Cohen: Don't Miss the Bus for Historic 'One Nation' Rally in Washington

In 1963, more than 200,000 Americans rallied at the Lincoln Memorial for civil rights, led by Rev. Martin Luther King and other leaders. On Oct. 2, our coalition will again make history.

With just five weeks until more than a quarter of a million One Nation marchers gather at the Lincoln Memorial, now's the time to sign up for a CWA bus ride to make your voice heard.

In a new video, CWA President Larry Cohen is asking CWAers, their families and friends to take part in the historic Oct. 2 march and rally at the Lincoln Memorial. "We believe that across this country working families want change, that working families have had enough with 'Go Slow,'" he said. Watch the video here. 

The website is also the place to sign up for one of the buses, which will be available from 11 states within driving distance from D.C. in the East and Midwest.

More than 200 organizations have signed on to the event, united around quality jobs, bargaining rights, retirement security and a government that works for all of us.

In its official call for participants, the One Nation coalition says, "We are determined to build a more united America - with jobs, justice and education for all...We are students and newly-returned veterans persevering in the face of mounting debt, determined not to be the first generation to end up worse off than our parents. We are baby boomers and seniors…We are conservatives and moderates, progressives and liberals, non-believers and people of deep faith, united by escalating assaults on our reason, our environment and our rights. We are workers of every age, faith, race, sex, nationality, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation and ability who have suffered discrimination but never stopped loving our neighbors, or our nation."

Tell us why you're getting on the bus! Email news@cwa-union.org.

Members of Local 1298 in Connecticut rallied, marched and stayed strong during 18 months of AT&T bargaining that finally led to a tentative contract this week.

CWA members' solidarity during 18 long months of bargaining paid off Wednesday night in Connecticut when Local 1298 reached a tentative agreement with AT&T that includes job protection language the company had refused to include earlier.

"We hung tough, the membership hung tough, we had the support of national, and AT&T knew it and finally realized that 'we're not going to get these guys to move,'" Local 1298 President Bill Henderson said.

The two tentative contracts, one for nearly 3,400 core employees and the other for 176 yellow page workers, are the last in the round of bargaining that CWA and AT&T began at tables nationwide in 2009. Ratification ballots will be sent to members on Monday and must be returned by Sept. 7.

Both of the 1298 agreements require AT&T to keep at least 84 percent of the represented jobs in Connecticut. "It's not everything we wanted, but it's big for us and we can build on it in the future," Henderson said.

CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton praised the negotiating team. "The bargaining committee stayed focused and devoted themselves to getting a just contract for the members and I thank them, my assistant Dennis Trainor and Staff Representative Pat Telesco for their work and dedication," he said.

Posted By: Speed Matters Blog Team

On August 9, Verizon and Google proposed a legislative framework for preserving an open Internet.

The Communications Workers of America supports all efforts to move forward to protect an open Internet and build out a high speed 21^st century broadband network.

The nation's leading environmental, civil rights and labor organizations recently asked Congress to pass narrowly targeted legislation that will enable the Federal Communications Commission to implement the National Broadband Plan, preserve an open internet, eliminate discrimination and ensure consumer protections.

Without consensus on how to move forward, the United States will continue to lag behind the rest of the world in the build out and availability of high-speed networks, with serious implications for our economic growth and development, and for residents in rural areas and urban communities who lack real access.

Links:

Verizon-Google Legislative Framework Proposal

Minority Groups Urge Congressional Action on Broadband Regulation (Speed Matters)

• Biennial conventions
• Merger of Districts 2 and 13
• Merger of Communications and Technologies and Telecommunications Sectors
• Vote on the Executive Board for the Canadian Director

CWA convention delegates again voted to move CWA forward and adopted several changes that will support every level of CWA in building our union. That action continues the work of the Ready for the Future plan that CWA began in 2005.

Delegates, in a roll call vote, approved a biennial schedule for CWA conventions that will take effect in 2011, allowing CWA to put more resources into frontline representation. Delegates voted new provisions to handle appeals, elections and other issues, ensuring that CWA will remain the most democratic union in the labor movement.

The convention approved the merger of District 2 and 13, and effective next year, 50,000 CWAers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia will be part of District 2-13. Local union members and leaders in both districts had strongly endorsed the merger, along with vice presidents Ron Collins, D2, and Ed Mooney, D13.

“I am proud of everyone in District 13 for making this merger possible. Local leaders did not hesitate in taking action they knew would better serve members’ and our union’s best interest,” Mooney said.

“Members in District 2 and 13 have shown that they are ready for the future by embracing change when it is necessary to strengthen our union. All sides of the CWA triangle are strengthened by our taking this step to unite our two districts,” Collins said.

Delegates also voted to combine the Communications and Technologies and the Telecommunications offices, creating a new office with a single vice president. Both C and T Vice President Ralph Maly and Telecommunications Vice President supported the merger.

Maly pointed out that the two sectors already had been working together closely for several years, “a real plus for our members.” Gurganus said the merger would make the sector even stronger and able to build more bargaining power for members.

Delegates also voted to give CWA’s Canadian director a vote on the Executive Board. The director of CWA/SCA, currently Arnold Amber, was added to the executive board in 2008.

Register for the FALL 2010 semester, August 9, 2010 - November 19, 2010. For on-line registration go to www.nspinfo.com and click on "New York Registration".

This open enrollement period runs from 9a.m. on Monday, August 9,2010 until 9 a.m. on Friday, November 19, 2010.

You may also register by calling the toll free number: 1-877-469-9292 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. ONLY Monday, November 1, 2010 through Friday, November 5, 2010.

Remeber to get a confirmation number!

“A Good Step Forward For Reaching FCC Broadband Goals”

Washington, D.C. – Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen today supported President Obama’s signing of a presidential memorandum seeking to make available more wireless spectrum available for commercial use:

“Increased spectrum is a good step forward towards reaching the FCC broadband goals. Wireless internet is critical, particularly in rural areas, if we are ever to close the global broadband gap. However, we still need the right mix of public incentives to encourage wired build out as reflected in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. Revenue from spectrum auctions could be used to support 1 gigabit to anchor institutions such as hospitals, schools and libraries. It could also help bring to reality an implementation plan to reach the 2015 goals of 50 megabits downstream and 20 megabits upstream – still a dream for most of this country.”

Another 186 AT&T Mobility network workers in Puerto Rico now are members of CWA Local 3010, joining CWA through majority sign-up.

The former Centennial Wireless Network Department employees work in six different locations across the island.

Local 3010 President Rafael Castro-Torres credited Local 3010 organizer Javier Sepulveda and the internal organizing committee for building strong support for the union, as well as support from District 3.

"The campaign got underway in April 2010 and our training and strategic planning paid off, with the committee signing up more than half of the network workers in just about a month," Castro-Torres said.

The internal committee included Jorge Roldan, Wilfredo Guivas, Angel Cabrera, Francisco Madera, David Guadalupe, Botcheller Seda, and Demetrio Luciano.

Local 3010 also is continuing to build majority support among AT&T Mobility's 414 retail store workers and 175 call center workers, Castro-Torres said.

Legislation to close the Reverse Morris Trust tax loophole is before the Senate this week, and CWA members are working hard to get their senators on board.

The House of Representatives closed the Reverse Morris Trust tax loophole last week as part of H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.

CWA’s Legislative Political Action Team has been coordinating contacts to key senators, looking for support for H.R. 4213, including phone calls and letters. District vice presidents and local union presidents are writing to their senators, pointing out that the Reverse Morris Trust “is a Wall Street scheme that allows big businesses to avoid paying taxes on the sale of company assets” and that closing the loophole would have meant hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Because of the Senate rule requiring 60 votes for legislation to be considered, CWAers are urging their senators to reject a filibuster and get the bill to the senate floor for debate.

District 2 activists played a huge role in winning support from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a key member of the Senate Finance Committee.

To send a message to your senator, click here.

The RMT tax loophole has enabled companies like Verizon to save millions of dollars in taxes from the sale of assets. H.R. 4213 also includes tax cuts and an extension of unemployment benefits.

Click the link below for important information regarding your pension or lump sum forms and paperwork

 Members of CWA Local 1122 in Buffalo are engaged in an unfair labor practice strike at the American Red Cross, citing the organization's record of labor law violations and its refusal to negotiate a fair contract.

CWAers are not standing alone. Members of AFSCME Local 3145 in Connecticut; Teamsters Local 580 and Office and Professional Employees Local 459 in Michigan; UFCW Local 75 in Ohio; SEIU 1199 in West Virginia, and SEIU 721 in Los Angeles also are participating in the strike action.

Local 1122 represents 160 Red Cross workers in Buffalo who have been working without a contract since May 2009.  CWA has filed several unfair labor practices charges against the Red Cross over serious contract violations. The Red Cross drastically changed workers' health care coverage, eliminated retiree health care, eliminated the defined pension benefit for new hires and eliminated the company's match to the 401k plan, all without bargaining over the changes, which labor law requires.

The NLRB has issued complaints on all four charges and a trial will be held soon. The last contract offer by the Red Cross was overwhelmingly rejected by CWAers, in a 91 percent vote. In that offer, the Red Cross demanded that CWA drop all unfair labor practice charges against the company.

Separately, members of Local 13500 in northeastern Pennsylvania are continuing to bargain with the Red Cross; that contract was extended to June 8. Big issues are the company's demand for health care cost shifting and pay treatment for last minute changes in scheduling and weekend work assignments.