Striking Verizon Workers to Return to Work Tuesday
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The 45,000 striking Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), will return to work Tuesday under the existing contract as bargaining resumes.
The CWA and IBEW announced:
We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed.
We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward.
Verizon, which amassed more than $20 billion in profits in recent years and paid its top five executives more than $258 million in the past four years, forced workers in Northeast states into a strike by demanding $1 billion in concessions. Seen as an attack on middle-class jobs and workers, the move prompted massive shows of support by working families across the country.
Eagles Fans Learn About Verizon Greed from Striking Workers, Union Allies
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Liz McElroy of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO field communications staffer Nora Frederickson send us this report about a Verizon action in Philadelphia.
As 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) on the East Coast continue their strike against Verizon to maintain quality, middle-class jobs, union locals in southeastern Pennsylvania decided to take their message directly to the public – at the local ballgame.
More than 500 CWA Local 13000 and Local 13500 members and their allies showed up for the Philadelphia Eagles pre-season game at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia last night–not to tailgate but to educate Eagles fans about the real reasons behind their strike at Verizon.
Members of the local unions there as elsewhere in New England and south through Virginia, have been on strike since Sunday. Rather than reward the hard work of Verizon employees who have provided the quality service that earned the company more than $32.5 billion in revenue over the past three years, management continues to insist on cuts that total $1 billion. That’s about $20,000 per Verizon family. These workers have played by the rules—and now Verizon wants to break them. Read the rest of this entry »
Farm Workers Call on Trader Joe’s to Join Fair Food Program
Ja-Rei Wang, a fellow in the AFL-CIO Public Affairs Department, sends us this report about a protest at Trader Joe’s in Washington, D.C.
Several dozen students, activists, farm workers, musicians and community members came together yesterday outside of the Trader Joe’s in downtown Washington, D.C., to demand the supermarket chain stop supporting exploitation of farm workers and, instead, help build a food system that respects workers’ rights. The protest was one of the first such actions across the Northeast.
Chanting to the beat of live san jarocho music and marching with tomato-shaped posters, protestors called on Trader Joe’s to join the other companies that have signed onto the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) Fair Food program, which calls for a penny-per-pound premium on tomatoes, fairer wages and a strict code of conduct for better working conditions.
The protestors delivered a letter to store management urging them to join the effort to provide a better life for the workers who supply their tomatoes.
Poll: Ohio Voters Reject Gov. Kasich
A new poll finds the majority of Ohio voters, like their Wisconsin counterparts, oppose their governor’s moves to take away the right of public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs. And for good reason, as this fantastic New York Times piece points out today.
A Public Policy Polling poll released Tuesday found that if Ohio voters had it to do over, they’d pick Democrat Ted Strickland over Republican John Kasich for governor.
According to the poll, Strickland would win a re-do election, 55-40 percent. Kasich knocked incumbent Strickland out of office in November, 49-47 percent.
The poll also found that if Senate Bill 5—legislation to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers—becomes law, that voters would back repealing it at the ballot box.
The poll found that 54 percent would vote to repeal the law, while 31 percent would vote to keep it.
Signs of the Times: Small Biz Supports Wis. Public Employees
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Small business owners have come out in strong support of Wisconsin public employees in their battle against Gov. Scott Walker’s moves to take away their right to bargain to improve their lives.
In storefront after storefront, signs indicate backing for Wisconsin workers. From the handwritten—”We Support Public Workers and Public Workers Support Us, Too,” to those generated by AFSCME—”This Business Supports Workers’ Rights”—these messages are a true sign of the times.
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Wis. Dem’s Votes Won’t Count; Another Blow to Democracy
Proving once again that state Senate Republicans don’t believe in democracy, Wisconsin Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald yesterday said the votes of state Senate Democrats won’t count.
Won’t count?
Here’s Fitzgerald to state Senate Republicans:
…when taking roll call votes on amendments and bills during executive sessions, Senate Democrats’ votes will not be reflected in the Records of Committee Proceedings or the Senate Journal. They are free to attend hearings, listen to testimony, debate legislation, introduce amendments, and cast votes to signal their support/opposition, but those votes will not count, and will not be recorded.
Wis. Voters Support Recall of Republican State Senators
Solid majorities in two Republican Senate districts support the recall of their senators, according to a poll by Survey USA, with Greg Sargent reporting on the findings. From Sargent:
When asked if they would vote for [Randy] Hopper or some[one] else if a recall election were held right now, 54 percent said they’d vote for someone else, versus only 43 percent who said they’d vote for Hopper.
In [Dan] Kapanke’s district, the numbers were even worse: 57 percent said they’d vote for someone else, versus only 41 percent who said they’d vote for Kapanke.
It gets even more interesting. The poll was taken yesterday, before last night’s events, and 56 percent of voters in Kapanke’s district, and 54 percent of voters in Hopper’s district said if their senator voted for Walker’s plan, it would make them more likely to vote for someone else. Last night, both senators did vote for Walker’s rollback of bargaining rights.
Read the full article here.
Poll: Americans Support Public Employees
A Bloomberg National Poll just out finds that 64 percent of Americans, including a plurality of Republicans, oppose Republican-led efforts to take away the right of workers to bargain for good middle-class jobs. The poll also finds public employees are viewed favorably by a large majority: 72 percent, compared with 17 percent who have an unfavorable view.
Sixty-three percent of respondents, including 55 percent of Republicans, say states without enough money to pay for all the pension benefits they have promised to current retirees shouldn’t be able to break those obligations.
In addition, 63 percent of those surveyed, including a majority of Democrats and Independents, say corporations wield more political clout than unions—an imbalance in the checks and balances process that the public undoubtedly understands will only worsen if anti-worker bills backed by governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich in Ohio become law.
Wis. Gov. Walker’s Rapidly Sinking Ship Takes on More Water
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This from AFL-CIO Political Communications Director Eddie Vale.
Just one day after a media stunt that blew up in his face, further uniting Senate Democrats and Wisconsin’s working families against him, Scott Walker is facing the prospect of mass defections as Senate Republicans are no longer willing to tolerate his extreme power grab and bear the albatross of a Walker disapproval number—which is threatening to crack 60 percent. One former Senate Republican aide even penned a memo advising Republicans “to wake up before their own districts disappear in the rear-view” and get off Walker’s rapidly sinking ship.
Meanwhile, evidence mounts that Walker’s control over the Senate Republican Caucus is slipping away and that individual senators are fed up with his refusal to negotiate with Democrats. In addition to Sen. Dale Schultz, who has already announced he’s with the 74 percent of Wisconsinites opposed to Walker’s bill, Republicans Robert Cowles, Luther Olsen and Dan Kapanke—all facing aggressive recall efforts in their home districts—have indicated they want Walker to come to the table to negotiate a deal that gets Wisconsin moving forward again.
New T-Shirt: Stand with Wisconsin!
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Show your solidarity with Wisconsin workers with this great new “Stand with Wisconsin” T-shirt.
Public employees and the entire community are entering their fourth week of protests against Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to take away the right of public employees to bargain for good middle-class jobs. This union made in the USA T-shirt is a great way to demonstrate our solidarity with them.
Order the “Stand with Wisconsin” T-shirt here.
