| August
18, 2006
Members of Philadelphia's Jobs with Justice joined forces
with United Students Against Sweatshops, CWA Local 13000
members and other supporters in an action that called Verizon
out for its union-busting and illegal intimidation and
harassment at Verizon Wireless.
The action brought more than 150 people to a downtown
Verizon store where protestors had a clear message for the
company: "Verizon, Union Busting's Gotta Go" and "What's
Disgusting? Union Busting."
Philadelphia Jobs with Justice has a year-long campaign
underway urging customers to hang up on Verizon Wireless
because of the company's refusal to respect workers'
rights.
With the merger of MCI, Verizon has been shifting work to a
new unit called Verizon Business, where workers do the work of
CWA-represented members but with no union representation or
benefits. Verizon wants to keep that work separate and
non-union, but CWA, working with the IBEW, is determined to
tear down the wall that Verizon is building to keep the union
out.
CWA districts and locals will be holding actions over the
next several weeks; check with your local or district office
for details. For more information about the Verizon and
Verizon Wireless campaigns, go to
www.cwa-union.org/verizon.
The right of Northwest flight attendants to exercise their
right to strike was upheld by the federal bankruptcy court as
it rejected the airline's push for an injunction to block
flight attendants from carrying out CHAOS actions.
"Today, we sent a strong message to corporate America: you
cannot keep taking from your employees without a fight," said
Mollie Reiley, Interim Master Executive Council President.
"Northwest management has one more chance. They have the
choice to either set greed aside for once and agree to a fair
and equitable contract, or they will face CHAOS."
On July 31, Northwest management imposed terms of a
tentative contract that was overwhelmingly rejected by flight
attendants and that would cut salaries and benefits by 40
percent. AFA-CWA notified Northwest of flight attendants'
intent to exercise their right to strike as early as August
25, 9:01 CDT.
CWA Local 6186, the Texas State Employees Union, cited a
just-released report by the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform as further evidence of serious
problems with Accenture, a company the state of Texas had
contracted with to design new call centers and replace state
workers.
The report found that Accenture's "reliance on out-of-date
and ineffective technologies" resulted in serious problems and
cited the contract as part of its review of 32 Department of
Homeland Security contracts that have experienced "significant
overcharges, wasteful spending or mismanagement."
Local 6186 members have been mobilizing throughout the
state to block the state's ongoing effort to privatize the
jobs of state eligibility workers who help residents sign up
for food stamps, children's health insurance,
Medicaid, Aid to Needy Families and other human
services.
In June, Accenture came under fire for causing some Texas
residents' applications — including their Social Security
numbers and medical information — to be mistakenly sent to a
warehouse in Seattle. The Houston Chronicle reported that
Accenture listed the wrong fax number in letters to people
applying for services, and that their applications were "faxed
into a black hole."
"Accenture's actions not only caused people to not get
services they desperately need, it caused confidential
information to be compromised," said Local 6186 Vice President
Mike Gross.
A TSEU report released in June documented backlogs at local
offices of more than 12,000 cases that should have been
handled by Accenture.
- Economists studying health insurance say the
hard numbers prove what workers have known for years: Fewer
of them have employer-paid coverage and most workers who do
are paying a larger share of the costs.
In
its weekly "Economic Snapshot," the Economic Policy
Institute says that 61.5 percent of workers had
employer-paid coverage in 1989. That dropped to 58.9 percent
in 2000 and was down to 55.9 percent in 2004, the latest
data available.
As for cost-sharing, 54 percent of
workers in the private sector were paying some of their
individual insurance coverage costs in 1993. By 2005, the
percentage of workers sharing the costs had grown to 76
percent.
- The FCC is warning TV stations that use phony
news videos — such as those produced by advertisers or
political groups to look like news — that they face big
fines if they fail to label the videos as news releases,
rather than actual news.
The Washington Post
reported this week that the FCC, sent letters to 77
broadcasters identified by the Center for Media and
Democracy for airing video releases without labeling them.
The stations are owned by major broadcasters, including CBS,
ABC and the ultra-conservative Sinclair Broadcast
Group.
Stations can be fined up to $32,500 and face a
hearing that could cost them their FCC license if they don't
label releases properly.
- The Bad Boss contest has found its Worst Boss,
the millionaire dentist who docked his workers $100 the week
of September 11 when upset patients cancelled their
appointments.
In recent weeks, some 500,000
people visited the Working America website to read the 2,500
Bad Boss entries. The winner, who will get an expense-paid
vacation, was chosen by readers' votes.
On Sept. 11,
2001, "the patients all cancelled their appointments," the
worker wrote. "Perfectly understandable, if you ask me:
there's a national tragedy and the last thing on anyone's
mind is oral health. But this meant no income for Dr. X. His
response? Taking $100 out of every employee's
paycheck.
"Mind you, we were paid hourly, not based
on production. In the wake of a travesty that should bring
out the best in people, he had the audacity to steal money
from his own employees. Dr. X earned over a million dollars
a year. He owned a mansion. Did he really need my $13/hour
that badly?"
The many jaw-dropping stories about bad
bosses are still available to read, along with tips for
dealing with bad bosses. Go to
http://www.workingamerica.org/.
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