April 15, 2010

NJ CWAers Fight New Governor's Proposed Budget

CWA's 60,000 public worker members in New Jersey are in a huge fight, along with teachers and other state workers, against the right-wing attack by new Republican Governor Chris Christie.

CWAers are fighting back and have launched a new educational ad campaign that warns the public that Christie's proposed budget means cuts in vital services and another windfall for millionaires. The campaign also includes a series of five town hall meetings with members of the New Jersey legislature and a public outreach campaign aimed at defeating the Christie budget.

A new radio ad opens with workers' voices describing how CWA public workers protect New Jersey's abused children and disabled adults, ensure that roads and bridges are safe and that air and water are clean. "Governor Christie's budget will devastate the services we provide. Everyone will suffer – except New Jersey's millionaires. Governor Christie is giving them a tax cut." Listen to the ads and watch the YouTube videos featuring CWA members at www.cwanj.org.

And while you're online at www.cwanj.org, sign up for e-mail alerts about the campaign. You'll be able to support New Jersey public workers and learn the latest about the successful tactics CWA is using to fight back in tough times.

If you're on Facebook, search for the group, "Fight for NJ Public Services, Fight for NJ Public Workers," and join the discussion.

CWAers Slam VZ West for 'Unacceptably Slow' Progress in Bargaining

CWAers at Verizon West are keeping up mobilization and their strong bargaining support as union and company negotiators go head to head over key issues of compensation and the outsourcing and offshoring of jobs.

"Progress has been unacceptably slow," said District 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp. "Just as Verizon continues to abandon its customers and quality service as it moves away from landline part of its operations, it is abandoning the workers and communities that helped Verizon grow and meet its bottom line."

The company wants to cut workers' base pay, offering higher sales commissions that are, in reality, unattainable. Verizon also insists on shifting bargaining unit work out of state or to Mexico.

Contract negotiations for 5,500 workers are more than a month past the March 13 contract expiration.

CWA members are continuing to build strong public and community support. Several members of the Long Beach city council joined CWAers in a rally and march last week. Later, by a nearly unanimous 8-1 vote, the city council passed a resolution calling on Long Beach's city manager and auditor to review all businesses that have large contracts with the city to determine the impact of hiring practices on local jobs, and to report their findings within 60 days.

TU Presses Deutsche Telekom to End 'Climate of Fear' in U.S.

What a difference real labor law makes! Following the joint news conference in Bonn, Germany, with CWA and ver.di, the union representing German workers at Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, newspaper accounts in Germany criticized DT for the "climate of fear" it has allowed to continue at T-Mobile USA operations.

"That this is about Deutsche Telekom employees in the United States – as the professor of a study reliably confirmed – is very strange. Especially since the corporation from Bonn diligently polished its employer image in this country," one newspaper wrote.

At the news conference, CWA President Larry Cohen and Lothar Schröder, an executive board member of ver.di, said DT's double standard that allows T-Mobile USA to harass and intimidate U.S. workers must stop now.

"T-Mobile USA prefers to be with those U.S. managers that fight collective bargaining in every imaginable way, using the loopholes in current U.S. labor law that support anti-union campaigning by management. We know that T-Mobile follows a policy of aggression against union supporters that would be condemned in Germany and other European countries," Cohen said.

Schröder pointed out that "in Germany and many countries, DT complies with its Social Charter which directs the company to adhere to internationally recognized norms, directives and standards. But when it comes to the company's U.S. operations, which employs about 40,000 workers and produces about 25 percent of DT's revenue, DT's Social Charter is nowhere to be found."  

Professor John Logan, San Francisco State, Marcus Courtney, head of UNI Telecom, and Kornelia Dubbel of ver.di also joined the news conference. UNI, CWA and ver.di are pressing DT for a global agreement that would protect the fundamental labour rights of the company's workers worldwide.

NLRB Chair Pledges to 'Reinvigorate Collective Bargaining'

With four of five seats now filled at the National Labor Relations Board, chair Wilma Liebman said the NLRB would seek a more "dynamic" approach to interpreting the nation's labor laws to help "reinvigorate collective bargaining" in the workplace.

At a national conference on collective bargaining in higher education, Liebman faulted the "static" approach to the law that the NLRB took during the Bush administration, which "had the effect of removing more and more employees from the protections of the law, especially vulnerable contingent workers."

She specifically mentioned the Bush board's decision to eliminate bargaining rights for thousands of graduate assistants and others in higher education.

CWA took the lead in pressing the Obama administration to name Mark Pierce and Craig Becker as recess appointments to the NLRB, after it was clear that the Senate minority would continue to block their nominations. CWA activists convinced 141 members of Congress to sign a petition urging White House action.

The NLRB now has a clear majority of three Democrats who support the law's original intent to encourage collective bargaining and protect workers' organizing rights. The four-member board will also get to work on clearing the huge backlog of cases that the NLRB could not address with two members.

Liebman said the board would look at "not just the words of the law" but the impact of board decisions on conditions affecting workers today.

There's Still Time! Mail Your Census Form Today

Is that 2010 Census form still sitting in a pile of unopened mail? Help protect your voice in Congress and make sure your community gets the federal funds it deserves for important programs like public safety, school and road construction, and more.

And by filling out and mailing this easy questionnaire, you'll save taxpayer dollars, because fewer census takers will have to go door-to-door.

So far, the return rate -- 67 percent as of Wednesday -- is encouraging, Census Bureau officials said in a phone call with unions, churches, community groups and others that are helping spread the word to their members and neighbors.

But there's a big push on to get the remaining 33 percent of forms in the mail by this weekend. On May 1, census workers will start knocking at doors where residents haven't responded.

The census is taken every 10 years and determines how many members of Congress will represent each state. The census also is used to allocate federal funds to help communities pay for police and fire services, build schools, maintain roads and bridges and much more. For every 100 people who don't return their forms, a community stands to lose more than $1 million, Census officials said.

If you can't find your form, call the bureau at (866) 872-6868. An employee can take your information by phone or send you a new form. To learn more, check out the census website at www.2010census.gov.

2010 PayWatch Report Lists CEO Pay Nationwide

Focusing on the Wall Street giants that triggered America's economic meltdown, the 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch report could easily be titled, "Laughing All the Way to the Bank."

After grabbing tens of billions in taxpayer bailout dollars, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup paid out $145 billion in compensation in 2009 and spent about $25 million lobbying against financial reform. Meanwhile, consumers and small businesses are still begging for credit.

The annual PayWatch project updates data about CEO salaries at virtually all publicly held U.S. corporations. The website, www.paywatch.org, makes it easy to search by company, by industry or by state.

TNG-CWA Journalists Big Winners in 2010 Pulitzer Contest

Members of the Newspaper Guild-CWA and Guild-represented newspapers won more than half of the 2010 Pulitzer Prizes awarded this week.

• Local 38010 members Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News for Investigative Reporting for "resourceful reporting that exposed a rogue police narcotics squad, resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of criminal cases tainted by the scandal."
• Local 34051 member Raquel Rutledge of  the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for Local Reporting for "penetrating reports on the fraud and abuse in a child-care program for low-wage working parents that fleeced taxpayers and imperiled children, resulting in a state and federal crackdown on providers."
• Local 31003 member Matt Richtel and The New York Times staff for National Reporting for "incisive work, in print and online, on the hazardous use of cell phones, computers and other devices while operating cars and trucks, stimulating widespread efforts to curb distracted driving."
• Local 31003 member Michael Moss and The New York Times staff for Explanatory Reporting for "relentless reporting on contaminated hamburger and other food safety issues that, in print and online, spotlighted defects in federal regulation and led to improved practices."
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• Local 32035 retired member Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post for Feature Writing for "his haunting story about parents, from varying walks of life, who accidentally kill their children by forgetting them in cars."
• Anthony Shadid, formerly of The Washington Post and Local 32035, for International Reporting for "his rich, beautifully written series on Iraq as the United States departs and its people and leaders struggle to deal with the legacy of war and to shape the nation's future."
• The staff for the Seattle Times, represented by Local 37082, for Breaking News for coverage of the shooting deaths of four police officers and subsequent manhunt.

Still Time to Plan Your Workers Memorial Day Activities

CWA locals, many of them working with other unions, community groups and occupational safety and health experts, are planning rallies, memorial services and educational activities during the week of Workers Memorial Day, April 28.

If your local hasn't decided what to do, CWA's Occupational Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande and Workers Memorial Day materials available from the AFL-CIO can help.

LeGrande encourages locals to call him with questions about planning events and asks locals that already have made plans to share those ideas. He can be reached by e-mail at legrande@cwa-union.org.

The AFL-CIO's WMD materials can be ordered online at www.aflcio.org/shop or by calling (202) 637-5024. Some materials and fact sheets can be downloaded at no cost at www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/memorial/.

Whatever you plan, be sure there's someone taking good, high-resolution pictures that can be used in your local publications or by CWA nationally on our website or in the CWA News. E-mail photos to LeGrande as soon as possible after your event.

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