Delta Flight Attendants: 'Opportunity, Unity, Respect' Needed at New Delta Family

Click on the photo above to watch the video.

AFA-CWA has produced a great new organizing video, The New Delta Family. It focuses on flight attendants' frustration over how their airline, which workers and the company considered to be "like a family," has changed for the worse with a revolving door of changing management and executives.

Flight attendants at Northwest, which merged with Delta, don't want to lose the bargaining rights they've had for 60 years. They're working with Delta flight attendants to make sure that all flight attendants get the respect and protections of a union contract.

The organizing campaign is focused on building a "world class contract" for the 21,000 flight attendants at the merged airline, along with "opportunity, unity and respect."

In the video, loyal Delta flight attendants with 20, 30 and 40 years of service describe how they now have a chance to restore that lost sense of family by voting for AFA-CWA. They talk about how managers and executives now pay lip service to the idea of caring about workers who have been a loyal part of the company for years.

One flight attendant with 20 years' service said: "When I was hired in 1989, senior management came up through the ranks just like the rest of us. They had a loyalty to the company because they built it and wanted to see it do well. It was a Delta family. It's a totally different culture now."

Another pointed out that there have been five different CEOs over the past 23 years, a real change from the days of the "Delta family."

More Telecom, Public Workers Joining CWA

More than 175 workers joined CWA last week, from telecom workers at AT&T Mobility in Puerto Rico to public workers in the Borough of Island Heights in Ocean County, N.J. In Puerto Rico, 171 call center workers at AT&T Mobility won union representation with CWA Local 3010 through majority signup. The former Centennial Wireless workers built a strong inside committee that reached majority support just eight days after the campaign was launched. The committee was supported by local organizer Javier Sepulveda and District 3 organizing coordinator Jorge Rodriguez.

In Ocean County, N.J., five employees of the Borough of Island Heights won representation by CWA Local 1088, also through majority signup. The workers were assisted by Local President Matt Guthorn and District 1 staff representative Lynn Buckley.

NY Guild Presses City on Cut Tax Breaks for Thomson Reuters

Members of the Newspaper Guild of New York/CWA Local 31003 keep mobilizing for a fair contract at Thomson Reuters.

Members of the Newspaper Guild of New York/CWA Local 31003 at Thomson Reuters have some powerful allies in their fight for a fair contract. Local members who have been mobilizing for a fair contract covering 400 workers at Thomson Reuters have won support from members of the New York City Council and Borough Presidents, as well as leaders of the city's union movement

At a meeting this week of the city's Industrial Development Agency, the local pressed the agency to deny Thomson Reuters the tax exemptions it wants.

The local presented petitions from city residents, plus a letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed by CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton and the leaders of eight other unions and city labor councils who said taxpayer dollars to Thomson Reuters should be frozen because the company hasn't met job creation benchmarks, has slashed compensation to employees and refuses to bargain a fair contract.

Eleven members of the New York City Council signed off on the letter condemning Thomson Reuters, and support also came from the New York City Public Advocate, and Borough Presidents in the Bronx and Manhattan.

The move lost by a 5-4 vote, but the agency did reduce the amount of tax credits that Thomson Reuters wanted and tied future tax breaks to the company's meeting specific job creation targets.

"Although the IDA did not shelve the company's grab for tax breaks, our voices were definitely heard and the company didn't get everything it wanted," said TNG-CWA Local 31003 President Bill O'Meara said.

In January, Thomson Reuters declared an impasse in bargaining, walked away from negotiations, and imposed pay cuts and onerous work rules. TNG-CWA members and supporters are continuing to mobilize and build allies and political support in their fight. For more, go to www.reutersexposed.com.

Two CWA Members Get Top Honors in Photo Contest

Two standout photographers, Dawn Sickles of Local 1101 and Frank Heacock of Local 13500, were named top winners in the first annual CWA Photography Contest.

Some of Sickles' and Heacock's best photos were displayed at the CWA convention, and one of each of their photos is featured at right. Sickles' photo is the top crowd shot, Heacock's, below it, tells a story without any people in the photo at all.

Photos by six other photographers also were recognized with honorable mentions. You can view all the photos and comments from CWA communications staff here.

Keep watching the CWA website, www.cwa-union.org, for information about next year's photo contest.

CWAers Win Union Plus Scholarships

Nine members of the CWA family were awarded Union Plus scholarships to support their college educations.

Gregory Jimenez of Paradise Valley, AZ., and a member of Local 7077 was awarded a $1,000 scholarship. The children of eight other CWA members were awarded scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,000; they were among more than 5,000 applicants.

Those winners are:

Victoria Bledsoe, Eagle River, AK. Her mother is a member of AFA-CWA Council 30.

Sarah Goodman, Princeton, NJ. Her mother is a member of CWA Local 1036.

Michelle Grota, Hartland, WI. Her mother is a member of CWA Local 4603.

Megan Joyce, New Canaan, CT. Her father is a member of NABET-CWA Local 51016.

Heather Nennig, New Holstein, WI. Her father is a member of IUE-CWA Local 84800.

Cody Rex, Golden, CO. His father is a member of CWA Local 7777.

Catherine Thomson, Lynn, MA. Her father is a member of IUE-CWA Local 81201.

Lezhi Wang, San Diego, CA. Her mother is a member of CWA Local 9119.

The Union Plus scholarships are awarded to students attending a two-year or four-year college, graduate school or recognized technical or trade school. Recipients are selected based on academic ability, financial need, understanding of the union movement and other factors. For more information, go to www.UnionPlus.org/education.

Annual TNG-CWA Awards Recognize Investigative Reporting

This year's CWA Freedom Fund awards honored reporters for investigative reporting that made a difference, all in the tradition and spirit of Newspaper Guild founder Heywood Broun.

Winners of the Broun award were David Jackson and Gary Marx, reporters at the Chicago Tribune. Their "Compromised Care" series uncovered new concerns for Illinois families who have an elderly parent receiving nursing home care: not only must they worry about the quality of staff, but about the possibility that their elderly parents are sharing space with violent patients who have criminal records or suffer from mental illness. As a result of their reporting, state officials began investigating and legislation has been introduced to correct the problems

The Broun Award for substantial distinction in print went to reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for their series, "Fatal Care," that uncovered 22 preventable deaths of children under the jurisdiction of social services. The award for broadcast distinction went to NPR's Chris Arnold for an investigation of the home foreclosure crisis.

Two exceptional student journalists received TNG-CWA's annual Barr Awards. The high school winner was Isaac Mendel Stanley-Becker, who wrote about the harassment and bullying of a gay African-American student in Chicago. Sydney Grace Houston-Goudge, of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, won the college award for "Slippery Slopes, Ignorance and Fear: Moral Issues Surrounding the Criminalization of HIV."

The Herbert Block Freedom Award was given to John Nichols and Robert McChesney, co-founders of the advocacy group Free Press and co-authors of numerous books, including this year's "The Death and Life of American Journalism."

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