June 23, 2006

Jackson, Miss., City Workers Win CWA Representation

The Jackson, Miss., city council voted unanimously on June 20 to grant collective bargaining rights to city employees and to recognize CWA's Mississippi Alliance of State Employees as bargaining representative for the 1,200 workers. The council vote caps more than a year of joint organizing and legislative work by MASE-CWA Local 3570 and CWA telecom Local 3511, which last August earned both locals CWA's President's Annual Award for organizing.

MASE-CWA President Brenda Scott and Local 3511 President Kim Sadler in 2005 spearheaded efforts to elect a mayor and city council that would support bargaining rights for city workers. The two locals then worked together to sign up a majority of the city workers and persuade Mayor Frank Melton to introduce a bill to grant recognition.

MASE-CWA presented signed cards to the mayor's office in January as evidence that a majority of city workers had chosen CWA. Scott met with the mayor and council officials several times thereafter as they sought to clarify which employees would become union eligible.

The council meeting on June 20 was packed with members and supporters wearing purple CWA organizing T-shirts when Council President Marshand Crisler called for the vote. The new law extends CWA representation to city workers other than police and firefighters, who already have collective bargaining rights and their own unions.

Local 3511 organizers Deborah Noble, Nate Williams and Calvin Banks supported the workers' organizing committee throughout the campaign. Last spring, Local 3511 had received help from MASE-CWA in organizing the Cingular call center in Jackson – the first former AT&T Wireless unit organized after the merger.

IUE-CWA Reaches Buyout Agreement at Delphi

IUE-CWA reached agreement with Delphi and General Motors on a special attrition program aimed at providing "soft landings" to thousands of members who face potential plant closings or significant pay cuts as a result of Delphi's bankruptcy filing.

"We have made great progress in resolving the first part of a very complex puzzle," said IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Willie Thorpe, in announcing the agreement the day following his election to succeed previous chairman Henry Reichard, who died on June 5. "Our members now have options that can provide them with some financial security. Next our focus turns to crafting an agreement for those who remain in the plants that gives them a job worth having."

The package provides special retirement options for 3,290 members who can either take a $35,000 bonus for a normal or early retirement, take a retirement based on 50 years of age and 10 years' seniority or, if they have at least 26 years service, remain with the company until they have accrued 30 years' service and full retirement eligibility.

The union made gains in the buyout offerings by creating a third tier for workers compared with an earlier attrition program available to both traditional and competitive rate workers. Whether retirement eligible or not, workers with at least 10 years' seniority can take a $140,000 buyout payment to sever ties with the company. Workers with between three and 10 years' seniority are eligible for a $70,000 buyout, while those with between one year and three years' seniority can receive $40,000. Workers taking the buyout will give up any claim to retiree health benefits.

"IUE-CWA is committed to resolving our issues with Delphi at the bargaining table," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark, who was a key participant in the talks. "Delphi must understand that getting a court to void our contracts doesn't get us where we need to go."

Court hearings on Delphi's 1113/1114 motion to void labor agreements and retiree obligations have been recessed until August 11.  Bargaining over wages, benefits and working conditions at IUE-CWA-represented facilities will resume shortly.

General Motors is a party to the attrition agreement. The corporation agreed to pay half of the buyout payments and cover post-retirement benefits for those retiring.

Executive Board Creates Committee on Diversity

The CWA Executive Board has established a committee to review options to increase the diversity of the Board. The committee will be chaired by Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling and consist of three Board members, two members of the National Women's Committee and two members of the National Committee on Equity — to be selected by members of those committees.

This new Executive Board Committee on Diversity will follow up on Ready for the Future Proposal #10, which discusses Board diversity. The committee will develop options, meet with the Board and issue a report to the 2007 convention. Among options to be discussed are electing at-large members to the Executive Board to achieve balance in keeping with the AFL-CIO resolution on diversity adopted in July 2005.

"I look forward to chairing this committee," Easterling said.  "I know the Executive Board is behind this effort and together we can come up with excellent recommendations that can make our union even stronger."

IN BRIEF:

  • As the Senate Commerce Committee prepared to mark up telecommunications legislation, CWA urged support for measures requiring broadband providers to build-out and upgrade their networks.

    In a letter to committee members, CWA President Larry Cohen said the build-out of high-speed Internet services was critical to U.S. economic growth, and that the United States, at 16th in broadband deployment, was falling further behind the rest of the world. He encouraged support for amendments that would set reasonable deployment targets for video providers as a way to ensure streamlined video franchising while not sacrificing the nation's commitment to universal service.

     
  • A coalition of labor unions, media reform groups and other organizations is ready for the Federal Communications Commission's next go-round on changing longstanding rules to allow greater consolidation of local media outlets under a single owner. The FCC said it will review the current rules on media ownership but did not provide any specific proposals for discussion.

    TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said, at a Washington press briefing this week, that contrary to claims that there are numerous sources for national and international news, "the vast majority of Americans get local news from either their local TV stations or local newspaper. Allowing further consolidation of these outlets would restrict coverage of local stories."

    The FCC's previous attempt to allow more cross ownership of newspapers, radio and televisions was rejected in 2003, with strong support from the public. "The public's views are clear: Big Media is already big enough," said Robert W. McChesney, president of Free Press, a public interest group fighting against media consolidation.

    For more information, go to http://www.stopbigmedia.com/

     
  • Thousands of CWA state workers along with teachers, police officers and AFSCME members filled an entire city block outside the statehouse in Trenton, N.J., on July 19 in a massive and raucous rally to send lawmakers the message — "A Deal is a Deal."  

    Gov. Jon Corzine addressed the workers and told them, "I stand with you. I'll fight with you," against a call by some state legislators for the state workers to agree to a 15 percent wage cutback to help deal with a $4 billion budget shortfall. "Last time I checked," said Corzine, "a contract is a contract — negotiated in good faith, agreed to in good faith, and it will be fulfilled in good faith."

    The state workers are supporting Corzine's plan to move toward budget solvency by raising the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent, along with targeted budget cuts.

     
  • Coming on the heels of a House vote to raise congressional salaries by $3,300, to a level of $168,500, the Senate this week voted down a Democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage by $2.10 for what would have been the first increase in nine years. The vote was 52 to 46 in favor of the increase, but 60 votes were needed to pass the measure because of a republican procedural requirement.

     The current $5.15 minimum wage amounts to $10,700 a year or "almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three," Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), sponsor of the measure, told the Washington Post. Because of inflation, the current minimum is at the lowest "real dollar" level in more than 40 years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.