December 6, 2007

Verizon Business Must Pledge to Stop Violating Workers' Rights

In agreeing to settle CWA charges of illegal union-busting by Verizon Business in Pennsylvania, the company was ordered by the NLRB to post notices affirming the workers' rights to organize and declaring that it will no longer engage in coercive threats to prevent workers from unionizing.

CWA filed charges on behalf of Verizon Business techs in both New York and Pennsylvania, and in early October NLRB regional directors issued complaints against the company and ordered hearings over the charges.  A similar settlement is expected in the New York case.

Several hundred technicians at the former MCI unit, which Verizon set up as a separate non-union business, have been organizing with CWA and IBEW throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and have petitioned for representation based on majority union support, as validated by congressional and community leaders in Boston and New York.

In the Pennsylvania settlement, the notice Verizon Business is required to post at worksites for 60 days clearly describes the nature of the illegal abuses that CWA and the workers charged.  Verizon must pledge:

--  "We will not engage in surveillance or actions intended to create the impression that employees' union activities are under surveillance."

--  "We will not threaten employees with layoff for supporting the union or ask them to inform us if they requested return of union authorization cards they had signed."

--  "We will not enforce our... no solicitation/no distribution policy against employees because they have engaged in concerted or union activities or to discourage employees from engaging in such activities."

--  "We will not in any like or related manner interfere with, restrain or coerce our employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed by" (federal labor laws).

--  "We will cancel the written warning issued to (a key union supporter), expunge reference to said warning from our files and inform (the worker) that this has been done."

Among other rights, Verizon Business must let workers know that "Federal law gives you the right to form, join or assist a union."

Given the pro-business and anti-union record of this labor board in recent years, the settlement shows just how blatant and egregious Verizon Business's anti-worker behavior has been, said CWA President Larry Cohen.

DNC Takes Strong Stand for Employee Free Choice Act

The Democratic National Committee has unanimously passed a resolution calling for Congress and any new Democratic administration to make the Employee Free Choice Act a top priority in 2009.

The resolution further urges candidates and office-holders at all levels to actively and visibly support the legislation, and it calls on state and local Democratic committees to pass their own resolutions and fight for similar state laws and local ordinances.

"The most effective strategy for working men and women to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits," the resolution states. "Collective bargaining is essential to democracy in the workplace and economic justice in the wider society."

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore workers' badly eroded bargaining and organizing rights, was passed by a wide margin in the U.S. House in March. It also has majority support in the Senate, but fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in June.

"We are extremely pleased that the DNC shares our view that the Employee Free Choice Act is vital to rebuilding America's middle class," CWA President Larry Cohen said. "Workers' rights have been slipping away for three decades but for the past seven years, especially, employers have willfully and fearlessly broken the law to stop organizing drives and stall contract talks."

Cohen stressed that, "Any candidate CWA supports in the coming elections must be committed to passing – and in the case of the president, signing -- the Employee Free Choice Act."

The detailed resolution notes the illegal tactics and legal loopholes employers exploit to threaten, coerce and even fire union supporters, and states that "penalties for employer violations of workers' rights are so insignificant they do not deter even the most flagrant violations and are considered by most employers a minor cost of doing business."

The national resolution is just the latest in strong and growing support for the Employee Free Choice Act among Democrats across the country, In Minnesota, for instance, all four Democrats running for the U.S. Senate  – Mike Ciresi, Jim Cohen, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and comedian and talk radio host Al Franken – said they not only back the bill but would go even further.

The Minnesota candidates are running to replace Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who was a key player in stopping the Employee Free Choice Act from getting a Senate vote.

Telecom Techs: Get CWA's New Electrical Safety Brochure

A new 16-page booklet packed with safety information for telecom technicians who work near electrical power is now available from CWA's Safety and Health Department.

"Reducing Electrical Hazards" describes the full array of safety procedures and proper equipment for inside and outside technicians as they test for and work near power lines and other electrical sources.

The brochure is part of a top-priority effort by CWA to work with members and telecom companies on electrical safety issues and ensure that all technicians are properly trained and equipped.

Members and locals can order copies of the brochure as well as download it from CWA's website at www.cwa-union.org/electricalsafety.

Electrocution accidents have killed five Verizon technicians—two CWA members and three from IBEW – since 2006 and many others have been injured in recent years. In the wake of fatalities in Maryland and in Indiana, CWA pushed for mandatory training for technicians as part of the settlement between Verizon and each state's Occupational Safety and Health division.

Verizon has now agreed to expand the training nationally, with a program already underway in District 2 and beginning soon in District 4. CWA Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said plans are underway to develop similar training at AT&T.

CWA leaders want every telecom technician at risk of contact with electrical power to have a copy of the new safety brochure. The handy 6x9 booklet can easily be stored in a truck's glove box.

New Report Details Verizon Windfall in FairPoint Sale

The $600 million tax windfall Verizon is due to receive in its proposed sale of telephone operations in northern New England, if invested in network upgrades, would be enough to provide high-speed Internet access to every residential customer in the company's service area, according to a new CWA report.

In "You Make the Call – High Speed Broadband for All or Tax Loopholes for Verizon?" CWA and the IBEW make the case that state regulators should support the public interest and reject the sale. The report is being sent to governors and every member of the state legislatures in the three state region. The report is available at www.stopthesalenow.org.

Verizon has structured the sale of its phone business in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to financially strapped FairPoint Communications so as to avoid paying any federal taxes on the profits through an arcane tax loophole. That means Verizon would pick up $600 million in tax savings, enough funds to provide fiber optic service (such as Verizon's FiOS) to 84 percent of residential customers served by Verizon in the three states, or DSL access to nearly 100 percent of homes and FiOS to 75 percent of customers in the three states, the report found.

Currently, data from the Federal Communications Commission show that the three states rank at or near the bottom in terms of broadband availability in the United States. Only 64 percent of homes in the three states have broadband access as compared with the national average of 79 percent.

"If this deal is approved as currently structured, U.S. taxpayers will be subsidizing Verizon for abandoning its operations in northern New England and leaving these states as a communications backwater for years to come," CWA said.

Advisory staff for the public utilities commissions in all three states, as well as the offices of the consumer and public advocates in New Hampshire and Maine, have urged rejection of the proposed deal, and have called for stringent conditions to be imposed if the commissioners ignore their advice and approve the transaction.  The Maine and New Hampshire commission staff urged that, at the very least, Verizon's sale price be cut substantially – the Maine PUC staff recommended by $600 million -- to reduce the debt burden that the deal would load onto FairPoint. 

The regulatory commissioners in the three states are expected to announce their decisions on whether to approve, reject or impose conditions on the proposed sale later this month.

CWA's Strategic Health Care Campaign Underway

At a meeting in Philadelphia, CWA experts, legislative-political coordinators, district campaign coordinators and others met to build the union's grassroots political structure that will play a critical role in Election 2008.  The key element of this program is the strategic health care campaign which will be a baseline for all of CWA's political activity.

CWA President Larry Cohen, District 7 Vice President Annie Hill -- who heads the executive board committee on the strategic health care campaign – and Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach attended the meeting, with Rechenbach stating that CWA's goal for health care reform "is to take health care off the bargaining table and maintain quality care,"

The campaign will have coordinators in 118 key congressional districts, along with state and district coordinators and support from CWA's legislative-political operations to mobilize members around health care reform and make real gains in Election 2008 in the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.

The strategic campaign also will tie into CWA's efforts to make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land and restore bargaining and organizing rights. The measure passed the House and gained majority support in the Senate – although not the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate.

Ohio Governor Taps CWAer for State's New Broadband Council

Recognizing CWA's lead role in promoting the availability of high-speed Internet, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has named CWA Local 4321 President Frank Mathews to the newly-formed Ohio Broadband Council.

"The governor wants our state to be a leader in closing the digital divide and making high-speed broadband communications widely available in every community in Ohio," said Mathews, who is also president of the CWA State Council of Ohio. Mathews says the broadband council shares many of the same goals of Speed Matters -- the need for Internet mapping, promoting private-public partnerships in expanding broadband, and in making high-speed Internet widely available and affordable.

CWA District Four Vice President Seth Rosen praised the CWA leader as "a key leader in District 4's Speed Matters campaign to get a video franchising bill passed in Ohio, and in helping work towards the creation of 'Connect Ohio.' I'm glad that Governor Strickland has recognized Frank's leadership on these issues," said Rosen.

The state's program is similar to the highly successful program Kentucky launched to improve broadband communications. Visit www.ohiobroadbandcouncil.org for more information.

IN BRIEF:
  • People who oppose true health care reform in the United States like to claim that Canada's national care system is a disaster for patients. That's a myth, says the Economic Policy Institute in its weekly economic snapshot.

    Not only are per capita health costs in the United States nearly double Canada's, the infant death rate is higher here and life expectancy at birth is lower. And, EPI says Canadians consult with doctors far more than Americans do – an average of 6 annual visits versus 3.8 in the United States.

    U.S. costs have skyrocketed since 1993, when the Clinton administration tackled health care reform. While Canada's expenditures rose about 65 percent between 1993 and 2005, U.S. expenditures soared by more than 90 percent. Today, the per capita costs are $3,359 in Canada and $6,401 in the United States.

    "The United States rejected any positive lessons from the Canadian single-payer model in 1993, and we are living with the results of that decision today," EPI said.


  • Since we launched The Source, CWA’s website for union communicators, http://www.cwa-union.org/source, we have continued to update the website with more tools to help local union editors, webmasters, organizers and local leaders improve communications with members, the public and the news media.

    Recent updates include new artwork to promote CWA’s “Labor 2008: Building a Political Movement” campaign to attain CWA’s four major goals: 1) enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, 2) Making health care affordable and available, 3) job creation and fair trade, and 4) retirement security. These files are located in the “Logos” subsection of “Artwork,” found under the main “Photos & Artwork” category. 

    Other recent additions include: (under Artwork) new Health Care, Economy, and Political cartoons as well as cartoons to mark the upcoming holiday season. Under our “Ask the Experts” section, we have new tips for starting up a local union website. We’ve also posted plenty of new photographs.

    Coming soon to The Source is a new “Campaign” section featuring artwork to promote our various issue campaigns (Speed Matters, EFCA, Labor 2008, Stewards Army, etc.), and a new link to the latest press releases issues by CWA. To easily access The Source, simply click on the “Tools for Communicators” button on the left-hand side of CWA’s main homepage.

    As always, visit the website to read the latest issue of our weekly newsletter which goes to press late afternoon (Eastern Time) every Thursday. Feel free to make suggestions on The Source via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the site.