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June 24, 2010
Another 186 AT&T Mobility network workers in Puerto Rico
now are members of CWA Local 3010, joining CWA through majority
sign-up.
The former Centennial Wireless Network Department employees
work in six different locations across the island.
Local 3010 President Rafael Castro-Torres credited Local 3010
organizer Javier Sepulveda and the internal organizing committee
for building strong support for the union, as well as support
from District 3.
"The campaign got underway in April 2010 and our training and
strategic planning paid off, with the committee signing up more
than half of the network workers in just about a month,"
Castro-Torres said.
The internal committee included Jorge Roldan, Wilfredo
Guivas, Angel Cabrera, Francisco Madera, David Guadalupe,
Botcheller Seda, and Demetrio Luciano.
Local 3010 also is continuing to build majority support among
AT&T Mobility's 414 retail store workers and 175 call center
workers, Castro-Torres said.
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| CWA Local 1040 members working at Ancora
Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey win a grand
prize for a project they developed to reduce the use of
patient restraints and staff injuries. Pictured with Ancora
CEO Allan Boyer, far left, are some of the winning team's
members. From left: Lisa Givens, RN (CWA), Dennis Faliciano
(ASFCME), psychologists Jeff Uhl and Dena Young,(both CWA), Dhea
Santana (CWA) and Elisa Boisseau, RN
(CWA). |
CWA members who created and led a project to reduce the use
of patient restraints at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in New
Jersey have won first place in a statewide quality
improvement competition, beating more than 60 other entries.
By creating new quiet areas called "walk off zones" for
patients in distress and using other de-escalation techniques,
the CWA team of psychologists, nurses and support staff
reduced patient restraint use by 58 percent and staff injuries
by 93 percent.
In the eight months before the program was launched, 16
employees were injured while restraining patients. During the
same time period after the new program began, only one minor
injury was reported.
"This demonstrates that public employees are innovative
and that we not only can compete with but exceed the private
sector in delivering quality patient care," said Dr. Jeffrey
Uhl, a psychologist and member of CWA Local 1040 who was one of
the team leaders. "That's extremely important for people to know
when the privatization of state hospitals is being
explored."
The team of about 15 CWA members developed the project
using "Lean Six Sigma" problem solving and management
principles. "It's bottom up versus top down management, allowing
employees to own the process," Uhl said.
The hospital is building a display case for the
team’s Richard Codey Behavioral Healthcare Quality
Improvement Trophy, which is passed on each year to the
competition’s winner. The award is named for a former New
Jersey governor who has long supported mental health care
services.
CWA has reached an agreement with Frontier Communications
that preserves union jobs, raises wages and calls for the
investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in broadband
build-out and other projects. It also requires Frontier to
ensure that at least 84 percent of eligible job titles
throughout the United States are union jobs.
The agreement, which will be voted on by members, resulted
from CWA's year-long campaign that raised concerns about
Frontier's purchase of Verizon's landline operations in West
Virginia and 13 other states. "We are comfortable with the deal,
given the guarantees that we have negotiated," CWA District 2
vice president Ron Collins said.
The guarantees include $310 million for broadband and other
projects in the state. CWA wanted to ensure that West Virginia
residents and anchor institutions can get access to high speed
broadband and other innovations, as well as consistent service
quality.
The agreement also calls for the company to add 150 CWA jobs
by October and maintain at least 1,600 full-time CWA jobs
through the end of the contract term, Aug. 2, 2013. Wages will
increase by 2.75 percent in August 2011 and 2.5 percent one year
later and there will be no health care cost shifting. Other
improvements include an upgraded title for service technicians
and a guarantee that customer service calls in West Virginia
will be routed to CWA call centers in the state.
CWA members will begin voting on the agreement next week,
with ballots due July 14.
Leaders representing eight national civil rights, labor, and
environmental organizations urged Congress to act quickly to
clarify the Federal Communications Commission's authority to
protect an Open Internet and apply Universal Service funding to
broadband.
The coalition wrote to Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John D.
Rockefeller and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
Henry Waxman, calling for quick action on narrowly targeted
legislation that will support broadband build-out to move our
nation forward and ensure that every American has the skills
necessary for today's digital age.
The organizations are: the AFL-CIO; Communications Workers of
America; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; League
of United Latin American Citizens; Minority Media and Telecom
Council; the NAACP; the National Urban League and the Sierra
Club.
Online registration is now available for CWA local union
editors and webmasters who cover the CWA Convention. The
Convention opens on Monday, July 26 at the Washington Hilton in
Washington, D.C.
Each CWA local that publishes a newsletter in print or online
may register one editor and one webmaster. Each person must be
designated by the local president, and must return a complete
application by July 12.
Click here for more details.
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