• *Video Celebrates Life of CWAer Gerry Horgan, Killed on Picket Line in 1989 
• CWA Members Use Facts, Civility to Counter Opponents at Town Hall Meetings
• Help Shatter the Lies About Heath Care Reform
• D9 Reaches Tentative Contract at AT&T West
• Want to Be a Part of the Next Generation Committee?
• Colombia, Guatemala Unionists Call on U.S. to Pass Employee Free Choice
• CWAers Stand Out at Rally for Virginia's Creigh Deeds              
• *(THIS IS WHY WE WEAR RED ON THURSDAYS)

Things have been stormy at town hall meetings during the August congressional recess, but CWAers have been standing up for health care reform and countering bad behavior with the facts:

• IUE-CWA Local 81201 members were out in force at a town hall meeting held by Rep. Niki Tsongas (D) in Chelmsford, Mass. "We were a democracy squad but more needs to be done," because it's clear that the antis were only interested in disruption, not discussion, said Local Vice President Alex Brown. "It was exhausting but our people were proud."

• At President Obama's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., CWAers were on the mark again, with about 40 members from Local 81201 and 1400 lining the road outside the high school where the President spoke. Local 1400 President Don Trementozzi said reform supporters were at least 10-deep along the half-mile road while opponents were spread thin on the other side.

  CWAers from Locals 1400 and 81201 joined union members and other activists to support health care reform and President Obama at the town hall meeting in Portsmouth, NH.

What opponents lacked in numbers, though, they made up for with loud comments and ugly signs. "We didn't engage them," Trementozzi said. "We just did our thing, singing our songs and chanting 'health care for all.' We even had a band."

• In Indiana, union members and activists helped counter the anti-reform crowd at President Obama's meeting in Elkhart County last week and at Rep. Joe Donnelly's (D) town hall meeting in Kokomo. IUE-CWA members and others CWAers were on hand. Joe Carbone, congressional district coordinator for CWA Local 4900, said the meeting was moved outside to accommodate the crowd of more than 500.

Help Shatter the Lies About Heath Care Reform  

Do you yell at the TV when you hear wild claims about health care reform from opponents? CWA is calling on newsletter readers to share your personal experiences so we can beat back the outrageous charges being made about health care reform.

For instance, opponents are trying to scare people about a public plan option. "You won't get to choose your doctor, you'll have long waits and a 'government bureaucrat' could deny your claim," they charge.

These wild statements make it seem like our current health care system is all things to all people – no waiting, no restrictions on what procedures are covered and full choice of doctors. We all know that's just not the way it is.

Every private insurance plan has a select list of doctors, and you choose from that list or your treatment is barely covered or not covered at all. Typically, people wait weeks and months for routine tests and office visits. Insurance companies require advance approval of tests and treatment – maybe a procedure will be covered, maybe not. That's our current system.

So let us know:

• How long have you had to wait for appointments and surgery? What happens when you want to see a physician who's not on your insurance company's list? What treatment have you or a family member been denied?

• If you're a Canadian member, tell us what it's like not to worry about medical bills.

• How has Medicare, one of our country's great success stories, helped you or your parents?

Send us a few words, along with your name and contact information, and we'll follow up with you. Send to news@cwa-union.org.

D9 Reaches Tentative Contract at AT&T West

The CWA District 9 bargaining team and AT&T West have reached a tentative three-year contract covering 23,000 workers in California, Nevada and Hawaii.

This proposed settlement follows the Aug. 7 ratification of a new three-year contract by CWA members at AT&T Midwest. CWAers in District 4 overwhelmingly approved the new agreement.

The tentative AT&T West agreement provides for wage increases of 9 percent and pension band increases of 6 percent over the contract term, with both adding a cost of living adjustment in the third year. It maintains quality health care for active and retired workers and puts in place fully funded preventive care and company-funded, tax free health reimbursement accounts.

CWAers from Locals 6377, 6300 and 6350 rally in St. Louis for a fair AT&T contract.

"We achieved our members' key goals: to maintain workers' standard of living, safeguard health care and enhance employment security," said District 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp. "Considering we are in the worst recession in history, what we accomplished was no small feat." 

Improvements for prem techs include wage increases, employment security gains and new work rule protections.

Contract explanation meetings with locals will be held on Aug. 17; the mail contract ratification will be completed Sept. 1.

Negotiations are continuing for new contracts at AT&T East and Yellow Pages (CWA District 1); Southeast and AT&T Advertising Solutions (CWA District 3); Southwest (District 6); and Legacy T (CWA ComTech).

Want to Be a Part of the Next Generation Committee?  

The 2009 CWA Convention established a Next Generation Committee that will be composed of multi-generational members and address work mobility, social networking, training and mentoring and effective ways to engage younger members in the union.

"If CWA is going to survive and thrive, we need to draw on the potential of every member. We need energy and passion and the ability to reconcile our sometimes different views. That's exactly what the Next Generation Committee will do," said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill. 

Interested in serving on this committee? Contact your local union president by Aug. 20.

Colombia, Guatemala Unionists Call on U.S. to Pass Employee Free Choice

A delegation of Colombian trade unionists from 11 union organizations delivered a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota calling on the U.S. government to support workers' rights.

A delegation from 11 labor groups in Colombia delivers a letter to the U.S. embassy calling on the U.S. government to support Employee Free Choice.

"Supporting this proposed legislation is the least we can do to support North American unions," said the union activists. Unions in North America have been working to support workers and unions in Colombia, who face extreme hardships and threats to their efforts to exercise workers' rights.  

Another visit was made by representatives from five Guatemala unions and federations to the U.S. embassy in Guatemala City. "We are going to strongly support this law and show our solidarity with North American workers and make sure that the right to unionize is respected by multinationals operating in the United States," they said.  

72 unions so far have now participated in the global solidarity campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act, with tremendous support in the Americas, where trade unionists face strong opposition, UNI said, with more visits planned.

CWAers Stand Out at Rally for Virginia's Creigh Deeds

CWAers turn out to support Creigh Deeds for governor of Virginia.

Lots of CWAers in red and President Obama joined a rally in Virginia to support Creigh Deeds for governor.

CWA members stood out in the crowd in red shirts proclaiming "CWA for Creigh Deeds," said Local 2201 Executive Vice President Richard Hatch.

CWA's involvement also made an impression on Democratic candidates for Virginia's House of Delegates who were working their way through the crowd, Hatch said. "Our members took this time to push our issues and make sure that these politicians knew that CWA was heavily involved," Hatch said.

CWAers from Locals 2201, 2204, 2205, 2222 and 2277 were on hand.

Deeds is a former state delegate and state senator who supports working family issues. CWA locals in Virginia are working hard to support Deeds and other pro-worker candidates.

Reminders

CWA National Women's Conference. Click here to register now for this year's conference, Sept. 10-12, in St. Louis. Click here to view the agenda, and here for workshop descriptions. The cutoff date for hotel reservations is Aug. 20. Contact hotel reservations at 1-800-925-1395.

Online training. Two weeks of free online training is being offered to CWA members, family members and retirees through a partnership between CWANETT and the top-rated Lynda.com software training program. Visit www.cwanett.org/lynda and sign up online. Lynda.com will forward login information. Demand is strong, so sign up now.