November 29, 2007
Piedmont
Airlines Gate and Ramp Agents Seek CWA Representation
Following a strong inside campaign by unrepresented
ramp and gate agents at Piedmont Airlines, CWA this week
filed a union representation election petition on behalf
of the group with the National Mediation Board, which
governs labor relations in the airline and railroad
industries.
Well over a majority of the more than 2,100 agents
signed union authorization cards to be represented by
CWA. After verification of the signatures, the board
generally schedules a mail-ballot election to take place
in about 45 days.
The agents are the only major work group at Piedmont
or its parent company, US Airways, without a union.
Piedmont operates as a US Airways Express carrier.
Currently CWA and AFA-CWA represent some 10,000 flight
attendants and passenger service agents at Piedmont and
US Airways.
Like all airline workers, the Piedmont agents have
suffered through the industry's tough times, but they
are not regaining ground that was lost during major
cutbacks between 2001 and 2005. The disparity in their
wages, benefits, and job conditions compared with union
workers is stark. Piedmont agents earn $8 to $10 an hour
less than US Airways' union workers doing the same jobs
– often handling luggage at the other end of the same
flight.
The workers fell short in an earlier drive to
unionize in 2004 largely due to concerns over US
Airways' bankruptcy and an aggressive anti-union
campaign by management. CWA and AFA-CWA members at the
airlines are assisting the Piedmont agents in the
current campaign. Piedmont locations stretch from Maine
to Florida and as far west as St. Louis.
Maine
PUC Staff Urges Thumbs Down on Verizon-FairPoint Deal
It's unanimous. Regulatory staff in all three
northern New England states where Verizon is trying to
sell its local phone operations now have urged rejection
of the proposed deal with FairPoint Communications.
A staff report to the Maine public utilities
commission this week echoed concerns by CWA, IBEW and
consumer advocates that FairPoint, a small rural
carrier, was assuming too much debt in the $2.7 billion
deal and wouldn't have the financial capability to
maintain service quality and expand broadband access.
Previously, regulatory staff in New Hampshire and
Vermont issued similar reports advising that the deal be
blocked or else that extensive conditions be imposed.
Public advocates in Maine and New Hampshire also have
opposed the transaction, which involves 1.5 million
customers in the three states.
Regulatory commissions aren't bound by the opinions
of their advisory staffs, but staff recommendations
"carry great weight in complex utility cases," noted the
Portland Press-Herald. The newspaper stated, "The
report was especially harsh on what it said was
Verizon's deteriorating service quality and its plan to
'abandon' its Maine network to FairPoint."
The Maine PUC staff said that if commissioners
rejected their advice to quash the sale, they should
impose stringent conditions – 49 in all – including
requiring Verizon to drop its sale price by $600 million
to lower FairPoint's debt burden, which currently would
amount to $1.7 billion.
Other proposed conditions include reduction of
FairPoint's stock dividend by 30 percent annually,
stronger service standards and higher penalties for
failing to meet them, increased broadband investment
with Verizon contributing $12 million, streamlining the
process for hiring former Verizon workers and a plan to
address potential loss of experienced workers.
Kentucky Guild Reaches Out to Community in Health
Care Fight
Fed up with management's refusal to budge on health
care and sick pay rollbacks, members of The Newspaper
Guild-CWA at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky
launched an ad campaign and turned out in force for a
rally and march Wednesday to take their message to the
community.
Even though the union's contract expired 11 months
ago, Local 33229 President Brandon Ortiz said talks had
been going relatively well recently – until it was clear
that the company, under new out-of-state ownership, was
refusing to back down on demands that could eliminate
health care benefits for part-time workers and overhaul
sick leave policies.
"We're bewildered that they would hold up a contract
over these two issues," Ortiz said. The local represents
80 newsroom workers, including reporters, photographers
and copy editors.
The paper is owned by the McClatchy Co., a large
California-based newspaper group, which bought it as
part of its purchase of the Knight Ridder chain in June
2006. The union is making sure community members know
how handsomely corporate executives profited from the
deal: nearly $2 million in bonuses last year for
McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt and nearly $60 million for
Knight Ridder executives.
The union's campaign, which includes a CWA-sponsored
radio ad, billboards and a community petition that
readers can sign online, explains that the drive to
slash health care and sick pay benefits contradicts the
long-standing position of the Herald-Leader's editorial
page in favor of universal health care and economic
justice.
Readers can sign a petition on the site and send a
personal message to Herald-Leader management. Ortiz said
workers are already getting strong support, with a state
representative, local labor leaders and other community
members joining the workers for Wedneday's rally and
march to the newspaper building. Speakers included
TNG-CWA President Linda Foley, who began her newspaper
career at the Herald-Leader as a copy editor.
CWA Supports Striking Writers Guild Members
Members of CWA, TNG-CWA and NABET-CWA are actively
supporting striking members of the Writers Guild of
America.
From joining picket lines to a support ad in the
trade paper Daily Variety, CWA members have made it
clear that the main issue that forced the strike – a
fair share of the revenue generated by writers' work,
whether in digital "new media" or traditional outlets –
is an issue shared by CWA members who work in
journalism, broadcasting and other creative fields.
"It's not fair for media corporations to reap billions
in profits without reasonable pay for the creative
people doing the work," CWA said in its Variety ad.
In a letter to WGA members, CWA President Larry
Cohen, TNG-CWA President Linda Foley and NABET-CWA
President John Clark praised their "bold, brave action"
as necessary in a world that each day is more dominated
by new media.
"Because of your strike, many people outside our
industries are grasping these critical issues for the
first time. The public understands that it is not fair
for media corporations to reap the profits of a new
information age at the expense of the creative people
doing the actual work," they wrote.
IN BRIEF:
- CWA Local 2205 members at a Verizon FiOS
Fiber Solutions Center, in Hampton, Va., probably
figured Thanksgiving Day would be just another long
shift in two years of weeks packed with forced
overtime.
But when they showed up for work, Local
President Jerry Rogers and Vice Presidents Vera
Mikell and Roni Simmonds were there with a full
Thanksgiving buffet — including six deep-fried
turkeys — that they made from scratch.
Rogers said he's been fighting the company on the
forced 48-hour weeks for two years and is optimistic
that the union will prevail in an arbitration
process.
The local officers not only fed the 169 members on
shift, they fed security guards, cleaning crew and
the lone manager on duty — all others had the day
off. But management must have felt a little
chagrined: Rogers said they have agreed to shut down
the center on Christmas Day.
- A new report confirms what virtually
everyone except the Bush administration already
knows: America's middle class is literally hanging
by an economic thread.
The report finds that only 31 percent of
families who would be considered middle class by
income are financially secure. Further, four out of
five families classified as "middle class" do not
have sufficient assets to survive for just three
months should their income drop.
Other chilling findings: 21 percent of middle-class
families have less than $100 per week remaining
after meeting essential living expenses. And more
than half of middle-class families have no net
financial assets whatsoever. The statistics are even
worse for families of color.
The nonpartisan group
Dçmos and Brandeis University developed a
"Middle Class Security Index" to measure the
financial stability of the middle class, rating five
key factors – assets, education, housing costs,
budget and health care. Families studies were ranked
as either "secure," "borderline" or "at risk." The
full report, "By
a Thread: The New Experience of America's Middle
Class," can be found online at
http://www.demos.org/pub1514.cfm.
- Who's the meanest, greediest Grinch of
them all? Who reaped the most obscene salary in 2007
while workers begged for health care? Which company
most gleefully trampled its workers' rights?
Yes, it's a tough call, choosing the worst
among so many worth contenders. But that's the fun
of the annual Jobs with Justice "Grinch of the Year"
contest, which is now underway online at
www.jwj.org.
If you want to nominate a Grinch, act quickly. The
deadline is Friday, Nov. 30. But after that, JwJ
will compile of list of nominees that will be open
for votes in December. Last year's winner was
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., where 15,000
steelworkers went on strike in October 2006 over the
company's demands to slash retiree health care,
close a plant and cut 1,100 jobs.
Past winners have included CWA faves Comcast and
Verizon Wireless, as well as Wal-Mart, George W.
Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.
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