Philadelphia Transit Workers End Strike, and More Bargaining News
More than 5,100 members of the Transport Workers (TWU) ended their strike in Philadelphia this morning, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
NEGOTIATIONS
TWU, SEPTA: The six-day strike by Philadelphia transit workers is over. Transport Workers (TWU) Local 234 and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) reached a tentative agreement early this morning, in time to get trains and buses running for the morning commute. A ratification vote by TWU’s 5,100 members will be held in the next 10 days.
Proposed Health Care ‘Excise Tax’ a Tax on the Middle Class
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The Senate Finance Committee’s 40 percent excise tax on so-called “Cadillac” health care plans would hit 37 percent of family health insurance plans and 41 percent of single plans by 2019, according to an analysis of the committee’s original health care reform bill conducted by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).
By 2015, according to this analysis, the excise tax would slam 24 million households, growing to 39 million households by 2019. Nearly one-third of middle-class households making between $50,000 and $100,000 would be affected by 2019.
According to a just-released Communications Workers of America (CWA) report on the JCT estimates, the excise tax-part of the health care reform legislation that the Senate Finance Committee passed on Tuesday,
will have a dramatic effect on those plans forcing steep reductions in benefits, shifting costs to workers, and a significant increase in taxes on millions of middle-class families.
Health Care Action: Union Activists Visit Congress, Deliver Letters from Consumers
This morning, more than 100 local and state union activists and leaders kicked off a two-day National House Call on Congress action, delivering the first batches of more than 42,000 letters from union members demanding real health care reform.
An Arkansas couple is personally delivering to Capitol Hill their story of a near fatal accident and a four-year struggle with their insurance company that’s led to their bankruptcy.
The union leaders, from more than two dozen states, also are reminding lawmakers that the union members and working families who worked so hard on their campaigns last fall are the same people who strongly back health care reform. They are telling senators that reform must control costs, not tax benefits, include a strong public option, require employers to pay their fair share and hold insurance companies accountable.
U.S. Still Lags Way Behind in Internet Speed
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The United States continues to lag far behind the world’s other industrialized nations when it comes to Internet speed—and the impact goes far beyond the time it takes your movies or music to download or family videos to upload. It slows the economy and job growth, too.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) third annual Speed Matters survey finds that even at the current rate of improvement, it still would take the United States 15 years to catch up with the global Internet speed leader South Korea, where speeds are four times faster than in the United States.
The average download speed of U.S. Internet connections is 5.1 megabits per second, significantly below the averages of countries like South Korea (20.1 mbps), Japan (16 mbps) and Sweden (12.7 mbps).
CWA, AT&T Reach Third Tentative Agreement
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) reached another tentative agreement with AT&T. The three-year deal covers nearly 8,000 technicians and service representatives who were part of AT&T Corp., the company acquired by SBC Communications Inc. in 2006. SBC subsequently changed its name to AT&T.
The workers’ main goal in the bargaining was job security. The tentative agreement—the third with AT&T since negotiations began in February—offers the same 8.75 percent hourly wage increases and benefit provisions as those gained for employees at AT&T Midwest and AT&T West. In a statement, CWA Vice President Ralph Maly says:
This agreement achieves our members’ key goal which was to improve employment security and safeguard jobs. It maintains workers’ standard of living and safeguards quality health care. In these extremely difficult economic times, these are tremendous achievements.
Netroots Nation: The Labor Caucus
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The union movement has come a long way online, and at this year’s Netroots Nation conference, online union activists got a chance to check in and talk about where we still need to go. This year’s Labor Caucus was the largest yet since we first got together at what was then the YearlyKos convention in 2006.
About 60 people came out for the caucus, mostly union members and union staffers from across the movement but also bloggers and activists who support workers. Our own Tula Connell and Michael Whitney of SEIU moderated the session.
We kicked off the caucus by noting what we’ve accomplished thus far. The strong union participation in Netroots Nation is a good sign we’re a vibrant, important part of the progressive blogging community now. We’ve made the case that working family issues are progressive issues.
High-Speed Internet? Take the Speed Matters Test and Find Out
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We’ve all been there—online waiting, and not patiently—for a connection to check the bank account, order medicine or just get the latest Hollywood gossip. You mutter to yourself, “This is high speed and it’s costing me how much a month?”
You might be one of those folks in a low-income urban or rural area where, even if you wanted to pay for high-speed Internet service, the only option available is the dreaded dial-up.
Now you can do something about it. Take the Speed Matters test.
Speed Matters, a campaign by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), is part of the union’s effort to promote national and state policies for affordable, universal high-speed broadband networks and end the digital divide. One of the campaign’s tools is the Speed Matters test that measures the speed of your Internet connection to see if it jives with speed your provider promised. Click here to take the Speed Matters test.
43,000 New Jersey Communications Workers Ratify Pact, and More Bargaining News
Some 43,000 New Jersey Communications Workers of America ratify a revised contract—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The
AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
CWA, New Jersey: More than 43,000 workers in the largest union representing New Jersey state workers, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), ratified a revised contract that defers a raise and swaps furloughs this year for future vacation days. “During these hard economic times, nothing is more important than protecting vital public services and the jobs of working people,” said Hetty Rosenstein, CWA’s New Jersey area director.
Two Unions in Hawaii Seek to Block Governor from Ordering Furloughs—and More Bargaining News
Two unions in Hawaii seek to block the governor from ordering furloughs for thousands of state workers—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
Multiple, BART: Two of the larger BART unions, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and SEIU Local 1021, agreed to extend their labor contracts beyond the June 30 expiration through July 9 at midnight. AFSCME, which represents white-collar workers at BART, expects to sign a similar extension. You can get real-time updates on Twitter at https://twitter.com/realbartworkers.
CWA Delegates Back Employee Free Choice, Health Care and Unity
More than 2,500 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) delivered a message to their representatives on Capitol Hill yesterday: It’s time to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and real health care reform.
The Capitol Hill lobby day is part of the union’s four-day convention in Washington, D.C., which ends today. Delegates will go back to the Capitol today to join thousands of workers in the mass rally in support of health care reform.
