July 24, 2008

August Blitz for Million Member Mobilization

Momentum and excitement are building as CWA expands its campaign to get at least 15 percent of members to join the Million Member Mobilization for the Employee Free Choice Act. As of July 24, more than 14,000 CWA members have signed the mobilization pledge cards.

The surge in new card signers follows last week's call to locals by CWA's Executive Board setting an August 29 deadline for reaching the goal of at least 15 percent member participation. Locals are urged to make August a "blitz month," enabling CWA to reach a target of 65,000 signed cards by month's end. CWA's total goal is 80,000. Locals that have signed up at least 15 percent of their members will be listed in the newsletter weekly (see the first listings below).

As of this week, District 6 was leading all other districts, achieving nearly 30 percent of its final goal. Activists at the district and local level nationwide are making the sign-ups – including photos – part of regular business at local and worksite meetings and at special events to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

In District 1, after holding training sessions for local union Million Member Mobilization coordinators, the district produced a video of nearly 40 local union leaders pledging to get signatures from 15 percent to 80 percent of their locals' membership. Watch at www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/pages/d1mobilization.

Following the 2008 elections, CWA's signed cards, along with photos of members who have signed, will be added to cards and photos from dozens of other participating unions, from Change to Win and the AFL-CIO. The goal is to gather cards from a million union members to show how strongly workers support the Employee Free Choice Act and to display them at the U.S. Capitol when the new Congress is sworn in.

As of July 24, the following 34 CWA locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up 15 percent or more of their members: Dist. 1: 1103, 1114, 1152, 1301, 1302, 1701, 14199, 81106, 81455, ­Dist. 2: 2107, 2336, Dist. 3: 3290, 3683, 83701, Dist. 4: 4217, 4309, 4611, 84101, 84742, 84802, Dist. 6: 6009, 6113, 6127, 6151, 6200, 6316, 6391, 6409, Dist. 7: 7050, 7206, 14752, Dist: 9: 9410, 9477, Dist. 13: 14888.

CWAers to Host, Attend Hundreds of House Parties on Aug. 28

A great opportunity for CWAers and locals to build support for Labor 2008 comes on Aug. 28, when Senator Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for President before 75,000 people in Denver. CWA's Executive Board is asking all local leaders and staff to host or attend a house party – a local union or neighborhood get-together – that night.

Besides watching the speech and sharing the enthusiasm for Obama's candidacy, CWAers can sign up neighbors and members for the Million Member Mobilization to support the Employee Free Choice Act, enlist volunteers for CWA's neighborhood walks and Labor 2008 campaign, and talk about how we'll win real health care reform and other goals.

CWA will have information kits with materials ready for all who request them. In some areas, CWAers will be joining with members of our Alliance – the UAW, United Steel Workers and Professional and Technical Engineers. Alliance unions already have been working together in election activities; the congressional victories in Louisiana and Mississippi are a good example of the political work members of those unions will be doing over the next three months in seven target states.

Verizon Members Show Strong Backing for Bargainers

CWA members at Verizon in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states voted overwhelmingly to authorize leaders to call a strike if they deem it necessary and if negotiators fail to reach a settlement by contract expiration at midnight on August 2.

"We hope to reach a fair settlement, but this demonstrates our members' solid support for their bargaining teams and their own strong determination to achieve a fair settlement with Verizon," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

Vice presidents of Districts 1, 2 and 13 reported that more than 91 percent of Verizon members approved strike authorization in voting conducted among the 60 locals involved in Verizon East bargaining.  The IBEW, which is bargaining jointly with CWA, also reported overwhelming member support for strike authorization.

The strike vote would allow CWA's Executive Board to authorize the union president to set a strike date at any point after contract expiration.

Contract talks are continuing at bargaining tables in New York and Washington, D.C.

Customer Service Professionals to Meet in New Orleans

Customer service professionals from every CWA sector will come together in New Orleans from Sept. 11-13 for the CWA Customer Service Professionals Conference.

Over the three-day conference, participants will discuss the critical on-the-job issues facing customer service reps and operators in a changing industry. Hotel and registration information and the conference agenda are available at www.cwa-union.org, see What's Hot. 

Among the speakers: CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill, Rose Batt, a Cornell University professor who has done extensive research on the customer service profession, and CWA District 3 Vice President Noah Savant.

Bargaining break-out sessions will provide a status report on negotiations at employers including AT&T and AT&T Mobility, Verizon, Qwest, Idearc and others.

Participants also can choose from workshops on the Family and Medical Leave Act, changing technology and the impact on jobs, telecom industry trends and the Employee Free Choice Act and Election 2008.

IN BRIEF:

  • In an editorial titled, "No Friend of the Workers," the New York Times last week slammed the Bush administration for running "a Labor Department that simply is not standing up for workers."

"It should surprise no one, at this point, that an arm of the Bush administration charged with protecting Americans' rights or safety is not doing its job," the Times said. "Even so, a government report and a Congressional hearing painted a disturbing picture."

The new non-partisan report and testimony showed how poorly the DOL's Wage and Hour Division treated workers' complaints. In one case, a deliveryman complained about not being paid overtime that he'd earned. The complaint was ignored for 17 months, then the case was closed because the statute of limitations was about to expire.

The Times blasted Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, saying that for seven years, she "has run a department that has tilted toward employers and failed to properly enforce labor laws."

  • The Department of Labor wants to weaken the rule regulating workers' exposure to toxins on the job, but it doesn't want anyone to know, the Washington Post reported this week.  

The new rule, being pushed by DOL political appointees, would make it harder for the government "to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins," the Post reported after obtaining a draft of the proposal the DOL tried to keep under wraps. The rule change is being sought by businesses who claim the government overestimates the risks workers face.

  • There's no shortage of bad bosses, but most of them aren't so bad that they'd tell you to keep on working after your learning that your mother just died. Unless you're Amy of Florida, one of the contenders in the annual Working America "My Bad Boss" contest.

Amy got the sad news via phone right before her shift started. She tried to work for a few minutes – maybe anticipating the lack of sympathy she'd get. When her emotions got the better of her, she told her boss what happened. And he told her, "Well there is nothing you can do now and you may as well stay." Later, facing suspension for taking bereavement time, Amy had to present her own birth certificate and her mother's death certificate.

Can your boss compete with Amy's? Submit your "bad boss" story online at www.workingamerica.org, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. You can also read the stories that workers across the country are submitting.

The contest runs through Aug. 19. First prize is a week's vacation at a condo in your choice of one of more than 50 countries, plus $1,000 toward airfare. A second-place winner will also get a week's vacation, with $500 toward expenses.