July 31, 2008

• Thousands Show Verizon their Determination for a Fair Contract
• Strike Vote Underway at Qwest
• Million Member Mobilization Gains Steam on Eve of 'August Blitz'
• AFA-CWA Details Anti-Union Stance by Delta, Concerns Over Merger
• Larry Beall Dies, Retired District 9 Staffer
• IN BRIEF:
• After CWA Complaint, Comcast Drops Use of 'Speed Matters'
• IUE-CWA Members to Testify on Job Issues
• Trade Deficit with China Costs 2.3 Million Jobs

Thousands Show Verizon their Determination for a Fair Contract

Verizon management in New York saw nothing but red from their office windows on July 26 as more than 6,000 rallied for a fair contract.

Union bargaining teams report that several major issues remain to be resolved including union jobs and bargaining rights, health care, retirement security and wages.

More than 6,000 members and retirees filled the street outside Verizon's Manhattan headquarters with an ocean of red last Saturday to send management a message of determination to win a fair contract protecting jobs, benefits and living standards.

CWA President Larry Cohen and Vice Presidents Chris Shelton, Ron Collins and Ed Mooney addressed the rally along with IBEW's bargaining chairs.  "IBEW and CWA are sticking together," Cohen declared.  "Whether we're from Maine or Virginia, it's all about solidarity!  Techs and service reps, inside workers and out, Verizon Business, wireless and wireline – it's all about solidarity!"

Thousands more are gathering for a mass rally in Boston today, as well as in front of Verizon's office in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, locals throughout the region have conducted rallies, marches and informational picketing at scores of locations this week to show solid support for their bargaining teams.

Separately, the contract covering 64 Verizon Wireless workers in New York is set to expire tomorrow after midnight. At this time, major issues have not been resolved, bargainers reported.

Strike Vote Underway at Qwest

As negotiations continue for a new contract at Qwest Communications, CWA members now are voting on whether to authorize a strike if a fair contract isn't reached.

Locals are submitting the results to the District 7 office by Saturday, Aug. 9, 5 pm MDT. The contract covering 20,000 CWA-represented workers in 13 states expires Aug. 16.

Critical issues for CWA members at Qwest are a fair wage increase, health care security for workers and retirees, keeping quality jobs and bringing back outsourced jobs.

Million Member Mobilization Gains Steam on Eve of 'August Blitz'

As of July 28, nearly 18,000 members had signed up as CWA prepares to launch a nationwide "August blitz" to reach a target of 65,000 signed cards by month's end. CWA's total goal is 80,000.

"Our members get the connection that Employee Free Choice has to bargaining power," says District 7 Staff Rep Joe Gosiger. "Throughout the district, our shop stewards are driving home the linkage between bargaining rights and what they get in negotiations, and are passing out the cards during contract ratifications," he said.

At a ratification meeting for workers at a security alarm company, Local 7705 shop steward Sam Grondin persuaded every worker to sign up after he explained how low union density has handicapped them in bargaining. "They work at the only union-represented security alarm company in the area," said Gosiger.

Locals have also been signing up members during Verizon bargaining mobilization rallies last week in New York City and today in Boston. Card-signing activities are spreading throughout the country as members are recognizing the urgency of Employee Free Choice. "Every staff person is involved at the district level," says District 6 Area Director Michael Littleton. "We're even bringing cards to grievance hearings," he said. Currently, Districts 2 and 6 are leading all other districts, in terms of percentages of members signed up.

CWA's signed cards, along with photos of members who have signed, will be added to cards and photos from dozens of other participating unions from both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win. The goal is to gather cards from a million union members to show how strongly workers support the Employee Free Choice Act and to display them at the U.S. Capitol when the new Congress is sworn in.

Since last week's newsletter report, 26 more CWA locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up 15 percent or more of their members:

Dist. 1: 1013, 1020, 1300, 81244, ­Dist. 2: 2001, 2004, 2201, 2206, Dist. 3: 3113, 3706, 3903, Dist. 4: 4070, 4216, 4252, 4370, 4371, Dist. 6: 6007, 6110, 6139, 6206, 6311, 6410, Dist. 7: 7212, 7219, 7990, Dist. 13: 14838.

Click here, http://www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/localinfo/, for a full listing of locals that have fulfilled their 15 percent pledge.

AFA-CWA Details Anti-Union Stance by Delta, Concerns Over Merger

At a U.S. House hearing focusing on the impact of the proposed Delta-Northwest Airlines merger on employees, AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend cited concerns over possible future job cuts and noted that Delta workers are especially vulnerable without union representation.

"Since the merger was announced, Delta's new management team continues to offer empty promises and reiterate a hollow commitment to employees yet refuses to put anything in writing, indicating that it is not interested in building a positive workplace culture," Friend told members of the House Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Wednesday.

"Earlier this year, Delta management violated the rights of over 13,500 employees to freely select a bargaining representative when the carrier's flight attendants were voting for AFA-CWA representation," she testified.  She submitted to the subcommittee the union's filing with the National Mediation Board detailing Delta's voter-suppression campaign and calling for a re-run of the election.

Throughout the hearing, which also included experts from across the industry, congressional leaders issued pointed concerns over Delta management's anti-union actions and the importance of including all voices during the merger process.

Noting that a future representation election will be held among all flight attendants at the merged airline, Friend urged House members "to send a strong and clear signal to Northwest and especially Delta executives that they must not use this merger as a means to destroy the collective bargaining rights of flight attendants."

Larry Beall Dies, Retired District 9 Staffer

Larry Beall, retired staff member and a CWA activist in California for more than 40 years died July 26. He was 75.

Beall, who started working for General Telephone of California in 1955, served in many positions for his union, CWA Local 9586 (then Local 11586), including the post of president from 1972 to 1975.

He joined the union staff as a CWA representative in 1975 and in 1988 he became administrative assistant to the vice president of District 9. Beall, a native of Upland, Calif., was named Southern California area director in 1990, a post he held until his retirement in 1997.

Beall is remembered for being politically active, having worked to support the election campaigns of former California Governor Pat Brown and Senators Alan Cranston and John Tunney. In later years he was also an active member of the CWA retired members council.

"Larry was a great union leader; someone who knew how to bargain, and knew how to represent members," said District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler.

IN BRIEF:

• "Speed Matters," the name of CWA's campaign to promote high-speed Internet development, has become well-known from the presidential campaign trails to statehouses around the country to Capitol Hill in Washington (www.speedmatters.org).
  
  When Comcast adopted the term as the marketing slogan for its own Internet services, CWA lawyers cried foul.  They informed Comcast's general counsel that its use of Speed Matters presented a "likelihood of confusion" and the implication that CWA was promoting Comcast's services over its competitors, warning that that constituted trademark infringement.
  
  In response, Comcast has now dropped Speed Matters from the prominent display ad for broadband service at the top of its website and reported that it "has eliminated all known uses of this phrase" in its advertising.
  
  
  
• One IUE-CWA member whose job at a General Electric plant is being moved to China and a second member working for a company that is saving American jobs with green technology will testify Saturday at a Democratic Party platform hearing in Cleveland.
  
  Sean Grimes, a 10-year employee at Cobasys, near Dayton, Ohio, will talk about the 150 IUE-CWA jobs at the plant that were saved when the company retooled itself to produce the hybrid battery for the Saturn VUE.
  
  Rita Bugvacich, who has worked at the GE plant in Austintown, Ohio, for 39 years, is among 450 GE workers who are losing their jobs. The company has decided it will produce its new energy efficient light bulbs in China and is closing four U.S. plants that make traditional bulbs.
  
  The two members will join other workers who will share personal stories relating to the economy and health care concerns. The hearing, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Cleveland City Center, is open to the public.
  
  
  
• The vast and growing U.S. trade deficit with China has had a "devastating effect on U.S. workers," causing 2.3 million manufacturing, high-tech and other jobs to be lost or displaced between 2001 and 2007, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
  
  Economists said jobs in all 50 states have been affected by the trade deficit, which skyrocketed during the Bush administration from $84 billion in 2001 to $262 billion in 2007.
  
  Displaced workers, those who found new jobs, saw their earnings drop by more than $8,000 on average. EPI said that in 2007 along, their lost income totaled $19.4 billion.
  
  "The U.S-China trade relationship needs a fundamental change," EPI said. "Addressing the (currency) exchange rate policies and labor standards issues in the Chinese economy are important first steps." A full report on the China trade imbalance is available online at www.epi.org.