December 22, 2010

• Broken Senate Rules Continue to Delay the People’s Business
• Ground Zero Responders Bill Remains Blocked by Abuse of Senate Rules
• FCC Vote Moves U.S. Forward on Broadband
• CWA Members Ratify Contracts at AT&T Advertising Solutions, Internet Services
• JwJ Voters Name Cold-Hearted McConnell 'Scrooge of the Year'
• Happy New Year to All

Broken Senate Rules Continue to Delay the People’s Business

Want to hear how the Senate rules don’t work from an inside source? Click on this interview with the “Secret Senator,” who talks about obstruction and other political games that have stalled action on important issues for working families throughout the two years of the 111^th Congress.

The House of Representatives passed more than 400 bills that never were discussed by the U.S. Senate because of these broken Senate rules.

That’s why CWA, Common Cause, and many progressive groups are working for real reform of the Senate rules, to end the secret holds and delaying tactics that prevent important legislation from even being discussed.

Bargaining rights for public safety officers and support for Sept. 11 emergency responders who became ill following their work at Ground Zero are just the most recent bills that have fallen victim to Republican delaying tactics.

The Senate rules about holds and filibusters aren’t part of the U.S. Constitution and can be changed by the new Senate after members are sworn in early in January.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out this petition that calls on Senators to make the filibuster a “real filibuster,” by requiring Senators to stay on the floor and explain to the American people why the minority is right, whether it’s about bargaining rights or other issues important to working families.

Ground Zero Responders Bill Remains Blocked by Abuse of Senate Rules

As this CWA Newsletter closed out, some Senate Republicans led by Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) were continuing to stall discussion of the bill to provide health care and compensation to Sept. 11 responders at Ground Zero. The legislation would help ailing police officers, firefighters, telecom workers and others – including many CWA members -- who were on the ground in the earliest days following Sept. 11.

Coburn, taking advantage of the broken Senate rules, has pledged to try to block the bill by forcing up to three votes on whether Senators will even agree to discuss the bill. That means several days or more would be required just to move the bill to the Senate floor and begin debate.

Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) made changes in the bill’s funding to win more support, but the measure continued to lack of the 60 votes needed to begin debate.

The bill would create a 10-year program to treat and monitor individuals with medical conditions that resulted from exposure to toxic dust and other materials at the sites of the terrorist attacks or during debris removal. It would also reopen enrollment in a fund that provides money to those injured during the attack or debris removal, and to the families of those who died during the attacks.

FCC Vote Moves U.S. Forward on Broadband

The vote by the the Federal Communications Commission approving Chairman Genachowski’s initiative to adopt open Internet rules means the U.S. can move forward on broadband buildout in a way that will create quality jobs, sustainable communities and enable the U.S. to catch up with the rest of the world.

The FCC’s action will protect an open Internet while providing the needed incentives for investment and economic development. The plan codifies the FCC’s open Internet principles, which call for no discrimination, full transparency, no blocking and free speech, and cover wireless technology while acknowledging technological differences.

As CWA’s 2010 “Speed Matters” report on Internet Speed demonstrated, the U.S. has a long way to go to meet the standards of a true 21^st century broadband infrastructure. Currently, half of Americans' broadband connections do not meet the FCC standard of 4 megabits per second (mbps) download and 1 mbps upload. Read more at www.speedmatters.org.

For residents in rural communities and lower-income urban areas, the digital divide persists. CWA and other organizations, including national civil rights and environmental groups, are calling for more initiatives to support broadband buildout and adoption, as part of the FCC’s national broadband plan.

CWA Members Ratify Contracts at AT&T Advertising Solutions, Internet Services

CWA members at AT&T Advertising Solutions, formerly AT&T Yellow Pages, and AT&T Internet Services have overwhelming ratified separate agreements. Members had voted down earlier tentative agreements; bargaining resumed and new settlements were reached.

At Advertising Solutions, the four-year agreement covering 1,500 workers throughout District 6, in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, was ratified by a 76 percent vote. The three-year AT&T Internet Services agreement, ratified by an 87 percent vote, covers 5,000 members in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and California (Districts 3, 4, 6, and 9.)

JwJ Voters Name Cold-Hearted McConnell 'Scrooge of the Year'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was the meanest of the mean in 2010, say online voters in the annual Jobs with Justice “Scrooge of the Year” contest.

McConnell declared that preventing President Obama from being re-elected is his most important agenda item, more important than rebuilding the economy, putting Americans back to work, providing health care to ailing 9/11 responders or anything else that working families might look for.

“McConnell could have shown great leadership to support people in need at a time when so many are struggling, but this Scrooge doesn’t care about governing or making this country a better place to live,” JwJ said. “McConnell’s goal is to do whatever is necessary to hoard power for himself and his party.”

The JwJ chapter in Kentucky plans to deliver the Scrooge of the Year award in person to McConnell’s office in Louisville.

McConnell got 42 percent of the thousands of votes cast over the past several weeks. The health insurance and pharmaceutical industry, with its focus on profits at the expense of patients, was first runner-up with 22 percent of the vote. Read more at www.jwj.org.

Happy New Year to All

From all of us at CWA Communications, best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.