February 24, 2006 

Comcast Throws Tantrum over Cardcheck Order

City Council members in Oakland, Calif., aren't backing down from a fight with cable bully Comcast, which is refusing to sign a new franchise agreement with the city because of the council's passage of an ordinance to require cardcheck organizing for cable workers.

With five "yes" votes, the eight-member council passed the CWA-backed measure Feb. 21, two weeks after a preliminary vote of support. Between the votes, Comcast threatened to bail out of the new 13-year franchise agreement if the council didn't change its mind.

As part of the deal, Comcast pledged to spend more than $17 million on a network linking government and schools to expand educational and public access. But the council stood firm. "We have to do what we think is right," Councilwoman Jean Quan told the Oakland Tribune before this week's vote.

About 20 members of CWA Local 9415, which represents more than 200 Comcast technicians in the Bay Area, turned out for the Tuesday night meeting carrying signs that said "Comcast Doesn't Care."

CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler said Comcast's extreme anti-union tactics nationwide, from firing union supporters to refusing to bargain contracts, are "par for the course" for the cable giant. "But the actions this weekend of Comcast in Oakland mark a new low in its war on workers," he said, referring to the company's Feb. 17 letter threatening the council.

Local 9415 President Valerie Reyna said the company's behavior doesn't surprise her, noting the recent firing of a long-time employee, Will Goodo, after he testified before the City Council in December about Comcast's anti-worker tactics. CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Comcast over the firing.

"There appear to be no bounds to what this company, this bully, will do — even taking away money it promised to wire our schools — in an effort to prevent workers from forming unions," she said.

Bixler called Comcast's behavior "blackmail" and said it shows "why we so desperately need competition in the delivery of video services in this state. So long as Comcast is an absolute monopoly they will continue with scare tactics, abusing their customers, their workers and local governments alike."

Comcast will continue to operate in Oakland without a franchise and media reports speculate the fight will wind up in the courts, while workers continue to fight to organize.

IUE-CWA Begins Strike Vote, Prepares for Delphi Rally

IUE-CWA members at Delphi Corp began taking a strike vote on Feb. 23, two days prior to a massive rally planned for Saturday in Warren, Ohio. There, union leaders will give voice to workers' growing anger at the lack of movement by Delphi to moderate wage and benefit cutbacks demanded earlier by the bankrupt company.

CWA President Larry Cohen, IUE-CWA President Jim Clark and IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard will address the rally.

IUE-CWA retirees, UAW locals and USW locals are also expected to turn out for the rally, organized by IUE-CWA Local 84717.

IUE-CWA represents about one-fourth of Delphi's 33,000 hourly employees. The strike vote began with Local 84755 members at the company's Kettering, Ohio, plant, and will continue in coming weeks at seven other plants that employ IUE-CWA members.

Locals are continuing mobilization activities at all plants as the union awaits an improved offer for a modified contract based on a commitment of assistance to bankrupt Delphi by General Motors Corp.

Every Thursday, said IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard, "There has been a tremendous show of solidarity. Our plants are a sea of red. Our members are wearing red t-shirts that say 'Our Jobs/Our Dignity.'"

On Dec. 19, Delphi withdrew a proposal to cut wages to $12.50 an hour, freeze the pension plan and eliminate retiree health care. And on Feb. 17, for the third time, the company pushed back the date on which it will petition the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to nullify its current union contracts if an agreement is not reached, this time to March 31.

"IUE-CWA applauds Delphi's decision," Reichard stated. "With all the stakeholders now fully engaged, it gives us the opportunity to work through these very complex and very difficult issues."

Any improvement to Delphi's last offer, he said, will require help from General Motors," Reichard said. "They accept that. They want to keep Delphi a viable company."

He said help from GM could come in the form of wage subsidies, price supports and accelerated attrition, or early retirement, plans. GM assumed responsibility to guarantee Delphi pensions when it spun off the parts manufacturer in 1999.

CWA Among Unions Launching Nurses' ICC

CWA and seven other unions representing 200,000 registered nurses are asking the AFL-CIO Executive Council to approve a new Industrial Organizing Committee (ICC) for nurses — "RNs Working Together" — when the council holds its mid-winter meeting next week in San Diego.

At a press briefing Feb. 23, spokespeople for the unions said the group will share information and work together on joint organizing, bargaining and public policy strategies for the nursing profession. RNs Working Together also will focus on patient care issues and problems with the nation's broken health care system, they told reporters.

RNs Working Together expects to be the first ICC to be officially chartered as part of the AFL-CIO's program, announced last summer, to promote common strategies and practices for unions within a given industry. Among other ICCs now being developed, CWA also is involved in forming committees for arts, entertainment and media, and for the public employee sector.

Each union has designated a member to a core leadership committee for RNs Working Together. CWA's representative, District 1 staffer and RN Debora Hayes, told reporters, "We're looking ahead to coordinating bargaining and organizing campaigns, starting with some very effective models already in place. We'll build upon these relationships to improve working conditions for our members and the quality of patient care nationwide."

The unions in addition to CWA include the United American Nurses, AFSCME, American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Government Employees, Steelworkers, Auto Workers, and Office and Professional Employees.

IN BRIEF:

  • Add the International Longshoremen Association to the loud chorus of outrage over the Bush administration's agreement to allow a United Arab Emirates-owned company to take over management of six American Ports, from New York to New Orleans.

    "We fully support those who have raised objections to this proposed venture," union President John Bowers said of the deal with Dubai Ports World. "We join with and encourage their call for open inquiries before it can go forward."

    Bowers said ILA members are especially concerned because they "are literally on the front lines of the most vulnerable and strategic gates for movement of 90 percent or more of this nation's import and export cargoes."

     
  • Two weeks ago, 32 employees at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado were fired because $5 million in federal money to fund their research - the same research President Bush boasted of in his State of the Union speech - had been pulled.

    Like magic, their jobs were restored this week just in time for Bush's visit to the lab. Energy Department officials said it was accomplished by shifting "unused funding" from other accounts.

    As the Daily Show's Jon Stewart put it, "Wow, President Bush should visit Ford." Not to mention all the American call centers whose jobs have been shipped overseas.