Alison Grovo, Staff Support out of our Iowa Area
Office, just had a baby girl name Zoey Ann. She
was born on November 8, 2011 weighing 8 lbs 9
oz. Below is a picture of Mary Taylor Vice
President welcoming our new member of CWA
District 7!
Several hundred union
members and their family members gathered at
the annual Spokane Labor Rally on October
19th to meet local candidates and to
discuss what can be done to improve the
local and state economy. A video
coverage of the event produced by Kathy
Cummings, Communications Director of the
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO can
be found by clicking here:
http://www.thestand.org/2011/10/spokane-union-members-rally-together/.
From the Union Officers who attended the
Rally, Beth Thew was in charge, Ed Wood
cooked, Debbie and Duane handed out pop and
water and Marsha Beck was in charge of the
door prizes and helped decorate the stage
and set up the tables. For an off year in
elections was amazed on how many people
attended. We had our Local 7818 and
the "VeriGreedy" banner hanging plus handed
out our Verizon leaflets at the rally.
The Stand’s favorite quote of the event:
“It’s a tough year
out there. It’s tough for the people in
our community, and the state, and the
country,” Senate Majority Leader Lisa
Brown tells the crowd. “The governor has
called us back to Olympia for a special
session, and I gotta tell you, I
can’t vote for another all-cuts budget.“
From Left to Right: Ted Fredrick, Debbie, Ed Wood, Beth Thew,
and Marsha Beck
A rally was held the morning of
October 26, 2011 in support of Local 7704's ADT members. The
Company's "Best & Final" offer included splitting seniority,
refusing successorship even though the Company is being
split up, and concessions for their high volume members.
The Union Bargaining Committee has
recommended a no vote.
Ken Mertes, President of
CWA Local 7103, on behalf of the CWA Iowa State
Council, presenting a $1000.00 check to the Iowa
Senate Majority Leader Senator Mike Gronstal
this past Sunday, October 9, 2011, in Council
Bluffs, Iowa.
Senator Mike Gronstal and the majority
of labor friendly Senators have literally stopped Iowa from
being another Wisconsin in terms of anti-worker legislation
during this past Iowa Legislative session which ended in
June. Iowa's Public Workers are on the front lines in this
battle, as public labor law is controlled by Iowa State
Legislature. Thank you to the Iowa Senate Majority and
Senator Mike Gronstal.
But the battle continues, the next
Iowa Legislative session starts in January and control of
the Iowa Senate will be determined by the out come of the
special Senate District 18 (Linn County) election on
November 8, 2011. In Unity,
Francis Giunta CWAISC
CWA Local 7110
Ken
Mertes, President of CWA Local 7103 and Senator Mike
Gronstal
More
than 45,000 workers were on strike at Verizon
Communications last week. Thanks to all of
the Locals for their support, we have pictures
from Washington and Minnesota Locals.
Recently added are two videos, curtsey
of Local 7800, Seattle, WA. Saved in Window's Media Format,
right click on the links below and pick "save link as" or
"save target as" to download:
About 200 CWA
Local Delegates and guests from all
over District 7 met in Vancouver, WA
from May 22-25 for the annual CWA
District 7 Conference.
Speakers
included CWA President Larry Cohen,
CWA Vice President Ralph Maly and
author Les Leopold. Delegates
attended workshops that addressed
Leadership Development, Safety and
the Next Generation.
Bargaining
unit meetings were held for Century
Link, AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Dex,
Public Workers, and
Frontier/Verizon.
Additionally,
there were Retired Members Council
and Civil Rights, Equity and Women's
meetings.
AK/jl
opeiu3, afl-cio
Please click the links below to see pictures,
presentations and Workshops that were taken and
presented at the District 7 Conference
The
National Day of Action was April 4, 2011.
District 7 participated in many events.
Below are rally happenings from
Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Also is photo galley of pictures.
From Madelyn Elder,
President, CWA Local 7901:
"Local 7901 joined other
labor organizations for a rally in honor of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Approximately 10 members
participated.
20 Cab Drivers also distributed and collected
surveys in support of a Union Cab Cooperative.
We had red t-shirt day internally at all
bargaining units."
From Lawrence Sandoval,
CWA Representative:
"As you may know, we had our
Tri-State (MN, ND and SD) Meeting in Sioux Falls
SD on April 4, 2011. On that day we joined with
the SD AFL-CIO, other labor and community groups
to conduct our Day of Action. We had from 150 to
200 participants attend."
What
began in Wisconsin and Ohio is spreading like
wildfire across the United States, with huge
pro-worker rallies in cities nationwide and a
new poll showing Americans strongly support
collective bargaining rights for public
employees.
The USA Today/Gallup poll, released Tuesday,
showed that 61 percent of respondents would
oppose a bill in their state like the one being
pushed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to kill
public sector collective bargaining.
From New York to Alaska, Washington state,
California, Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina,
Massachusetts and other states as well as Puerto
Rico, tens of thousands of Americans are
demonstrating in support of the Midwest's
embattled workers. Thousands of others are
standing up against their own state lawmakers'
attempts to kill workers' rights.
In Washington, D.C., CWA members were among more
than 1,000 activists who rallied Wednesday in
front of the Capitol Hill offices for Walker's
lobbyists. Walker set off the firestorm of
protests two weeks ago when he announced his
intent to end public employee bargaining and
threatened to use the National Guard if workers
demonstrated or went on strike.
In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and
other public officials boldly rallied with a
crowd supporting Wisconsin’s workers. Dayton
said he would stop any so-called "right-to-work"
legislation and other anti-union measures.
"There's no justification for drastic action in
Minnesota," he said. "We will not let Minnesota
become Wisconsin."
As the protests grew this week, even some
Republican governors distanced themselves from
Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and others trying
to repeal collective bargaining for public
workers. A spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom
Corbett said the state would conduct public
sector contract talks "in good faith." Tea
Party-backed Gov. Rick Scott in Florida said,
"My belief is as long as people know what
they're doing, collective bargaining is fine."
Click here for a full and
frequently updated list of workers' rights
rallies and other events around the country. The
four stories that follow update events this week
in New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana.
Below are some pictures from
the State Capital Rally in Des Moines, Iowa on
February 22, 2011 against the Public Sector
Bargaining Bill.
Crowds
in Wisconsin have swelled to more than 70,000,
over 2000 rallying in Denver. What the
protesters are doing in Wisconsin is working.
Workers who are under attack,
and the communities that know and respect them
have created such a powerful show of solidarity
that all 14 Democratic members of the Wisconsin
state Senate left the Senate chambers in
protest, indefinitely delaying a vote on
Governor Scott Walker’s anti-worker bill. And
Republicans are starting to waver.
This is the kind of strength it takes to win. We
need to make our voices heard whenever and
wherever attacks occur, in Wisconsin and in our
own states.
The electricity and energy and solidarity we’re
seeing with Wisconsin workers is truly
unprecedented. But it is only the beginning.
Now, as one supporter said to us on Twitter, “We
must keep the momentum going & growing. Now is
the time & we cannot give in or up.” That’s true
in Wisconsin, and it’s just as true in all our
communities.
CWA: Dex One Media plans to outsource nearly 100
jobs to the Philippines, while the rest of the
nation is focused on job creation to help the
economy. (Press Release - February
17, 2011)
Denver, CO - Dex
One is following through on its plans to eliminate 94
American jobs, 66 of which are in Colorado.
Today, CWA
members from around the state are planning a protest at 2
Dex One locations in Denver. Dex One locations are at 9380
Station St, Lonetree, CO and 9501 E Panorama Cir, Englewood,
CO 80111.
CWA District 7
Vice President Mary Taylor said, "Creating and sustaining
good jobs is something that persons of all political
persuasions and from all walks of life agree is in the best
interest of all Americans. It is disappointing and
disheartening that Dex One’s decision would send these jobs
overseas at this time.”
CWA Bargaining
Agent Jana Smith-Carr stated that “Dex One could easily
create the same amount of cost savings if 40 of the
executives would simply take a 10% wage reduction instead of
a 100% cut for 94 workers.”
CWA and other
organizations in the progressive community, including
national civil rights, environmental and labor groups,
encourage all Dex One advertisers to let Dex One know that
this is not acceptable behavior.
CWA represents
700,000 workers in communications, media,
airlines,manufacturing, public service and health care.
DENVER
- Dion Buhman says he knew it was bad when he heard his
15-year-old son scream from the chairlift right behind him.
Something was wrong with his wife. He could see she was
passed out, and he could see his son struggle to keep her
from falling over.
They were on the South Peak Chairlift at Steamboat Springs.
It's what makes his next statement so strange.
"This happened in the best place," he said.
When they got to the top of the lift, Dion Buhman
immediately tried to feel a pulse. Tanya Buhman, 39, was
unconscious. He started CPR.
This is bad, he thought.
"I thought I was going to lose her on that mountain," he
said.
Members of the Steamboat Ski Patrol arrived quickly. Three
of them came armed with automated external defibrillators or
AEDs. One of them came from close to two miles away, says
John Kohnke, the Steamboat Ski Patrol director.
"He skied quite fast [to get there]," he said.
That AED was the one used to bring Tanya Buhman back to
life. It's one of 14 on the mountain.
This all happened last Thursday as the Buhman family was
simply trying to enjoy another New Year's trip to Steamboat.
They're from Minnesota. Dion Buhman says he now has one more
reason to love the ski area.
"I owe my wife's life to the actions of that team. They did
everything right," he said.
The family is now in Loveland at the Medical Center of the
Rockies. They were flown there on Monday. Tanya Buhman is
doing better, says Dion Buhman. He still doesn't know why
her heart stopped. Nothing like this had ever happened
before. Doctors want to put in an internal defibrillator to
make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
Jon Feigas is an 11-year veteran of the Steamboat Ski
Patrol. This was the first time he has ever saved a life.
"It's a really powerful feeling," he said.
But he's also a tad modest, and for good reason.
"Just about anybody in 15 minutes can be trained how to use
an AED," he said.
"It's a priceless feeling," Kohnke said. "This was a great
way to start the new year."
Dion Buhman can only think about the "what ifs". What if
this had happened somewhere else? What if it had happened
while the family was on the road? What if it happened in the
plane?
For some reason, it happened on a ski lift. The best
possible place, he thinks now. Without that AED, he says, he
knows his wife wouldn't have made it.
Attached is a Video from KVI News, Located in
Pocatello, ID., concerning National
Observance
of Worker's Memorial Day, the day to commemorate
workers who have died while working on the job.
After
two years of effort the CWA was able to pass legislation in
Washington State aimed at increasing both access and
adoption of broadband. The 2009
Washington State legislature passed broadband legislation HB
1701 with a focuses on access and adoption barriers.
Technology Committee chairman, Representative McCoy,
designated long time CWA member Representative Zack Hudgins
as legislative lead on all broadband legislation.
Representative Hudgins introduced four bills: HB
1699 High-speed internet adoption, HB 1698 Broadband
adoption, HB 1700 High-speed internet infrastructure, and HB
1701 which was redrafted to include the most significant
components ofthe previous
bills. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Wells,
our Senate champion, worked with Representative Hudgins and
other legislators and introduced SB 5916 and SB 5917 which
were companion bills to those introduced in the House, and
combined into HB1701 to produce the final bill. HB1701
can be read in its entirety at:
After many public
hearings, amendments, and stakeholder group meetings, HB
1701 was rewritten to include the consensus of most
stakeholders. The Department of Information Services is
tasked with implementing the legislation. The new law
accomplishes the following:
Creates a Washington State data collection and
mapping initiative.
Establishes Community Technology Opportunity
Programs.
Reestablishes the high-speed internet workgroup,
renamed Advisory Council on Digital Inclusion,
to oversee the expansion of broadband in
Washington.
Designates an agency as an entity for
application purpose of the broadband data
improvement act P.L. 110-385
Designates a state agency to implement broadband
policy and services
The legislation was
drafted, in part, so that the state could capitalize on the
approximately $7.2 billion in the ARRA earmarked for
broadband initiatives. With the Governor’s signature on May
15th 2009 the CWA has taken another step forward to ensure
job security for CWA members and enhance the lives of
Washington residents through broadband access and literacy
programs.
Last
month, the Arizona
State Employees Association held
it's Third Annual Lobby
Day. This lobby was to let people know that we
deserve meaningful pay raises and need to improve our jobs and
working conditions.
What
began in Wisconsin and Ohio is spreading like
wildfire across the United States, with huge
pro-worker rallies in cities nationwide and a
new poll showing Americans strongly support
collective bargaining rights for public
employees.
