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March 13, 2008
1,000 N.J. Adult Care Providers Join CWA Through Card Check
Through a card check campaign that began in 2006, two CWA locals in New Jersey have organized 1,000 providers who open their homes to care for developmentally disabled adults. Gov. Jon Corzine signed an executive order recognizing the union March 5, two days after the state Board of Mediation verified that a majority of the workers, called sponsors, had signed cards seeking CWA representation by Locals 1037 and 1040. "This is what 'standing together' really means," CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton said. "These two locals accomplished great things by working collectively." CWA President Larry Cohen praised the success as "a terrific example of organizing at its best." Union organizers made contacts through members who knew some of the sponsors, and knew they'd attempted to organize in the past. They set up committees in the state's 21 counties, built a list of sponsors and a data base and began visiting homes. Anne Luck, organizing director for Local 1037, said organizers collected union authorization cards from about 60 percent of the sponsors and respite providers, workers who take care of the patients when the sponsors need time off. Sponsors take in up to four developmentally disabled adults and receive a monthly check from the state that covers room and board and pays wages based on how much care each patient needs, called skill pay. CWA has already gotten back scores of bargaining surveys from the new members, who indicate a key issue is how the state assesses a patient's needs and categorizes them, which determines a sponsor's pay. Over the next two months or so, the new unit will be electing a bargaining committee by mail and then, under Corzine's order, the state will begin negotiations with CWA. The new members are expected to be divided evenly between the two locals. Luck said the sponsors and locals are "thrilled" with what they believe to be the first unit of its kind in the nation. "For the sponsors who were at the signing, especially, they really felt the power of winning a union," she said. Unions Promise a Million Names, Faces for Employee Free Choice ActWhen the Employee Free Choice Act comes up for a vote in early 2009, its lead sponsor Rep. George Miller wants the House and Senate chambers to be plastered with pictures of American workers whose faces will send the message loud and clear: Pass this bill now! CWA and much of the rest of the labor movement are working hard to make the California Democrat's vision a reality. As part of the newly launched Million Member Mobilization to demand that the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, unions will be collecting photographs of members as well as signatures on postcards that will be sent to the new Congress and president after the November elections. CWA was the first union whose members signed postcards at the District 1 conference in Atlantic City last week just after the AFL-CIO Executive Council, meeting on the opposite coast, passed a resolution to kick off the campaign. The signing campaign will continue at upcoming conferences and through an electronic outreach campaign and a special website. So far, 32 AFL-CIO unions and Change to Win coalition unions SEIU and UFCW have pledged to take part and get at least 10 percent of their members to sign Employee Free Choice Act postcards. CWA has pledged to get 90,000 members to sign, about 15 percent of the membership. The campaign will go hand-in-hand with labor's largest effort ever to elect pro-worker members of Congress and a Democratic president who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act. Unions will be reaching out to every ally and building new ties, from community and religious leaders to scholars and pundits who will talk about how the right to unionize and bargain contracts is vital to all American working families. "The American middle class was created by the ability of workers to form unions and bargain collectively after the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935," the AFL-CIO Executive Council said in its resolution. "More and more Americans are beginning to understand that collective bargaining can promote broadly shared economic growth and prosperity, higher wages, better jobs, better and more extensive health care coverage, retirement security and dignity and respect for workers on the job." The council, whose members include CWA President Larry Cohen and AFA-CWA President Pat Friend, said those issues are more pressing than ever as the economy crumbles. "Wages are stagnating, workers are losing their homes to foreclosure, health costs are skyrocketing and more and more workers are losing pension benefits. Income inequality is at its worst since the 1920s. America's workers must regain their bargaining power in order to maintain and expand the middle class," the council stated. The campaign will aggressively counter the anti-worker, greed-based arguments of opponents that include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Right to Work Committee, Center for Union Facts, the Heritage Foundation and hostile employers. "The opposition will not win: The Employee Free Choice will become law," the AFL-CIO said . Tentative Pact Reached for AT&T Internet Services WorkersA tentative agreement was reached covering about 1,800 CWA-represented workers at AT&T Internet Services in Districts 3, 4, 6 and 9. A number of improvements were achieved over the previous tentative settlement negotiated last summer. Contract explanation meetings are being scheduled in advance of the membership ratification vote. The tentative agreement provides for lump sum payments for all job titles, plus wage increases retroactive to July 22, 2007, and improvements in the Team Award for Tier 2 workers. Several job titles were also upgraded which will result in additional pay improvements. Improvements to the previous health care proposal include the elimination of premium payments for employee-only coverage, representing a projected annual savings of more than $450. Additionally, decreased premium amounts for employee-plus-one and family will reflect a projected savings of $360 and $264 annually, respectively. Changes to the health care benefit will be effective January 1, 2009. Members throughout the four districts mobilized throughout their tough contract fight, holding "Unity Rallies" and pressing for a fair agreement. Retired Vice President Larry Mancino Dies at 71Retired District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino died March 10 at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, N.Y. He was 71. "Larry was devoted to his family, his union and a wonderful friend," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "Those of you who knew him know what an incredibly good man Larry was," said District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton, who succeeded Mancino in April 2005. "Larry was my dear friend, my true brother and my mentor. Every single member of CWA District 1 has lost a champion and a brother." Mancino, Brooklyn-born, moved to Staten Island in 1962. Following a stint with the Air Force, he went to work for Western Union in Manhattan and, in 1966, helped bring the 4,000-member bargaining unit into CWA. Mancino was elected full-time vice president of CWA Local 1177 in January 1967, and helped lead his local through a 17-week strike in 1971. He helped find jobs for 700 operators that Western Union laid off and negotiated a job security provision guaranteeing members' jobs for a number of years into the future equal to their prior service. He joined the staff as a CWA representative in 1972, and in 1978 was promoted to downstate New York area director. Mancino served as bargaining chair in CWA's first negotiations with New York Telephone after the 1983 divestiture from AT&T and, in 1985, became assistant to District 1 Vice President Jan Pierce, with responsibility for contracts covering 140,000 members in eight northeastern states. In January 1991, then-CWA President Morton Bahr brought Mancino to Washington, D.C., as an assistant, and Mancino took charge of negotiations with Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, AT&T and US West. The delegates elected Mancino as District 1 vice president by acclamation at the June 1996 CWA convention and reelected him in 1999 and 2002. Over the years, Mancino was extensively involved in community services as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Tri-State United Way, co-chair of its finance committee and member of its executive committee. He also served on the board of directors of the Alcoholism Council of Greater New York. Looking back on his years of service, Mancino said, "The impact you have on people's lives is unbelievable." He told of a phone call he received from one member. "The man thanked me for getting his job back and helping him educate his children. His son became a doctor and his daughter became an attorney. Multiply that by thousands of people whose lives you affect over the years." Mancino is survived by his wife of 49 years, the former Connie DeNicola; his sons, Lawrence and Richard; his daughter, Michele Kiernan; his mother, Mary Mancino, and six grandchildren. NLRB Judge Rules Hawaii Tribune-Herald Illegally Fired, Harassed ReportersThe Hawaii Tribune-Herald broke the law when it suspended and fired two reporters for their legally protected union activities, a judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled. Hunter Bishop had been chairman of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild's Hilo unit from 2000 to 2004 and was a member of the union's bargaining committee and a shop steward until his 2005 dismissal. Dave Smith was a union steward from 2004 to 2006 and a member of the bargaining committee. Another reporter was illegally suspended and a fourth employee was wrongly disciplined, the judge also determined. A total of 13 complaints against the newspaper were heard at a trial held in Hilo in October and the judge supported TNG-CWA Local 39117 and its members on 12 of them. In his decision issued March 6, the judge also cited the newspaper for these additional violations:
"It's a big win," said TNG-CWA President Linda Foley, who met recently with local officers and negotiators. The TNG-CWA is continuing to bargain with management, which had hired L. Michael Zinser, the Tennessee-based union-busting firm, to lead its negotiations. The union represents about 50 employees at the paper. The newspaper was ordered to "cease and desist" its illegal and discriminatory actions against Guild employees and their representatives and to "make whole" employees who lost earnings and benefits due to the firings and suspensions. The newspaper was also ordered to reinstate the two reporters and to expunge from the affected employees' personnel files any record of the disciplinary actions. IN BREIF:
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