HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

July 2, 2009

• Lobby Day Visits Get CWA Message to 200 Members of Congress
• NJ State Workers Ratify Contract
• Mexican Union Takes on Employee Free Choice Fight
• Workers Take Different Routes to Union at Amnesty Intl and EZ Pass
• 200 'Green' CWA-Built Buses Rolling in Nation's Capital
• 'Joyful' TNG-CWA Member Among Nine Victims of Subway Tragedy
• Saving for College? Union Plus Can Help

Lobby Day Visits Get CWA Message to 200 Members of Congress

CWAers in red shirts are a big part of the meeting with Sen. Rockefeller on health care reform.

CWA members participated in more than 200 visits with their senators, representatives and staff last week during CWA's Lobby Day and the combined convention/legislative-political conference.

Employee Free Choice and health care reform were the big topics, but some of the meetings held with members of Congress gave CWAers the opportunity to raise other critical issues. 

CWA President Larry Cohen, District 2 Vice President Ron Collins, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue and CWA staff met with Senator John Rockefeller (D-WVa.) and key staff about the serious issues raised by Verizon's plan to sell landlines in the state to Frontier Communications.  

CWA is raising concerns that the sale will affect quality service for consumers and will mean more roadblocks for the buildout of high speed broadband networks in West Virginia. Without high speed Internet, West Virginia residents won't have access to applications like tele-medicine and distance learning and businesses will be restricted in growing new jobs.   

NJ State Workers Ratify Contract

State workers in New Jersey overwhelmingly ratified a new agreement that provides a no-layoff guarantee for 18 months and creates a seven-day paid leave bank to offset 10 furlough days.

The contract covers members of CWA Locals 1031, 1032, 1033, 1034, 1037, 1039 and 1040.

The agreement postpones wage increases that were to take effect July 1, but pension benefits will continue to accrue based on including the postponed wage increases in the pension calculation. At the end of the current contract which expires on June 30, 2011, all the provisions of the contract that took effect in July 2007 will be intact.

The agreement will help save as many as 7,000 state worker jobs at risk because of the state's budget shortfall.

Mexican Union Takes on Employee Free Choice Fight

STRM leaders deliver letter supporting Employee Free Choice to U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Leaders of STRM, the independent telephone workers union in Mexico, delivered a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, urging support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Unions around the world are supporting the campaign to restore workers' bargaining and organizing rights in the United States.

CWA President Larry Cohen proposed this strategy at a recent Union Network International meeting; at least 100 visits by global union leaders are expected to take place.

Delivering the letter in Mexico City were STRM leaders   Jorge Castillo Magaña,  Deputy Secretary General;  Enrique Fabela Rocha, Secretary of External Affairs and Alliances; and Rafael Marino Roche, head of the Political Action Department.

Workers Take Different Routes to Union at Amnesty Intl and EZ Pass

Amnesty International workers won their union voice through majority sign up.

Recent organizing victories by workers at Amnesty International and EZ Pass clearly show why Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

At Amnesty International, management left the choice of a union voice up to the 70 employees working at offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C. A big majority said "yes" and joined CWA Local 1180 through majority sign up.

Compare that to what workers at EZ Pass in Staten Island, N.Y., endured as they used the broken NLRB election process to get a union voice. There was no doubt that a big majority of the 292 customer service employees wanted a union, in fact, more than 70 percent petitioned for an election last December.

EZ Pass worker Barbara Elliot said "supervisors were free to further intimidate and frighten us. They made it near-impossible for any pro-union worker to get out of our seats to discuss the union with co-workers."

But management had absolutely no respect for what employees wanted. The company, owned by Affiliated Computer Services, responded with a brutal, anti-union campaign to scare union supporters, using one-on-one and captive audience meetings. Then it delayed the election by challenging the make up of the bargaining unit. The challenge was rejected by the regional NLRB office, but the petition gave management five additional months to intimidate union supporters.

Workers managed to hold on and came through with a 144-126 victory in the NLRB election. But the company wasn't through yet; it made a last minute appeal to the full NLRB that caused the ballots to be impounded.

The workers got their union voice thanks to the courage and tremendous effort of their 27-member organizing committee and help from CWAers from Locals 1109, 1102, 1032, and 1037.

EZ Pass worker Barbara Elliot joined a panel of workers at CWA's convention/legislative-political conference last week and described management's campaign of harassment and intimidation. Watch her speech at www.cwa-1102.org.

200 'Green' CWA-Built Buses Rolling in Nation's Capital

Washington, D.C.'s transit authority ordered more than 200 hybrid buses made by CWA members.

Bus riders in the Washington, D.C., area soon will be riding on some of nation's newest "green" buses, the hybrid-electric-diesel vehicles built by members of CWA Local 7304 at New Flyer Bus Co.

The Washington Metro Transit Authority ordered more than 200 buses from New Flyer in St. Cloud, Minn. Vice President Joe Biden visited the plant as part of the White House Task Force on Working and Middle Class Families, and said the CWA-New Flyer partnership shows what can be achieved with government support for American companies that create quality green jobs.

New Flyer also supported majority signup when workers decided to form a union in 2002. Orders for the "green" buses continue to grow, and CWA members at the St. Cloud plant turn out 26 buses a week.

'Joyful' TNG-CWA Member Among Nine Victims of Subway Tragedy

Mary Doolittle, a member of TNG-CWA Local 32035.

The victims of last week's deadly subway crash in Washington, D.C., included Mary Doolittle, a member of TNG-CWA Local 32035, known to her friends as "Mandy" and remembered as a joyous, generous woman full of good humor and southern hospitality.

Doolittle, 59, had worked for the past decade at the American Nurses Association in its credentialing center developing an international outreach program.

"She was highly committed to nursing around the globe. She was not a nurse, but she was the face of this organization internationally," ANA Executive Director Jeanne Floyd told reporters. "She was a joyful, joyful individual."

Doolittle's death was announced at the end of the CWA convention last week. She was one of nine people killed and many others injured when a Metro train slammed into the rear of a second train.

Saving for College? Union Plus Can Help

Every dollar counts when you're sending a kid to college, and Union Plus wants to help.

The financial services center for union families is offering $500 college savings grants for union members who open a new 529 tax-free college savings or pre-paid tuition account between now and Nov. 30.

The grant is free money, meaning you don't need to repay it. To qualify, you must be a Union Plus credit card holder, or participate in Union Plus mortgage or insurance programs. Details are at www.UnionPlus.org/CollegeSavings.

Union Plus can also help if you've been laid off or are otherwise facing financial hardship. Learn how to apply for a SAFE (Security. Assistance. Financial Education) grant at www.UnionPlus.org/UnionSafe.