October 27, 2006

Protect Media Diversity, CWA Urges the FCC

As the broadcast and publishing giants once again press to loosen limits on media concentration and cross-ownership, CWA this week filed comments in the latest FCC review process, urging the Commission to maintain current rules that insure diversity of local TV, radio and newspaper ownership.

"The Commission's broadcast media ownership rules are based on the First Amendment principle that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to public welfare," CWA stated.

Media corporations are crying wolf when they claim that they must merge to survive, CWA said, noting that newspapers continue to earn profits in the range of 20 percent and local TV stations earn profits of 40 to 50 percent.

In the FCC's last review, beginning in 2002, CWA and other unions were part of a widespread grassroots movement that ultimately fought back, through congressional and court action, the worst of the Commission's proposed rule changes to allow greater cross-ownership.

Saying the Commission had violated the principles of diversity, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals threw out rule changes that would have allowed one company to own as many as three TV stations as well as the newspaper monopoly and multiple radio stations in the same community.

CWA's filing says the union continues to believe that the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule provides the strongest protection against an overly concentrated local media market.

If the FCC is determined to try again to modify the rule, CWA said it must do so according to the methodology the appeals court laid out. If mergers are considered, the burden of proof must lie with the merging parties "to demonstrate that the combination is in the public interest; and with the requirement that the commonly owned media outlets maintain separate newsrooms and editorial staff," CWA stated.

"This proceeding is of profound importance to American democracy," CWA's filing concludes. "It is imperative that the Commission adopt strong structural rules to protect against further consolidation of the media into fewer hands, an outcome that would do serious harm to the free flow of ideas that is so essential to civic participation in our democracy."

CWA Calls for IBM Action in Wake of Cancer Study

A medical study showing higher than normal rates of cancer among employees at IBM is raising alarms among CWA members at the Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701.

"This study confirms to those of us working in IBM manufacturing processes that the rumors and talk about high levels of cancers and other health problems from working with toxic substances weren't just idle shop floor talk," Alliance Vice President Earl Mongeon said.

The Alliance is calling on the company as well as local, state and federal officials to make health surveillance of all current and former IBM employees a priority. The company must also increase the use of non-toxic chemicals and reduce employee exposure to harmful substances, leaders say.

Cities and states with computer manufacturing plants are being asked to compile maps of cancer cases near the facilities and in areas where employees live, and make the maps a matter of public record.

The Alliance also wants the company to establish a fund to help defray medical costs for affected IBM workers and their families.

The study, by Dr. Richard Clapp of the Boston University School of Public Health, includes extensive data from IBM's own "Corporate Mortality File," which has records about the deaths of people who worked at IBM's plants for at least five years.

Dr. Clapp's study, a health survey and more information about health issues at IBM are available on the Alliance web site, http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/Rd11LQM1zPuo/.

AFA-CWA to Appeal Injunction, Mesaba Threatens Contract

AFA-CWA members at Mesaba Airlines vowed to continue their fight against drastic pay cuts and abrogation of their contract despite an injunction this week by a bankruptcy judge blocking their right to strike.

The union announced it will appeal the injunction, just as it has a similar ruling at Northwest Airlines.  AFA-CWA maintains that airline workers have a legal right to strike if their contracts are torn up regardless of whether an employer has filed for bankruptcy.

"Mesaba management and the bankruptcy court have already conspired to destroy our contract and now they are denying us the right to use the only tool we have to protect our careers and our livelihoods," said Tim Evenson, Master Executive Council president. "This is yet another example of how the legal system fails to protect the average citizen and continues to cater to corporate America."

Flight attendants together with mechanics and pilots have offered a proposal of shared concessions to help Mesaba emerge from bankruptcy, but the airline continues to insist on imposing wage-benefit cuts of 19.4 percent, which would mean take-home pay of less than $10,000 for some flight attendants.

AFA-CWA represents 450 workers at Mesaba, which is a regional feeder line for Northwest.

Global Rights Violations Cited in 'Kentucky River' Ruling

The International watchdog group Human Rights Watch has condemned the NLRB's "Kentucky River" ruling that allows employers to reclassify many nurses and potentially millions of other workers as supervisors and revoke their union representation rights. The decision violates the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States, as a U.N. member, "has committed itself to uphold," the group stated in a letter to the labor board.

"In the Kentucky River trilogy, the board majority turned its back on international human rights and labor rights standards and flouted U.S. obligations under international law," the letter stated. "We condemn the decision and support efforts of workers, trade unions, other human rights advocates, and allied social movements to seek legislation restoring the traditional, balanced definition of 'supervisor' under the National Labor Relations Act." 

Also this week, the AFL-CIO asked the United Nations' International Labor Organization to weigh in on the issue.

In the federation's complaint to the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the decision has "stripped millions of America's working people of a fundamental human right recognized all over the globe — the freedom to bargain collectively and have a voice on the job."

Although the ILO committee has no enforcement power, the AFL-CIO asked the body to add its "authoritative voice and moral weight in the international community" to a movement for legislation to limit supervisory status to genuine supervisors and managers.

The federation also asked the committee, based in Geneva, Switzerland, to send a delegation to the United States to investigate the effects of the NLRB's decision.

IN BRIEF:

  • "Scooby Doo vs. the Union Buster," a spoof on the contract battle between the York, Pa., Newspaper Guild and the city's paper, is too frighteningly political for the city's Halloween parade this weekend, organizers said in rejecting the Guild's application.

    The York Daily Record's publisher told a reporter for Editor & Publisher magazine that the fact that he's on the board of advisors for the YWCA — which puts on the parade — had nothing to do with the decision.

    Members of TNG-CWA Local 38218 planned to dress like Scooby, Shaggy and other characters and ride in a van decorated like the cartoon's "Mystery Machine." "We were going to be chasing around a guy in a mask with a business suit and a sign that said, 'Union Buster'," Tom Joyce, local mobilization coordinator, told E&P.

    Joyce said Guild members will still attend the parade in costume and hand out flyers about their fight against the company and its union-busting lawyers over the past year.

     
  • As the FCC again tinkers with media ownership rules in a review process likely to benefit corporate giants, it's more important than ever to know who owns your local TV and radio stations, your local newspapers and which companies control the data you get via cable and telecommunications wires.

    The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, has re-launched its Media Tracker database, providing a wealth of easily accessible information about every media outlet in the country and the companies that own them.

    By going to http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/R711LQM1zPul/ and typing in a ZIP code or a city and state, users can retrieve a dossier of information about the TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and cable serving that area, as well as information about broadband providers.

     
  • Thanks to another sneaky recess appointment by President Bush, a former coal mining executive — whose companies had injury rates that were twice the national average — is now heading the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

    "The pleas of coal miners throughout the land to appoint a strong advocate for their safety have fallen on deaf ears," UMWA President Cecil Roberts said of the appointment of Richard Stickler.

    Roberts said he'll make sure that all coal miners understand the message Bush is sending: "That the companies are in charge of mine safety in America, not the safety professionals."

    Stickler's appointment was allowed by a loophole in the law that lets presidents fill positions without Senate approval while Congress is out of session.