April 3, 2008

CWA and German Union Ver.di Form New 'T Union'
 
During a video-conference, CWA President Larry Cohen and other CWA officers (on right screen) celebrate the creation of T Union, a joint union for T-Mobile workers, with (on left screen) Lothar Schroeder, chairman of ver.di's telecom sector and other ver.di officials.  

CWA and ver.di, Germany's largest union, officially established the first-ever union to unite and represent workers in the U.S. and Europe -- T Union, a joint affiliate of both organizations. Top officers of both unions formally signed the new partnership during a video conference and talked through strategies and plans for the new organization.

The new union will support T-Mobile workers who want a union voice and collective bargaining rights in the United States and other countries, and German union members who work for T-Mobile in the U.S. A new website is now live, where T-Mobile workers can safely share information and experiences and discuss workplace issues. That site is www.t-mobileunion.org. A text messaging system for U.S. members only also is up and running: text TUNION to 77007 to get a message about the campaign.

Workers in a number of T-Mobile locations in the United States are in contact with CWA and have expressed strong interest in getting a voice. In the past, T-Mobile has strongly opposed its U.S. employees from seeking collective bargaining rights.  T Union is a new cooperative program where unions worldwide are working together to stop corporations' attacks against workers and build bargaining power, in the United States and around the globe.

CWA President Larry Cohen said the new union is a "new step in global solidarity" and will be a major part of the struggle for workers' organizing and bargaining rights around the world. "This is an aspect of organizing that hasn't been done before – it's a huge breakthrough," he said.  "This new union sends a message to T-Mobile management in the U.S. that workers at Deutsche Telekom and at other T-Mobile operations who have bargaining rights will fight hard to protect them and to support their U.S. counterparts who also want the right to collective bargaining."  

Lothar Schroder, who heads ver.di's Telecommunications and IT Sector, said the agreement was a good basis for German-American labor relations that must be taken seriously by management. "We believe that through this new union, we will contribute to working conditions for workers in both countries. Management must get used to the idea that we are representing the interests not only of German workers but of American workers as well. This is the right response to globalization," he said.    

Ver.di, representing more than 2.4 million workers, represents workers at Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, and holds seats on DT's supervisory board. Ver.di already represents T-Mobile workers in Germany, and T-Mobile workers in the United Kingdom and nine other European countries already have collective bargaining rights.

Workers in a number of T-Mobile locations in the United States are in contact with CWA and have expressed strong interest in getting a voice. In the past, T-Mobile has strongly opposed its U.S. employees from seeking collective bargaining rights.  T Union is a new cooperative program where unions worldwide are working together to stop corporations' attacks against workers and build bargaining power, in the United States and around the globe.

AT&T Internet Services Workers Organize in Birmingham

A unit of 179 Tier 1 DSL customer support representatives at AT&T in Birmingham, Ala., joined CWA through majority card check, with results certified by the American Arbitration Association on March 24, reported District 3 Vice President Noah Savant.

The workers wanted CWA representation so they could gain the benefits and protections that some 1,800 workers who are covered under CWA's national Internet Services contract with AT&T already have. Night differentials, premium pay for Sunday work and a guaranteed wage progression were big issues for the workers who will be members of Local 3902. A new tentative agreement covering all of the workers now is being voted on by Internet Services members.  

"The local did a terrific job of helping the workers organize," said CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach, who heads the union's Telecom Office. The Internet Services jobs are part of the nearly 5,000 outsourced jobs that AT&T is returning to the United States as part of an agreement with CWA.

AFA-CWA Responds to Abrupt Shutdowns of Two Carriers

ATA Airlines today announced it was discontinuing all operations, just hours after filing for bankruptcy, and AFA-CWA flight attendant leaders immediately went into action, putting together a detailed plan to assist the more than 750 AFA-CWA flight attendants at the carrier.

Meanwhile, AFA-CWA condemned the refusal of a Hawaii bankruptcy court to block Aloha Airlines' plan to shut down its passenger operations and lay off hundreds of employees, including 350 AFA-CWA flight attendants.

"There are few words right now that express our sadness and anger at this deplorable situation," said AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend. "The utter disregard that Aloha management and the bankruptcy court have shown for Aloha's loyal and devoted employees is unconscionable. For ATA flight attendants, we will do everything in our power to see to it that the rights of our ATA members are protected in bankruptcy court."

AFA-CWA's legal team, employee assistance representatives and other volunteers from across the union are moving into place to assist ATA flight attendants and making sure they have access to all available resources, just as the union has done for members affected by the Aloha Airlines bankruptcy filing.

At Aloha, AFA-CWA will continue to represent the flight attendants through the bankruptcy process and will participate in the deliberations of the creditor's committee; AFA-CWA was appointed a member of that committee by the U.S. Trustee. 

"We remain focused on helping our members and their families navigate through this difficult time," Friend said. "Among AFA-CWA's first members, Aloha flight attendants have helped to shape our union as we know it today and we will be forever grateful. We will continue to rally around our fellow members and provide them all the support they need, as the story of Aloha flight attendants must be told and preserved."

Cohen to Congress: Reject Colombia Free Trade Agreement

CWA President Larry Cohen briefed Senators and staff members on April 3, calling on Congress to reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

The Bush administration continues to press hard for this trade agreement which will do nothing to benefit or improve the conditions of workers in either country. Since Congress returned from recess, working people have been mobilizing and letting their Senators and Representatives know that this trade deal is destructive and will harm workers both in the U.S. and in Colombia, Cohen said.

"The status of workers in Colombia – a nation where out of a workforce of 18 million, jut 2 million are considered to be employees – is a critical part of the fight," Cohen said. "Trade agreements should balance not just finance, capital and investment, but must address the status and bargaining rights for workers, and Colombia lags far behind our nation. We in the labor movements in both countries want to help shape how the global economy works – for all of us."

"In the last 20 years, 2,574 unionists have been murdered, including 39 in 2007 and five so far this year," said Cohen who visited Colombia as part of an AFL-CIO delegation, Feb. 14-16. "After this short trip to Colombia, I am more committed than ever to working against the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and for a U.S. trade policy that not only respects workers' rights but addresses our $725 billion trade deficit."

Among the systematic suppression of bargaining and organizing rights in Colombia, Cohen pointed to the recent firing of 10,000 telecom workers employed by Telefonica, the world's fourth largest global telecom, headquartered in Spain.

"UNI Telecoms – the global labor network of telecom unions – has an agreement with Telefonica which means nothing in Colombia despite widespread recognition and bargaining across South America," Cohen said

The labor fact-finding mission to Colombia was headed by Cohen, along with representatives of the United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO. The union leaders met with workers who told of abuses of the "collective" system, where employers can declare the workplace a "collective" and the workers "owners" who are ineligible to form unions. Many told of death threats to themselves and family members.

All agreed that the six years of the Uribe administration had seen a systematic attack on workers' rights and on unions. "They are not just murdering union leaders," said one unionist. "They are murdering the unions."

Washington Post Reporters Win Top Honor in 2007 Broun Awards

Dana Priest and Anne Hull of the Washington Post have been awarded the 2007 Heywood Broun Award for their series exposing abusive conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where active duty military personnel are treated.  The series prompted a major investigation and personnel shakeup at Walter Reed resulting in efforts to correct the conditions.

The Broun Award is named for Heywood Broun, the most prominent founder and first president of the American Newspaper Guild, who believed individual journalists have the power to cause social change. The award includes a plaque and $5,000 cash prize. It is presented annually by The Newspaper Guild‑CWA and will be awarded this year on May 21 at the union's Freedom Award Fund dinner in Washington, D.C. The Herbert Block Freedom Award, also with a $5,000 prize, and the David S. Barr awards, which recognize college and high school students for achievements in journalism, also will be presented at that time. 

Two substantial distinction honors were awarded to print reporters Michael Riley of the Denver Post and Charles Duhigg of the New York Times. Riley uncovered massive failure by the federal judicial system to investigate and prosecute serious crime on U.S. Indian reservations and Duhigg reported on the financial exploitation of older Americans. Both will receive a $1,000 cash prize.

Honorable mention was awarded to Ray Ring of the High Country News for his investigation of the rising trend in accidents and deaths among oil and gas workers in six western states. Ring works in a one-person bureau 850 miles from his magazine's headquarters, the judges noted.

TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said that "judges had a difficult time sorting through so many quality submissions. I wish we could recognize and honor all of them."

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