November 26, 2008

Judge Slams CNN for Illegal Firing of NABET-CWA Members

Fired CNN workers are shown rallying outside parent Time Warner headquarters in New York in 2004.

In a major victory for NABET-CWA members who worked at CNN, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge issued a scathing decision against the cable network and ordered that 110 workers be rehired, the union recognized and their economic losses restored.

CNN violated federal labor law and the legal rights of more than 250 workers at the Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus by using a phony reorganization scheme for the sole purpose of eliminating their NABET-CWA representation, the administrative law judge found.

In late 2003, CNN terminated its more than 20-year contract with Team Video Services, which employed union camera operators, broadcast engineers and other technicians for CNN, in effect, firing more than 110 workers. The network claimed it would create its own unit of employees, however, Judge Arthur J. Amchan called that unit a "sham," used to get rid of employees and their union. CNN's goal was to "achieve a nonunion technical work force in its Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus." CNN's "widespread and egregious misconduct" showed a flagrant and general disregard for employees' fundamental rights, he said.

Noting that the case goes back nearly five years, CWA President Larry Cohen stated:  "This is a prime example of the way that justice comes far too late, if at all, under our labor law system.  These workers never should have lost their bargaining rights or their jobs, and it wouldn't have happened if we had the Employee Free Choice Act.  What's more, CNN has said it will appeal this ruling.  This should fire us up even more to fight to strengthen workers' bargaining rights."

One of the fired workers, Jimmy Suissa, worked for CNN for 17 years, starting as a camera operator, but mastering nearly every technical job in the Washington bureau, from running the audio and video boards to technical director. "Many of us rotated through these positions and that's why we knew that CNN's claims that we weren't able to learn new equipment were completely false," he said. 

It was very stressful and difficult in the month leading up to the point when CNN began firing workers, he said. And it was clear that anyone associated with the union or providing representation to workers on the job wasn't going to be rehired into the new non-union workplace.

Suissa said the process was disheartening because it took so long to resolve. "It's hard to find a job to replace the work I was doing, and I've been making less money over these past years," he said.

Sarah Pacheco joined CNN as a videographer and worked at the Washington bureau from 1990 to 2003, and she also was an active and aggressive union steward. Despite acknowledged experience in non-linear editing, a skill CNN management claimed was necessary when it rejected other applicants, Pacheco was not rated among the top 55 applicants. A "lack of people skills" described by management likely "is related to her aggressiveness as a union steward for (NABET-CWA) Local 31," the judge wrote.

"I applied to Time Warner (CNN's parent company) but never was called," she said. "This decision is tremendous and a validation of our long fight," she said.

The judge's order calls for reinstatement and full back pay for more than 110 employees, with training for those rehired, if necessary, restoration of union representation and terms of the former collective bargaining agreement, and the return of bargaining unit work that has been outsourced since the termination of the Team Video contracts.

Suit Charges Delta with Unlawful Interference with Election Rights

AFA-CWA filed a federal lawsuit against Delta Air Lines to block the company from unilaterally using a management seniority integration process as a wedge issue to divide Delta and Northwest flight attendants and undermine the union before employees of the newly combined airline can vote on union representation.

Northwest flight attendants already are unionized and Delta flight attendants are organizing with AFA-CWA in anticipation of an election next year to determine union representation for the entire merged workforce.

The AFA-CWA suit notes that Delta hasn't yet received "single carrier" certification for the merged airline, and the union hasn't yet filed an application with the National Mediation Board (NMB) for a single carrier determination, which would trigger a representation election.  The NMB oversees labor relations in the airline industry.

Once that determination is made, "AFA-CWA will file for an election that will give all 21,000 flight attendants the opportunity to elect AFA-CWA as their collective bargaining agent.  If AFA-CWA is elected, then the union's 'date of hire' seniority procedures shall prevail, ensuring all flight attendants their current bidding seniority," the union stated.

AFA-CWA called the immediate merging of seniority lists – a process Delta wants to begin in early December -- a premature action that "constitutes unlawful interference with and influence over the choice of its employees' bargaining representative."

Tell Congress: Emergency Aid to Auto Industry Vital for Economy

With millions of jobs at stake in the U.S. auto and related industries – including CWA jobs in parts manufacturing and news media, which depends on billions of dollars in auto dealer advertising – CWA is urging members to contact members of Congress to urge support for an emergency assistance package for the automakers.

"This is not a bailout that helps only Wall Street – this is an absolutely necessary loan to aid Main Street and help save our economy.  If the auto industry goes bust, our entire economy will spiral deeper into peril," said President Larry Cohen.

Members are urged to visit the United Auto Workers website at www.uaw.org to get facts and talking points about the emergency assistance package, and then send and email or make a phone to their senators and representatives urging support for the measure. 

Emails to Congress can be sent right from the UAW site:  Click on the link at top right that says "Auto Matters," and from the next page click on "Contact Congress" to send your letter. 

IN BRIEF:

  • A member of the President-elect's transition team said the Employee Free Choice Act is a necessary response to the "worst economic crisis in our lifetime." The speaker, Thomas Kochan, co-director of MIT's Institute of Technology Workplace Center and Institute for Work and Employment Research, said the legislation was the "necessary first step" to reducing the highly adversarial roles of labor and management and creating an "integrated, progressive labor policy coordinated with economic policy."

    "We need an integrated strategy to boost economic performance and tap the skills and knowledge of workers," Kochan said in an address at a labor law seminar sponsored by the Center for Labor and Employment Law at New York University. "We can't get there with a highly adversarial labor-management relationship." Kochan dismissed criticism that the measure's mandatory arbitration provision would undercut the collective bargaining process, pointing out that mandatory arbitration has existed for decades in the public sector with no harm to the bargaining process.


  • More than 500 journalists and other workers at Associated Press have called on the company to reverse course in contract talks and drop its bargaining proposals that threaten quality journalism. 

    The news workers, members of TNG-CWA Local 31222, are signing on to a petition that condemns AP's efforts to "erase decades-long job security protections, increase employee health care costs and delete long-standing benefits for new mothers." These provisions are part of an overall package from AP management that also calls for a wage freeze, high prescription drug payments and the elimination of overtime pay for hundreds of employees, the local said. 

    The current contract expires Nov. 30. The News Media Guild represents more than 1,400 reporters, editors, photographers, videographers, communications and support staff. 

    AP admits it is well-positioned for the future, said Tony Winton, NMG president. "We believe AP's proposals are overreaching and would in fact undermine the AP's greatest strength – the men and women who cover the news."

    The petition is available at www.newsmediaguild.org.


  • An arbitration ruling on health care benefits for 40,000 CWA members at AT&T Mobility has been postponed until Dec. 12.

    The decision was originally expected to be handed down by Nov. 21, but the arbitrator requested more time, CWA National Telecom Director Bill Bates said.

    The case involves the company's attempt to make workers pick up a significantly larger share of their health care costs. In a three-day arbitration hearing in September, CWA leaders said AT&T's position was unacceptable and unreasonable, given the company's financial health.

    CWA's agreement with AT&T Mobility provides for binding arbitration to resolve disputes in the health care plan. Four separate contracts cover CWA members at Mobility but all share the same benefit plans.


  • More than 3 million Americans have lost employer-sponsored health care since 2000 and the vast majority of U.S. states have seen significant declines in employer coverage this decade, the Economic Policy Institute reports.

    Forty-one states in every region of the country have experienced losses, with South Carolina, North Carolina, Missouri and Maryland seeing drops in employer coverage exceeding 7 percent, EPI said. No state has seen an increase.

    More losses are expected as unemployment rises. ""The health care problem has reached a critical level," said Elise Gould, author of the EPI study. "Bold new solutions need to be considered to address the growing crisis."

    Hawaii, has the highest rate of employer-sponsored coverage, with just over 80 percent of workers covered in 2006-07. Hawaii requires employers to provide health insurance to employees who work at least 20 hours a week.

    More coverage of the report and an interactive map are available at www.epi.org.