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March 26, 2009
Union Members Put Face on Employee Free Choice
A new grassroots campaign, "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act," gets underway next week, as more union members, including CWAers, plan visits to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and in home offices during the Easter recess. The campaign features new billboards and building banners that will be displayed throughout Washington, D.C., and in states across the country. Three CWA members are featured on banners in Washington, D.C., -- Local 3403 members Chinazo Okolo and Joe Bordelon, and newspaper reporter Sara Steffens of the Northern California Media Workers-CWA who was fired after helping organize a union at a group of Media News newspapers. Banners can be seen on CWA headquarters, the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club and other buildings. The 50-foot-high banners feature union members with a quote about why Employee Free Choice is so important. The workers featured will join CWA President Larry Cohen, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Representative George Miller (D-Calif.), "West Wing" actors Martin Sheen and Bradley Whitford at a March 31 event on the campaign. Actions also will be held in communities nationwide that demonstrate the growing support for Employee Free Choice and the determination to restore workers' rights in order to help create an economy that works for everyone again. Despite Senator Arlen Specter's recent flip flop, the campaign to restore workers' rights and make Employee Free Choice the law of the land is in full force. Specter (R-Pa) was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act in 2005 and voted for cloture in 2007, but facing a 2010 primary challenge from the right-wing of the Republican Party, he chose instead to betray working families. Specter's action "will not defeat us," said President Cohen. "We have educated millions of Americans in our movement and outside about why Employee Free Choice is critical to rebuilding our economy and restoring the middle class and we will go forward." In other Employee Free Choice news, The Wall Street Journal has admitted that its editorial page and all the other opponents of the bill haven't been telling the truth about it – conceding that it would not take away the right of workers to a secret-ballot election. "The bill doesn't remove the secret-ballot option from the National Labor Relations Act," the editorial admits, after making bogus claims that unions were trying to do just that. Backed by Nationwide Mobilization, AT&T Bargaining Continues
Supported by an active mobilization campaign in every CWA district, CWA bargaining teams at AT&T are working down to the wire to reach agreements with the company prior to April 4 contract expiration. In separate voting by members covered by the six contracts, 88 percent of voting CWA members at AT&T voted to authorize a strike if negotiations fail to produce the quality contracts AT&T employees deserve. A strike at any or all of the AT&T operations would not take place before it is authorized by the union's executive board and a strike date set by the CWA president. CWA is pressing AT&T management to do its part to help the struggling economy and not cut quality jobs and benefits. CWA members at the company are calling on AT&T to bargain fair contracts with real employment security, including access for employees to the jobs of the future, and not cut benefits for workers and retirees. In actions across the country, CWAers are leafleting, holding rallies, conducting stand-ups at worksites and marching into work together, among other actions, to show their support for their bargaining teams. For updates and a full roundup of events, go to www.cwa-att.com. Under Bush, Labor Dept. Ignored, Mishandled Complaints of Workplace ViolationsIn findings that are appalling but not really a surprise, the government's watchdog agency reported that the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division under former President Bush regularly mishandled workers' complaints and failed to investigate and enforce the law on serious employer violations of minimum wage, overtime, and other labor laws. The report by the General Accountability Office said the agency showed clear disregard for workers who sought help for workplace violations, telling them to file lawsuits or find other jobs rather than seek justice from their employers through government action. In testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee following release of the report, the GAO said the division's entire complaint procedure, from taking worker statements to investigation and complaint resolution, were ineffective and discouraged workers from pursuing their serious job violations. "This investigation clearly shows that the Department of Labor left thousands of victims of wage theft who sought federal government assistance with nowhere to turn," said Greg Kutz, GAO managing director of forensic audits and special investigations. Kutz told the committee that employees at the division were routinely told to only keep track of successfully resolved complaints to make it appear that the agency was doing its job. "We owe it to all hard working Americans to ensure that we correct the incompetence of the Bush Administration and ensure families are not cheated out of their wages by unscrupulous employers," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman. "This was a massive failure. Former Secretary Chao was absent without leave," he said. The Bush administration's anti-union Labor Secretary, Elaine Chao, cut staffing and nearly ignored the agency's responsibility to protect workers' rights or investigate employer violations. The GAO investigation posed agents as workers and employers to measure how the Wage and Hour Division performed when faced with 10 serious employer violations. It found that 9 of the 10 cases were mishandled. One involved underage children working with saws and meat grinders during school hours, illegal under child labor laws. The case was never investigated or even logged in. Another case involved workers at a boarding school who were illegally denied more than $200,000 in overtime pay. The agency declined to pursue the complaint after the employer agreed to pay only workers' back wages, only $1,000, just before the statute of limitations was to run out. Of the 10 cases, five were not recorded by the Wage and Hour
Division and three were never investigated. In the two remaining
cases, the agency falsely recorded that employers had repaid
employees' wages; employers had not paid any owed back wages.
The GAO also sampled several dozen actual causes from division records; as a result, GAO identified 20 cases involving 1,160 workers that were mishandled. The Labor Department's new Secretary, Hilda Solis, condemned the report's findings and said that she was committed to fully protecting workers' rights. Solis said she has added 150 new investigators to the division's field offices and would be adding another 100 investigators in the near future. Click here to listen to a news report of the story including audio recordings of Wage and Hour employees trying to discourage workers from filing complaints. Small Business Owners Join Fight for Employee Free ChoiceSmall business owners are bucking the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and speaking out as strong supporters of Employee Free Choice. "This last summer my employees wanted to form a union and I welcomed that because I feel that I want my employees to be part of my corporation as it grows and as we all start making a better living," said Ruth Schepp, owner of Ivory Leathers in North Dakota. Schepp and other small business owners from around the country joined American Rights at Work for a media teleconference to explain why they disagree with business opponents of Employee Free Choice. Darren Horndasch of Wisconsin Vision said without the strong middle class that unions helped build, "I believe my business is going to suffer." He praised unions for helping to provide additional training for his workers, which has benefited his company. "This has been a positive experience for us for the past 29 years," he said. Jim O'Maley, owner of Print & Copy Center in Pittsburgh, said union training programs have also helped his workers, and therefore his company, and he believes stronger unions will benefit the country as a whole. "Corporations have a responsibility to provide a safe environment and fair wages," O'Maley said. "I think when we have strong unions we'll have strong corporations and when we work together, we'll have a strong America." 90 AT&T Mobility Retail Sales Workers Organize in WVaAnother 90 AT&T Mobility Retail Sales workers in West Virginia joined CWA through majority sign up, following a campaign by 100 AT&T Mobility customer care workers in Wheeling who also used majority sign up to get their CWA voice, said District 2 Vice President Ron Collins. CWA now represents AT&T Mobility employees wall-to-wall in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The West Virginia retail sales workers were part of Dobson Communications before the corporation was purchased by AT&T Mobility last year. Collins praised the West Virginia locals for organizing successes that came in the midst of difficult negotiations at AT&T Mobility. The retail sales workers' statewide campaign was coordinated by CWA Local 2001 organizer Ken Williams with support and assistance from CWA locals across the state, and support from District 2 CWA Staff Representative Elaine Harris and Organizing Coordinator Richard Verlander. District 1 Members Share Safety and Health StrategiesFifty CWA members from District 1 participated in the district's annual Occupational Safety and Health Retreat. IUE-CWA and NABET-CWA locals were among 23 locals participating in the March 13-14 event in Rye Brook, N.Y. Training sessions and panel discussions explored topics including ergonomic safety for nurses handling patients, hazardous materials awareness, how industry and sector changes are affecting health and safety on the job, and preventing workplace violence. In a session led by District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton, members discussed how the Employee Free Choice Act will make jobs safer by expanding collective bargaining and the presence of union-management health and safety committees. Another discussion looked at the Blue/Green alliance and how labor-environmental partnerships can help safeguard workers and communities. From nurses to office workers to phone technicians climbing poles and manufacturing workers handling potential toxins, CWA Occupational Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said CWA members face hazards on the job every day. "All too often workplace exposure to hazardous chemicals, poorly designed equipment and tools, stressful working conditions and other hazards results in member injuries and illnesses," LeGrande said. "The conferences we hold regionally and nationally to address these issues are vitally important, because we can learn from each other and make everyone safer by sharing and coordinating our tactics, strategies, successes and failures." Jobs with Justice Mobilizing Students for Week of Employee Free Choice ActionsJobs with Justice is mobilizing college students across the country to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act during a "Resistance and Recovery" week of action that begins Friday and runs through April 4. The week of Employee Free Choice activities is part of the broader 10th annual "Student-Labor Resist and Reclaim our Future" week of action. JwJ says hundreds of campuses across the country will be "supporting local struggles for worker justice while making the connection to and building and demonstrating support for the Employee Free Choice Act." To learn more and find out about activities on campuses and in your community, go to http://www.jwj.org/recovery/index.html. |
