The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has requested official investigations into alleged wage violations by LanguageLine Solutions (LLS), a contractor providing translation and interpretation services for the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The union claims that LLS is not complying with local wage laws, specifically Los Angeles’s Living Wage Ordinance, which requires city contractors to pay at least $19.12 per hour, and San Francisco’s Minimum Compensation Ordinance, which sets the minimum at $21.54 per hour.
A CWA survey conducted in June and July 2025 gathered responses from more than one hundred interpreters employed by LLS. According to the findings, 59 percent of respondents said they earned less than the wage mandated by San Francisco’s ordinance, while 26 percent reported earning below Los Angeles’s statutory living wage. Additionally, 20 percent stated their hourly pay was less than $18. The average reported wage among respondents was $20.19 per hour.
Workers at LanguageLine Solutions are organizing with CWA in response to concerns over low wages and difficult working conditions, which they say also affect service quality.
“Qualified Interpreters are leaving LanguageLine Solutions because of low wages,” said Nonese Kissane, a Haitian Creole interpreter. “We want to be proud of our work, serving vulnerable communities in critical medical and legal settings. But we can barely afford to live with dignity, and it is hurting the quality of services we provide.”
In correspondence addressed to officials in Los Angeles, Claude Cummings, Jr., president of CWA, wrote: “Local governments can help workers hold Teleperformance accountable to international labor rights norms here in the United States by enforcing contractual requirements related to pay, auditing the service quality of LLS contracts, and reaching out to LanguageLine to discuss workers’ concerns.”
LanguageLine Solutions was acquired by French multinational Teleperformance in 2016. The company employs thousands of interpreters across the United States and claims a client base exceeding 30,000 globally. As part of Teleperformance’s ownership structure, LLS is subject to the Teleperformance-UNI Global Agreement on Social Responsibility. This agreement gives workers the right to organize without interference or intimidation from management; however, according to CWA, LLS has not implemented these provisions for its U.S.-based employees.
The Communications Workers of America represents employees across various sectors including telecommunications, customer service, media, health care, public service and education.
