The group is comprised of 39 Deputy Sheriffs and
100 civilian Corrections Officers. John Burpo, NCPSO, and Ken Mertes,
CWA Local 7103 helped Staff Representative Midge Slater with this
effort. The other choices on the ballot were FOP and no affiliation.
we received all but one vote, which was cast for no affiliation.
In the last year Local 7077, AZCOPS,
has organized 7 new units with the following numbers.
ADOT Peace Officers Assn. +34, Arizona Capitol
Police Officers Assn. +48, Casa Grande Police Supervisors Assn +14,
Maricopa Police Officers Assn. +28, Navajo County Probation Officers
Assn. +16, Safford Police Officers Assn. +10, Yavapai County
Lieutenants Assn. +8 for a total of 158 new members. This does not
include the internal growth over the last year in Arizona
Correctional Peace Officers Assn.1,000+, Arizona Probation Officers
Association 100+, & Arizona Juvenile Corrections 100+.
Hibbing-Virginia
Typographical Union No. 727/CWA 14726 will be
certified by the National Labor Relations Board
for a new unit of Mailroom employees. There are
38 members in the new unit. The vote was 21 for
and 7 against. The vote took place on May 8,
2008. All are employees of SPC Printing, Inc. in
Hibbing, MN.
The Organizing Committee was composed of
mailroom representatives Jason Larson lead unit
organizer, Bill Sheehy unit organizer, Bill
Larson unit organizer, under the direction of
President Terry Salminen and Press Room Shop
Stewart Todd Saatoff, with the assistance of
local Secretary/Treasurer Judy Johnson and Staff
Representative Billy J. Ausitn.
CWA Local 7603 would like to announce the
certified organization of employees from AT&T Mobility for the 35
employees in the AT&T Mobility Idaho Retail Sales Unit.
This effort was accomplished primarily through the actual employees
at the Idaho Retail stores, so the greatest thanks goes to those
employees that stood up for themselves and moved toward a better
place to work by gaining a union representation voice and bargaining
rights where previously there was none. As you know, this is a
significant gain for these employees in a 'no rights at work' state.
A special thanks goes out to Jana Smith-Carr from CWA District 7,
who helped our local throughout this process, and Michelle Manning
from CWA Local 7818 who dedicated her time to organizing the
employees located in Northern Idaho.
Please welcome the newest members to CWA and Local 7603!
Brent Duvall, CWA Local 7603 President
Jeff Taylor, CWA Local 7603 Vice President
By Linda Hatfield, Local 7000 On April 28, Tucson unions of the AFL-CIO will observe Workers Memorial Day to
remember those who have suffered and died on the job, and to
renew the fight for safe workplaces.
The toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths is
enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed, and
millions more are injured because of their jobs.
More than three decades ago, Congress passed the
Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Mine Safety and
Health Act, promising every worker the right to a safe job.
Unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise
a reality, winning protections that have saved hundreds of
thousands of lives. Nonetheless, the toll of workplace
injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous.
Our fight for safe jobs has gotten harder, because for more
than seven years, the Bush administration has refused to
act. Instead, at the behest of corporate interests, the
administration has moved to roll back and weaken
protections. Voluntary compliance has been favored over
enforcement. Progress has ground to a halt and, in many
cases, been reversed. Many workers today have minimal
protection, with major hazards remaining unaddressed.
Catastrophes in coal mines and factories continue, with
little action to prevent them.
Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health
investigations from July 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007,
revealed these occupational fatalities:
An employee was crushed while
making repairs on a tractor. The hydraulics engaged,
closing a portion of the tractor on his upper torso.
An employee fell 9 feet
during the process of dismantling a scaffold.
An employee stood or walked
onto a floor joist that was not fully secured. The
joist broke free, and the employee fell to the
concrete, sustaining fatal head injuries.
An employee installing a
bracket for an HVAC system fell from an 8-foot
stepladder.
An employee cleaning a
mixing/blending machine was killed when he requested
that a co-worker turn on the machine so the rotating
shaft could also be cleaned.
During maintenance work on a
747 plane, the main landing gear collapsed, crushing
the mechanic in the wheel well.
Decades of struggles by workers and
their unions have resulted in significant improvements in
working conditions--but the fight to protect workers must
continue. We must demand strong enforcement of job-safety
laws, defend the gains we have won and push forward to
address problems that remain:
Millions of workers,
including public-sector workers and flight
attendants, have no protection under the
Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Companies that have
repeatedly broken job-safety laws--killing
workers--face only weak penalties.
Workplace standards are out
of date and inadequate.
Many long-recognized hazards
have not been addressed, and new workplace
Hazards that emerge get no
attention.
Ergonomic hazards still
cripple and injure more workers than any other
workplace hazard.
Latino and immigrant workers
are being killed on the job in record numbers.
Coal-mine catastrophes and
deaths continue, while needed new protections are
delayed.
This year, with the election, there is
an opportunity to change the direction of the country and
make workers' issues a priority.
On Workers Memorial Day, we will continue the fight. We will
fight to create good jobs in this country and to guarantee
health care for all. We will fight for the freedom of
workers to form unions and, through their unions, to speak
out and bargain for safe jobs, respect and a better future.
Linda Hatfield, chair of the Pima Area Labor Federation, is
the president of the Communications Workers of America Local
7000. She is also is the labor liaison to the
Pima County Democratic Party, a member of the state
Agricultural Employment Relations Board and a member of the
United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona board of
directors.
Coon Valley Telephone Cooperative
provides local telephone service, high speed internet
service and cable television in Menlo, IA. and some
surrounding communities. The employees were prepared for the
anti-union campaign and actually felt some of the one-on-one
meetings with the manager and members of the board were
productive. The employees would like to have periodic
meetings with the board written into their new contract.
Previously the only way they could get
the management to listed to their concerns was to threaten
to quit. They are looking forward to having a voice at work
and a binding contract.
The
UNI Telecom Vice Presidents met with UNI World
president Shoji Morishima and the new Head of
the Telecom Department, Marcus Courtney, to
discuss the future priorities for the UNI
Telecom department. The meeting which took place
in Tokyo, Japan, also included Neil Anderson who
is handing over the Head of Department's role to
Marcus. The Vice President's from each region
started by discussing what progress they had
made in their region implementing UNI Telecom's
action plan, which had been developed in 2007 at
UNI Telecom's Athens world conference. They then
went on to discussing their priorities for the
future.
It was agreed that the future priorities for the
sector were grouped under three main themes. The
first being the convergence and change that was
occurring in the sector within the telecom, IT
and media industries and the changes this
brought to jobs and work especially considering
the changes being made to the regulations
affecting the industry. A priority was put on
developing policies and structures that aided
workers and putting in place lobbying programmes
so that regulators, governments and decision
makers took workers needs into consideration
when making their decisions on these issues.
The second main priority was on developing
organizing opportunities and workers rights in
the multinational companies dominating the ICT
industries. Particular emphasis would be put on
developing campaigns and networks to ensure the
multinationals were respecting workers rights to
organize and to help unions in their organizing
efforts particularly in mobile phone companies.
It was also agreed that the use of non regular
workers, temporary agency and dispatch workers
was increasingly becoming a trend in the telecom
industry and UNI Telecom needed to find ways to
assist unions to organize these workers. A focus
on dealing with these non regular workers would
be developed.
Finally it was agreed that the next world
Telecom meeting, which is due to be held in Nyon,
June 30 - July 1, would focus on these issues
and communicating UI's actions and successes
with affiliates. The June world meeting would be
structured around three panel discussions on
these themes and affiliates attending that
meeting would be invited to contribute to the
debate and to develop goals for UNI Telecom and
it's new team.
UNI
Telecom World President, Shoji Morishima with the Regional
Vice Presidents, Marcus Courtney, Neil Anderson, UNI Staff
and NWJ Staff
Card Signing Frenzy
that Occurred as Workers Reported to Work on Monday the
14th.
Today, April 21, 2008, the American
Arbitration Association confirmed that the majority of the
AT&T Mobility employees at the new Davenport Iowa call
center asked to form a union with CWA. With that
confirmation, they are certified and join our CWA family.
The call center currently has approximately 200 employees
and will grow to over 500 at full capacity.
Rodney Blackwell, Vice President of Local 7110, Ananda
Foster - an AT&T Mobility employee from Local 7901 in
Portland and Staff Representative Kay Pence worked on the
campaign.
They helped build a strong inside committee of just 8 but
the committee has been talking with their co-workers for
weeks. On Monday, April 14th the committee began to sign
their co-workers up to obtain card-check union recognition.
Amazingly, in just 1 day, 70% signed up. Since that day, 18
more signed. This demonstrates how workers will form unions
if today's anti-union corporate culture is checked by
passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
In inside organizing Committee included
our new leaders: Rosa Wilsons; Donna Guthrie, Justin
Schmittler, Freda Coons, Ashlie Timms, Tony Steckman and
Rayshanetta Goodlet.
The
Davenport AT&T Organizing Committee - (left to right, front
to back) Donna Guthrie, Ashlie Timms, Justin Schmittler,
Annette Beebower, Freda Coons, Rayshanette Goodlet, Rosa
Wilson, Tony Steckman
Organizing Committee
members Rosa Wilson, Donna Guthrie and Tony Steckman enjoy
the overwhelming union support
Hibbing-Virginia
Typographical Union No. 727/CWA 14726 will be
certified by the National Labor Relations Board
for a new unit of Mailroom employees. There are
38 members in the new unit. The vote was 21 for
and 7 against. The vote took place on May 8,
2008. All are employees of SPC Printing, Inc. in
Hibbing, MN.
CWA Local 7603 would like to announce the
certified organization of employees from AT&T Mobility for the 35
employees in the AT&T Mobility Idaho Retail Sales Unit. 
