August 28, 2008

CWA and Alliance Partners Press Key Issues at Dem Convention

Rep. George Miller, prime House sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, addresses the Alliance Caucus, flanked by CWA Pres. Larry Cohen.

Leaders and delegates from CWA and the other three Alliance unions – Auto Workers, Steelworkers and Professional and Technical Engineers – are working together to press the unions' key issues at this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The Alliance delegates are caucusing together each day to map out joint campaign plans for the election.  Hosting the opening caucus session on Tuesday, CWA President Larry Cohen stressed the importance of organizing one-on-one discussions with members as the most effective way to spread the message on the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain on jobs and trade, health care, workers' rights and Social Security.

Cohen reported that CWA locals and members have signed up to host over 800 viewing parties, expected to bring thousands of people together in homes and union halls tonight to watch Obama accept the presidential nomination.  Participants will be asked to sign cards supporting the Million Member Mobilization for Employee Free Choice.  Altogether, Alliance unions are hosting more than 1,200 parties.

Presidents and officers of the four unions have been taking union issues to individual state caucuses this week.  Addressing Louisiana delegates, Cohen spoke about Employee Free Choice and how collective bargaining coverage is tied directly to wages and retirement security and middle class living standards.

The anti-Employee Free Choice campaign by the business community "centers on one big lie," he told the delegates:  "There is no elimination of secret ballot elections in (the Employee Free Choice Act).  We're just trying to overcome an employer dominated system that's stacked against workers from the start," he said.

Louisiana is one of seven battleground states that the Alliance partners are targeting for joint campaigns, also including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kentucky and Virginia.  IFPTE head Greg Junemann and USW President Leo Gerard addressed caucuses of other key states.  CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill is meeting today with the delegation from New Mexico, another swing state where CWA is the largest union.

Many of CWA's delegates like Gerard Washington of Austin, Texas, are attending their first party convention.  He has long been engaged in political action for the Texas State Employees Union-CWA, and says he strongly supports Obama "because  it's time for a change in this country."

Larry Townsend, a retired member of Local 3609 and a Vietnam vet, says, "I tell my fellow veterans in North Carolina that I respect Senator McCain's service but disagree with him on issues, especially issues that affect veterans.  His service doesn't mean he holds the answers."

Among Democratic leaders who have met with the 300 participants in the Alliance Caucus so far this week are DNC Chair Howard Dean, Rep. George Miller of California, chair of the education and labor committee, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, Rep. Gene Green of Texas, who holds a CWA card, and many other congressional members.

CWA Passes Half-Way Mark to Goal for Million Member Mobilization

In a milestone for the Million Member Mobilization to support the Employee Free Choice Act, CWA is now more than halfway to the goal of getting signed postcards from at least 15 percent of our members nationwide, at least 80,000 in all.

CWA had counted 48,064 cards as of yesterday.  District 2 officially became the first district to achieve at least 100 percent of its 15 percent target, with District 6 currently running a close second.

More cards are expected to come in as locals and members around the country sign up friends and family members at viewing parties tonight to watch Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination.  A total of 813 CWA activists registered to receive party kits.

One of the week's most successful locals is Local 3865, Knoxville, Tenn., which upped its tally of cards to 1,219 – five times the members it represents.  And Local 3122 in Miami is attempting to reach every member by sending stewards to its AT&T call centers and into the field to talk to technicians. The 2,000-member local has more than met its goal, with 600 cards submitted or on their way and another 600 in the works, local President Don Abicht said, noting:  "Once you educate someone on the importance of this issue to our bargaining and political power, it's an easy sell."

And IUE-CWA locals came up strong this week, with 36 new locals in the Industrial Division meeting their goal.

The labor movement is collectively gathering 1 million postcards from union members, along with many of their members' pictures. Postcards and photos will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol early next year to push lawmakers to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which will help restore workers' badly eroded organizing and bargaining rights.

Since last week's Newsletter report, a weekly record of 83 more CWA locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up at least 15 percent of their members:  District 1: 1062, 1118, 1123 31026, 81045, 81154, 81206, 81212, 81232, 81304, 81310, 81336, 81353, 81384, 81386, 81388, 81440, 81441, 81496, 81981, District 2: 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2202, 52027, 82161, 82647, District 3: 3105, 3109, 3114, 3178, 3309, 3310, 3371, 3372, 3682, 23086, 33091, 83698, District 4: 4008, 4025, 4100, 4310, 4373, 4379, 4473, 14430, 54042, 84060, 84078, 84707, 84715, 84737, 84745, 84755, 84765, 84811, 84846, 84859, 84950, District 6: 6086, 6150, 6201, 6402, 86029, 86129, District 7: 7001, 7102, 7704, 7777, 57052, District 9: 9333, 9415, 9578, 9586, 59054, 59057, District 13: 38010, 38187, 88315, 88623 and 88648. 

Click here, http://www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/localinfo/, for a full listing of locals that have fulfilled their 15 percent pledge.

AFA-CWA Questions Timing of Rule Change on Recognition

AFA-CWA and other airline unions are questioning the timing of the National Mediation Board's proposed rule change that would make it easier for Delta and Northwest Airlines to thwart unionization after their merger.

The board, which governs labor relations in the airline and railroad industries, is proposing that "more than a substantial majority" of workers be unionized overall before a union is recognized after a merger, while offering no clear and objective measurement for meeting that standard.

The NMB also proposes banning recognition based on majority card signing, requiring elections – with a requirement that over 50 percent of workers must cast ballots for results to be official -- even if an employer agrees to majority signup recognition.

With the huge merger deal now pending, and the current administration coming to a close:  "It looks very suspicious that they are doing it now, because they are going to help Delta destroy collective bargaining rights," AFA-CWA President Pat Friend told Bloomberg News. 

Airline employees, such as the Delta flight attendants who currently are seeking AFA-CWA representation, already are handicapped by existing election rules with voting participation requirements that no workers outside of transportation face.  There are more than 13,000 flight attendants at Delta and the union currently represents 8,500 at Northwest.

Congressional labor and transportation committee chairs, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representatives James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) have voiced opposition to the proposed new rules in a letter to the board.  The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Dept. is asking union members to write lawmakers urging similar opposition to the pending rule change.  Letters can be sent electronically at www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=ttd&hotissue=51.

IN BRIEF:

  • Headlines about Social Security's future have been dire for years. Now a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says we can stop sounding the alarms: Social Security will be on solid ground for decades to come.

    The report looks ahead 75 years, when benefits will be higher than they are today, and finds that the Social Security surplus will be able to pay full benefits until 2049 and that incoming revenues will be able to pay 81 percent of benefits through 2082.

    "The trust fund will cushion the large baby boom retirement, as it was designed to do, but most benefits will continue to be funded by direct transfers from workers to retirees, as they are now," said Monique Morrisey of the Economic Policy Insitute.

    Growing income inequality will cause the modest shortfall expected after 2049, she said. As most workers' earnings have stagnated, those at the top have skyrocketed, putting a greater percentage of wages outside the cap (now $102,000) set for Social Security taxes.

    Morrisey's solution is one favored by Senator Barack Obama: raising the cap on taxable earnings for those with higher salaries.

    Morrisey's policy paper on the CBO report is available at www.epi.org.


  • Just like the corporations they work for, multi-millionaire executives have become experts at accounting tricks to avoid paying taxes, according to a new study that builds on last month's Government Accountability Office report.

    The GAO said a majority of American and foreign companies doing business here pay no income tax. Now "Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay" shows how CEOs and other top executives shield huge portions of their income and stock options from tax obligations. The report was published this week by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

    For instance, unlimited deferred compensation accounts, a perk for CEOs at large companies, add up to $80.6 million a year in lost tax revenue. The median value of top executives' deferred payments is $4.5 million, according to Equilar, a pay analysis firm. Most of the rest of us, however, are limited to a maximum of $15,500 a year we can shield in a tax-deferred 401(k) account.

    The authors of the report say the tax loopholes make the huge and growing gap between worker and CEO pay even bigger. They say labor law reform, specifically the Employee Free Choice Act, is critical. "Without legislative action to allow more workers the right to organize, the divide between compensation for top executives and the rest of us will only continue to grow."

    The report can be downloaded at http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/#623.