|
June 12, 2008
CWA has launched an advertising blitz in New Jersey to
counter proposals from a handful of state legislators who are
trying to renege on their commitment to ensure a secure
retirement and health care for state workers.
Union leaders say legislators are breaking a promise made to
state workers in contract talks last year, when CWA agreed to
concessions to help the state combat its budget problems.
Television, radio and print ads, along with mailings, began
 |
| CWA's message to citizens of New Jersey, as
voiced in print, radio and TV
campaign. | this week. A TV ad
airing on broadcast and cable stations features a health care
professional who cares for veterans, an educator and a social
worker, each of them urging state residents to "call Trenton and
tell them to keep their word – protect our future."
"Last year, tens of thousands of New Jersey state workers
negotiated a contract with Trenton that saved taxpayers hundreds
of millions of dollars while protecting health care and
retirement security for our families," said CWA District 1 Vice
President Chris Shelton. "The governor, the legislature and the
hard-working women and men of the Communications Workers of
America agreed to this contract. Now, Trenton is trying to go
back on its promises."
The rollbacks proposed by legislators would change how
pensions are calculated, eliminate benefits for part-time
workers and allow the state to offer "incentives" to get workers
to opt out of health care benefits, among other changes.
CWA represents 55,000 state and local government workers in
New Jersey. The union's support helped elect Democratic Gov.
John Corzine in 2005. Corzine hasn't endorsed the pension
reforms but, according to media reports, is considering
them.
"Social workers look after our elderly and abused children.
Parks workers protect our outdoors. Inspectors keep our
roads and bridges safe. Their work makes us proud to live
in New Jersey," Shelton said. "There is a better way to fix our
budget problems. Trenton should start by eliminating real waste
and fraud, closing corporate tax loopholes and raising taxes on
the wealthiest."
The union's TV ad can be viewed on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4bFJqjb5Qk.
Delta Air Lines management engaged in tactics that interfered
with the flight attendants' ability to have a fair and free
union election, AFA-CWA stated in formal interference charges it
filed this week with the National Mediation Board, which governs
labor relations in the airline industry. The union's allegations
include substantial evidence that the airline employed
aggressive tactics designed to defeat the workers' campaign for
representation.
"Delta flight attendants were denied the opportunity to
freely participate in this election," stated AFA-CWA President
Patricia Friend. A majority of the airline's 13,000 flight
attendants signed cards supporting union representation when
AFA-CWA filed for an election last February. When the election
began, the airline launched a campaign to suppress the vote,
urging workers to tear up their official balloting information
from the NMB as soon as they received it.
In its filing with the agency, AFA-CWA is asking for a new
election with a "Laker" balloting procedure that would limit the
effects of any further illegal conduct by Delta management. By
re-running the election under this procedure, flight attendants
would be permitted to vote either "Yes" or "No" for a union,
with a majority of those voting determining union
representation. Under the previous, and traditional, airline
election procedure, workers either vote "Yes" or write in the
name of another union. Those not choosing to
participate are counted as "No" votes.
CWA-represented nurses and other health care workers held a
huge rally and informational picket line outside Mercy Hospital
in South Buffalo, N.Y., following an overwhelming vote by
members to authorize a strike if a fair contract isn't reached.
Members of CWA Local 1133 voted by a 97 percent margin to
authorize a strike, a message to Catholic Health System that
"enough is enough," said Local President Peggy Chadwick-Ledwon.
CWA represents 2,000 employees at the hospital.
Chadwick-Ledwon said one critical issue is hospital staffing
and the high number of vacancies which force nurses to do the
work of two people and skip breaks and lunches to provide proper
patient care. Under the hospital's current staffing levels,
"nurses are tired and there is nobody to relieve them. It's hard
getting a call on your day off to come in because the hospital
is again short-staffed, and you know your co-workers are killing
themselves," she said. We need to have a competitive wage and
benefit package so we can fill vacancies, especially for night
shift nurses, she added.
Other key issues are benefit differentials for part-time
workers, who more often than not are required to work full-time
hours, wages and health care, said Chadwick-Ledwon. "We don't
want to go out on strike. We just want a fair contract.
Unfortunately, this is the third contact where we've had to take
a strike vote" to show management that workers are serious about
fairness, she said.
Hundreds of CWA nurses and health care workers rallied
outside the hospital, joined by CWA District 1 Vice President
Chris Shelton and other supporters. Negotiations will resume on
June 13; the contract expired June 3.
Eager to go to bat for their union and working families
everywhere, CWA retirees have committed to do whatever's needed
to help pass the Employee Free Choice Act and health care
reform.
Last week, versions of the two campaigns designed
specifically for retirees were rolled out at the CWA Retired
Members' Council District 1 Leadership Conference. The chapter
leaders in attendance were the first of the union's rapidly
growing RMC to get the official presentation, though many
retirees across the country are already lending a hand.
District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton and Communications
& Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly explained CWA's
game plan for passing the Employee Free Choice Act in early 2009
– soon after a new Congress is sworn in – and
passing affordable, universal health care by 2010.
"There is no question in my mind that retirees play
a critical role in getting the Employee Free
Choice Act and a national health care policy passed in
Congress," Maly said. "Retirees make things happen and their
continued support is a must for the survival of the labor
movement."
The retiree leaders came from chapters in New Jersey, New
York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Led by
District 1 RMC President Audrey Buchanan-Swan and Vice President
Adele Rogers, they pledged to present the campaigns to their
membership.
Buchanan-Swan, of Local 1365 in Massachusetts, said
participants were enthusiastic about what they heard. "It was
very well received," she said. "Our retirees are ready to
embrace these campaigns and get to work."
Toward that end, they pledged to get at least 10 percent of
their members to sign postcards and get their pictures taken as
part of the labor movement's Million Member Mobilization to pass
Employee Free Choice. The RMC has about 24,000 members in its
169 chapters.
Former Telecommunications Vice President T.O. Moses, who
served CWA members for more than half a century before his
retirement in 2002, died June 7 in Lubbock, Texas, at age
78.
Moses went to work as a switchman for Southern Bell in 1949
and went on to hold every elective post with CWA Local 3414,
Monroe, La. He joined the CWA staff in 1967, working with locals
in St. Louis, Mo., and Lubbock and Austin, Texas, and handling
negotiations with General Telephone of the Southwest. He was
appointed administrative assistant to the vice president of
District 12 in 1981 and was named assistant to the vice
president of District 6 after the districts merged in 1986.
Moses was elected telecommunications vice president in 1989.
During his leadership, the first bargaining councils were
established at Century Tel and Citizens Communications. He
helped negotiate the cooperative resource council at GTE which
brought a national focus to important member issues.
Friends and colleagues fondly remember his wry and folksy humor
that he often deployed to resolve conflict and move contract
talks forward. When he retired, convention delegates elected him
vice president emeritus by acclamation.
John "Jake" Earley, 83, retired District 3 staff
representative, died June 10, in Tucker, Ga.
Earley came to CWA when he went to work for C & P
Telephone Co. of Maryland in 1948 as a PBX installer-repair
tech. He served Local 2108 for more than 14 years as a shop
steward and later as president, the post he held when he
was appointed to the CWA staff 1965.
As a CWA representative, and later administrative assistant
to the district vice president, Earley first served in
Shreveport, La., and later transferred to posts in Nashville,
Tenn., Columbia, S.C., and Atlanta, Ga. He was considered a
skilled negotiator who at various times bargained contracts at
United Inter-Mountain Telephone, Western Electric, Alltel, GTE
and Southern Bell. He also was instrumental in organizing major
Western Electric locations in the south. Earley retired in
1989.
- Safety and health activists from 22 locals in
District 3 met recently for a weekend seminar in Jacksonville,
Fla., to discuss workplace safety concerns and solutions,
including the development of state-based occupational safety and
health committees and electrical hazards training.
Panel discussions included workplace ergonomic
issues affecting customer service representatives and
technicians, bathroom sanitation on the job, public worker
safety and health legislation just passed in Florida and
achievements of a joint CWA/AT&T safety and health committee
in Louisiana.
The 46 participants also participated in
workshops on CWA's campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Presenter Booker Lester, administrative director for District 3
Vice President Noah Savent, detailed the appalling and often
illegal behavior of employers who intimidate, threaten and fire
union organizers and activists, including workers who fight for
safety on the job.
- House Republicans on Wednesday, buckling under the
threat of a Bush veto, voted down a bill that would have
extended unemployment insurance to the nearly 4 million jobless
workers who will run out of benefits over the next nine months.
"There is no better example after today's vote
why we need a change in November," Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.)
told reporters. The bill would have added 13 weeks of benefits
for most jobless workers and 26 for those in states with the
highest unemployment rates.
The vote was 279-144. If
only five Republicans had changed their vote, it would been
enough to overturn a Bush veto. Pledging to kill the bill, Bush
claimed that unemployment isn't high enough and the economy
isn't bad enough. May saw the biggest one-month jump in
the unemployment rate in more than 20 years, at a time when gas
prices have climbed above $4 a gallon and food prices are
rising.
|
