• 'Big Bang' Creates New TNG-CWA Unit in Bay Area
• Tentative Pact Bargained at Mercy Hospital, Buffalo
• FCC Adopts Speed Matters Recommendations in Broadband Ruling
• IN BRIEF:
  • Iowa Congressman's Bill Urges Spending Stimulus Checks on U.S. Goods
  • Senate GOPers Block Extended Jobless Aid

'Big Bang' Creates New TNG-CWA Unit in Bay Area

BANG-East Bay staff writers and Northern California Newspaper Guild organizers Josh Richman, left, and Karen Holzmeister celebrate their organizing victory.

A big victory for a campaign dubbed "One Big Bang" has created a new unit of The Newspaper Guild-CWA comprising 225 workers at the largest newspaper company in northern California's Bay Area.

Reporters, photographers, copy editors and other newsroom workers at nine papers owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group cast ballots June 13 at seven polling sites in an election run by the National Labor Relations Board.

"This vote represents a powerful investment in the future of journalism in the Bay Area, one that's going to move us all forward, both staff and managers," said Contra Costa Times reporter Sara Steffens, co-chair of the organizing committee. "It will be good for our news coverage and good for our communities."

The election capped a nine-month organizing drive that began after MediaNews merged newsroom operations at the Oakland Tribune and four smaller newspapers with the non-union Contra Costa Times. After the merger, MediaNews withdrew recognition of the existing Guild unit.

Rather than play defense, the Northern California Media Workers, TNG-CWA Local 39521, decided to organize all the papers that were now part of what MediaNews calls its Bay Area News Group (BANG) – East Bay. Workers called their campaign, "One Big Bang: One Guild Universe."

TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said the BANG victory is part of an ongoing effort for the Guild at MediaNews, building both worker and community support.

"Using strategic industry funds, we have focused on the importance of having quality, local journalism," Foley said. "The journalists at BANG saw a union that was strong and could fight for them and their profession.  The terrific group of Guild supporters who have hung on at what used to be the Alamedia Newspaper Group now find themselves in a bigger, stronger and more powerful Guild, ready to ensure that they are partners  -- not pawns -- in an industry transitioning into a digital world."

Despite a strong counter-campaign by management and anti-union consultants, the BANG organizers ran a positive campaign. They repeatedly reached out to MediaNews executives and publicly stated that both the Guild and management cared deeply about the papers' quality and future of journalism.

"We're looking forward to working together with management to ensure our papers and web sites are as efficient and high-quality as possible," said Karl Fischer, another Contra Costa Times reporter and a campaign co-chair. "We know management is interested in those goals too."

Contract negotiations are expected to be underway soon. Currently, members are talking about contract priorities at the bargaining table and who they want to represent them at the bargaining table.

Tentative Pact Bargained at Mercy Hospital, Buffalo

Local 1133 Members on informational picket line at Mercy Hospital.

CWA Local 1133's bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with Catholic Health System and Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., following an overwhelming strike authorization vote and a massive informational picket line outside the hospital that sent a strong message to management.

Local leaders and negotiators are meeting with members this week to lay out the details of the proposed contract terms.  CWA represents 2,000 employees at the hospital.

Critical issues for the nurses and other health care workers are health care, benefits for part-time workers, wages and staffing levels, especially on the night shift, said local President Peggy Chadwick-Ledwon. 

FCC Adopts Speed Matters Recommendations in Broadband Ruling

In a victory for CWA's Speed Matters campaign, the Federal Communications Commission this week released its order raising its definition of "high speed" broadband service from 200 kilobits per second (kbps) to 768 kbps for downloading.  The definition hadn't been changed in nine years.

While the new definition is not quite the 2 megabits downstream and 1 megabit upstream that CWA urged, the FCC did adopt other CWA recommendations. Significantly, the new order requires broadband providers to report upload speeds as well as download speeds, acknowledging that most applications today – uploading video to YouTube, teleconferencing, telemedicine and interactive distance learning – require two-way communication.

Further, the FCC adopted another CWA Speed Matters recommendation to collect detailed information about the actual number of subscribers by census tract, moving away from its flawed methodology of claiming an area had broadband if there was only one subscriber in a zip code.  CWA was heavily involved in the rulemaking process.

There is one problem in the FCC Order that must be corrected, in CWA's view.  Unlike current data collection, this order does not require broadband providers to report separately the number of residential and business subscribers. Without this information, the FCC will not be able to track the number of households that subscribe to broadband -- a key metric in any assessment of broadband adoption. CWA has already contacted the FCC about the need for this change.

The FCC Order makes passage of S. 1492 -- the Broadband Data Improvement Act now pending in the Senate -- more important than ever. S. 1492 and the companion H.R. 3919 that has already passed the House complement the new requirements in the FCC Broadband Data Order. The legislation would make funds available to states to collect broadband data and to create local public-private partnerships to create community plans to accelerate broadband availability and adoption.

Speed Matters is a CWA Strategic Industries Fund campaign to promote the rollout of faster Internet networks to create jobs and spur the U.S. economy.  For more information:  www.speedmatters.org.

IN BRIEF:

• At the urging of a freshman representative, Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley, the U.S. House has overwhelmingly passed a bill that urges taxpayers to spend their stimulus checks on American products and services.
  
  "If the millions of American families receiving tax rebates from the stimulus spend their checks on American-made goods and services, the effect of the stimulus will be magnified," Braley said. "Buying American will infuse an additional $10 billion into the American economy and will help narrow our growing trade deficit."
  
  Braley told CWA that, "I appreciate the support of the Communications Workers to push for the passage of this resolution.  The men and women of the labor movement have known for a long time that buying American supports American jobs."
  
  
   
• Last week it was House Republicans holding up benefits for jobless workers whose aid is about to expire – though enough of them finally came to their senses to pass the bill. Now Senate Republicans are balking.
  
  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempted to bring the House bill to the floor this week, legislation that would provide an extra 13 weeks of benefits for unemployed workers, plus another 13 weeks for workers in states with high unemployment. But Minority Leader John Kyl (R-Ariz.) used Senate rules to block the bill.
  
  About 300,000 jobless workers each month run out of unemployment benefits. As of the end of May, 1.5 million people had been unemployed for longer than six months, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The House-passed bill would extend aid to about 3.8 million jobless workers once they run out of state benefits.