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December 20, 2007
Verizon Business Must
Pledge to Stop Violating
Workers' Rights
In agreeing to settle CWA charges of illegal
union-busting by Verizon Business in Pennsylvania, the
company was ordered by the NLRB to post notices
affirming the workers' rights to organize and declaring
that it will no longer engage in coercive threats to
prevent workers from unionizing.
CWA filed charges on behalf of Verizon Business techs
in both New York and Pennsylvania, and in early October
NLRB regional directors issued complaints against the
company and ordered hearings over the charges. A
similar settlement is expected in the New York case.
Several hundred technicians at the former MCI unit,
which Verizon set up as a separate non-union business,
have been organizing with CWA and IBEW throughout the
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and have petitioned for
representation based on majority union support, as
validated by congressional and community leaders in
Boston and New York.
In the Pennsylvania settlement, the notice Verizon
Business is required to post at worksites for 60 days
clearly describes the nature of the illegal abuses that
CWA and the workers charged. Verizon must pledge:
-- "We will not engage in surveillance or actions
intended to create the impression that employees' union
activities are under surveillance."
-- "We will not threaten employees with layoff for
supporting the union or ask them to inform us if they
requested return of union authorization cards they had
signed."
-- "We will not enforce our... no solicitation/no
distribution policy against employees because they have
engaged in concerted or union activities or to
discourage employees from engaging in such activities."
-- "We will not in any like or related manner
interfere with, restrain or coerce our employees in the
exercise of the rights guaranteed by" (federal labor
laws).
-- "We will cancel the written warning issued to (a
key union supporter), expunge reference to said warning
from our files and inform (the worker) that this has
been done."
Among other rights, Verizon Business must let workers
know that "Federal law gives you the right to form, join
or assist a union."
Given the pro-business and anti-union record of this
labor board in recent years, the settlement shows just
how blatant and egregious Verizon Business's anti-worker
behavior has been, said CWA President Larry Cohen.
DNC
Takes Strong Stand for Employee Free Choice Act
The Democratic National Committee has unanimously
passed a resolution calling for Congress and any new
Democratic administration to make the Employee Free
Choice Act a top priority in 2009.
The resolution further urges candidates and
office-holders at all levels to actively and visibly
support the legislation, and it calls on state and local
Democratic committees to pass their own resolutions and
fight for similar state laws and local ordinances.
"The most effective strategy for working men and
women to get ahead economically is by uniting with
co-workers to bargain with their employers for better
wages and benefits," the resolution states. "Collective
bargaining is essential to democracy in the workplace
and economic justice in the wider society."
The Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore
workers' badly eroded bargaining and organizing rights,
was passed by a wide margin in the U.S. House in March.
It also has majority support in the Senate, but fell
short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican
filibuster in June.
"We are extremely pleased that the DNC shares our
view that the Employee Free Choice Act is vital to
rebuilding America's middle class," CWA President Larry
Cohen said. "Workers' rights have been slipping away for
three decades but for the past seven years, especially,
employers have willfully and fearlessly broken the law
to stop organizing drives and stall contract talks."
Cohen stressed that, "Any candidate CWA supports in
the coming elections must be committed to passing – and
in the case of the president, signing -- the Employee
Free Choice Act."
The detailed resolution notes the illegal tactics and
legal loopholes employers exploit to threaten, coerce
and even fire union supporters, and states that
"penalties for employer violations of workers' rights
are so insignificant they do not deter even the most
flagrant violations and are considered by most employers
a minor cost of doing business."
The national resolution is just the latest in strong
and growing support for the Employee Free Choice Act
among Democrats across the country, In Minnesota, for
instance, all four Democrats running for the U.S.
Senate – Mike Ciresi, Jim Cohen, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
and comedian and talk radio host Al Franken – said they
not only back the bill but would go even further.
The Minnesota candidates are running to replace
Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who was a key player
in stopping the Employee Free Choice Act from getting a
Senate vote.
Telecom Techs: Get CWA's New Electrical Safety
Brochure
A new 16-page booklet packed with safety information
for telecom technicians who work near electrical power
is now available from CWA's Safety and Health
Department.
"Reducing Electrical Hazards" describes the full
array of safety procedures and proper equipment for
inside and outside technicians as they test for and work
near power lines and other electrical sources.
The brochure is part of a top-priority effort by CWA
to work with members and telecom companies on electrical
safety issues and ensure that all technicians are
properly trained and equipped.
Members and locals can order copies of the brochure
as well as download it from CWA's website at
www.cwa-union.org/electricalsafety.
Electrocution accidents have killed five Verizon
technicians—two CWA members and three from IBEW – since
2006 and many others have been injured in recent years.
In the wake of fatalities in Maryland and in Indiana,
CWA pushed for mandatory training for technicians as
part of the settlement between Verizon and each state's
Occupational Safety and Health division.
Verizon has now agreed to expand the training
nationally, with a program already underway in District
2 and beginning soon in District 4. CWA Safety and
Health Director Dave LeGrande said plans are underway to
develop similar training at AT&T.
CWA leaders want every telecom technician at risk of
contact with electrical power to have a copy of the new
safety brochure. The handy 6x9 booklet can easily be
stored in a truck's glove box.
New
Report Details Verizon Windfall
in
FairPoint Sale
The $600 million tax windfall Verizon is due to
receive in its proposed sale of telephone operations in
northern New England, if invested in network upgrades,
would be enough to provide high-speed Internet access to
every residential customer in the company's service
area, according to a new CWA report.
In "You Make the Call – High Speed Broadband for All
or Tax Loopholes for Verizon?" CWA and the IBEW make the
case that state regulators should support the public
interest and reject the sale. The report is being sent
to governors and every member of the state legislatures
in the three state region. The report is available at
www.stopthesalenow.org.
Verizon has structured the sale of its phone business
in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to financially
strapped FairPoint Communications so as to avoid paying
any federal taxes on the profits through an arcane tax
loophole. That means Verizon would pick up $600 million
in tax savings, enough funds to provide fiber optic
service (such as Verizon's FiOS) to 84 percent of
residential customers served by Verizon in the three
states, or DSL access to nearly 100 percent of homes and
FiOS to 75 percent of customers in the three states, the
report found.
Currently, data from the Federal Communications
Commission show that the three states rank at or near
the bottom in terms of broadband availability in the
United States. Only 64 percent of homes in the three
states have broadband access as compared with the
national average of 79 percent.
"If this deal is approved as currently structured,
U.S. taxpayers will be subsidizing Verizon for
abandoning its operations in northern New England and
leaving these states as a communications backwater for
years to come," CWA said.
Advisory staff for the public utilities commissions
in all three states, as well as the offices of the
consumer and public advocates in New Hampshire and
Maine, have urged rejection of the proposed deal, and
have called for stringent conditions to be imposed if
the commissioners ignore their advice and approve the
transaction. The Maine and New Hampshire commission
staff urged that, at the very least, Verizon's sale
price be cut substantially – the Maine PUC staff
recommended by $600 million -- to reduce the debt burden
that the deal would load onto FairPoint.
The regulatory commissioners in the three states are
expected to announce their decisions on whether to
approve, reject or impose conditions on the proposed
sale later this month.
CWA's Strategic Health Care Campaign
Underway
At a meeting in Philadelphia, CWA experts,
legislative-political coordinators, district campaign
coordinators and others met to build the union's
grassroots political structure that will play a critical
role in Election 2008. The key element of this program
is the strategic health care campaign which will be a
baseline for all of CWA's political activity.
CWA President Larry Cohen, District 7 Vice President
Annie Hill -- who heads the executive board committee on
the strategic health care campaign – and Executive Vice
President Jeff Rechenbach attended the meeting, with
Rechenbach stating that CWA's goal for health care
reform "is to take health care off the bargaining table
and maintain quality care,"
The campaign will have coordinators in 118 key
congressional districts, along with state and district
coordinators and support from CWA's
legislative-political operations to mobilize members
around health care reform and make real gains in
Election 2008 in the White House, Senate and House of
Representatives.
The strategic campaign also will tie into CWA's efforts
to make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land
and restore bargaining and organizing rights. The
measure passed the House and gained majority support in
the Senate – although not the 60 votes necessary to cut
off debate.
Ohio Governor Taps CWAer for State's
New Broadband Council
Recognizing CWA's lead role in promoting the
availability of high-speed Internet, Ohio Governor Ted
Strickland has named CWA Local 4321 President Frank
Mathews to the newly-formed Ohio Broadband Council.
"The governor wants our state to be a leader in closing
the digital divide and making high-speed broadband
communications widely available in every community in
Ohio," said Mathews, who is also president of the CWA
State Council of Ohio. Mathews says the broadband
council shares many of the same goals of Speed Matters
-- the need for Internet mapping, promoting
private-public partnerships in expanding broadband, and
in making high-speed Internet widely available and
affordable.
CWA District Four Vice President Seth Rosen praised
the CWA leader as "a key leader in District 4's Speed
Matters campaign to get a video franchising bill passed
in Ohio, and in helping work towards the creation of
'Connect Ohio.' I'm glad that Governor Strickland has
recognized Frank's leadership on these issues," said
Rosen.
The state's program is similar to the highly
successful program Kentucky launched to improve
broadband communications. Visit
www.ohiobroadbandcouncil.org for more information.
IN BRIEF:
- People who oppose true health care
reform in the United States like to claim that
Canada's national care system is a disaster for
patients. That's a myth, says the Economic Policy
Institute in its weekly economic snapshot.
Not only are per capita health costs in the
United States nearly double Canada's, the infant
death rate is higher here and life expectancy at
birth is lower. And, EPI says Canadians consult with
doctors far more than Americans do – an average of 6
annual visits versus 3.8 in the United States.
U.S. costs have skyrocketed since 1993, when the
Clinton administration tackled health care reform.
While Canada's expenditures rose about 65 percent
between 1993 and 2005, U.S. expenditures soared by
more than 90 percent. Today, the per capita costs
are $3,359 in Canada and $6,401 in the United
States.
"The United States rejected any positive lessons
from the Canadian single-payer model in 1993, and we
are living with the results of that decision today,"
EPI said.
- Since we launched The Source, CWA’s
website for union communicators,
http://www.cwa-union.org/source,
we have continued to update the website with more
tools to help local union editors, webmasters,
organizers and local leaders improve communications
with members, the public and the news media.
Recent updates include new artwork to
promote CWA’s “Labor 2008: Building a Political
Movement” campaign to attain CWA’s four major goals:
1) enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, 2) Making
health care affordable and available, 3) job
creation and fair trade, and 4) retirement security.
These files are located in the “Logos” subsection of
“Artwork,” found under the main “Photos & Artwork”
category.
Other recent additions include: (under Artwork) new
Health Care, Economy, and Political cartoons as well
as cartoons to mark the upcoming holiday season.
Under our “Ask the Experts” section, we have new
tips for starting up a local union website. We’ve
also posted plenty of new photographs.
Coming soon to The Source is a new “Campaign”
section featuring artwork to promote our various
issue campaigns (Speed Matters, EFCA, Labor 2008,
Stewards Army, etc.), and a new link to the latest
press releases issues by CWA. To easily access The
Source, simply click on the “Tools for
Communicators” button on the left-hand side of CWA’s
main homepage.
As always, visit the website to read the latest
issue of our weekly newsletter which goes to press
late afternoon (Eastern Time) every Thursday. Feel
free to make suggestions on The Source via the
"Contact Us" link at the bottom of the site.
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