August 16, 2007

Cohen Questions Dem Contenders on EFCA in Iowa

CWA President Larry Cohen was one of three panelists asking tough questions of six leading Democratic presidential contenders at the Iowa AFL-CIO Candidates Forum in conjunction with the AFL-CIO state federation convention in Waterloo.

About 300 union leaders from across Iowa, including a contingent of some 30 CWA activists and retired members, attended the forum. Iowa is a key state in the political process, with caucuses set for next January.   

Cohen focused on workers' rights and asked each candidate: "How would you talk about the Employee Free Choice Act if this was a meeting at the Waterloo Elks Club?"

In his remarks later to convention delegates, Cohen said union activists and members should keep score of when and where the candidates speak. "Do they talk about the Employee Free Choice and workers' rights as the way to bring back the middle class in America, and not just at union halls? That should be a key indicator," he said.

"Watch what the candidates say when they're not at the union hall," he added.

Democratic candidates attending the forum were Senators Joseph Biden, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Governor Bill Richardson. They also were questioned about health care and trade and jobs by Jan Laue, executive vice president of the Iowa AFL-CIO, and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.

CWA is asking all presidential candidates – Democratic and Republican – questions that CWA members and families have said are most important, about jobs, workers' rights and health care. All responses will be posted on a special CWA election website.

Guild Battle in San Francisco Could Mean Union Growth

As the Denver-based MediaNews company moves to consolidate newsroom operations for papers it owns in the San Francisco area, members of TNG-CWA will be working alongside non-union members.

MediaNews is seizing that as an opportunity to try to get rid of the union. The Newspaper Guild says it's a chance for growth.

"The consolidation of the Alameda Newspaper Group and the Contra Costa Times presents an opportunity for the Guild to organize a long-standing non-union workforce at the Times and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of journalism in the Bay Area," TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said.

The Northern California Media Guild-CWA represents about 130 workers at the five-paper Alameda group, which includes the Oakland Tribune. Because the non-union Contra Costa Times and other smaller newspapers included in the merger have 160 workers, MediaNews is claiming that the Guild no longer has a majority.

This week, MediaNews withdrew recognition of the Guild, a move that immediately led the union to file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. In a letter to the company attorney who announced the decision, union representative Carl Hall called it a "grave error"

"Your citing of numbers and percentages doesn't mask what I consider to be a blatant attempt to destroy a 20-year tradition of progressive labor relations in the East Bay news industry," Hall wrote. "Given the challenges our business faces, it's unfortunate the company is pursuing this losing strategy rather than the pattern of good faith bargaining we have tried so hard to build."

So far, only a few employees have been moved to new locations and no changes in wages, benefits or other contract terms have been made. Before MediaNews withdrew the Guild's recognition, the union was preparing to bargain over any changes in working conditions as a result of the consolidation and submitted a lengthy request for information about the company's plans. Whether MediaNews will comply isn't clear, but union leaders are prepared for a fight.

Guild members throughout the region and members at MediaNews nationwide wore red shirts on Aug. 13 to show their support for the union. This weekend, Foley will be on hand in the Bay Area for a news conference and organizer training.

Long Beach Techs Testify about Verizon's Illegal Tactics

In arbitration hearings this week and last, eight  technicians from Verizon's Maintenance Control Office in Long Beach, Calif., have stepped forward to testify that the company used coercive tactics to intimidate union supporters in a representation election the workers narrowly lost in April.

The day before the election, Verizon's senior vice president for network operations, Michael Poling, went cubicle to cubicle telling the workers, "You will not get raises. You will not get under the union contract." Poling had been flown into Long Beach at the apparent instruction of Denny Strigl, Verizon's president and chief operating officer. The actions are violations of CWA's neutrality and expedited election agreement at Verizon that covers former GTE network services units. The workers lost the election by just 7 votes. Weeks earlier, 105 of the 170 workers had signed union authorization cards.

"It's courageous of these workers to come forward and testify given what they have endured," said CWA Local 9586 President Gregg Gibson, whose local has been assisting the workers. "The experience has made them stronger and increased their respect for what unions are all about," he said. Verizon's number two HR official flew in for the hearings assisted by three high-powered attorneys.

A second round of hearings is scheduled in October, but Verizon has filed suit in U.S. District Court to rule the arbitration out of order. It is claiming the complaint should have been filed before the vote, not afterwards. CWA's agreement with the company, however, specifically states that the union has 5 days after an election to file charges.

According to a mid-level manager who tipped off the local, Strigl had stressed the importance of defeating the union drive in a conference call for managers in California. From then until the vote, the company deluged the workers almost daily with e-mails attacking the union and collective bargaining.

Rallies Set Stage for New Round of Talks with ABC

With less than a week before bargaining resumes with Disney-ABC, members of NABET-CWA and scores of backers from other unions rallied at lunchtime in Chicago on Wednesday and New York City on Thursday.

"We passed out about 700 flyers that asked people to call the general manager at ABC in Chicago," said Ray Taylor, president of Local 54041. "As we were marching around, a secretary came down and told me, 'The phone keeps on ringing and ringing.'"

More than 100 issues remain on the table with ABC, where NABET's current contract expired March 31. Key issues include the company's demand for a pension freeze, retiree health care and rights to union jobs in new technologies.

The network sprung the pension demand on the union several weeks into bargaining in March and two months later NABET members voted overwhelming to strike if necessary. The negotiations scheduled Aug. 20-28 in Chicago are the first since two weeks of bargaining in late May. The union represents about 2,500 technicians, camera operators, news writers and other employees at ABC nationwide

The Chicago rally featured a four-piece band and drew supporters from the city's entertainment unions, the Chicago Federation of Labor, IBEW, SEIU as well as CWA Local 4250 and TNG-CWA Local 34071. They carried signs that said such things as, "Disney Hurts Working Families" and shouted, "Hey Disney: No Pensions, No Jobs, No Seniority, No Way!"

Taylor thanked everyone in an e-mail later, saying, "Your support has uplifted our membership's spirits and has energized our very firm resolve to achieve a fair and equitable contract." You can watch clips from the rally on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDLvNWbvmhQ

The New York rally in front of ABC headquarters on the Upper West Side was getting underway Thursday as the CWA Newsletter went to press. The rally is a joint effort of NABET and the Writers Guild of America East, which hasn't had a contract at ABC for 2 ½ years. Entertainment unions, local politicians, other CWA members in New York and CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton were expected to be on hand.

Updates on contract negotiations are posted at www.abc-contract.info. To show support for members at ABC and receive updates by e-mail, join the "Fair Contract at Disney/ABC Activists Network."  Sign up in the box on the bottom right hand column of the homepage.

IN BRIEF:

  • Firefighters and other emergency workers who spent weeks in the toxic disaster that was Ground Zero were stunned and outraged last week to hear Rudy Giuliani compare his job and its risks to theirs.

    "I was one of those workers," the former New York mayor and current Republican presidential candidate said, claiming he spent as much time at Ground Zero as rescuers and recovery teams. "I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to ... so in that sense I'm one of them."

    Tell that to Marvin Bethea, an EMS worker who suffered a stroke and breathing problems after responding to the attack. "This is an absolute insult to all the people who are suffering from 9/11," Bethea said in media reports. "You weren't working on the pile. You weren't digging, so how do you compare yourself to one of us?"

    FDNY batallion chief Jim Riches, who spent eight months at Ground Zero looking for the remains of his firefighter son and others who died, said Giulinia "would pass through for five minutes, so for him to say he was down there as much as the first responders is a disgrace."

  • The Alliance for Public Technology, which is working with CWA to promote affordable high-speed Internet access to all Americans, is urging union members to participate in a contest to promote the importance of broadband communications. The purpose of the contest, entitled "Broadband Changed My Life," is to highlight how high-speed Internet access is changing every aspect in our lives. Contest participants share their personal experiences of how and why high-speed Internet access has made a critical difference. A grand prize of $1,000, a second place prize of $500, and third place prize of $250 will go to the winning submissions. The Contest deadline is October 1.

    To enter the contest go to www.BroadbandChangedMyLife.org. Local unions are being urged to help spread the word by adding a link to the contest on their homepages.