October 4, 2007

CWA Presidential E-Poll Up and Running

CWA's first-ever online poll asking members and retirees to tell the Executive Board which candidate the union should endorse for U.S. president is up and running, and locals are urged to get the word out.

"We want our local leaders to rally members to go to the polls – online polls in this case – with the same energy and enthusiasm we bring to state and national elections," CWA President Larry Cohen said.

The goal is for every local to have at least 10 percent of its members vote online at www.CWAVotes.org. CWA headquarters will send updates to locals about how many of their members have voted as of Oct. 17 and Oct. 30, as well as a third tally on Nov. 13.  The voting deadline is Nov. 9.  Locals are urged to use websites and e-mail lists, to post flyers about the e-poll in workplaces and use their mobilization structure to get the word out.

In the e-poll, CWAers are asked to check whether or not they think CWA should make an endorsement before the primaries are held next year, and to select the candidates of their choice.

The website includes answers to CWA questions on key issues from seven of the eight Democratic candidates for president -- Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. Candidate Mike Gravel didn't respond, nor did any of the Republican candidates, despite repeated requests to their campaign offices.

All candidates from both major parties received letters from the Executive Board asking them about their commitment to the Employee Free Choice Act, their specific plans for health care reform and how they would retain and increase American jobs and reduce the trade deficit.

Shorter versions of the candidates' responses, reduced because of space restrictions, will appear in the upcoming issue of the CWA News, which will be in the mail in mid-October.

CWAVotes.org also includes a form members can use to post their own questions for candidates. They can also sign up for training to help them present the views of working America in the fast-growing world of political blogs.

Cohen and CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said they are counting on local leaders to make the CWAVotes.org project a success by getting as many members involved as possible.

"This historic opportunity to help shape our presidential endorsement represents CWA democracy at work," Rechenbach said. "Help bring back bargaining rights in the United States, win the fight for real health care reform, and create policies that support American jobs by making our voice heard."

344 More AT&T Mobility Workers Organize in N.C.

Just two weeks after more than a 1,000 of their co-workers organized in Florida, a unit of 344 of AT&T Mobility's retail sales workers in North Carolina gained recognition this week when the American Arbitration Association certified that a majority of the workers supported union representation through CWA's card check and neutrality agreement with the company.

With their latest organizing gains in District 3, 79 percent of AT&T Mobility's retail employees, or 7,600 workers, have organized nationwide, gaining recognition in 35 of the 45 states where the company has retail stores and outlets.

Two AT&T Mobility workers in Winston Salem took the lead in the early stages of the campaign by creating a web presence, and by networking with other retail workers across the state and holding meetings online. Their website is www.cwa4nc.blogspot.com.

It was a statewide effort with many locals helping out in the campaign. Local 3607 Organizer Dave Coker assisted the workers, and local President Gary Hunter made the local's resources available to wherever the workers needed help across the state. Local 3603 President Bonnie Overman and the local's organizers assisted workers in the Charlotte area, with support also coming from Locals 3601, 3602, 3605, 3610, 3611, and 3616.

NLRB Continues Attack on Organizing Rights

In yet another attack on workers' organizing rights, the Republican majority members on the National Labor Relations Board ruled that decertification petitions, or an election petition from a rival union, can be filed within a 45-day period of the time an employer grants union recognition to employees based on majority card check.

The decision represents a dramatic, 180-degree shift in Board policy, which, since 1966, had held that a "recognition bar" took effect when union recognition was granted and lasted for one year. The case, decided Sept. 29, involved a challenge to card check elections recognition of United Auto Workers at two auto parts dealers.

Board chairman Robert J. Battista and members Peter C. Schaumber and Peter N. Kirsanow ruled that any post-recognition contract would also not bar an election if the Board's new 45-day time window requirements were not met. "If a valid [decertification or rival union's] petition supported by 30 percent or more of the unit employees is filed within 45 days of the notice," they said, "the petition will be processed." They also said that petition signatures may be obtained before and after the date of recognition.

The Board's two dissenting members, Wilma Liebman and Dennis Walsh, slammed the majority's decision, charging that the ruling "cuts voluntary recognition off at the knees."

The employer "has little incentive to recognize a union voluntarily if it knows that its decision is subject to second-guessing through a decertification petition," they noted. The Board's "new window period leaves the parties' bargaining relationship open to attack by a minority of employees at the very outset of the relationship, when it is at its most vulnerable."

CWA Launches New Web Resource for Union Communicators

A one-stop shopping center for CWA newsletter editors, webmasters, local leaders and organizers and anyone who needs a hand communicating with members or the public is now available at a new website, The Source, online at www.cwa-union.org/source.

The Source replaces the old Editors' News Service – once a hefty packet of paperwork mailed to editors every few months and later a limited-use website.

Calling the new site a valuable resource, President Larry Cohen noted: "Communications and member education is vital to all of our programs and goals. No matter how hard we work as national and local leaders, victory depends on our members knowing what the issues are and what we need them to do."

The new site is packed with news, photos, graphics, how-to's and other resources for union communicators.  News stories, updated at least weekly, can be picked up and used as-is or edited in local newsletters and on websites. Photos of demonstrations, conferences and other events are posted in photo galleries and can be downloaded as low-resolution files for web use or high-resolution files for print publications.

Templates are available to help communicators create flyers, press releases and media advisories. The site will also have video and audio files and occasional online chats.

Users can post "Ask the Expert" questions about any aspect of the process of putting out a newsletter, taking photos, creating a website, writing a news release – anything at all involved in communicating with members.

The site is in its infancy and will grow and change as staff gets new material and feedback from users. Feel free to make suggestions via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the site.

CWA Members Walking to Defeat ALS

"For Pete's Sake." That's the slogan District 2 locals have adopted in organizing fundraising walks to help in the fight against ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. The slogan refers to Pete Catucci, CWA vice president of District 2, who is himself fighting ALS and who gave an appeal on behalf of stem cell research at the CWA convention.

CWA President Larry Cohen will participate in an ALS Walk in Ocean Pines, Md., this Saturday, Oct. 6, and Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach and Catucci will join walkers in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 21. More than 150 walks are scheduled around the country including Center Valley, Pa., on Oct. 20 and Wayne, Pa., on Nov. 10.

District 2 members have already turned out for at least one walk, in Hagerstown, Md. on Sept. 29, and District 13 members walked in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15. District 13 members are walking in honor of Julie Kmetyk, a former Verizon employee and daughter of Local 13500 President Sandy Kmetyk, who died of ALS at age 20 in 2000, about a year after first displaying symptoms.

"I applaud CWA for participating in this," said Kmetyk, "and I hope our members throughout the country will walk to defeat ALS." Kmetyk serves on the board of the Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia Chapter of the ALS Association.

Said Paula Vinciguera, Local 2106 president, who is coordinating the Ocean Pines walk, "We're doing this in honor of Pete, hoping it will help him and anyone else affected with ALS." She pointed out that Verizon will make matching contributions for funds raised by its employees.

Last year, walkers for ALS raised more than $12 million for research and to provide services to families of those with the disease.

CWA members can find a walk in their area and sign up as participants or sponsors by visiting the ALS Association website, www.alsa.org. Members can also sign up to become ALS legislative advocates either through their website or at tables staffed by volunteers at each walk site.

Both the House and Senate passed bills in July to lift restrictions on stem cell research. Stem cell treatments show vast promise for the treatment of ALS and many other diseases. President Bush has vowed to veto the legislation. Proponents say they are short in the Senate by one vote necessary to override a veto and are closely monitoring the legislation, awaiting action by the Senate leadership, possibly before the end of the year.

IN BRIEF:
  • CWA's settlement last month with Verizon to train all Maryland technicians about electrical safety and health issues has been expanded to cover technicians throughout District 2.

    That means members in Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., also will receive the training, scheduled between now and Feb. 1, 2008, CWA Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said.

    CWA pushed for the training as part of the settlement between Verizon and Maryland's Occupational Safety and Health division after the death of Local 2100 member Marvin Benson, who was electrocuted last October while working in an aerial bucket.


  • Disgusted but not surprised by President Bush's veto Wednesday of a health insurance program for low-income children, union leaders joined a loud chorus of outrage from the bill's supporters – an unusual coalition that brought Republicans and even insurance industry leaders together with Democrats.

    Despite bipartisan support for the bill in the House and Senate, analysts say Bush is likely to sustain the veto of the expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health care for millions of children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance.

    Bush pledged to veto the bill all along, even after Democrats and Republicans in Congress reached compromises on the amount of aid and other issues the administration raised.

    AFL-CIO President John Sweeney noted the cruel irony of Bush's timing, coming the same week the president declared "Child Health Day" – described as a time to "reaffirm our commitment to helping children develop good nutrition habits and active  lifestyles, so that they can grow into healthy and productive adults."