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January 7, 2010
Across our union, CWAers can make a difference and help save
jobs at New Era Cap Company. The challenge: Stop the shutdown of
one of two remaining New Era facilities in Demopolis, Ala., and
Derby, N.Y. CWA represents workers at both locations; New
Era now is shutting its Jackson, Ala., plant.
CWAers are contacting elected officials, United Students
Against Sweatshops (USAS) and other groups, asking them to press
universities and colleges to buy only American-made ball caps
for their sports teams and sales to students. CWA activists also
can contact their local university and alumni groups to spread
the word that U.S. colleges should buy only American-made ball
caps, and that means caps made by New Era.
New Era says because of the economic downturn, its production
of Major League Baseball caps can be done in one facility. In a
letter to New York's U.S. senators, representatives and state
legislators, CWA District 1 Area Director Dave Palmer said CWA
wants both facilities to remain open and that means increasing
demand for the U.S.-made ball caps.
Palmer asked the lawmakers to contact university and college
leaders and ask them to require all school-licensed products to
be American-made.
USAS played a major role in supporting New Era workers in
2002 when members of CWA Local 14177 were forced into a long
strike.
Leading economists and 190 Members of Congress agree: the
proposed tax on health care benefits is bad public policy that
will hurt millions of middle-income and working Americans.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Representative Joe
Courtney (D-Conn.) and economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh
Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute debunked the myths that
supporters have been spreading about the excise tax during
a media teleconference Jan. 6.
CWA has been leading the fight against the tax on health care
plans which is included in the Senate's health care reform plan.
The House of Representatives has it right, CWA President Larry
Cohen has said, funding health care reform through an employer
mandate that requires employers that currently don't pay to
provide coverage for workers, and a surtax on the very
wealthy.
Courtney pointed out that 190 House Democrats have joined the
efforts to stop the tax on health care plans.
Bivens pointed out that the tax actually will hit small
businesses, older workers and those most in need of health care
the hardest, not the so-called "Cadillac" plans that tax
supporters want to affect. That's because size and geographic
location of the workplace and age and health care needs of
workers, not quality of coverage, are the factors that raise
overall plan costs, he said.
For the latest on CWA's campaign, go to www.healthcarevoices.org.
CWA and CWA/NETT have been awarded a $4 million training
grant to help dislocated workers train for clean, green energy
and manufacturing jobs.
Less than 15 percent of grant proposals submitted were
selected to receive a grant; CWA was awarded one of just 25
grants total. The grants are funded by the Obama
administration's economic stimulus program.
Workers who have lost auto industry and other manufacturing
jobs in Ohio are first in line for the training, CWA/NETT
Administrator Kevin Celata said, and other displaced workers and
veterans also can apply. Training will focus on
green manufacturing skills that prepare workers for jobs in the
energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. CWA/NETT will
be able to provide the new course on line.
"This is tremendous and welcome news for our members, who've
been hit even harder than most Americans by outsourcing,
offshoring and the recession," IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said.
"The training this grant makes possible will lead to good,
sustainable jobs and give a thousand families a more secure
future."
CWA joined members of Congress and other allies today in a
media teleconference to outline concerns about the proposed
Verizon-Frontier merger and discuss ways to eliminate a tax
loophole that allows Verizon and other companies to sell assets
tax-free to smaller companies that end up burdened by
debt.
CWA has been fighting to block the sale of 4.8 million
Verizon landlines in 14 states to Frontier. The sale would mean
a $600 million tax savings for Verizon and $3.3 billion in new
debt for Frontier, making it very unlikely that Frontier could
build out high speed broadband or provide other advance
telecommunications services to consumers.
In West Virginia, CWAers and District 2 have been mobilizing
against the sale and will hold a mass rally on Jan. 10 in
Charleston, just before the start of the state's Public Service
Commission hearings.
On the teleconference, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) outlined his
bill to close the "Reverse Morris Trust" tax loophole that
permits these deals. The bill will be introduced by Hodes and
co-sponsor Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) later this month.
Joining the call: CWA President Larry Cohen, IBEW President
Edwin Hill, Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Ben Scott of Free
Press.
Less than three years after Verizon's sale of its New England
landlines to FairPoint Communications, that company has filed
for bankruptcy. Now, workers face cutbacks and job losses,
customers face deteriorating service and the lack of high speed
broadband and other new technologies. Hawaiian Telecom also
filed for bankruptcy after Verizon used the same tax loophole to
dump its landlines in Hawaii.
For more information, visit www.bad4wv.com.
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| NABET-CWA President John Clark, front
right, marches with NABET-CWA members locked out at
ABC. |
NABET-CWA President John Clark will retire at the end of
January, winding up 43 years in the union he joined while
working at NBC Radio in New York
City.
Clark was working as a vacation relief engineer at the radio
network when he joined NABET Local 11 in 1967 (now NABET-CWA
Local 51011.)
Clark served as a steward, executive board
member, grievance chair and vice president before being
elected local president in 1987.
He was elected an international vice president in 1986 and
became international president in October 1993.
Clark says he's most proud of NABET's 1994 merger with CWA
and the work he, former President James Nolan and CWA President
Larry Cohen did to make it happen. "I'm proud to have played a
leading role in bringing our small organization into a union
with greater impact, visibility, influence and resources," Clark
said. "The merger was a major step forward for our membership in
every way, and expanded CWA's footprint into the media
industry. It was a win-win for everyone."
Cohen praised Clark's wealth of knowledge and the mix of
diplomacy and tenacity he brought to contract negotiations.
"John's brilliance in bargaining, mastery of the subject matter
as well as his near perfect ability to work with our national
teams at Disney/ ABC and General Electric/ NBC will be sorely
missed," he said.
United Airlines' failure to negotiate a new contract with
AFA-CWA flight attendants on time provoked a worldwide protest
today by thousands of flight attendants at airports across the
United States, Europe and Asia.
In 2002, United flight attendants were forced to take steep
cuts in pay during United's bankruptcy. Management
also terminated workers' pensions, cut retiree health care
and eroded working conditions. Those cuts were scheduled to end
on Jan. 7, when the contract became amendable.
Flight attendants currently are paid at 1994 wage levels and
they are working 48 percent more, compared to 2002 schedules and
staffing levels. When United exited bankruptcy, its CEO, Glenn
Tilton, accepted a bonus that could have provided a 10 percent
raise for the airline's 15,000 flight attendants.
"Negotiations began last April, but United has shown no
interest in discussing improvements or reaching a new contract
unless we agree to concessionary demands," said Greg
Davidowitch, president of the AFA-CWA United Master Executive
Council. "Flight attendants are angry because management seems
only interested in delaying a new contract, refusing to discuss
any improvements."
Flight attendants are protesting in Atlanta, Boston,
Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Las
Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco,
Seattle, Tokyo-Narita and Washington DC. A copy of a
leaflet distributed to passengers is available at www.unitedafa.org.
As 2009 came to a close, more than 150 workers joined CWA
through organizing campaigns in Districts 1, 2 and 7.
In New York, a majority of the professionals at Millard
Fillmore Gates Hospital and Sterling Medical gained
representation with CWA Local 1168 after a majority signed union
authorization cards. The workers will be covered under CWA's
master agreement at Kaleida Health.
Across Idaho, a majority of AT&T Mobility's statewide
unit of network technicians (formerly part of Edge), signed up
for representation by CWA Locals 7603, 7610, and 7621.
In Prince Georges County, Md., workers at Directsat TV, a
contract dish installer for DirecTV, voted 44-24 for
representation by CWA Local 2107.
District 1, IUE-CWA and nine locals nationwide are winners in
CWA's fall contest to encourage members to donate to CWA COPE to
support pro-union, pro-worker political candidates and
campaigns.
The contest, which ran from Sept. 14 to Nov. 25, raised
$45,000 in additional annual donations to COPE.
District 1 was the district with the best percentage
improvement in donations and IUE was the most-improved division.
Each will receive $15,000 in their COPE accounts.
Locals 1122, 6300, 9586, 1105 and 6009 raised the most new
dollars. The local with the largest percentage increase in
giving was IUE-CWA Local 81380, followed by Locals 1122, 9586,
1039 and 6009.
A third award went to locals with the biggest percentage of
previous COPE donors who increased the amount of their
contribution. Winners were Locals 9586, 7603, 9505, 1082 and
IUE-CWA Local 81380.
The top local winners in each category will receive $3,000 in
their COPE accounts and a visit from one of CWA's executive
officers. The other local winners will be awarded $1,000 in
their COPE accounts.
It was an especially tough call in 2009. Who among the greedy
banks and gluttonous CEOs was the biggest Scrooge? That may be
why online voters in the annual Jobs with Justice contest
decided the most cold-hearted of all was the umbrella
organization for greed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The stiff competition included "an impressive write-in
campaign" by AFA-CWA flight attendants who designated United
Airlines as their pick for its refusal to bargain fairly after
years of cutting wages, pension and working conditions while in
bankruptcy.
The Chamber's nastiness trumped Bank of America for its role
in the subprime lending crisis, Hyatt Hotels for firing 100
housekeepers during a job action, Publix Supermarkets for
continuing to buy tomatoes from growers prosecuted for human
rights abuses, and student loan lenders Sallie Mae and Citibank.
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