October 30, 2008

Voting on Qwest Tentative Contract Extended through Nov. 6

The ratification period for CWA members to vote on a proposed new contract at Qwest Communications has been extended by one week.

A second tentative agreement was reached Oct. 10 and the results of the mail balloting, being conducted by the American Arbitration Association, originally were to be released on Oct. 31.  However, reports of delayed mail service due to a high volume of political and election mailings in several Qwest states has resulted in the delay of ballot materials to many CWA members.

Extending the voting period to Nov. 6 – with the count to be completed and released on Nov. 7 -- will ensure that all members have the opportunity to vote on the proposed agreement, said District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell.

The agreement covers about 20,000 CWA-represented workers at Qwest in 13 states.

Only 5 Days Left: Voter Turnout Critical to Election Outcome

CWA President Larry (top photo) said GOTV efforts by union members are critical to electing Obama-Biden and labor backed candidates to Congress and statehouses. Behind Cohen, from right to left, are Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, and congressional candidates Judy Feder and Gerry Connolly. Several hundred CWA and other union members rallied in Charleston, West Virginia (bottom photo).

CWA activists are using the last five days of the 2008 election campaign in efforts aimed at getting union members out to the polls Nov. 4.

"Winning comes down to our getting co-workers and fellow union members out to vote," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "Our work over these last days can help ensure a victory for Obama-Biden and pro-worker candidates who support Employee Free Choice, health care reform and other programs to rebuild the middle class," he said. "We can't assume we've won based on the polls," Cohen warned.

While some polls show Obama-Biden with a 7- or 8-point lead, an increasing number indicate that the race has narrowed to just a few points not only nationwide, but in the battleground states. If this is so, victory will depend on who does a better job of getting out the vote.

CWAers are redoubling their efforts in battleground states where the election will be likely won or lost – especially in Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania where the McCain-Palin ticket has refocused a majority of its resources.

"Our goal is knocking on the doors of 27,000 members' residences in northern Virginia," says Dolores-Trevino Gerber who is coordinating CWA's activities in the critical toss-up state. Last weekend, President Cohen joined with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, two congressional candidates, and more than 400 members of CWA and other unions in a rally to kick off the final GOTV effort. Afterwards, activists visited more than 4,000 union households in spite of rainy weather. Precinct "labor walks" and phone banking are continuing daily through the election.

In Indiana, another the "Red" toss-up state, members of CWA Locals 4900 and 4998 who spend hours on the phone each day as AT&T customer service reps, are manning phone banks to elect Obama, a pro-worker governor, and to defeat Right to Work legislation. "This has to be a huge effort where everyone gets involved. We know that our livelihoods hang in the balance," says phone banker Jane Phillips Harrison, legislative director of CWA Local 4900. "Every day we talk to people who either haven't heard of a candidate, or are looking for more information, but our members know they can trust on us to give them the facts. Watch a video they posted at http://labor2008.typepad.com/in/2008/09/cwa-taking-over.html.

In Missouri, another "Red" state now considered a toss-up, locals are heavily engaged. "Members from all CWA locals are working evenings and weekends, doing block walks and manning phone banks," reports  CWA Representative Mark Franken, legislative political coordinator for the state. "The amount of time spent by members, local officers, stewards, and staff is incredible," he says.

In Nevada, another "Red" toss up state, CWA and other unions are playing a major role in not only moving the state into Obama's column, but also replacing an anti-union incumbent with a pro-worker challenger in the 4th congressional district. Help is pouring in from CWA members from locals in bordering California – Local 9575 from Camarillo and Local 39098 from San Jose.

In Pennsylvania, GOTV is in overdrive. Members of CWA and other unions are making 5,000 to 6,000 phone calls a night in the southwestern part of the state. "There were so many volunteers last night that we ran out of phones," said former TNG President Linda Foley who is working with phone bankers at a Steelworkers office in Pittsburgh. Statewide, union support for Obama-Biden is at 67 percent, according to former IUE-CWA staffer Jack Shea, who heads the Allegheny County labor council. Watch their video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRanPpYcYPw&feature=email.

In Colorado, another "Red" state now leaning to Obama-Biden, more than 250 CWAers and activists from other unions are walking union neighborhoods day and night, visiting some 16,000 homes in the Denver area with less than a week to go. Their effort is helping  defeat three anti-union constitutional amendments on the ballot, and elect a pro-labor candidate to the U.S. Senate.

Dozens of photos and video links from activists are flooding into CWA each week and we are posting them on The Source, our website for union communicators. View them by navigating to our photo gallery in our Election 2008 campaign section.

Election handouts can be downloaded from the Election 2008 Campaign section on the Source, and from the AFL-CIO's Working Families Toolkit website.

Also visit the CWA Votes site, for a side-by-side comparison of both candidates' positions and other election and polling information at http://www.cwavotes.org.

AFA-CWA Cites both Threat, Opportunity in Delta-Northwest Merger

With the approval by the Justice Department this week of the merger between Northwest and Delta Air Lines, AFA-CWA noted that bargaining rights at Northwest now are threatened, but that the merger also "provides an enormous opportunity to advance the profession of over 21,000 flight attendants" at the new merged company.

"With such vast opportunity also comes a great responsibility to protect the 60 years of collective bargaining rights that Northwest flight attendants have long fought to maintain," said AFA-CWA President Pat Friend.

Organizing efforts have continued after Delta flight attendants narrowly missed winning union recognition earlier this year.  While AFA-CWA won the vast majority of votes cast in the election, Delta management's aggressive voter suppression campaign kept thousands from a casting a vote.  Due to participation by less than 50 percent, the National Mediation Board refused to validate the election.

Sometime next year, after the National Mediation Board determines that the merged carrier is a "single transportation entity," an election will take place to determine union representation among the entire combined unit of flight attendants.  A union victory is essential to maintain bargaining rights for the Northwest employees as well as bring long-sought representation to Delta flight attendants. 

Leaders from both units issued an upbeat response:  "We now have the potential to be the largest flight attendant union in the world and look forward to working together to make that a reality," said AFA Northwest Airlines President Kevin Griffin and AFA-CWA Delta Campaign Coordinator Angela Winningham.

CWA Offers Suggestions for FCC Telecom Access Reform

CWA voiced support for the main thrust of an FCC proposal to update policies governing access charges paid by long distance and wireless providers to local wireline companies – changes meant to reflect the shift from copper wire to digital -- but suggested modifications to protect jobs and service provided by mid-size rural companies.

CWA also offered ways to improve the FCC's proposals for using the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) to spur high-speed Internet deployment.  CWA's Speed Matters campaign has long supported using the USF, originally created to expand voice service in rural areas, to expand broadband service.

In a letter this week to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, CWA President Larry Cohen applauded the general framework of a draft proposal that would level the playing field between telecom companies and cable companies, ending the cable industry's use of loopholes in the system to avoid paying access charges for its long-distance service.

However, proposed changes to sharply curtail access charges over four years would hurt rural mid-size carriers such as Embarq, Frontier, Century Tel, Windstream, FairPoint and others, not giving them sufficient transition time to adapt to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, Cohen stated.  The proposal could cost jobs and have the unintended result of reducing their investment in broadband.

The current FCC proposal would require mid-size carriers to offer broadband service to all customers within 5 years or lose their USF subsidies – all the while seeing revenues from access charges declining.

To protect workers and rural customers, CWA urged the commission to consider ways to ease the transition on rural companies, such as extending the period for reducing access charges, and to consider creating a supplementary USF available to rural carriers for broadband build-out.

Ohio GM Members Approve Package of Retirement, Transfer Options

IUE-CWA members have approved a settlement with General Motors that offers a range of buyout, early retirement and transfer options for 1,000 workers at the Moraine, Ohio, plant that is slated to shut down in December.  The agreement also provides a trust fund for retiree health benefits.

"We are proud of what we have negotiated, but we realize that nothing compensates for the end of a career," said IUE-CWA Industrial Division President Jim Clark.  The Division and Dayton Local 84798 rallied community and political leaders in recent months to try to rescue the plant, which manufactures sport utility vehicles, urging GM to bring in new product lines and citing the outstanding productivity of the Moraine workforce.  However, GM stuck with plans to shut the plant, forcing the union to negotiate the best deal it could to ease the transition. 

The settlement provides a cash payment of $3,850 along with a 3 percent performance bonus retroactive to Sept. 15, 2007, tuition assistance and transfer opportunities to other GM plants, and a "special attrition package" for leaving the company or retiring.  GM will offer cash payments of up to $140,000 depending on years of service.

The contract calls for GM to contribute $1.6 billion to fund retiree health benefits in a tax exempt voluntary employees beneficiary association (VEBA) trust.

IN BRIEF:

  • CWA is carefully reviewing details of the proposed merger of CenturyTel Inc., and Embarq and how it would affect members, said CWA Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus. CWA represents workers at both companies which serve customers in mainly rural areas. Embarq is the company formed by the spinoff of Sprint's local telephone operations.  The merger must be approved by federal and state regulators.


  • To ensure that voters know their rights when they go the polls Nov. 4, the AFL-CIO launched nonpartisan English and Spanish radio ads last weekend in 16 media markets in 10 battleground states as well as Washington, D.C.

    The ad series, part of the federation's "My Vote, My Right" project, features TV Judge Greg Mathis, rap artist Ludacris and actors Edward James Olmos and Hill Harper. The message is: Don't let anyone prevent you from voting.

    The ads remind voters to make sure they know where their polling place is, to bring identification with them to the polls and not to leave without voting – as long as you are in line when the polls close you are still eligible to vote.
    More "My Vote, My Right" information is available online at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/civilrights/votingrights.cfm.


  • Even the McCain campaign says its health care plan stinks. Senior McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin told CNN that "younger, healthier workers likely wouldn't abandon their company-sponsored plans" for the health care tax credits McCain has been touting.

    "Why would they leave?" he said. "What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."

    As Holtz-Eakin knows, and as newspaper editorials and economists point out, McCain's $5,000 tax credit for couples falls far short of the cost to replace most workers' employer-provided coverage, especially for older workers who could face annual premium costs of $12,000 or more.

    But under McCain's plan, those workers could be out of luck anyway. Because McCain plans to tax employer-based health care benefits, workers would either be paying a fat new tax for their employer-paid health insurance or could lose it altogether. That's because economists believe many employers would stop offering group insurance if McCain's plan became law.