May 28, 2009

Senate Confirms Former AFA-CWA President for National Mediation Board

Flight attendants and other airline employees now have a strong advocate for workers' rights with the Senate's confirmation of former AFA-CWA President Linda Puchala as a new member of the National Mediation Board, the agency that oversees labor law for transportation industry workers.

AFA-CWA President Pat Friend said Puchala's "experience and vast commitment to workers' rights and the collective bargaining process will help restore the integrity of this vital federal agency."

"For years, the NMB has operated under arcane and unreasonable rules that make it difficult for workers to organize and bargain contracts," said Friend. "We look forward to working with Ms. Puchala to ensure that the NMB adheres to its mission of protecting employees' right to engage in free and fair collective bargaining in the airline industry."

Japanese, Argentine Unions Take on Employee Free Choice Fight

President Tomoyasu Kato of NWJ and other Japanese union leaders discuss Employee Free Choice with U.S. embassy officials in Tokyo. Below, a delegation from the UNI-Argentina Liaison Council meets with U.S. officials at embassy in Buenos Aires.

Unions around the world are supporting the campaign to restore workers' bargaining and organizing rights in the United States through the Employee Free Choice Act.

So far, Japanese and Argentine labor leaders have met with U.S. embassy officials abroad to stress the importance of Employee Free Choice for workers around the globe. CWA President Larry Cohen proposed this strategy at a recent Union Network International meeting; at least 100 visits by global union leaders are expected to take place over the next several weeks.

President Tomoyasu Kato of NWJ, the NTT Workers Union of Japan, led a delegation of Japanese union leaders to meet with officials at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo.

The UNI-Argentina Liaison Council met with officials of the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires to express support of Argentine unions for Employee Free Choice.

Thousands Tune in for Second AT&T E-Meeting

Did you catch CWA's AT&T unity e-meeting last night?

CWA top officers open AT&T Unity e-meeting.

Thousands of CWAers heard from CWA's top officers and listened as CWA vice presidents answered members' questions on bargaining issues.

CWA President Larry Cohen told members that the negotiations with AT&T are a priority for our entire union, because AT&T's attempts to cut workers' standard of living would affect every CWA member. AT&T is one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, even in these economic times, and if AT&T workers can't look forward to a brighter day, no one can, he said.

CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill had an issue-by-issue bargaining update, giving members more information on where negotiations stand on health care, retiree benefits, prem tech and customer service issues, jobs and more.

"These negotiations are a marathon, not a sprint, but progress is being made," she said.

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach cited CWAers mobilization actions – from the AT&T annual meeting in Dallas to the campaign that's producing scores of support letters to CEO Randall Stephenson from elected officials across the country as a critical part of the negotiations.    

If you missed the e-meeting, go to http://www.cwa-union.org/att/att-unity-e-meeting.html for a replay.

CWA Bargaining Teams Take on Avaya, OFS

CWA members at both Avaya and OFS, the optical fiber solutions company, voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization if fair contracts can't be reached in negotiations.

For the 2,000 CWA-represented workers at Avaya, top issues are preserving health care benefits and reducing or stopping the offshoring of jobs to India and Central America, and the transfer of union jobs to Avaya business partners. The contract expired May 23 and the "clock was stopped," but union bargainers have expressed frustration over the wait for critical information and responses from Avaya management.

At worksites every day, workers stand together in unison, and at call centers CWAers have hung unity chains and union slogans throughout their workplaces. On informational picket lines the signs say it all: "Don't Touch Our Health Care," "Avaya Do the Right Thing," and "Treat Us Wrong and We Will Be Gone."

Bargaining is continuing for a new contract covering about 250 workers at OFS, where health care for both active and retired workers, jobs and wages are critical issues. The agreement covering CWA-represented workers at Sturbridge, Mass., and Norcross, Georgia, expires May 30. 

CWA Everyday Hero: Norm Howard, CWA Local 6012

CWA Local 6012 hero Norm Howard, standing right, is part of the bargaining team for a first contract for 250 city workers in Stillwater, Okla. Local President Cindy Mills is to his left.

Norm Howard didn't hesitate for a moment last week when he saw smoke about 50 feet away from his city water department truck in a Stillwater, Okla., neighborhood. He backed up, spotted flames coming from a single-story home, called in the fire and ran toward it.

"I walked around the house trying to see anybody, hear anybody," said Howard, who recently helped organize his water utility department in Stillwater with support from CWA Local 6012. "I was calling out and beating on doors and windows, then I heard the victim."

A 55-year-old man was near the back door, overcome by the thick, dark smoke. Howard broke open the door and found the man burned on his face and arms, gasping for air. He tried to lift him to safety outside, but the victim was too badly injured for Howard to move by himself.

Howard got him as close to the door and fresh air as he could, then got a hand from his coworker, Steve Cunningham, also a new member of Local 6012.  Cunningham had been working on water meters on a street nearby and heard the fire call. "Steve was there within a couple of minutes," Howard said. "It seemed like a real long time, but I know it really wasn't."

Firefighters arrived just a couple of minutes later, finding the two utility workers with the burn victim in the back yard. They checked Howard and Cunningham for smoke inhalation, but both were OK. The man died of burn injuries three days later.

Howard is a member of the bargaining committee negotiating a first contract for 250 newly organized city workers, including 25 water utility workers.

"None of us who know Norm were surprised by his courageous, selfless response to the situation he found himself in," said CWA District 6 Staff Representative Judy Graves. "He is a leader in the truest sense of the word - in his workplace and his community."

Do you know a CWA Everyday Hero? Send the information to news@cwa-union.org.

Report Bolsters Case for Majority Sign-Up, Exposes Corporate Lies

A new report by four leading universities provides more definitive proof that majority sign up does not cause union or employer intimidation.

In fact, the findings indicate that a lack of intimidation by either side – as well as a clear path to forming a union -- allows workplaces to function more smoothly with no friction.

Data from 34,000 people who joined unions through majority sign-up over a six-year period showed no trace of intimidation by unions or employers, the report from labor studies departments at Rutgers, Cornell, the University of Illinois and the University of Oregon found.

Researchers looked at public sector organizing, which is often done by majority sign-up, from 2003 to the present. "Contrary to business claims, in 1,073 cases of union certification and in at least 1,359 majority-authorization campaigns, there was not a single confirmed incidence of union misconduct," they said.

The findings shatter the claims of Employee Free Choice Act opponents who charge that majority sign-up would cause unions to intimidate workers to get them to join.

This week, workers at two companies joined CWA through majority sign-up. In Arlington, Wash., workers at Roads West Inc., a telecom company, won union recognition with Local 7803 with 100 percent support for CWA representation. In Lebanon Communications in Lebanon, Ohio, technicians won representation with Local 4400 also through majority signup.

The study is available from the AFL-CIO at http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/upload/multistate_efca051409.pdf.

TNG-CWA's Lunzer Speaks in Iraq on Importance of Free Press and Media Unions

TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer and joins Iraqi and other journalists at a conference on press freedom. 

TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer and TNG-CWA member Rob Davila, a copy editor at the Seattle Times, joined hundreds of international journalists at a conference in Baghdad last weekend to promote a free press in Iraq's emerging democracy.

Speakers also included Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Aiden White, secretary-general of the International Federation of Journalists.

"I discussed how it's really strong, independent trade unions that can protect a free press," Lunzer said.

The conference was sponsored by the Iraqi Journalist Syndicate and the IFJ. Participants also discussed ways to better protect the safety of media workers in Iraq.

Nearly 300 media workers, most of them working for news organizations in other countries, have been killed in Iraq since 2003. As western media companies close their news bureaus, they are growing more dependent on Iraqi journalists and interpreters to tell the story there.

"It's important to understand the key role professional journalism plays in democracy and civil society," Lunzer said. "We can learn a lot from the courage of the Iraqi journalists. They know that the fate of their country is tied to credible, honest information, and they put everything on the line."