26,000 CWA Members Approve Pact with AT&T—and More Bargaining News
Some 26,000 CWA members ratify pact with AT&T in the Southwest, 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.
SETTLEMENTS
CWA, AT&T: AT&T workers in the Southwest ratified a new four-year contract. The 26,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 6 had been working under a contract that expired April 4.
IUE-CWA, Dresser Rand: After nearly two years without a contract, workers at Dresser Rand’s Painted Post facility in New York ratified a contract, effective through March 1, 2013. The contract covers 340 members of IUE-CWA Local 313.
CWA Cautions Frontier Shareholders on Verizon Transaction
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| CWA member Elisabeth Choate, fourth from right, warned shareholders about Frontier’s transaction with Verizon. |
Robert Masciola of the AFL-CIO Organizing Department describes how workers at Frontier Communications are calling attention to a deal with Verizon that workers say is bad for shareholders and workers.
Shareholders for Connecticut-based Frontier Communications and its top executives heard from an employee about how the proposed deal to acquire Verizon’s assets in West Virginia and 13 other states “may be good for Verizon, but will leave Frontier a much weaker company.”
With support from CWA Local 1298 in Connecticut and the AFL-CIO, Elisabeth Choate traveled to Stamford, Conn., to attend the Frontier special meeting where shareholders voted to approve the deal.
A movement in West Virginia and 13 other states led by CWA and the Electrical Workers (IBEW) opposes the deal—and the unions are not alone. Fran Hughes, chief deputy attorney general for West Virginia, doesn’t believe Frontier has the ability financially to live up to the commitments it has made to the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
Pennsylvania Union Members Donate Time, Labor, Money to Help Children
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Union members care about their communities, and one of the biggest ways they show it is through the Community Services Network, which provides services and assistance to those in need. Last week, the Pennsylvania union movement showed its heart when members dedicated a new union-built picnic pavilion at the Auberle Center, a faith-based agency dedicated to helping abused, neglected and troubled children and families.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker was on hand to dedicate the pavilion, constructed free-of-charge by members and apprentices of the Carpenters union. Some of the youth at the center helped build the pavilion and two have asked to join the Carpenter’s apprenticeship program, says Joe Delale, community services liaison for the Allegheny County (Pa.) Labor Council.
Holt Baker praised the union members’ generosity:
I am reminded of a quote from Bobby Kennedy who said:
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
It is in small acts that greatness is truly borne, and the work you have done here today reflects that greatness.
Workers Tell Red Cross: Safety First
Workers and their supporters held informational pickets at Red Cross locations across the country today to tell the organization that donor and recipient safety must come first. The actions spotlighted the Red Cross’ plans to boost profits by jeopardizing the safety of our nation’s blood supply and mistreating workers.
Carrying signs proclaiming “Donors Before Dollars” and chanting “We are the Red Cross,” some 200 people joined a giant inflatable rat to “blow the whistle” on the Red Cross at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The marchers picketed in front of the building during the busy lunch hour, just blocks from the White House.
Survey: Health Care Facilities Not Ready for Flu Pandemic
Many of our nation’s health care facilities are not prepared to protect health care workers from exposures to pandemic influenza, putting both care providers and the public at risk, according to a new report compiled by the AFL-CIO and six unions.
A survey of some 104 health care facilities nationwide indicate that although these facilities have made some progress in preparing for a possible flu pandemic, more than a third of the clinics surveyed have no written plan in place. Further, more than one-third of the survey respondents believe their workplace either is not ready or only slightly ready to address the health and safety needs necessary to protect health care workers during a pandemic.
