CWA Newsletter, Thursday, November 7, 2013

8/14/2019 CWA Newsletter, Thursday, November 7, 2013

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November 7, 2013

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

IT IS AN HONOR TO CELEBRATE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

TO OUR COUNTRY

Want to be in next week's CWA Newsletter? Send your stories and photos [email protected]@CWANews. Follow the latest developments atwww.resistancegrowing.org.

You Won't Want to Miss November's Town Hall Call

Our Veterans Deserve More than Tickets to a Ball Game

Election Day 2013

NLRB MovesForwardOn Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against T-Mobile US

Organizing Update

Bargaining Update

The President's Nominees Deserve an Up-or-Down Vote

Building Our Movement

CORRECTED DATE: You Won't Want to Miss November's Town Hall Call

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AFSCME President Lee Saunders will join CWA President Larry Cohen onCWA's next Town Hall Call on Thursday, Nov. 21.

The two leaders will be candidly discussing the state of workers and thefuture of the labor movement on 30-minute call. And both AFSCME and CWA
mailto:[email protected]://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=SxU8Ah6rPTSnnmc2fUnN0dq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=2RxtAvttT4RmWDQ%2B27V9FvVT5QP%2BTU5Nhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=zzh%2F3qYqe757B3u7%2FhR6Mtq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=LEYtm59HYXjzQ424NxLqPdq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=LEYtm59HYXjzQ424NxLqPdq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=zzh%2F3qYqe757B3u7%2FhR6Mtq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=2RxtAvttT4RmWDQ%2B27V9FvVT5QP%2BTU5Nhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=LeJI24Qp77wf732cWdApLtq%2B7Gmlvj57http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=SxU8Ah6rPTSnnmc2fUnN0dq%2B7Gmlvj57mailto:[email protected]://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=CmQee%2FHtpTPiGOj%2BSMrttNq%2B7Gmlvj57


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activists will be tuning in. Don't miss it!

Register athttp://cwa-union.org/cwacall.

Reminder: When you sign up for the remaining CWA town hall calls this year,

you will be entered in a drawing for a personalized iPad Mini! The winner willbe announced in the CWA News and e-newsletter.

Our Veterans Deserve More than Tickets to a Ball Game

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A message from CWA President Larry Cohen:

Once again we honor the tens of thousands of CWA veterans among ouractive and retired members. We honor them not simply on this day, but byensuring they have the essential health care and other services they need,whether they are working or retired.

But, as Congress begins to take up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), weneed to ask ourselves, "What does patriotism mean in the 21st century?What is the nature of our democracy, as we recall the sacrifices of so many?"

Vietnam is a major focus of the TPP. Vietnam has a population of 90 millionand a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour. Yes, there are 11 other nationsinvolved in the talks, but a major focus of the National Security Council, StateDepartment and the U.S. Trade Representative is increasing U.S. influence inVietnam.

Manufacturing jobs are already moving from China to Vietnam, asmultinational corporations seek lower wages and fewer environmentalregulations. Since NAFTA, Presidents Clinton, Bush and now Obama have alltold us that exports would grow, yet now we see services jobs, as well asmanufacturing jobs, devastated by these deals, as the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce and multinational corporations cheer on new places to maximizeprofits.

Why should we expect better from the TPP and a process that includes 600multinational corporations and no labor, environmental or electedrepresentatives? We need economic policy, not foreign policy that pretendsto be economic policy. Fair trade means workers' rights to organize andbargain, not just investment rights. It's not just about the loss of our jobs, it's
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about the effects on our standard of living, as we are forced to choosebetween cutting pay or exporting our jobs to lower wage nations.

Why have three presidents negotiated terms and conditions that Americanswould overwhelmingly reject if we had a voice? Why do we see our veterans

honored at an increasing number of events, but not when it comes to theirjobs and standard of living?

There are real answers to these questions, and they all start with fightingback. We must say no to trade deals that don't prioritize our rights, ourcommunities, our living standards and our environment. Investment should bebased on that platform, not a belief that the sum total of policies benefittingmultinational corporations and U.S. foreign policy work out for the rest of us.

Most Democrats and many Republican members of Congress have alreadytold the president that they will oppose the TPP and that democracy means

transparency, openness and the real inclusion of public interests. They havestated they will only support a process with real debate, not fast trackinganother trade deal through the Congress without lawmakers' involvement oramendments.

We won't forget the irony of the Vietnamese government becoming a leadingparty to the TPP negotiations, 40 years after the peace agreement and thesacrifice of so many. This is not about the Vietnamese people, but agovernment that thinks that workers' rights and environmental and safetyconcerns are not issues. Let's make this Veterans Day a time to recommit toour values, as we honor those who served and those who work hard every

day, whose jobs, living standards and rights are on the line.

Election Day 2013

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CWAers had plenty to celebrate on Election Day.

In New York City, Bill de Blasio won the mayor's race, making him the firstDemocrat to gain the seat in 20 years.

In New Jersey, Democrats in the state legislature survived Republican Gov.Chris Christie's victory over Barbara Buono, holding on to majorities in boththe Senate and Assembly to better fend off Christie's future attacks onworking families. CWA's 68,000 members in the state campaigned hard for a
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ballot question that will raise the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, and votersresponded with an overwhelmingly approval.

CWAers celebrate at Terry McAuliffe's victory party.

Below: CWA's GOTV troops get ready to hit the streets in New Jersey.

In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe became the state's next governor and Democraticstate Sen. Ralph Northam won the race for lieutenant governor.

In Houston, mayoral candidate Ben Hall lost. But we sent a message to thesitting Democratic mayor, who is term limited, so CWA's candidate will haveanother shot.

And in Ohio, voters defeated Republican Gov. John Kasich-backedcandidates and took back the mayoral seats in Dayton, Toledo andCuyahoga Falls. In Cincinnati, CWA also helped defeat Issue 4, a ballotinitiative which would have overhauled the city's pension system.

"In both Virginia and New Jersey, CWA was the No. 1 union in the state withvolunteer shifts, helping to not only get our message out to other members,


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but moving our message of worker rights and dignity to all voters," said CWAPolitical Director Rafael Navar. "It is because of their commitment anddedication, that we were able to achieve big victories this November for allworking people in those states. CWA is building a volunteer army that willbuild a movement in this country for workers' rights, dignity and justice."

Our volunteers were out in full force this election season.

CWA was a key early endorser of de Blasio's mayoral candidacy. De Blasiowas a vocal supporter of Cablevision workers in Brooklyn, and now the newlyelected mayor has pledged his continued support to ensure these workersget their first contract.

In New Jersey and Virginia, CWA got this work started early with a newprogram, the Political Leadership Boot Camp. Designed to strengthenactivists' skills, it combined leadership development with political action. The

training's topics included political economy, movement building and member-to-member conversations. These workshops also focused on the componentsof a campaign, recruiting volunteers and signing up PAF donors.

Many of the volunteers were new members who hadn't done political work atthis level before. Now they're gearing up to pivot to the legislative cycle,where activists will be fighting back against Verizon's push for phonederegulation in Virginia, fighting for rights for correctional officers andlobbying for fair contracts for home child-care providers in New Jersey andCablevision technicians in New York.

NLRB Moves Forward On Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against T-MobileUS

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On Nov. 1, the NLRB Acting General Counsel, Lafe E. Solomon, announcedthat the U.S. government would prosecute T-Mobile US for violating U.S.

labor law.
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Josh Coleman, a wrongfully terminated T-Mobile US worker, and CWA

President Larry Cohen.

The government now intends to prove that T-Mobile US illegally fired JoshuaColeman and disciplined Ellen Brackeen, who both worked at a call center inWichita, Kan., because of their union activity.

"The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has taken animportant step in prosecuting T-Mobile US on the discharge of JoshColeman, as well as discipline against Ellen Brackeen," said CWA PresidentLarry Cohen. "The NLRB will also reopen the charge related to destroyingJosh's notebooks documenting discrimination for union activity at the site.

This action by the General Counsel is rare and speaks to the systematicabuse of workers' rights by T-Mobile US and the hands off approach byDeutsche Telekom, a German corporation that owns 75 percent of T-MobileUS. Earlier this year several thousand Deutsche Telekom workers inGermany wore shirts to work and other public events that said, 'We are allJosh.'

"All of us in CWA and the German union ver.di applaud the action of theGeneral Counsel, and we look forward to the day when T-Mobile US istolerant of those who organize, just as its German owner Deutsche Telekomhas been for generations."

A date for the hearing will be set by the NLRB.

The decision again exposes T-Mobile US management's harassment ofworkers who only want a voice in their workplace. German workers havebargaining rights and union representation, and Deutsche Telekom publiclyacknowledges the value of its relationship with ver.di. But in the United


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States, T-Mobile US management has stepped up a campaign of fear,intimidation and harassment against U.S. workers who want the same unionvoice.

Coleman worked for three and half years at a T-Mobile customer call center,

where he was a top performer, receiving many promotions, performanceawards and written commendations. He also was selected to train newlyhired employees. That all changed as Coleman continued to voice hissupport for union representation on the job. He said, "I was an active andvocal supporter of having a union and getting a voice on the job for my co-workers and myself. I was targeted and ultimately fired for this activity,despite the fact that none of the allegations made against me were true."

Coleman was fired in May 2013, and CWA immediately filed unfair laborpractice charges.

From the beginning, CWA has been clear that these two workers particularly Coleman were singled out because of their union activity.Coleman was fired "without adhering to normal disciplinary procedures" and"pursuant to policies that were unwritten, unannounced and unknown" toColeman and other T-Mobile US workers in Wichita. When Coleman returnedto the call center to retrieve his personal belongings, he learned that pagescontaining notes about his union activities and those of his co-workers hadbeen removed from his notebook. The call center's human resources directorsaid she read the notes, considered them to be confidential T-Mobileinformation and confiscated them. This is direct and clear evidence of T-Mobile US's harassment, intimidation and animus toward workers who want

union representation.

Ver.di has made clear that the reasons for the nationwide protests byGerman workers are the continued attacks against employees who activelysupport the union, and the anti-union attitude from upper management of theU.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Employees who want independentrepresentation through a union face sanctions up to and including dismissal.Ver.di leader Lothar Schreder has repeatedly called for Coleman'sreinstatement.

Organizing Update

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Frontier Airlines and Republic Airways

AFA-CWA International President Veda Shook reports that cards weredelivered on Wednesday to the National Mediation Board requesting anelection for the Flight Attendants at Frontier Airlines and Republic Airways.

She said, "The Republic Flight Attendants did a great job in garneringmajority support of their group in under six weeks! The group had a goal of1,000 cards and today we present the NMB with 1,008 AFA-CWA cards plusan additional 100+ RAH cards (their original independent union/AFA cards),as well as our seniority list from Frontier."

Bargaining Update

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Verizon West

After ten months of bargaining, CWA has reached a tentative agreement withVerizon West toward a new union contract covering about 4,500 workers. Aratification vote is scheduled Nov. 20 on the proposed deal, which raiseswages over four years.

"Our bargaining team has unanimously recommended a 'yes' vote on thiscontract, which returns jobs to our bargaining unit and limits outsourcing ofFiOS work," said Jim Weitkamp, CWA Vice President for District 9. "As in therest of the country, we have had to agree to some difficult concessions in thearea of pensions and medical benefits, but we also preserved many termsand benefits the company had sought to take away."

CWA members at Verizon West had been working without a contract sinceSeptember, when slow progress caused the union to cancel an earlierextension. The affected workers include FiOS technicians, operators, callcenter representatives, customer service representatives, cable splicers, field

technicians for business and residential service, buried service wireemployees and other job titles throughout California.

T h e W a s h i n g t o n P o s t

After months of difficult bargaining, interrupted byThe Washington Post'ssale to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Newspaper Guild negotiators havereached a tentative one-year agreement that includes raises for all Post
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employees, with an extra pay hike for more than three dozen of the unit'slowest-paid workers. "On the whole, the Guild's bargaining committeebelieves this is a good contract and has voted unanimously to endorse it," thecommittee said in a statement. "We would like to express our gratitude to thePost's management and particularly its new owner, Jeff Bezos for

reaching a fair agreement."

SuperShuttle

About 100 Denver SuperShuttle drivers are waiting to hear back frommanagement to see if they reach an agreement to end a more than year-longconflict over wages. If a deal isn't reached, we will be mobilizing throughoutDenver International Airport.Read more atDenver Westword.

South Slope Communications

Workers have voted down a contract offer from South Slope Communicationsin Iowa. After the contract expired last week, the company immediatelylocked out 55 employees.Read more at KCRG.

Standard & Poor's

The New York Guild and Standard & Poor's have tentatively agreed on a newcontract that includes a wage increase, extra credit in the pension plan andemployment security. The new three-year contract, which is subject to Guildmembers' ratification, also provides safeguards for employees under a newperformance appraisal review system.Read more here.

WNEM TV-5

NABET-CWA Local 54048 members picket their television station.
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NABET-CWA Local 54048 is fighting for a fair contract at WNEM TV-5 inSaginaw, Mich. Members photographers, editors, directors, on-air talentand engineers recently voted down the latest contract offer from MeredithCorporation, a media conglomerate that owns the television station. Sincethen, they've been picketing in front of the studio, carrying signs that read,

"TV-5 Unfair to Families" and "TV-5 Local Liars."

"WNEM's latest contract proposal would severely jeopardize workers' jobsecurity, retirement security, work jurisdiction and reduce on-air employees to'at will' employment status," said NABET-CWA Local 54048 President ZaraMaldonado. "Based on Meredith's economic success recently, our membersdeserve much better."

The contract expired on Nov. 3.

The President's Nominees Deserve an Up-or-Down Vote

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In aHuffington Postblog post, CWA President Larry Cohen laid out why theSenate minority's decision to block a vote on the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt(D-N.C.) to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency was "a new low."

Cohen said Republicans' obstruction of Watt's nomination and that of PatriciaMillett, who was nominated to fill one of three vacancies on the D.C. CircuitCourt of Appeals, clearly shows why Majority Leader Harry Reid must moveforward to fix the broken Senate rules.

"It is past time for Democrats to take this small step so that millions ofAmerican who voted for this Senate and this president have at least this smallbit of their voices heard," he wrote.

Read the full post here.

Never before has cloture been used to prevent a sitting member of Congressfrom a presidential appointment. The Senate's constitutional obligation is toadvise and consent, not obstruct. In our democracy, all of the president'snominees deserve an up-or-down vote.

Earlier this year, Reid stood up to the obstructionists and won confirmationvotes for the president's nominees. To counter this current round ofobstruction, the majority leader should use the procedural motion that's been
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used 17 times since 1978 to move these nominees to a vote.

Building Our Movement

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Time is Now!

On Election Day, CWA and CASA de Maryland activists were out in full forcein Majority Whip Eric Cantor's home district in Virginia. Their message:Virginia voters overwhelmingly support comprehensive, common senseimmigration reform.

We Work Better Together
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This week, ver.di activists from T-Mobile Germany were in South Carolinatalking to T-Mobile employees at a Charleston call center.


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Mississippi Organizing Institute

The three-day training was organized by Liz Roberson, assistant to the vicepresident for public, health care and education workers; Brenda Scott,

president of CWA Local 3570; and Lisa Kermish, vice president of UPTE-CWA Local 9119.

CWA501 Third Street NWWashington, DC 20001www.cwa-union.org

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Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC. All Rights Reserved.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

IT IS AN HONOR TO CELEBRATE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

TO OUR COUNTRY

Follow us on:

www.facebook.com/cwalocal1022
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Documents

CWA Newsletter, Thursday, November 7, 2013