Musk as part of their bid to close two deals that needed FCC approvals.
The CWA, along with the American Federation of Teachers and several other groups are hoping to get at least 10,000 T-Mobile subscribers to boycott the carrier.
Cummings specifically called out the Trump administration's unprecedented union-busting campaign that includes his effort at stripping away the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of federal civil servants, close to a third of whom are military veterans.
Compounding the wholesale assault on union rights, President Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr have linked granting regulatory approvals for mergers sought by the employers of late night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel with the cancellation of the hosts' shows by those same corporations.
"And so many things that those before us fought for are being taken away right before our eyes including freedom of speech," Cummings said. "I think that sometimes we need to go back and think about what the First Amendment says. It protects the freedom of speech, the press, religion, assembly and the right to petition the government for the redress of grievances."
The CWA leader continued, "Freedom of speech protects the right to express oneself, without government censorship and that's exactly what is happening right now. The Trump administration and the FCC are trying to silence those that have a right to speak out on the issues that are important to them and I think those in the community need to understand that and we need to stand up and fight back."
T-Mobile also earned the unions' ire for its lobbying for Trump's Big Beautiful Bill that stripped healthcare away from 15 million Americans to help fund tax cuts for the nation's wealthiest families and corporations.
According to Cummings, T-Mobile is "funneling billions to Elon Musk" by partnering with the billionaire's Starlink as well as working with Trump Mobile wireless service.
"I think all of us need to understand right now that our country is in the midst of a crisis," Cummings says. "The rights and freedoms that our ancestors fought and died for are being shredded right before our eyes by a reckless, unconstrained president and his white supremacist allies and advisors. The Trump regime is abducting workers from the streets, tearing apart families, depriving people of healthcare and firing hundreds of thousands of essential workers including many from my own union."
In our B Block, Julianna sits down with Stephanie Wells, the executive director of the Pacifica Foundation which holds the FCC license for WBAI, WPFW (DC), KPFT (Houston), KPFK (Los Angeles), KPFA (San Francisco) as well as Pacifica's 210 affiliate stations in over 40 states.
Stephanie Wells brings over 35 years of executive experience in the nonprofit, for-profit and entertainment industries. She previously worked as director of development for the Michelson Found Animals Foundation.
Wells was also executive director of Friends of the EXPO Center in Los Angeles and principal gifts officer at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Before joining the nonprofit sector, Wells worked as a producer and writer for cable and network television.
"Pacifica is actually the largest and oldest independent listener supported radio network in the country," Wells noted. "As thousands of local newspapers have shut down and corporate consolidation has taken over TV and radio. Pacifica remains one of the few independent community driven networks, not just stations. We give space to our local voices, grass roots stories, and so many perspectives that often get left out of corporate media. So, while no single organization can replace what's been lost, Pacifica does help fill that void by keeping that independent community based media alive."
Wells describes an ongoing initiative being coordinated by WBAI, WPFW, KPFA and the Pacifica Affiliates to provide news as well as the capability to cover live national events like the upcoming Oct. 18 No Kings Day of protest as they unfold.
Back in the Spring of 2024, Pacifica produced We Decide: America at the Crossroads, which included LIVE nightly coverage of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Earlier this year, WBAI produced LIVE continuous breaking news coverage of President Trump's bombing of Iran. Back in April, WBAI and Pacifica Affiliates spearheaded national coverage of the Hands Off National Day of protest. On June 14, WBAI and KPFA teamed up with reporters from Pacifica affiliates around the country to bring six hours of coast to coast coverage providing the soundtrack of the growing resistance.
Every Monday, WBAI and the Pacifica Affiliates produce We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan. The two hour program uses a community based reporting approach to document the impacts of Trump 2.0 on public health, the environment and the economy.
We Decide: America at the Crossroads is recorded LIVE from 9 a.m.to 11 a.m. and shared via Audioport.
Listen to the entire show below: