November 19, 2009

Tax Our Health Care? No Way!

Get the latest news on the Senate bill that taxes health care benefits for middle class and working families. CWA President Larry Cohen has an update and action alert for CWAers, click here to view.

 

 

 

 

 

TU Gets the Attention of Management in U.S. and Germany

CWA Pres. Larry Cohen talks about TU at National Press Club. Panel, from left: "X," a disguised U.S. T-Mobile worker; Prof. Adrienne Eaton, Rutgers; Ado Wilhelm, ver.di; and interpreter Hae-lin Choi.

U.S. and German workers at T-Mobile sent a message to management on both sides of the Atlantic this week. A group of nine workers, plus CWAers from AT&T Mobility, came to Washington to talk more about TU, the global union for German and U.S. workers at T-Mobile, and to meet with NLRB, Labor Department and other government officials about T-Mobile's assault on workers in the U.S who want a union.  

German workers were stunned at how American workers are treated by T-Mobile and the atmosphere of fear and repression that the U.S. workers live under, especially as they work to get a union voice. That message quickly got back to German parent Deutsche Telekom, Ado Wilhelm, a ver.di official and leader of the German worker group, reported.

The U.S. workers almost couldn't believe how T-Mobile in Germany respects workers' rights and supports the right of workers to form a union; that's not what happens in the United States.

At a media briefing at the National Press Club, CWA President Larry Cohen said the goal of TU was to overcome the double-standard of how T-Mobile and parent Deutsche Telekom treat workers in their home countries compared to how U.S. workers are treated. In TU, CWA works with U.S. members and telecom workers and ver.di, which represents workers at T-Mobile and DT, is responsible for overall relations with the company.

"X," a U.S. T-Mobile employee, told reporters how workers are forced to listen to anti-union messages at closed door meetings and intimidated about even taking union leaflets. "X" was fully disguised, because "people who support a union are just fired, gotten rid of. That's why I'm wearing a disguise. That's why I can't even let you hear my voice."

New research by John Logan of San Francisco State and the labor center at Berkeley documents T-Mobile's record of harassment and intimidation of workers who want a union. Since T-Mobile entered the U.S. market in 2001, it has created an atmosphere of fear and repression for workers. Logan outlined his research at a forum attended by the wireless workers, other academics and representatives of the Friedrich Ebert center, Georgetown University's program for labor and the working poor, and American Rights at Work.  

The group also attended a CWA organizing institute and the German workers joined AT&T Mobility workers and CWAers in leafleting a T-Mobile operation.

Compass Airlines Flight Attendants Join AFA-CWA

Flight attendants at Compass Airline celebrate. From left: transitional AFA-CWA Compass secretary Jay Krohn, Teresa McKissick, Robert Mason, Jason Zessin and Catriona Bagley, transitional AFA-CWA Compass president.

Flight attendants at Compass Airlines voted overwhelmingly to join AFA-CWA this week.

"Compass flight attendants look forward to negotiating a contract that will provide security, as well as advance our careers. As AFA-CWA members, we will have a voice at the bargaining table and work alongside management in creating a leading regional airline contract that recognizes our role as safety professionals," said Catriona Bagley, a Compass flight attendant and transitional AFA-CWA president of the more than 300-person unit.

Compass Airlines, formed in 2007 as a Northwest Airlink partner, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

 

Qwest Cuts Management Pay, Pensions

Qwest Communications says it will save about $100 million by stopping contributions to managers' pension plans and freezing their pay. The cuts will take effect on Jan. 1.

The move is a red flag to CWAers at Qwest, who have sacrificed over the past decade to help restore their company's economic viability.  

"We're putting Qwest management on notice now that it better not be thinking about trying to cut workers' pensions, pay and benefits," said District 7 Vice President Mary Taylor.

"CWA bargained hard last year not only for the real improvements in wages, benefits and working conditions that our members deserved, but for the acknowledgement from management that frontline workers are critical to Qwest's success and deserve respect. We will keep pushing forward," she said.

CWA's contract with Qwest, covering about 20,000 workers, expires in 2012.

Student Activists Beat Russell Athletic

Students at Georgetown University spread word about Russell Athletic.

United Students Against Sweatshops stared down one of the nation's biggest sportswear companies and got it to agree to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs after they voted for a union last January.

For ten months, the students ran a national campaign against Russell Athletic after the manufacturer of lots of college gear shut down a Honduras factory after workers voted for union representation.

USAS organized "the largest boycott in the history of student activism" and convinced the administrations of Boston College, Columbia, Harvard, New York University, Stanford, Michigan, North Carolina and 89 other colleges to end their sales and promotional agreements with Russell.

USAS also won the support of 65 members of Congress who wrote to Russell about their "grave concern about reports of severe violations" of labor rights in Honduras.

USAS activists also picketed the NBA finals, leafleted outside sporting goods stores and used social networking to build an even bigger base of consumers who would commit to boycotting Russell products.

Not only did Russell agree to reopen the factory, rehire all the fired workers and open the new plant as a union factory, it also agreed to neutrality and non-interference at seven other factories in Honduras.

In 2001, USAS supported CWA members at New Era Cap in New York who struck for a fair contract, demonstrating at colleges and calling for a boycott of New Era. USAS produced a report that cited New Era, a producer of Major League Baseball caps and other college and sports caps, for sweatshop conditions that caused injuries and unsafe conditions.

Cohen Presses for Action to Bridge America's Digital Divide

Attending the Minority Broadband Summit: CWA Local 2336 President Michael Harris, CWA Local 2201 Equity Committee Chair Kirk Jones, Local 2336 EVP Valerie Matthews Monroe, CWA Pres. Larry Cohen and Julius Hollis, chair of the Alliance for Digital Equality.

With Internet speeds and access in most of the developed world leaving the United States in the dust, America's low-income and minority households are particularly at risk of being left behind in the digital world, CWA President Larry Cohen told the Minority Digital Summit in a keynote speech Wednesday.

The event was sponsored by the Alliance for Digital Equality, a coalition of corporate, consumer, public policy and other organizations including CWA that is pushing for broadband expansion in rural and inner city areas. The summit brought together policy makers, media and others to address the critical issues facing underserved communities.

High speed broadband access is the key to quality and affordable education, ending disparities in healthcare and improving access to specialists, whether in urban or rural areas, and promoting economic development in low income communities, Cohen said.

"High-speed broadband and digital literacy are necessary for economic growth and national competitiveness and to ensure that all Americans -- no matter where they live -- can take advantage of the promise of the Internet," he said.

Puerto Rico Newspaper Owned by Workers is Now Online

The Puerto Rico Daily Sun goes online.

The Puerto Rico Daily Sun, the English-language newspaper started by a cooperative of workers who were locked out of their jobs at the San Juan Star, is now online at www.prdailysun.com.

The website, also in English, was launched just in time to celebrate the newspaper's one-year anniversary. The Newspaper Guild-CWA, which represented the workers at the Star, contributed $25,000 toward the website's creation.

The newspaper employs about 90 workers from the Star, who each bought an $800 share in the new venture.

Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Being Underreported by OSHA

In a report released this week, the Government Accountability Office found that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration failed to provide an accurate accounting of the number of work-related injuries and illnesses from 2005-2007.

The agency cited employer pressure that caused a serious underreporting of work-related illnesses and injuries by employers, health professionals and workers, and OSHA's own lax audit process. The report is an indictment of the low priority the Bush administration gave to protecting workers' health and safety.

More than half of the health professionals surveyed by GAO said employers had pressured them to downplay an injury or an illness so it would not have to be reported. Two-thirds said they observed workers expressing fear of being fired or disciplined if they reported an injury or illness. One third said employers had pressured them to provide insufficient treatment to hide or downplay injuries and illnesses.

The GAO also criticized OSHA's auditing process because the agency does not regularly interview workers during workplace illness and injury audits.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said the findings were "alarming" and promised that OSHA would take corrective action.