Communications Workers of America

Local 7621

AFL-CIO, CLC

AT&Ters Unite in National Online Membership Meeting

Tonight, in an unprecedented demonstration of unity and support behind union bargaining teams at AT&T, thousands of CWA members will join together from coast to coast at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time for the union's largest ever membership meeting.

During the 30-minute online meeting, broadcast over the Internet at www.cwaunion.tv, CWA members will get an update on negotiations, hear field reports on mobilization and learn what else can be done to support bargaining.

CWA President Larry Cohen, Executive Vice President Annie Hill, and Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach will be on hand and will answer questions from members about bargaining and other issues.

Members can pre-register at www.cwaunio n.tv.  Tune in at 9 p.m., EDT.

Busloads of CWA Members Head to Dallas for AT&T Annual Meeting

Hundreds of CWA members from all over District 6, and some from even further away, are making the trek to Dallas by bus and van, to arrive Friday morning for AT&T's annual shareholder meeting.

Members will leaflet outside the meeting, calling attention to the company's demand for huge health care cost shifting and other proposals that will cut workers' standard of living, despite the company's $12.9 billion profit in 2008.

Inside the meeting, CWA District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn will address company executives and shareholders and ask why the company's biggest asset – its employees – are being treated so poorly at the bargaining table.

AT&T's positive financial outlook continued into the first quarter of 2009, with analysts and the company's own executives agreeing that its $3 billion profit beat expectations because of strong growth in video, data

Above: Columbus, Ohio, was the scene of a big CWA rally outside the statehou se.  Below: Members of Local 7250 in Minneapolis, Minn., mobilize for a fair contract at AT&T during "doctor-patient" day.

services and wireless, all part of the integrated network supported by CWA members. "For this economy, it was an outstanding performance," one analyst said.

"This week's earnings report reinforces the fact that AT&T is well-positioned to lead the telecommunications industry into the future digital age," CWA President Larry Cohen said. "AT&T also is well-positioned to help move our nation out of economic crisis and back into prosperity. If successful companies like AT&T don't step up in this economic recession, and instead hide behind it to force more cost shifting to workers, how will our economy recover?" AT&T's demands would double and triple health care costs for some workers.

CWA contracts covering nearly 100,000 workers at AT&T expired April 5 and members have voted to authorize a strike if there is not significant movement at the bargaining tables.

Milburn criticized AT&T for "dragging its feet in bargaining, its ridiculous take back demands and its comparing AT&T, a company that made $3 billion this first quarter of 2009, to the troubled auto companies. Tomorrow they will hear from the people who build and maintain this network, the people whose work20enables this company to move ahead into even newer technologies."

Mark Franken, CWA District 6 administrative director for organizing, said at least 500 CWAers will be rallying outside the meeting, with some planning to go inside and participate.

ADE, Connected Nation, CWA Meet to Expand Broadband Efforts

Top leaders from CWA, the Alliance for Digital Equality and Connected Nation met this week to advance efforts to bridge the digital divide for millions of Americans in rural and urban communities.

ADE, Connected Nation and CWA are working together to expand access to 21st century broadband networks, technology and applications for all citizens.

Mark McElroy, left, chief operating officer for Connected Nation, Julius Hollis, chairman of the Alliance for Digital Equality, and CWA President Larry Cohen met at CWA headquarters to continue work on bridging the digital divide.

ADE has been establishing Digital Empowerment Teams and Councils in several cities, bringing together elected officials, community leaders, business20and labor and others, to determine ways to close the digital gap. Connected Nation works to map broadband availability especially in rural areas and to help communities that want to bring high speed networks to their areas.

As part of the Speed Matters campaign real true high speed Internet access for residents of rural and small communities, where applications such as tele-medicine and job creation are critically needed, and in underserved urban areas, where residents can't take full advantage of the promise of Internet Age technology. CWA joined the Alliance partnership last year.

CWA's Committee on Equity also participated in a briefing on the Alliance's mission to bridge the digital divide and plans to share information on the project in its convention report.

State Workers Tell Corzine: 'Don't Balance NJ Budget on Our Backs!'

At more than a hundred work locations from Cape May to Sussex County, over 5,500 New Jersey State Workers took to the streets on Apr. 7, sending a loud, clear message to Governor Jon Corzine:  "Don't balance the state budget on our backs!"

Corzine, who faces re-election this fall, has proposed that state workers be hit with a wage freeze and 12 unpaid furlough days in the fiscal year 2010 budget which must be adopted by June 30.  For a typical state worker making $51,000 a year, Corzine's plan translates into a pay cut of over $4,100 or 8.1 percent.  Meanwhile, wealthy New Jerseyans ma king nearly ten times as much – $500,000 a year – will make no sacrifice whatsoever in terms of increased taxes.

"We're out here to let the governor know that we want to help with the budget crisis, but we're not willing to take the budget on our backs," Kathy Taddei, vice president of the Rowan University branch of Local 1031, told the Gloucester County Times. Some 75 members of Local 1031 picketed at Rowan on Apr. 7.

"There are other places where he can get the money," Jackie Friedman Collins, a shop steward for CWA Local 1037, told the Bergen Record at a picket line in north Jersey.  "We are the middle class. Tax the rich, not us. We have people living paycheck to paycheck, how are they going to pay their rent with this?"

In addition to the blatant unfairness of Corzine's budget proposals, CWA members in both state and local government are furious with the Administration for ramming an emergency rule change through the Civil Service Commission that stripped public sector unions of their rights to bargain over the effects of furloughs.  Hundreds of CWA members turned out for the meeting on a day's notice to protest the rule and four leaders – Local 1032 President Patrick Kavanagh, Local 1037 President Ken McNamara, Local 1034 Staffers Paul Alexander and Shawn Ludwig – were arrested when police overreacted to the angry crowd.

"The Corzine Administration claimed they had to have the emergency rule chang e because the state faced 'imminent peril' from the financial crisis.  But any projected savings from the May and June furlough days are insignificant and could be achieved in half a dozen other ways," said CWA Area Director Hetty Rosenstein.  "There is no 'imminent peril.' This is just an excuse for what may be the worst assault on public worker collective bargaining rights we've seen in 25 years.  To have it come from a Governor who once posed as a champion of collective bargaining is just appalling." 

CWA is preparing a major media and mail campaign against the Governor's budget to force him to come to the table and to negotiate with state workers over a fair way to resolve the budget crisis.  In addition, state workers are preparing by the thousands to turn out on Apr. 23 for a public hearing on the proposed Civil Service Commission rule change.

Hospital Workers, Bus Drivers, Admin. Managers, Printers Join CWA

In separate organizing victories in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio, more than 860 workers gained CWA representation in March and April.

Earlier this week, 303 service employees at St. Joseph Hospital near Buffalo voted for CWA Local 1168 representation by a 123-103 margin. Negotiations will get underway immediately, the local also represents registered nurses at the hospital.

Ron Hosinski and Elaine Lopez from Local 1168 led the workers' campaign, assisted by Locals 1122 and 1133 and District 1 St aff Rep Debbie Hayes. District 4 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher also assisted in the campaign. AFA-CWA member Michelle Quintus, a United Airlines flight attendant, provided tremendous assistance in the final weeks of the campaign.

In New York City, CWA Local 1180 was recently certified as the bargaining representative for more than 400 Administrative Managers who work for agencies through the city government. Over the past three years, the local has won representation for more than 1,700 city employees, said Local President Arthur Cheliotes.

In Somerset, New Jersey, 160 school bus drivers for the county's school system joined CWA Local 1040 through majority sign up. Thanks to an energized inside organizing committee, the workers gathered more than 140 signatures within two weeks. District 1 organizers Connie English and Chris Young worked on the campaign, with the help of rank and file organizer Walter Mayes.

In Youngstown, Ohio, all employees at the Print Factory gained CWA representation through voluntary recognition, joining Erie Mailers Local M128/CWA Local 14840, said Printing Sector Staff Representative Dan Wasser. Everyone at the shop, including the owner, recognized the value of a union voice and having a CWA label in the printing industry. The workers recently signed a new, three-year contract with the owner.

CWA Made the Difference in N.Y. Special Election

A pro-worker candidate, Scott Murphy, is now leading in the closely-watched ballot count to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  A tremendous level of political activism by CWAers in the weeks leading up to the March 31 special election helped make the election a close one.

Electing a worker-friendly candidate to the House seat for New York's 20th Congressional District seemed like a long shot, given that some 70 percent of voters in the district are registered Republicans, but that didn't deter members of CWA Local 1118.

"The race should not have been close when you look at our district's political registration," said Mike Carmel, Local 1118 political coordinator. "But the high level of activism by our members shows what can be accomplished," he said. During the brief, 5-week campaign, local members, supported by CWAers from locals 1113, 1120, and 1104, organized more than 60 volunteer shifts, knocked on more than a thousand doors and made some 3,000 phone calls.

Currently, Murphy, a Democrat, businessman and supporter of Employee Free Choice, is leading Republican Jim Tedesco, a 30-year assemblyman in the New York State legislature, by 364 votes, Carmel said. There are about a thousand contested ballots still to be resolved.

Guild Fights Back as Albany Paper Cancels Contract, Pursues Outsourcing

Ignoring pleas from concerned readers and refusing to budge on layoffs outside of seniority and potential outsourcing, the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York has cancelled its contr act with The Newspaper Guild-CWA.

Members of the Albany Newspaper Guild in New York hold an informational picket and rally after Hearst Newspapers canceled the union's contract after months of bargaining.

Although negotiations that began nine months ago are continuing, management so far is determined to cut jobs and benefits and send work out of state.

"The company is hellbent on wanting to lay off employees regardless of how loyally they have served, and to outsource jobs," said Tim O'Brien, president of the Albany Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31034. "And because it could not convince our members of the rightness of its cause, it launched an unprecedented attack on our union."

The paper, which employs about 250 TNG-CWA members, wants to cut at least 65 jobs, most of them from union ranks. It wants the right to proceed with layoffs without regard to seniority, and is demanding the right to outsource any TNG-CWA work at any time. Potentially, the paper's layout could be outsourced to Texas, putting some copy editors out of work. Guild leaders say20advertising and circulation representatives, feature writers and business office staff are also at risk.

The company is refusing to offer any wage increase, but only a lump-sum payment that wouldn't become part of workers' base pay. It also wants workers to pay more out of pocket for health care.

Writing about the cancellation on their website, Guild leaders said, "You might as well change the name of the paper to the Times Anti-Union." The newspaper is owned by the Heart Corporation. The Guild contract expired last Aug. 1.

Because of the cancellation, union members have the right to picket, strike, and launch boycotts. The day the contract was canceled, 70 TNG-CWA members and union allies picketed in front of the newspaper offices.

"What's sad is that there has been a long-term positive relationship between the Guild and management," TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer said. "Hearst Corporation is bent on destroying that in the name of control."

With financial help from TNG-CWA international, the Albany Guild has begun an advertising campaign and other community outreach. "The reality is this is a union town," O'Brien said. "The Times Union can expect the phones to start ringing off the hook with calls canceling the newspaper. We told the company the day it first threatened this that it was the dumbest thing the company can do. They ignored us at their peril."

Workplace Safety Hearings Highlight Workers Memorial Day

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As CWA members and other activists across the country join together to commemorate Workers Memorial Day 2009, Apr. 28, important health and safety hearings will be taking place on Capitol Hill.

On April 28, two members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee will be hearing testimony on meaningful incentives for safe workplaces and roles for victims and their families.

This Workers Memorial Day 2009 poster, "Good Jobs. Safe Jobs. Give Workers a Voice for a Change," can be ordered for 75 cents from the union shop at www.aflcio.org.

Some testimony may focus on the Family Bill of Rights, which would give victims and family members rights in the investigations of workplace accidents and other health and safety incidents. Democrat Patty Murray of Washington state and Republican Johnny Isakson of Georgia will hear from witnesses.

At the same time, the House Education and Labor Committee will focus on the reintroduction of the Pro tecting American Workers Act. The bill would substantially improve the current OSHA law, adding criminal sanctions for employers with egregious violations.

CWA Occupational Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said unions are planning to bring a significant number of family members affected by workplace tragedies to the hearings.

LeGrande said organizers will have large posters of victims of workplace accidents and illnesses that activists can carry with them in a march to Capitol Hill from the Labor Department on Tuesday morning. Participants are asked to gather at 8 a.m. Tuesday on the steps of the DOL building at 200 Constitution Ave., NW.

"The new Faces Campaign is putting a human face on the horrific toll of workplace disasters," LeGrande said. "In many instances this will be the first time for many family members to become active in fighting for the rights of current and future workers as a way to remember and memorialize their lost loved ones."

Outside Washington D.C., CWA locals nationwide will hold memorial ceremonies, lobbying, leafleting and workplace events to focus attention on workers' health and safety.

Locals that haven't yet let LeGrande know about their plans for April 28 or anytime during the week of Workers Memorial Day are asked to contact him at legrande@cwa-union.org.