January 21, 2010

• Cohen Talks Telecom on C-SPAN Technology Show
• What's Happening with Health Care?
• AT&T Mobility Sales Reps Join CWA in Alaska
• CWA Members Honor Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• New Online Degree, Training Programs for Working Families
• CWA: Preserve Open Internet While Promoting Investment, Quality Jobs

Cohen Talks Telecom on C-SPAN Technology Show

Last weekend, CWA President Larry Cohen talked telecom policy and the future of high speed communications in the United States with telecom experts on C-SPAN's "The Communicators."

The half-hour program focused on broadband buildout and the outlook for the telecom industry. Click here to watch.

What's Happening with Health Care?

The election in Massachusetts, with Republican Scott Brown elected to the U.S. Senate, means a new strategy is needed to get the health care reform CWAers and all working families deserve.

CWA is reviewing all options and holding discussions with other unions, coalitions and members of Congress to work out the next steps.

Stand by, you'll be hearing more soon.

AT&T Mobility Sales Reps Join CWA in Alaska

Another 92 retail sales representatives who work across the state of Alaska have joined CWA through majority signup.

The Alaska workers' determination to get a union voice had support from CWA members at Mobility, Avaya and Qwest and from AFA-CWA members, said CWA District 7 Organizing Coordinator Al Kogler.

Despite frigid temperatures, a busy holiday season, and retail locations located hundreds of miles apart, a majority of workers signed up for CWA representation in just 45 days. They will be represented by CWA Local 7803 in Renton, Wash.

CWA represents about 42,000 AT&T Mobility workers.

CWA Members Honor Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

CWA members joined with 400 fellow unionists in Greensboro, N.C., Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the courageous students who refused to leave a whites-only lunch counter at the city's Woolworth's store 50 years ago.

The AFL-CIO decided to hold its annual MLK Day observance in Greensboro to mark the anniversary, and invited the three surviving students to speak. The theme was, "They Sat So That We Could Stand." Over several days, participants did community service and attended workshops that looked at the jobs crisis and its affect on people of color, the 2010 census, expanding high-speed internet access and much more.

Among other MLK events nationwide that drew union members, AFA-CWA activists at Northwest-Delta joined thousands of people in Atlanta who marched through the city to the King Center for a rally featuring many of today's civil rights leaders.

The AFA-CWA group carried a union banner and signs, each with a single word, "Unity," "Opportunity" or "Respect," as part of their campaign to win their upcoming union representation election.

New Online Degree, Training Programs for Working Families

Organized labor has been a leader in helping workers gain college degrees and the latest in career training through affordable online degree programs.

The AFL-CIO and the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., are expanding educational opportunities for working families through a new partnership with the Princeton Review and its Penn Foster Education Group.  

The new "College for Working Families" will offer a range of degree programs and will allow union members and their families to build on their previous training, education and job experience. Read more about the National Labor College here.

CWA has been a pioneer in online and distance learning, providing training, certification and degree programs for CWA members and families through the CWA/NETT Academy for 10 years. CWA partners with Cisco Systems, Stanly Community College and others to offer associate degree and certification programs in telecommunications, digital media, criminal justice and other fields. For information, visit http://cwanett.org/.

CWAers and family members interested in applying for Morton Bahr Online Learning Scholarships for 2010-2011 can get information and an application at www.esc.edu/bahr or email special.programs@esc.edu.

Empire State College, part of the State University of New York, oversees the Bahr program, which also leads to a college degree. The deadline for applications is May 15, 2010.

CWA: Preserve Open Internet While Promoting Investment, Quality Jobs

CWA told the Federal Communications Commission that it supports steps to protect an open Internet consistent with the need to promote investment in the nation's high-speed networks and create jobs.

It is critical that new open Internet rules being debated "do not have the unintended consequence of dampening the private investment needed to build the next-generation broadband networks that will bring our nation's broadband capability up to global standards and create and maintain good jobs," CWA said in a filing.

At a time of 10 percent unemployment, CWA said the FCC must keep a laser focus on job-creating investment, recognizing that the companies that build, maintain and service networks, such as AT&T and Verizon, employ many more workers than application companies such as Yahoo and Google. In 2008, nearly 800,000 workers were employed by the largest wireline, cable, wireless and satellite companies, 10 times more than the number of jobs worldwide at 21 leading Internet applications companies.

CWA said that only significant investment in buildout will allow the United States to catch up to the rest of the world in terms of broadband speed and accessibility.

Read more here.

Posted by:

CWA Local 1022