April 29, 2005

113 Members of Congress Decry Union Busting at Verizon Wireless

113 members of the House signed a letter to Seidnberg expressing concern about Verizon Wireless' "corporate-sponsored policy of union avoidance." Read the entire letter.

With California Congressman George Miller leading the charge, one hundred and thirteen members of the House signed a letter to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to "express our concern about workers' complaints that Verizon Wireless has engaged in a campaign to undermine their right to organize."

Seidenberg is also chairman of the board of Verizon Wireless.

Once Verizon management heard that the letter was being circulated for signatures on Capitol Hill, the company lobbied indivdual House members intensely. Seidenberg and Wireless CEO Strigl lobbied House members personally, and Verizon actually threatened House members with a loss of investment in their districts. 

Read the letter. [PDF 1,427 K]

We'll have a complete list of signers for you in the next newsletter.

VZW's Strigl "Indefensible" as Trustee

AFL-CIO president challenges college to live what it teaches

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told a Buffalo college audience that it is "indefensible" to have a union buster like Wireless CEO Denny Strigl on its Board of Trustees.

Sweeney said that Verizon Wireless workers' "freedom is being violated by a management team led by its CEO, who is an alumnus of Canisius College and a Board of Trustees member. This is indefensible and I hope and trust that it will be rectified soon."

CWA Local 1122 and IBEW Local 2213 members were on campus to distribute flyers explaining the issues. They reported that the event raised awareness both at the college and in the Buffalo labor community. 

"A lot of local labor leaders are now aware of our plight and have been informed that Cingular is the only Union provider of cellular service. Even the Republican fish wrap that we call a newspaper mentioned the fact that we were out front with flyers.

"Sweeney took on the church and Canisius themselves and challenged them to live by what they teach. The college has also used non-union labor on some of their recent construction projects."

Unions an "indispensable element of social life"

Sweeney reminded the audience at the Jesuit school that the Catholic Church has historically supported workers' rights and unions.

In 1981, the Pope issued an encyclical called "On Human Work," which reads, in part, "All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: The right of association, that is, to form [unions] . . . . The experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life; they are indeed a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people . . . ."

Wireless Workers Get Broad Support from Labor

Verizon Wireless workers are also getting support from across the labor movement. Dozens of local and international unions, state AFL-CIOs, and Central Labor Councils have sent letters to let the company know that its behavior toward workers is unacceptable.

In its letter, the UFCW said that after being informed of the anti-union tactics being practiced by Verizon Wireless that it has eliminated Verizon Wireless as an option for their new centrally adminstered cell phone plan for over 200 staff.

Letters were sent by:

Local and International Unions Am. Federation of Musicians Am. Federation of School Administrators AFSCME AFA-CWA Bakery, Confectionery, & Tobacco Workers Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Int' Heat & Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers Teamsters Int'l Longshore & Warehouse Union Int'l Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) UAW IUE-CWA Industrial Division Transportation Communications Int'l Union UFCW International UFCW Local 27 United Steelworkers of America United Union of Roofers and Allied Workers State Feds Florida AFL-CIO Georgia State AFL-CIO Hawaii State AFL-CIO Idaho State AFL-CIO Iowa Federation of Labor Massachusetts AFL-CIO Minnesota AFL-CIO Mississippi AFL-CIO Nebraska State AFL-CIO Nevada State AFL-CIO

New Hampshire AFL-CIO New Jersey State AFL- CIO Oklahoma State AFL-CIO South Carolina AFL-CIO Vermont State Labor Council Virginia AFL-CIO Washington State Labor Council Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils Buffalo Council CLC of Butte & Glenn Counties Central Maryland AFL-CIO Council Dallas AFL-CIO Essex-West Hudson Labor Council Greater Boston CLC Greater Charleston CLC Greater South Florida Maritime Trades Council Harris County AFL-CIO Council King County Labor Council Long Island Federation of Labor Maritime Port Council of Greater New York and Vicinity Maritime Port Council of the Delaware Valley and Vicinity Maritime Trades Council of Greater Boston and New England Maritime Trades Department Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Michigan Maritime Trades Port Council North Shore Labor Council Northwest Oregon Labor Council Richmond Regional Labor Council Rockford United Labor AFL-CIO Sacramento CLC San Mateo County CLC South Central Federation of Labor

CWAers Help Relaunch the Employee Free Choice Act

Clyde Rucker said that his firing by VZW "pumped me up even harder to fight for the union." Watch his testimony.

Joined by CWA workers and others, lawmakers of both parties on April 19 announced they were reintroducing in a bill to protect workers' freedom to form unions, the Employee Free Choice Act.

Thirty-six senators and 123 representatives immediately joined the new legislation as co-sponsors.  Ask your representatives to sign on.

Also addressing the Capitol Hill news briefing were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, CWA President Morton Bahr, and six workers who presented their stories and met with senators and representatives from their home states to tell them about employer opposition they faced in their quests for union representation. 

CWA activist and former Verizon Wireless service rep Clyde Rucker explained that after he finished his initial company training, he, like his co-workers, was forced to attend captive audience meetings and to hear anti-union propaganda from management. Despite the atmosphere of fear that the company tried to create, Clyde spoke up. 

"I was one of the few who spoke out against it because I grew up with a history of unions and I understand what unions have done for the betterment of our country. Unions built America. People fought and died for that benefits that all workers enjoy in the workplace today."

Workplace issues like management favortism for bonuses and promotions and denial of FMLA leave drove Clyde to contact CWA and to educate his co-workers about the benefits of a union contract. Because of his outspokeness, Clyde said, there was "a bullseye on my chest."

Despite superlative performance appraisals and a perfect attendence record, Clyde was fired.

Clyde said that he was "outraged, but it pumped me up even harder to fight for the union."  And Clyde says he'll keep fighting, because "a corporate injustice anywhere is a threat to worker justice everywhere."

Watch video of the press conference. (To see Clyde, open the second video and slide the counter to about 19:30.)

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)

More working people than ever—57 million—say they would join a union if they had a chance (survey by  Peter D. Hart Research Associates). But employers routinely harass, intimidate and coerce workers who try to exercise their right to form a union at work. The EFCA would:

• Allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
  
• Provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes.
  
• Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first contract negotiations.

Please send a message to your senators and representative, asking them to sign on to the bill. 

Would You Want This Man on Your Board?

CWA Locals 13000, 13500, and 13550, with help from the AFL-CIO, leafleted shareholders attending the PNC annual meeting in downtown Pittsburgh on April 26. Wireless CEO serves on the Board of Directors on PNC, one of the largest banks in the country.

The leaflet alerted shareholders to Verizon Wireless' unethical conduct toward workers and asked whether PNC, which commits to practicing the "highest possible ethical standards," should really have the head of such a company on its board.

Despite the efforts of PNC's security personnel, and the fact that city police were called to the site, leafleting continued and shareholders were engaged in conversations.

See more photos and read the full leaflet.  

Web Links in This Issue

Read the Congressional letter to Seidenberg: http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/vzw/miller_letter.pdf

Ask your senators and representatives to sign onto the Employee Free Choice Act: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/support_EFCA_cwa/nqf7bdjt7?

Watch workers' testimony on the need for the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/voiceatwork/efca.cfm

More photos of PNC action: http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/photos

Flyer about Verizon Wireless' unethical conduct: http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/vzw/Does_Strigl_flunk_PNC_ethics_test.pdf

Visit Unity@Verizon on the web for more:

• Mobilization photos
• Bargaining updates
• Contract expiration list
• Past Unity@Verizon e-mail updates

If you'd rather receive only periodic updates when we need you to take action or there's significant news, please reply to this message and tell us "periodic."

(What's happening in your area?
Send information and photos to unityatverizon@cwa-union.org and we'll publish them here.)

Please take just a minute to verify that we've got the correct local number, member status, and Verizon bargaining unit information for you.

Are you a CWA member? Unknown - please update

Your CWA local number: Unknown - please update

Your Verizon bargaining unit: Unknown - please update

If any of this information is incorrect, our apologies. Please update your information: http://www.unionvoice.org/cwa_unity_verizon/smp.tcl?nkey=nqf7bdjt7&