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October 2, 2008
Opening of N.C. AT&T Call Center Reflects Obama's Priorities
As AT&T opened its new customer care center in Goldsboro, N.C., bringing 400 CWA-represented jobs to the region – work that previously had been outsourced – Barack Obama cited the move as the kind of corporate behavior that he will be rewarding as president. Speaking elsewhere in the state, in Greensboro, on Sept. 27, Obama declared: "I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas. I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America – jobs just like the 400 union jobs that AT&T just created over in Goldsboro based on their pledge to return outsourced work to our shores." CWA President Larry Cohen and District 3 Vice President Noah Savant were on hand along with Local 3606 leaders and members for the official opening of the Goldsboro center this week. "It's exciting to see AT&T investing in bringing jobs home to our communities," said Cohen. The Charlotte News & Observer wrote that the center represents a "step toward the American Dream: a full-time job with a major corporation, potential promotions, a stable career." The center results from AT&T's agreement with CWA to return to the United States some 5,000 tier one tech support jobs that had been sent overseas. The company has opened other new centers around the country over the past two years. Polls conducted in North Carolina this week indicate that Obama's message is resonating with working families in the state, which has been hard-hit by outsourcing. He is now dead even with, or slightly ahead of, John McCain. Voters in the state have not supported a pro-worker, pro-union presidential candidate since 1976. CWAers in the state also are working hard to elect Kay Hagan to the U.S. Senate. A state senator, she is in a close race with incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole. 33 Days Out, CWA Activists Are Ramping Up for ElectionWith the Nov. 4 election just 33 days away, CWA local activists across the country have been ramping up their already considerable efforts to elect Barack Obama and worker-friendly candidates in Congress. In the battleground state of Ohio, labor walks and phone banking are being conducted daily, according to Local 4302 Secretary Peggy Griffith, who coordinates CWA's "Labor 2008" activities in the state. "It's amazing how locals are stepping up to the challenge," she said. "I've worked numerous campaigns in years past, but we're now seeing members getting involved who have not participated before. The enthusiasm is just great," said Griffith. This week in the Akron/Canton area, Local 4302 is leafleting at high school football games. In Cincinnati, Locals 4400 and 4401 are conducting one-on-ones with members in the workplace. Early voting began in Ohio this week, as it has in 23 other states, so activists are encouraging workers to get out to vote. To stress the urgency of supporting Obama and the issues that are at stake – especially passage of the Employee Free Choice Act – District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen has been visiting locals throughout the district since early summer to encourage activism at all levels. In the battleground states of Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Washington, District 7 locals are going into high gear. In Colorado, the focus is on electing Obama, Mark Udall to the U.S. Senate, and defeating constitutional amendments on the ballot that would hurt working people. Locals there have increased weekly leaflet distributions and conversations to 100 worksites covering 5,000 members, according to District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell. Wednesday evenings are CWA phone-bank nights at the state AFL-CIO. At Denver International Airport, AFA-CWA local activists are talking to flight attendants in crew lounges. In Missouri, another battleground state, CWA President Larry Cohen joined with District 6 staff and more than 50 CWA local union activists last week in a labor walk through neighborhoods in St. Louis. CWA Pres. Cohen Will Hold Live Web Chat Oct. 8In a live web chat on Wednesday, Oct. 8, CWA President Larry Cohen will address the questions and issues that CWA members are talking about, from bargaining to politics to health care and more. The Internet chat gets underway at noon, EDT, the day following the second presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, which will be viewed by many CWAers at debate watch parties. Members can submit questions to Cohen in advance, by logging on now to www.cwavotes.org/debatewatch. Questions also can be submitted live during the chat, so plan to log on to www.cwavotes.org/debatewatch at noon EDT on Wed., Oct. 8. If you can't participate at noon, the chat will be available to read later in the day, posted at www.cwavotes.org. There's still time to plan your debate watch party and plan an event for Tuesday, Oct. 7. Go to www.cwavotes.org/partykit to register and download a new debate watch kit. CWA-Backed Broadband Data Improvement Act PassesThe Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492), a key initiative of CWA's Speed Matters campaign, passed the Senate unanimously on Friday and the House passed it's version of the bill on Monday. Slight differences in the bills were ironed out in a joint committee yesterday and the measure has been sent to the president's desk. The legislation requires the FCC to conduct annual studies on broadband deployment, adds a question to the federal Census on dial-up and broadband use, and provides grants to encourage private and public partnerships to identify barriers to broadband adoption in the states. Senate sponsor Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said, "we cannot manage what we can't measure. This bill will give us the baseline statistics we need in order to eventually achieve the successful deployment of broadband access and services to all Americans." CWA President Larry Cohen earlier urged the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to support the bill, stating: "High-speed broadband is the critical infrastructure for the 21st century. It is the platform on which we will grow jobs and our economy in the coming years." Congressional supporters cited the unique Speed Matters national broadband speed report showing that the United States still lags most other advanced nations in high-speed Internet deployment, and that rural areas and many inner cities especially are poorly served. CWA Applauds Advertiser's Protest Over Newspaper OffshoringIn an unusual protest by a businessman on behalf of workers, a St. Louis car dealer has temporarily pulled his ads from the Post-Dispatch because he's angry that the newspaper is sending advertising typesetting jobs to India – work now done by CWA-represented printers. Dave Sinclair told the city's alternative newspaper, Riverfront Times, that he's cancelled all ads for the next four to five weeks. "It's going to cost them $25,000 to $30,000," he said. "I'm not trying to be a rabble-rouser, but I wanted to make my point clear. Here we are talking about jobless rates in the United States and they're shipping jobs overseas." Six printers are being laid off now and another six are expected to be laid off by December when more typesetting work will be sent to India, said Kevin Kujawa, president of CWA Local 6300. Although the printers' contract can't stop the company from moving the jobs, he said the local is negotiating severance packages for the laid-off members and possible job retraining funds. "Dave Sinclair is one of the area's biggest car dealers and he promotes 'Buy American' in all his advertising," Kujawa said. "It's great to see him back up his words with action." CWA Printing Sector President Bill Boarman applauded Sinclair. "This car dealer gets it," he said. "Who is going to buy his cars if we keep sending American jobs overseas? It is a shame that more advertisers don't understand this fundamental." The typesetters aren't the only CWA workers losing their jobs at the Post-Dispatch. In late September, 17 members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 36047 were laid off, several with at least 25 years of service. The union is filing a grievance over the paper's violation of a seniority provision in the Guild contract. The Guild and management had started early bargaining at the time of the layoffs, but the union stopped when it learned what the company planned to do. Negotiators told management that "we weren't going to sit at the bargaining table with the company and talk about a contract when they were walking our people out the door," said Shannon Duffy, the local's business representative. Duffy said both the Guild and the company had begun to show some willingness to move in bargaining and the union had hopes of reaching an agreement. The current contract expires next June. "The only reason we went into bargaining this early was to get job security, so there was no point in going forward if they were going to whack our people," he said. IN BRIEF:
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