• CWA, New Jersey Reach Agreement That Preserves Jobs, Contract
• Cohen: 'This is Exactly the Time for Employee Free Choice'
• CWA is Making History in Washington, D.C.
• Tentative Agreements Reached at Avaya and OFS
• NABET-CWA Asks Viewers in 4 Cities to 'Turn Off NBC'
• IUE-CWA Petitions Bankruptcy Court to Protect Retiree Health Benefits
• Workers Organize Through Majority Sign Up in Michigan & New Jersey
• Washington Post Journalists Win Broun Award for Exposing Landlords

CWA, New Jersey Reach Agreement That Preserves Jobs, Contract

CWA has reached an agreement with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine that provides no-layoff guarantees for 18 months and creates a 7-day paid leave bank to offset 10 furlough days for state workers.

The agreement helps save as many as 7,000 state worker jobs that were at risk because of the state's $9 billion budget shortfall.

Under the agreement, wage increases that were scheduled to take effect on July 1 will be postponed until Jan. 1, 2011. Workers' pension benefits will accrue based on inclusion of the postponed wage increases in the pension calculation. At the end of the current collective bargaining agreement on June 30, 2011, all the provisions of the contract that took effect in July 2007 will be intact.

"Given the realities of the current economic crisis, and soaring levels of unemployment, our two top priorities in these negotiations were the protection of all of our members' jobs and preserving the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement," said Chris Shelton, CWA District 1 Vice President.  "We achieved those goals."

"We recognized the seriousness of the state's fiscal crisis and we said all along that we were willing to do our fair share, through the collective bargaining process," said Shelton.  "State workers have stepped up, and done what is best for the state, and what was necessary to ensure that not a single member loses his or her job in the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s."

The state and the union have agreed to request jointly that the Civil Service Commission rescind the recently adopted rule permitting the implementation of "staggered furloughs" without collective bargaining.  A 16-member Study Commission on Alternatives to Permanent Layoffs will be established to address these issues.

The agreement also provides for reduction in Temporary Employment Service (TES) positions, contract temps, and outside contractors who perform Department of Transportation engineering work.

The proposed agreement must be ratified by state worker members of CWA, and the ratification process will be overseen by the American Arbitration Association.

CWA members mobilized for months over the proposals that sought to "balance the state budget on our backs." CWA state worker locals held several "lobby days" at the Statehouse in Trenton, organized a letter-writing campaign to state legislators and set up informational picket lines outside more than 100 work locations to focus attention on how the proposals would hurt public workers and New Jersey families.
 

Cohen: 'This is Exactly the Time for Employee Free Choice'

At Campaign for America's Future conference, CWA President Larry Cohen says senators must declare "which side they're on."

Speaking to more than 3,000 progressive activists at the Campaign for America's Future conference, CWA President Larry Cohen reminded participants just how tough the Senate vote on the Employee Free Choice Act will be.

The Chamber of Commerce has spent $200 million against the Employee Free Choice Act and is lobbying hard to block the vote for cloture, Cohen said.  "We need to demand that senators choose 'which side they're on,' when it comes to Employee Free Choice."

"We won't accept excuses that 'this isn't the time because of the economy.' You cannot fix the economy without Employee Free Choice. This is exactly the time," he said.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who is taking the lead in getting Senate approval of the Employee Free Choice Act, called the measure "the civil rights battle of today." And if senators refuse to work together for a bill preserves the top priorities of Employee Free Choice, "I will take the original Employee Free Choice Act bill to the floor and demand an up or down vote on it," he pledged.

Joining the session was David Bonior, chair of American Rights at Work, and Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

CWA is Making History in Washington, D.C.

The timing couldn't be better. More than 2,500 CWAers will be in Washington for our joint convention and legislative-political conference June 22-25 just as the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform are being debated by Congress and moving forward.

"This is an historic time, the best opportunity the union movement has had in decades to restore workers' bargaining rights and gain real health care reform. CWA has been a leader in the fight to help rebuild the middle class and our economy, and our convention/legislative-political conference in Washington, D.C., is taking place at exactly the right moment," said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill.  

Our lobby day on Wednesday, June 24, -- CWA's biggest lobby day ever in the nation's capital -- will make a big difference, with 2,500 CWA members meeting with their senators, representatives and staff and pressing them to do the right thing on Employee Free Choice and health care reform.  

On Thursday, June 25, we'll be part of a huge health care rally and lobby day, joining with 20,000 other coalition members who support real health care reform. Opponents of health care for all already are working hard to derail this important measure, and if we don't act now, we will lose the best chance we've had in decades to make real reform happen. We can't afford to let the insurance companies call the shots.

"Being in Washington, D.C., at this critical time and at the heart of the action is exactly what we need to do, to get our working family agenda through Congress and to President Obama," Hill said.  

Tentative Agreements Reached at Avaya and OFS

CWA reached tentative agreements with Avaya and Optical Fiber Solutions that protect health care benefits for active and retired workers, increase wages and meet other critical bargaining goals.

At Avaya, the CWA bargaining team stood firm against management's demands for cutbacks and concessions, particularly in health care. "Members' non-stop bargaining support and mobilization for a fair contract got the message across to management," said Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly. Maly and the bargaining team also credited call center members for their very effective mobilization.

The three-year agreement, which covers more than 1,500 CWA-represented workers, maintains health care benefits for workers and retirees. The agreement provides a $1,250 lump sum in the first year and wage increases of 2.75 percent in the second and third contract years. Other improvement include a 4 percent pension increase for active workers and job security gains, including a no-layoff pledge for workers in all job titles for 9 months.

At OFS, the CWA bargaining team reached tentative agreement for a four-year contract that turned back management's attempts to slash health care benefits for active and retired employees. The agreement, covering 250 workers at facilities in Norcross, Ga., and Sturbridge, Mass., provides for base wage increases of 7.25 over the contract term, with a $250 lump sum in the first year, plus a $250 bonus on ratification.

Go to www.cwa-comtech.org for the final bargaining reports and updates on contract ratification.

CWA-NABET Asks Viewers in 4 Cities to 'Turn Off NBC'

CWAers from Local 1103, 1108 and other locals join NABET-CWA members outside NBC's Today show broadcast.

With talks still stalled two months after their contract expired, NABET-CWA members at NBC-Universal are turning up the heat and asking viewers in four major cities to turn off NBC and its local stations where members work.

On Monday, 50 NABET-CWA and CWA members in New York leafleted in front of the Today Show studio as the morning program aired. "Our mobile billboard made the rounds in front of audience, and some of our more ambitious supporters went right up to the glass behind Matt Lauer during the show with some pretty good signage," NABET Vice President Jim Joyce said.

The other cities with NABET contracts with NBC network and local stations are Washington, D.C., Chicago and Burbank, Calif. The contract covers 2,500 workers.

NABET-CWA is working for a fair contract that benefits members, the company and viewers. "Unfortunately, there has been no sign from NBC-U that it will do the right thing for its workers. While claiming the current economy is driving the posture that has brought us to the bargaining table, NBC-U and GE are still posting profits. Nonetheless, the company seems determined to remove job security, reduce compensation and subcontract work," the union said.

NBC is pushing to create a non-union job title for work that union members have been doing for decades. It also plans to close some operations in New York City and Burbank and transfer the work to a non-union facility in New Jersey.

The union is asking New Yorkers and viewers in Washington, D.C, Chicago and Burbank, Calif., to "Turn off NBC" and local stations.

IUE-CWA Petitions Bankruptcy Court to Protect Retiree Health Benefits

IUE-CWA has filed a petition on behalf of thousands of General Motors' retirees to protect their health and life insurance benefits following the company's bankruptcy filing this week.

More than 27,000 IUE-CWA retirees and 5,000 retirees from other unions will be left with out health insurance under the filing now before the court. IUE-CWA represents workers at GM's assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, which closed on Dec. 23.

The presidential task force overseeing the auto industry bankruptcies preempted an earlier agreement IUE-CWA to establish a voluntary employee' beneficiary association (VEBA) to fund retiree health benefits. 

CWA will continue to demand that the commitments made to retirees be honored and urged the administration not to permit this injustice to stand.

Workers Organize Through Majority Sign Up in Michigan & New Jersey

Pay and health care were among the issues that former Dobson Communications technicians at AT&T Mobility in Michigan cited as a big part of their decision to join CWA through majority sign up. CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen said the wage and benefit package CWA had negotiated at Mobility was a big factor for the Michigan technicians.   

The techs were supported by CWA Locals 4100 and 4108, and overwhelmingly, workers backed a union voice -- 20 of the 21 technicians signed authorization cards supporting CWA representation.

Since last August, more than 600 of the former Dobson Communications workers – customer service reps, retail sales and technicians – have chosen CWA representation.

In another organizing campaign decided by majority sign up, 29 dispatchers and fare collectors at New Jersey Transit, the state's public transportation corporation, gained representation with CWA Local 1032, said District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton. 

Washington Post Journalists Win Broun Award for Exposing Landlords

Two Washington Post reporters have won TNG-CWA's 2008 Heywood Broun Award for a seven-part series that revealed how city landlords were driving tenants out of rent-controlled apartments by refusing repairs and forcing families to live without heat, water or electricity.

Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen, who wrote "Forced Out," reviewed 128,000 housing code violation reports and thousands of court and government documents, and tracked down landlords who had hidden their identities. They discovered that owners reaped $328 million in condominium sales after emptying 200 apartment complexes.

A panel of prominent journalists judged the 90 Broun entries from print, radio and TV. In awarding the top prize to the Post team, the judges said, "They told dozens of compelling stories about people who were forced to live in squalor before they moved. Especially impressive were the results, including the swiftness with which the District strengthened the laws protecting tenants."

The award honors the memory of TNG founder Heywood Broun, whose early 20th century newspaper columns championed the disadvantaged and gave voice to the powerless. The award comes with a $5,000 check.

The Broun judges also awarded two $1,000 prizes of substantial distinction. Jack Dolan, Matthew Haggman and RobBarry of the Miami Herald were honored for exposing Florida's failure to oversee the mortgage industry, resulting in significant changes in state oversight. Michael Montgomery, Josh Phillips and Catherine Winter of American Public Media won for their radio feature, "What Killed Sergeant Gray," which examined the lasting impact of torture on the abusers and those who tried to stop them.

The Broun awards will be presented June 18 at TNG-CWA's annual conference in Washington. The event will also honor the student winners of the Barr Awards, which annually recognize one high school and one college journalist.

This year's college winner is Colleen Bridget Mullarkey, of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia for a magazine cover story she wrote about the impact of drowsy driving and undiagnosed sleep disorders. Kaelyn Kristine Malkoski of Hinsdale Central High School in Illinois won for a story she wrote on bullying that was incorporated into an elementary school curriculum guide.