• CWAers Stand Strong for Fair Contracts at AT&T
• Military Veterans Proud to Join Fight for Employee Free Choice
• Administration's First 100 Days Show Real Progress for Working Families
• Obama NLRB Nominees Return Pro-Worker Majority to Board
• New DOL Leaders Join Unions to Mark Workers Memorial Day
• It's Official: Pro-Worker Candidate Wins Upset in NY  
• More Verizon Business Technicians Join CWA
• TNG-CWA Members Among Winners of Pulitzer Prizes
• Last Call for Newsletter, Web Contests

CWAers Stand Strong for Fair Contracts at AT&T

In Columbus, Ohio, the message on this member's shirt summed up the feelings of hundreds of AT&T workers who rallied for a fair contract.

CWA members' determination to gain fair contracts at AT&T is stronger than ever, as workers continued to mobilize across the country to show solidarity, strength and support for their bargaining teams.

Tens of thousands of CWA members also logged on to the first-ever e-union meeting. (See first story for more details.)

Last Friday, nearly a thousand CWAers gathered in Dallas outside the AT&T annual meeting, where they distributed a special "We Are the Network" report which underscores the critical role CWA members have in AT&T's profitability, growth, and quality service.

Inside the meeting, Vice Presidents Andy Milburn, District 6, and Ralph Maly, Communications and Technologies, criticized AT&T for dragging its feet in negotiations and for its demands that will lower workers' standard of living.

In Los Angeles, more than 700 CWA members and union supporters filled the city streets as they marched from Union Station, where they attended a town hall meeting with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, to AT&T Center. Los Angeles police stopped traffic as the marchers passed and bystanders and motorists waved and honked their support.

Marine Corporal and CWA member Jordan Eash with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and CWA District 9 VP Jim Weitkamp.

The town hall meeting focused on joblessness among veterans, and Solis heard from Jordan Eash, an AT&T worker and member of CWA Local 9400. Eash, a Marine corporal, told Solis and participants that AT&T was terminating his job as a cable splicer because it insisted on counting the time he served during his last tour in Iraq as part of his three-year contract with AT&T.

"When I got back home, I had about six months left on my contract and the company pretty much said they are not going to hire me back and they'd do nothing for me," he said. Eash, 26, got married just a few months after returning from Iraq and was planning to buy a house with his new wife. CWA is fighting to make sure that Eash doesn't get penalized for the time he spent serving our country.

As hundreds rallied in Los Angeles, Dist. 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp called on AT&T to stop using the nation's economic crisis as an excuse to cut workers' standard of living. Left is Marine Corporal Jordan Eash who is losing his job at AT&T.

In Sacramento, CWAers participated in the state Democratic Party convention and also had time to set up informational picket lines outside the AT&T office across the street from the convention site.

In Ohio last week, in addition to a rally of hundreds of CWAers on the steps of the state capitol in Columbus, Zanesville CWA members rallied in front of the Muskingum County Courthouse, carrying signs and shouting "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Corporate Greed Has Got to Go."

Members of Local 2204 at the AT&T Relay Center in Norton, Va. hold an informational picket.

Workers gained the support of Zanesville Mayor Howard Zwelling, who said, "I've always been a firm believer in collective bargaining. But you deserve to have a fair contract."

In Connecticut, members of Local 1298 are planning a solidarity rally in New Haven on May 15 that will focus on protecting workers' jobs and hard-won benefits. Workers are angry that company officials are using the economy as an excuse for huge health care cost shifting while AT&T remains very profitable.

For a full roundup of AT&T mobilization actions, go to www.cwa-union.org/att.

Military Veterans Proud to Join Fight for Employee Free Choice

U.S. veterans have joined the long list of supporters outside the union movement who are calling on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

In a dozen states, the organization VoteVets and the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council are teaming up to host rallies, roundtable discussions and other events to talk about economic priorities, with an emphasis on Employee Free Choice.

"The freedom to organize is an American value, one of the many values we veterans fought to protect," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chair of VoteVets.org. "Past generations of veterans were able to enter the middle class because unions were there to fight for fair wages and benefits. The Employee Free Choice Act ensures that veterans and civilians in the workforce will continue to get a fair shake, which is why we're proud to support it."

That's the message veterans will carry to the events nationwide. "I fought for my country and it's not right that those of us who did are denied basic rights on the job and are just scraping by," said Chris Lane, president of CWA Local 2201 and a veteran of campaigns in Iraq, Kuwait and Somalia.

"When I signed my enlistment papers, my signature was my pledge to fight for freedom and the honor of my country," Lane said. "If my signature was good enough for that, it should be good enough for my government to show that I want a union in my workplace."

Retired Air Force Col. Richard Klass, president of the Veterans Alliance for Security and Democracy, said, "fairness is a fundamental American value and the current system is unfair to employees seeking to form a union."

The first of the veterans' events took place Wednesday in Virginia, with veterans across the state writing letters and calling their senators and representatives. Similar efforts will be underway soon in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Indiana, Montana, Maine, Alaska, and other states.

Administration's First 100 Days Show Real Progress for Working Families

In its first 100 days, the Obama administration has advanced many of the issues that are important to CWA working families.

"For the first time in a long time, working Americans have a president who acknowledges the vital role that workers and their unions have in our nation," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "When President Obama says, 'I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me, it's part of the solution,' we know that President Obama and Vice President Biden are determined to work with us on Employee Free Choice and other critical issues, from health care to jobs to securing our families' future," Cohen said.

On health care, President Obama took real, immediate steps to move toward health care reform, by:

• focusing on health information technology to gain additional cost savings.
• expanding funds for prevention and wellness programs and training for health care professionals.
• setting aside a $634 billion "down payment" on real health care reform.
• covering another 4 million children through the state children's health insurance program.
• expanding health care protections for jobless workers.

President Obama's choices for top positions in his administration – Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor, Linda Puchala, a former flight attendant and one-time president of AFA-CWA, to head the National Mediation Board, and new nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (see separate story) also indicate real, positive change for workers.

The White House task force on middle-class working families, lead by Vice President Joe Biden, continues to explore ways to protect income and retirement security, restore labor standards, expand education and training opportunities and help workers balance their work and family responsibilities. Biden met with members of CWA Local 7304 in St. Cloud, Minn., to help expand quality, green jobs. Information on task force's work is available at www.astrongmiddleclass.gov.

President Obama's economic recovery plan, passed by Congress, also included $7.2 billion in grants to help bring high speed broadband networks to areas and citizens who are now unserved. The plan also included funds to carry out the broadband mapping initiative passed by Congress last year.

Obama NLRB Nominees Return Pro-Worker Majority to Board

President Obama's nomination of two new members to the National Labor Relations Board finally restores fairness for workers.

The nominees – Mark Pearce and Craig Becker – have years of experience in advocating for and defending workers' rights. The nominations must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Pearce, a member of the New York State United Teachers union, has represented workers as a lawyer and also served as a member of the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals and trial specialist for the NLRB's regional office in Buffalo from 1979 to 1994. CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton said Pearce had done good work for CWA members as well.

Becker currently serves as associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union. He has practiced and taught labor law for more than 25 years.

Once confirmed, Pearce and Becker will join board member Wilma Liebman, a longtime supporter of workers' organizing and bargaining rights. The Board's other member, Peter Carey Schaumber, was appointed by former President Bush. One position remains vacant and will be filled with a Republican member.

New DOL Leaders Join Unions to Mark Workers Memorial Day

Family members holding photos of workers killed or injured on the job mark Workers Memorial Day. They were joined by acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab.

After eight years of leaders who put corporate profits ahead of workers' health and safety, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis made good on her promise that "there's a new sheriff in town" as she and the acting head of OSHA joined union members for Workers' Memorial Day events in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Helping to dedicate the new workers' memorial at the National Labor College in Maryland on April 28, Solis announced the creation of a "severe violators' enforcement program" to penalize employers who willfully endanger their workers.

"We will not be controlled by ideology," Solis said. "When workers are in danger, we will act."

Scores of CWA locals across the country also held Workers Memorial Day events, from memorial ceremonies to workshops to help their members stay safe and well on the job. Some activities are continuing throughout the week.

Outside the Department of Labor in Washington, Jordan Barab, acting head of OSHA, pledged that the agency was vigorously renewing its commitment to workplace safety.

"Welcome to the new Labor Department," Barab said, to applause from union members and families of workers who had died or been gravely injured or sickened at work.

Many people at the gathering, which preceded House and Senate hearings on workplace safety issues, held large photos of those who had been killed on the job. Barab offered special thanks to the victims and their families, saying "your voices and your tears" are making a difference for all workers. "We want to make sure that no one goes to work and is afraid of not coming home alive," he said.

The annual AFL-CIO report tallying workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses, released for Workers' Memorial Day, showed that there were 5,657 fatal workplace injuries in 2007, the latest data available.

Although the total shows a slight decrease from 2006, union health and safety specialists say underreporting of workplace injuries and illness was a persistent problem during the Bush administration. While there were 4 million reported incidences of workers injured and sickened on the job, experts say it could be three times that number.

On average, 15 workers a day were fatally injured in 2007. Annually, another 50,000 to 60,000 workers die of occupational diseases.

This year's report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, also examined enforcement in cases of worker deaths, finding that nationwide, the average total penalty in fatality investigations was just $11,311.  Utah had the lowest average penalty in fatality cases, with an average $1,106 penalty assessed, followed by South Carolina, with an average penalty of $1,383 per fatality, and Louisiana with an average penalty of $1,453.

The report, which includes state data and comparisons, is available online at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/memorial/doj_2009.cfm.

It's Official: Pro-Worker Candidate Wins Upset in NY  

In a huge political upset, voters from New York's most conservative congressional district elected pro-worker businessman Scott Murphy to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  Murphy was ahead by 399 votes when his Republican opponent conceded.

Murphy, who was some 25 points down in the polls when the special election campaign got underway in February, unseated long-time state assemblyman Jim Tedisco with a message of support for Employee Free Choice, health care reform, and President Obama's economic recovery plan.

The tremendous level of political activism by CWA members from Locals 1118, 1120, 1113, and 1104, made a huge difference in the race. CWAers organized more than 60 volunteer shifts, knocked on more than a thousand doors and made some 3,000 phone calls.

The Republican Party tried to make the election a referendum on the new Obama administration and Obama's support for working families.

More Verizon Business Technicians Join CWA

Verizon Business technicians want a CWA voice. That's the message they keep sending to management, despite the company's anti-union campaigns intended to stop workers from gaining union representation.

Last week, 13 technicians at Verizon Business's international group in New York City voted overwhelmingly for representation with CWA Local 1101, by a 10-3 margin. Workers withstood management's campaign, which included scare letters, captive audience meetings (five held within 3 weeks), and even a last minute meeting with the company's executive vice president.

The Verizon Business techs were assisted by Local 1101 Chief Steward and Organizer Keith Hogarty, along with Local Secretary Jim Trainor and District 1 Organizing Coordinator Tim Dubnau.

More than 600 Verizon Business technicians were able to join CWA last January as part of the 2008 contract settlement.

TNG-CWA Members Among Winners of Pulitzer Prize

Three Newspaper Guild-CWA members – a reporter, arts critic and photographer at The New York Times – were among the individual winners of the Pulitzer Prize this year. They are members of TNG-CWA Local 31003.

Times reporter David Barstow won in the category of investigative reporting. The Pulitzer judges said his "tenacious reporting revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended."

Holland Cotter won the prize for art criticism. Judges praised his "wide ranging reviews of art, from Manhattan to China, marked by acute observation, luminous writing and dramatic storytelling."

Photojournalist Damon Winter won for feature photography "for his memorable array of pictures deftly capturing multiple facets of Barack Obama's presidential campaign," the judges said.

Two additional awards went to New York Times staff: the breaking news award for its "rapid-fire" coverage of the Eliot Spitzer scandal, and the award for international reporting, for "masterful, groundbreaking coverage of America's deepening military and political challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

The staff of the Detroit Free Press, also a Guild-represented newspaper, won for local reporting on Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that eventually led to jail terms for him and his female chief of staff.

Last Call for Newsletter, Web Contests

It's last call for entries to this year's newsletter and web competitions.

The contests recognize the hard work of all editors, webmasters and others who devote their time and energy to membership communications.

The deadline to enter the 26th-annual newsletter contest is Friday, May 8. Information, rules and entry forms are posted online at http://www.cwa-union.org/newslettercontest.

The web contest deadline is Friday, May 15. Awards will be given for best local website, best electronic newsletter and best local online advocacy campaign. Entry forms are available at http://www.cwa-union.org/ecom.