January 6, 2006

Cohen: IBM Pension Freeze 'Outrageous'

The announcement by IBM Corp. that it is freezing the pensions of some 120,000 employees is outrageous, even by the "Gilded Age" standard of today's corporate executives, CWA President Larry Cohen declared in a statement Jan. 6.

"Just over the past few weeks, we've seen some of the richest corporations eliminating pension benefits wherever they can, just because they can," he noted. "Verizon recently froze pensions for tens of thousands of management and unrepresented workers. IBM's action sends an equally chilling signal," he said.

"In the United States, increasingly, workers are required to bear the costs and the risks for their retirement and health security. And they're also forced to pay the costs for the bad business decisions that push companies to bankruptcy," Cohen said, citing United Airlines and Delphi, as well as lawbreakers such as Enron and WorldCom.

"This downhill sled ride for U.S. workers will continue until this country joins the mainstream of global democracies and ends the attack on workplace democracy and workers' rights," he said. "When IBM makes this kind of announcement in Europe, and now much of South America and Asia, it must negotiate with employees. Contrast that to the United States, where IBM employees have no bargaining rights and therefore no voice. CWA encourages our thousands of members at the Alliance@IBM to speak out to elected officials at every level of government."

2,400 Cingular Workers Join CWA in Dec./Jan.

It's a happy new year for 2,400 Cingular workers in the continental United States and Hawaii who gained CWA recognition in December and early January.

On Jan. 4, the American Arbitration Association certified that a majority of the 1,288 customer service representatives at the company's Orlando call center chose CWA representation. Three locals rose to the challenge of explaining to numerous young workers — many of them students who will only work there until they complete their education — the importance of union representation.

Assisting the workers, from Local 3108, were organizers Renee Wigfall and Keith Harmon, members Horrace Dave Skinner, Deana Pruitt, Louis Smith, Steve Wisniewski and Debbie Matheny, President Pamela Lawson and Executive Vice President Sherri Keller.

Kendrick Benoit, from Local 3406 and Josh Denmark, a 75/25 organizer from Local 3106, provided critical support as workers got the final cards signed on the last of 60 days allowed under the Cingular neutrality agreement. Denmark is paid by the local with assistance from the national union, a practice that has boosted CWA's organizing power at the local level.

Other new Cingular workers and locals that assisted them include:

  • 400 retail sales, 67 locations in Pennsylvania (Local 13000).
  • 182 retail sales, 27 locations in the state of Washington (Locals 7803, 7818 and 7901.)
  • 158 retail sales, customer care, BMG and IT, 21 retail sales locations and a call center in Hawaii (Locals 9505 and 9415).
  • 151 retail sales, 21 locations in Colorado (Locals 7717 and 7777).
  • 89 retail sales, 27 locations in West Virginia (Locals 2001 and 2003).
  • 51 retail sales, 11 locations in Iowa (Locals 7101, 7102, 7103, 7108 and 7110).
  • 43 retail sales, 14 locations in Arkansas (Locals 6502, 6507 and 6508).
  • 36 network technicians in Illinois (Local 4202).

These latest organizing gains raise to 15,952 the number of former AT&T Wireless workers at Cingular who have gained CWA representation. Overall, nearly 38,000 workers at Cingular belong to CWA. Another 6,000 former AT&T Wireless workers remain eligible.

Investment Group Drops Comcast over Labor Record

The Calvert Group, a major investment management firm that handles over $10 billion in assets for 400,000 investors, has dropped Comcast from all of its portfolios, citing the cable giant's "workplace practices and labor relations."

The decision by Calvert's Social Index Committee was based on a recommendation by the firm's Social Research Department, which looks at the 1,000 largest U.S. companies and conducts a "social audit" on their practices in the areas of "environment, workplace issues, product safety, community relations, military weapons contracting, international operations and human rights, and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples."

As many CWA members know firsthand, Comcast workers face systematic union-busting tactics when they attempt to organize and bargain contracts. Comcast was the focus of Human Rights Day activities last Dec. 10 in various locations including Pittsburgh, where several hundred CWA members have been fighting decertification campaigns for years as they struggle for a first contract.

IN BRIEF:

  • Bargaining between CWA and Verizon Information Services resumed today for 300 CWA members who have been on strike for ten weeks.

    While the unfair labor practice strike continues, members of Locals 1105, 1118, and 1122 — all in New York — are standing strong and supporting each other, and relying on the solidarity of CWA members throughout the district, reported CWA Representative Pat Telesco.

    In Buffalo and other locations, members have organized a "dump the book" campaign, encouraging union members to turn in their Verizon telephone directories at local Verizon offices because the directories now are produced by scabs. Customers also are getting on board, alerting VIS that it needs to settle the strike or risk losing their advertising, Telesco said.

    The unfair labor practice charges are going forward, and CWA attorneys have taken numerous depositions and submitted position statements to the National Labor Relations Board.

     
  • AFA-CWA flight attendants at the now-defunct Independent Air have filed papers in U.S. bankruptcy court objecting to the airline's request to pay $3.2 million in bonuses to a group of handpicked executives.

    MEC President Kenneth Kindred called the bonuses "ludicrous" and said it makes no sense "that this bankrupt company has an extra several million dollars lying around to divvy up among a select group while the rest of the workforce is suddenly out of a job."

    Last week, the airline sent letters to the flight attendants stating that Jan. 5 would be their last day of employment. The bonuses would be awarded to executives chosen to remain with the company for up to six months while finalizing the shutdown.

    Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Independence Air CEO Kerry Skeen may have avoided losing $3 million in deferred compensation by renegotiating his own contract last March. Before then, he had only an unsecured claim to the compensation and could have lost it when the company declared bankruptcy in November.