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October 24, 2013
Want t o be in next week's CWA Newsletter? Send your stories and photos [email protected] or @CWANews. Follow the latest developments at www.r esistancegrowing.org .
CWA Organizing Institute Boosts Union Building in Mississippi
Growing Our Movement: St. Louis Bank Workers
We're Building a Movement 50 Million Strong
No More Empty Promises on Trade Deals
Ted Cruz Blocks Nominee f or FCC Chairman
Recognizing Customer Ser vice Workers
Bargaining Update
Detroit Bankruptcy Would Hit Workers, Pensioners Hardest
Mayors Urge DOJ to Allow America-US Air Merger
Political Action Update
CWA Organizing Institute Boosts Union Building in Mississippi
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A three-day Organizing Institute in Jackson, Miss., brought together CWApublic worker leaders and activists to focus on organizing, mobilizing andunion building among the city of Jackson's workers.
CWAers from Locals 3570, Mississippi; 3865, Tennessee; 3179, Florida;1077 and 1082, New Jersey; 81381, New York; and 9119, California,participated in the program.
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CWAers join breakout sessions during the OI.
The 33 participants worked through principles of union organizing, includinghow to inoculate, or prepare workers for what employers sometimes doduring organizing campaigns. Role-playing sessions demonstrated effectiveways to assess, agitate and move workers to action, with workshops led byLiz Roberson, assistant to the vice president for public, health care andeducation workers, and Brenda Scott, president of CWA Local 3570. TheJackson city workers are members of the Mississippi Alliance of StateEmployees (MASE-CWA Local 3570).
Following the training, the 33 activists spent a day in on-site work visits inJackson, talking with city workers and building support for CWA
representation. "These visits were overwhelmingly positive, with workerssigning up as we talked with them," the new organizers said. Manyparticipants also signed up for steward training and are excited about buildingtheir union.
Participants heard from State Representative Jim Evans (D) and the assistantto Mayor Chokwe Lumumba (D). Lumumba was elected in June and CWAactivists now have access to all city locations to talk with workers about unionrepresentation. CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett, public, health care andeducation workers, and Booker Lester, administrative director to D3 VicePresident Judy Dennis, also met with the group.
Growing Our Movement: St. Louis Bank Workers
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CWA and its allies are building a movement in one of St. Louis's hottestsectors: the financial services industry.
This month, CWA Locals 6300, 6350 and 6355; Missouri Jobs with Justice;and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, a nonprofit social
justice organization, banded together to begin reaching out to financeworkers in the St. Louis area. Targeting Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Pulaski Bankand Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, 20 activists flyered andcirculated petitions in support of the "Press One for America" campaign.
"We plan to be active two days a week. It's not a one and done situation.
Building a movement takes time – consistent effort and consistentdetermination," said CWA Local 6300 Vice President Jeff Spraul.
The financial services industry in St. Louis is booming. Employment grew 85percent between January 2007 and September 2012, according to Moody's
Analytics. In fact, St. Louis beat out Washington, DC, Phoenix, Dallas-FortWorth and Bridgeport, Conn., as the metropolitan area that added the mostfinancial sector jobs.
The response to the outreach was overwhelming. After hearing about the callcenter bill – legislation that stops companies that ship jobs overseas from
receiving taxpayer cash and gives you the right to transfer to a U.S.-basedoperator – bank workers shared their own stories about St. Louis jobs movingoffshore. They signed hundreds of petitions and asked activists to keep theminformed about the bill through email and phone calls.
"We got nothing but positive reactions. It was very inspiring," Spraul said.
At Wells Fargo, employees happily stopped and talked to activists outsidetheir building. At Citibank, workers came outside on their breaks specificallyto ask questions; coincidentally, the company had announced that week thatit intended on outsourcing 100 call center jobs in the complex.
"We actually had people coming out and looking for us!" said Spraul.
CWA District 6 Staff Representative Kara Hutchason and CWA District 6Organizer Judy Graves were instrumental in the effort, working with theorganizers all three days of flyering. CWA Local 6300 President MikeMehringer and CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings have also
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provided immense support and encouragement.
We're Building a Movement 50 Million Strong
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) meets with activists at Local 3204 in Atlanta.
Below: Local 3204 President Walter Andrews and D3 Vice President Judy Dennis join the "southern strategy session."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spoke to a packed house at CWA Local 3204 onhow union activists and others must join together throughout the South torestore economic justice for working families.
CWA Local 3204 President Walter Andrews and D3 Vice President JudyDennis attended the meeting.
The "southern strategy" session was one of several town hall meetings duringwhich Sanders met with union members, democratic and independentactivists, and others to talk about the big economic issues facing workingpeople. In addition to Atlanta, meetings were held in Birmingham, Ala.;
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Columbia and St. Helena, SC, and in Jackson, Miss., by video conference.
Sanders told MSNBC's Ed Schultz that, "what the American people aresaying is very clear. They are saying in poll after poll, 'Do not cut SocialSecurity, do not cut Medicare, do not cut Medicaid.' The most important issue
is the need to create millions of jobs, so we deal with this frightfully highunemployment that we're seeing."
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More than 50 activists from CWA, other unions, community and faith alliesassembled at the California office of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R) to deliver thismessage: "Your time is up on immigration reform." Speakers includedactivists from CWA, WIC, SEIU, CHIRLA, and an undocumented family. Thedelegation entered the congressman's office and delivered 11 ringing alarmclocks while chanting "Your time is up!" McCarthy was unavailable for a
meeting.
CWAers included Richard Moe, Chris Golden, Rob England, Shane Gentry,Mary Helen-Castro, and Tania Rodriguez Salinas from Local 9416, and DeliaSorrano, Ann Cervantes, and Elizabeth Camarena from 9423.
In California, CWAers and activists rally outside the office of Rep. KevinMcCarthy, calling for fair immigration reform.
Below: Activists send a message to Rep. McCarthy and other lawmakers that
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"your time is up on immigration reform."
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CWA members and first responders spotlight concerns about Verizon's VoiceLink system during an earthquake or other natural disaster.
In California, CWA activists joined with first responders and public officials for "The Great Shake Out," an education effort to point out the weakness of Verizon's Voice Link system during an emergency or natural disaster, such asan earthquake.
Members of CWA Locals 9423, 9586 and 9588 were among those
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participating.
No More Empty Promises on Trade Deals
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The Los Angeles Times recently published an op-ed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that focused on the administration's support for theproposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Today CWA President Larry Cohen and Sierra Club Executive Director responded, "While Kerry mentions the right buzzwords, lessons from past
trade pacts show why we deserve more than empty promises."
"We need a full debate on TPP, not more empty promises. We cannot affordanother NAFTA," they wrote in a letter to the editor. Read the full letter here.
Kerry's op-ed said that the TPP would "support American jobs," set "highlabor and environmental standards," and protect "human rights." But here arethe real facts:
TPP Will Create American Jobs? That's What We Heard Re: PastTrade Deals: Secretary Kerry claims that the TPP would "support
American jobs," yet similarly rosy projections regarding job growthhave failed to materialize in past trade deals. A recent EconomicPolicy Institute analysis found that America experienced a net loss of 680,000 jobs to Mexico after NAFTA and over 40,000 jobs to Koreaafter passage of the U.S./Korea trade deal. The reality of these net joblosses undermine the empty promises of American job creation madeon behalf of those trade deals. As the study notes, "The TPP wouldsignificantly increase the threat that rapidly growing trade deficits and
job losses in the United States would be locked in if the TPP iscompleted."
Rewarding Labor & Human Rights Abusers: Secretary Kerry notes the
importance of protecting human rights and setting high labor standards, yet the TPP also would reward bad actor countries such asVietnam with trade benefits, instead of holding them accountable for their deplorable human and worker rights records as the U.S. hasalready done with Bangladesh. Vietnam was recently named by theU.S. Department of Labor as one of only three countries in the worldthat uses child labor in apparel manufacturing. Additionally, a report byWorker Rights Consortium titled "Made in Vietnam" described major
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human rights and working rights problems in the nation, such as forcedlabor and child labor; pregnancy and gender-based discrimination;health and safety hazards; excessive working hours and inadequatewages. Human Rights Watch has also testified that conditions haveactually become worse since Vietnam entered into TPP negotiations.
An Environmental Race to the Bottom: The TPP includes provisionsthat would enable corporations to challenge environmental, publichealth, and other public interest policies and regulations if theyinterfered with the corporation's "expected future profits" or that wouldpose a change to the corporation's "expectation of a stable regulatoryenvironment." Such corporate-led challenges would take place inprivate tribunals that would circumvent the sovereignty of the U.S.
judicial system.
Ted Cruz Blocks Nominee for FCC Chairman
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First he shut down the government. Now Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) is blockingthe confirmation of Tom Wheeler as head of the Federal CommunicationsCommission.
The tea party member has placed a hold on the nomination because he
opposes the DISCLOSE Act, an important CWA-supported bill that wouldhave increased transparency of independent groups' campaign spending –except it failed to overcome a GOP filibuster last year. Since the bill hasstalled, some Democrats have suggested that the FCC might be able to useits authority to bring greater openness to campaign spending. So Cruzintends on blocking the nomination until Wheeler pledges not to require moredisclosures from the sponsors of political television ads.
"Disclosing who sponsors and pays for political ads is all about bringingtransparency to our political system. By supporting the ability of big moneydonors to spread their message in secrecy, Ted Cruz is clearly on the wrong
side of democracy," said CWA President Larry Cohen.
Since Wheeler's fate is in limbo, the confirmation of Michael O'Reilly,nominee for a Republican FCC seat, has also ground to a halt.
There may be another Senate rules showdown is on the horizon.
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Recognizing Customer Service Workers
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October is Customer Service Professionals Month. Check out this great videoabout the important work CWA members do every day.
Bargaining Update
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CWA members at CenturyLink (LegacyQwest) in D7 will vote on a newtentative agreement reached last week. A majority of the CWA bargainingcommittee is recommending ratification. For voting information and details onthe tentative contract, go to http://www.cwadistrict7.org/. The results must beprovided to the District 7 office by locals no later than 4:30 pm, MST, Oct. 25.
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CWA Local 6360 in Kansas City has reached a three-year collectivebargaining agreement with Lan-Tel Communications and UndergroundServices. Read more here.
Detroit Bankruptcy Would Hit Workers, Pensioners Hardest
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This week, a federal bankruptcy judge is hearing arguments about whether the city of Detroit can declare bankruptcy and throw out its pensioncommitments to city workers.
AFSCME, which represents city workers, the UAW and other unions arechallenging this push to bankruptcy, especially since it will pay banks andother financial institutions ahead of city workers and pensioners, who receivearound $1,000 a month.
To get the straight facts and real stories of Detroit's bankruptcy, visit AFSCME's website at www.truthaboutdetroit.com.
What happens in Detroit matters. It matters to working people, to smallbusiness, to everyone who played by the rules and now is in real danger of losing everything they worked for. What Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and hisemergency manager Kevyn Orr have put in play in Detroit is absolutely andmorally wrong.
Detroit is absolutely in a tough place. But instead of putting all of the burdenon city workers and retirees and small business, Snyder could pursue federalfunds, the same way the federal government saved GM, Chrysler andcountless workers and communities. That plan was a big success. The
people of Detroit deserve at least the same opportunity.
Watch CWA President Larry Cohen talk about the Detroit bankruptcychallenge on The Ed Schultz Show.
Mayors Urge DOJ to Allow America-US Air Merger
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Mayors from seven hub cities penned a joint letter to Attorney General EricHolder asking him to settle the Justice Department's "ill-conceived lawsuit"challenging the merger between US Airways and American Airlines.
"We support the merger of American and US Airways because it is based ongrowth which benefits consumers and our communities," wrote mayors of
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Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Chicago, Miami, Dallas and Fort Worth. "Ahub airport is only as good as the route network it supports, and our citiesrepresent hubs throughout the United States that would benefits from abroader route network. The combination of American Airlines and US Airwayscreates a better network than either carrier could build on its own."
They added, "Without this merger, American and US Airways will be at apermanent competitive disadvantage to Delta and United, each of which hasbeen allowed to build superior route networks through mergers that werecleared by the Justice Department."
They also highlighted "unprecedented" union support of the merger.
"The unions at both airlines share our goal of job growth and our view thatpro-competitive mergers increase jobs," the mayors wrote. "They also have adeep understanding of the airline industry's competitive landscape, aided by
the participation of the American unions in the Unsecured CreditorsCommittee as part of American's bankruptcy. Now they have joined together with the companies to support the new American Airlines. This isunprecedented. Such a constructive approach between employees andmanagement should be applauded by the Administration, not challenged.
The mayors' letter comes on the heels of 68 Democratic members of theHouse writing their own letter urging President Obama and the JusticeDepartment to end their opposition to the merger.
Read the full letter here.
Political Action Update
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CWA President Larry Cohen, with Virginia leaders and activists, meet for early morning neighborhood political walk in northern Virginia.
CWA activists in Northern Virginia spent last Saturday knocking on doors for
Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe joined an earlymeeting of labor activists, including CWA President Larry Cohen, AmericanFederation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and volunteers ready togo door-to-door.
CWA led all unions in Virginia on number of volunteers at the Saturday walkand workplace leafleting.
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