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October 16, 2008
CWA Reaches New Tentative Agreement at QwestCWA reached a new tentative contract settlement with Qwest Communications that includes numerous improvements in workplace respect and other issues that members believe are critical at Qwest, along with improvements in wages and other gains. CWA bargainers won agreement by Qwest management to resolve long standing job quota issues and performance expectation concerns, an acknowledgment by management that workers deserve respect for their contributions to the company. The new proposed settlement is a four-year agreement that boosts wages by 3 percent each year, providing a compounded 12.55 percent increase over the contract term, a change from the previously negotiated three-year agreement. "We recognize that to deliver the certainty of a four-year agreement to our membership in troubled economic times is a win for our members and Qwest," said CWA District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell. The new agreement also includes the previously negotiated 3 percent increase in pension bands and a new health care option, maintaining affordable, quality health care for workers and families. There will be no health care increases in the contract's fourth year. "This settlement is an improvement over the earlier tentative agreement, in that it further addresses workers' key workplace issues, including respect. In the face of our current economic crisis and Qwest's financial circumstances, we believe this allows us to move forward in building our members' futures and Qwest's success," Caddell said. The ratification vote is underway, to be concluded by Oct. 31. The vote is being conducted by the American Arbitration Association. 19 Days to Go: CWAers Spread Word to Register and Vote Early
With Election day fast approaching – just 19 days away – CWA members across the country are intensifying their outreach to co-workers and union families on the critical difference that the election's outcome has for workers, unions and the middle class. This week, as part of CWA's National Worksite Action Week, Oct. 13-17, local activists have volunteered their time to handbill co-workers in worksites, phone bank, and urge members to register to vote. CWAers are also urging members to take advantage of the opportunity to vote early in the more than 30 states that allow it. In the key battleground state of North Carolina, where early voting runs from Oct. 16 to Nov. 1, members are distributing special "I voted early. Ask me how?" stickers. "This simple message helps us spread the word that you not only still have time to register, but also to vote early," said Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus, who is working to get out the vote in the state. The vast majority of CWA North Carolina locals, aided by Stewards Army volunteers, are distributing the stickers at workplaces statewide. The battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and Pennsylvania are other early-voting states where CWA activists are at work. In the Pittsburgh area, "People are really receptive to us," said Local 13500 Executive Vice President Carol Coultas, whose local has been holding labor walks every Saturday through working family neighborhoods. "This is the first election in years where we've seen so many people who really want to talk about the issues," she said adding, "We are really seeing that our work is paying off." In New Mexico, state employees who were once forbidden to take part in political activity are handbilling worksites this week outside public health offices and Qwest locations in Albuquerque. Governor Bill Richardson recently signed legislation allowing state employees to handbill. "This year is important for unions," said CWA Local 7076 President Tom Scharman. "We're encouraging members to support congressional candidate Martin Heinrich and Barack Obama because they are with us on health care, a living wage, and so many other issues." CWA Pushes Economic Recovery Plan for American FamiliesCWA is proposing a bold plan for the country's economic recovery that is built on creating 21st century jobs, restoring bargaining rights for U.S. workers through the Employee Free Choice Act and reforming a broken health care system. "This Economic Recovery Plan for American Workers is exactly what working and middle income families need in this time of economic crisis, and we'll be working with members of Congress to make sure workers are included in plans for economic recovery," said CWA President Larry Cohen following adoption of the plan by the Executive Board. (See full text of the plan at CWA's homepage, www.cwa-union.org.) CWA is joining with other unions, civil rights, community and faith-based groups, student and senior organizations, and others to build support for a recovery plan that addresses the current and longterm needs of American families, Cohen said. "We've seen an enormous handout for Wall Street, now we need real attention to Main Street. That means the creation of quality jobs by developing alternate energy sources, necessary repairs to our highways, bridges, schools and communities and especially important, investment in the global economic engine for the 21st century, the buildout of high speed Internet networks," he said. The only way for workers to restore their bargaining power and for our country to rebuild the middle class is through the Employee Free Choice Act, Cohen said. "We're through listening only to the organized voices of bankers, brokers and billionaires. Real bargaining rights are the best economic stimulus for restoring our middle class and our standard of living," he said. Real health care reform is the third critical element of the plan. The U.S. must move from a system that is in effect a "tax" on quality jobs, in which employers who provide quality benefits are at a competitive disadvantage to those who do not, and in which workers who leave or lose their jobs find themselves in the growing ranks of the uninsured, Cohen said. The U.S. is virtually alone among the world's global democracies in failing to establish a health care system that works. Now is the time to move forward so that American families can have the world class health care they deserve. CWA-Backed Broadband Bill Signed into LawThe Broadband Data Improvement Act, passed by the Senate in September, has become law. CWA’s Speed Matters Strategic Industry Fund campaign was the prime mover behind this measure, which will improve data collection about the current deployment of high speed Internet networks and move the United States toward a national broadband policy that will bring true high speed Internet access to all Americans. The legislation is important to map the extent of broadband coverage in the U.S., and where there is limited or no access to Internet networks. CWA President Larry Cohen testified several times on Capitol Hill on how the U.S. is losing ground in the build out and use of true high speed Internet networks, compared with nearly every other industrial democracy. The Speed Matters campaign stressed that high speed Internet networks are the economic engine of the 21st century and are critical to job creation, advances in medical treatment, and improved education, among other areas. Speed Matters activists raised the issue at the national,
state and community levels for more than two years and helped
gain national recognition for the campaign’s Speed Test,
which measured the download and upload speeds promised by
Internet service providers. Avis Workers Overcome Language Barrier, Threats to Join CWAA unit of Avis rental car service agents at Denver International Airport overcame a language barrier and threats from management to organize with CWA this week. The vote in the NLRB election was 26-15, with all but five of the 46 workers voting. The ballot was printed in five languages. Dignity, respect, equity, and decent working conditions are major issues for the group, most of whom are immigrants from Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East, according to District 7 Organizing Coordinator Al Kogler, who assisted in the campaign. "They were routinely subjected to disrespectful and discriminatory treatment by managers," said Kogler. Management spread misinformation about unions, trying to take advantage of the workers' lack of familiarity with U.S. labor laws, but the workers' inside committee stayed united. Management from the company's Dallas office even got involved in the campaign. Workers have charged that supervisors issued veiled threats to activists. "The victory is a testimony to the workers. Many are from Sudan and war-torn nations and are new to America, but they didn't give in," according to Kogler. A key factor in the victory was support the workers received from IUE-CWA-represented Avis workers at Logan Airport some 2,000 miles away in Boston. The workers, represented by Local 81201, produced a handout welcoming the group into CWA and explaining the benefits of union representation. IN BRIEF:
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