June 10, 2010

Lessons from Arkansas for Elected Officials

Working families in Arkansas came very close to making Lt. Gov. Bill Halter the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. It's disappointing to fall short, but CWA locals and members in Arkansas and District 6 did a tremendous amount of work and sent this powerful message to elected officials: 

"We will hold you accountable for your votes and for the choices you make on the issues that matter most to working families."

Blanche Lincoln learned that by abandoning workers and doing the bidding of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Big Business interests, she was in for the fight of her political life. That's exactly what happened in Arkansas.

Here's a reminder of how Blanche Lincoln abandoned workers:

• Lincoln voted to tax workers' health care benefits when she voted against the health care and education reconciliation bill. 
• Lincoln refused to support even a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act and would not allow the measure to come to the Senate floor for debate.
• Lincoln voted against allowing the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board to come to the Senate floor for debate.
• Lincoln voted against the auto bailout.
• Lincoln sided with bankers and against reform of the student loan program.
• Lincoln voted to send millions of jobs overseas by supporting NAFTA and CAFTA.

Our campaign in Arkansas put Lincoln and every other elected official on notice. CWA members won't support candidates who are Democrats in name only. We will support candidates who support us. We came within just a few thousand votes of winning in Arkansas. So imagine how effective our program can be as we take it across the country to hold elected officials accountable.   

CWA is building an independent political and legislative movement that supports working families in tough times, today's times. The work our locals and coalition partners – the civil rights community, environmental activists and others -- did in Arkansas shows that this kind of political change will happen. That's the lesson of Arkansas.

Research Assistants at SUNY Stony Brook Keep up Contract Fight

Since they joined CWA Local 1104 eighteen months ago, research assistants at the State University of New York Research Foundation at Stony Brook have been fighting back against an anti-union management and the University's refusal to bargain a fair contract.

CWA President Larry Cohen met with the group when he spoke at a university forum; District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton and other CWAers also were on hand.

The RA bargaining team has been meeting two or three times a month with management since March 2009 but management has refused to move forward on a first contract. The 740 research assistants are PhD candidates who work for faculty at University's Research Foundation which is supported by federal funds.

"The foundation has been using the time meant for bargaining as an extension of its campaign to get rid of the union," said Jim McAsey, Local 1104's organizing director who helped the RAs organize.

Some research assistants earn as little as $20,000 a year and put in 80 hours a week or more. The union is working to increase minimum pay, in addition to other issues.

Management constantly tries to create dissension and divide the group, McAsey said. It pulled permits for events the RAs had scheduled and sent an e-mail to all faculty members advising them, illegally, to not give the RAs any raises.

The unit did win a victory earlier this year when it saved the jobs of the lowest-paid RAs at Stony Brook, who management tried to fire after the union proposed to improve their pay and working conditions.

"The RAs are frustrated and angry, but they are determined to stay together and stick it out, as long as it takes," says McAsey.

CWAers Step Up Campaign to Ban Corporate Tax Loophole

Legislation to close the Reverse Morris Trust tax loophole is before the Senate this week, and CWA members are working hard to get their senators on board.

The House of Representatives closed the Reverse Morris Trust tax loophole last week as part of H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.

CWA's Legislative Political Action Team has been coordinating contacts to key senators, looking for support for H.R. 4213, including phone calls and letters. District vice presidents and local union presidents are writing to their senators, pointing out that the Reverse Morris Trust "is a Wall Street scheme that allows big businesses to avoid paying taxes on the sale of company assets" and that closing the loophole would have meant hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Because of the Senate rule requiring 60 votes for legislation to be considered, CWAers are urging their senators to reject a filibuster and get the bill to the senate floor for debate.

District 2 activists played a huge role in winning support from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a key member of the Senate Finance Committee.

To send a message to your senator, click here.

The RMT tax loophole has enabled companies like Verizon to save millions of dollars in taxes from the sale of assets. H.R. 4213 also includes tax cuts and an extension of unemployment benefits.

CWA's Weitkamp: Workers, Consumers Lose in Proposed Comcast-NBCU Merger

The proposed Comcast-NBCU merger would lead to job cuts, aggravate the already anti-competitive behavior of the cable industry and restrict consumer access to the online video content of their choice, CWA District 9 Vice President James Weitkamp told the U.S. House Judiciary Committee at a field hearing Monday in Los Angeles.

Weitkamp said the merger "is not in the public interest" and will have a huge impact on video competition, choice and jobs. He said the two companies already have begun to deploy a "TV Everywhere" model that forces people to buy cable packages in order to see content online.

By reducing competition and increasing the companies' debt by $8 billion, Weitkamp said the merger would force Comcast/NBCU to cut jobs and/or raise prices that have already grown three times faster than inflation. "Either way, consumers and workers lose," he said.

CWA is also greatly concerned about Comcast's long anti-union track record, illegally blocking organizing drives and refusing to bargain fair contracts even after workers have voted multiple times for representation. After Comcast acquired AT&T Broadband in 2002, for example, it refused to reach an agreement on a first contract with 16 of the organized bargaining units it bought from AT&T Broadband, including those in Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento and Los Angeles, Calif.

"Comcast wages and benefits trail those at unionized telecom companies by about one-third," Weitkamp said. "This has a considerable impact on minority workers, who comprise about one-third of the workforce in this sector."

Weitkamp's comments echoed testimony by CWA President Larry Cohen earlier this year before the full House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.

CWA Surveying Outside Techs About Heat Stress, Employer Response

As summer heats up, CWA is asking outside technicians to take an online survey to help assess how many members have suffered heat stress symptoms and what employers are doing to limit exposure and provide training.

The five-question survey is at http://www.cwa-union.org/pages/cwa_heat_stress_survey. Local presidents and staff will be receiving an e-mail about the survey and are asked to make sure that all outside technicians are notified.

Potentially deadly, heat stress is a growing concern for CWA's Safety and Health Department, which just published a new heat stress brochure. Copies can be downloaded here. It can be found on the Safety and Health webpage at www.cwa-union.org.

For questions about the survey, contact Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande at legrande@cwa-union.org.

'Colbert Report' Features TNG Member at Consumers Union Testing Lab

Emilio Gonzalez was nervous when he sat down in front of the TV late Tuesday night. What to expect after a goofy day a few weeks earlier when comedian Stephen Colbert and his camera crew invaded the TNG-CWA member's dishwasher testing lab at Consumers Union?

"I wasn't sure how they would spin it," said Gonzalez, treasurer of the 260-member unit of The New York Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31003. "It wasn't rehearsed in any way, we just went with the flow. He made it easy."

Billed as "Who's Watching the Watchdog?" Colbert was turning his cameras on Consumers Union for an "investigation" of the product raters for the "Colbert Report," a half-hour satiric news program. The segment can be viewed on the show's website, www.colbertnation.com.

Gonzalez has been a project leader testing appliances in the Yonkers, N.Y., lab for 19 years and was the only TNG-CWA member featured on the show.

New! Union Plus AT&T Mobility Phone Plan Discount Now 15 Percent

The Union Plus discount for union members for AT&T Mobility plans is now 15 percent, up from 10 percent, effective this week. The discount applies to monthly individual and family cell phone plans over $29.99, including plans covering Apple's new iPhone4 and earlier models.

AT&T Mobility is the only union wireless service.

Members currently enrolled in an AT&T Mobility plan who already get the 10 percent discount can receive the new 15 percent discount; a new two-year service agreement is required. CWA members should provide this special AT&T discount FAN number, 3508840, when speaking with retail sales agents at AT&T Mobility-owned stores (not authorized AT&T dealers or kiosks), AT&T customer service representatives over the phone at 877-290-5451, or online at the Union Plus website, www.UnionPlus.org/ATT.

At the store, CWA members must provide their union identification (a union membership card, a pay stub showing a dues deduction, or Union Plus Credit Card) in addition to the FAN number, 3508840.

Posted by:

CWA Local 1022