Annual Labor Night at Camden Yard

The Annual Labor Night at Camden Yards with the Orioles is here again. Tickets are available through the Local. The cost is $5 per ticket. It will be the Baltimore Orioles vs Washington Nationals on Friday June 26th @ 7:05 pm.

CWA members covered by the AT&T Mobility "Orange" contract ratified a new four-year agreement. The contract broke new ground, especially in the areas of compensation for retail store workers and expanding career opportunity in customer service, two top priorities for Mobility members, said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill.

The proposed settlement provides for a compounded wage increase of 8.8 percent over the four-year contract term, along with a $500 bonus. More than 11,000 retail sales consultants now will earn a minimum monthly commission of $1,000 if targeted sales goals are met. In addition, some 500 consumer care workers will receive job upgrades and additional pay increases, as will 50-70 wireless technicians. Other important improvements addressed monitoring and quota relief.

Mobilization by Mobility workers throughout the Orange territory – Districts 1, 2, 4, 7, 9 and 13 – made a tremendous difference as did support from CWA Mobility members in the Southeast and Southwest covered by separate contracts and CWA members at the core AT&T Company.

CWA has just become aware of the new Attendance Policy. We recognize this policy as one unilaterally promulgated by the Company and not bargained with, or agreed to, by CWA. Please be advised that CWA reserves the right to challenge the application of this policy to employees through the contractual grievance and arbitration process.

The Employee Free Choice Act builds on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights pioneers and has the strongest possible support from those still fighting for justice today, national civil rights leaders said Thursday.

"The Employee Free Choice Act has been largely written about as a labor bill but those of us in the civil rights community know it is so much more -- workers' rights are civil rights and that the right to organize is a civil and human rights issue of the first magnitude," said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, which hosted a telephone news conference Thursday.

"He was fighting for working people and poor people when he was killed," said Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP. Today, he said, King's fight would be for Employee Free Choice. NAACP members across the country are weighing in with their representatives. We feel confident that as the full depth of support for the Employee Free Choice Act becomes known, we will see it passed.

VERIZON CORE/VCSI Contracts Ratified

Retro-active pay compensation back to August 3, 2008 will be reflected in the October 31, 2008 pay check.

Highlights of Verizon Core Settlement

Members of the Communications Workers of America at Verizon Core Company overwhelmingly ratified a three-year agreement, approving the contract with greater than 90 percent "yes" vote.

A new three-year contract settlement with Verizon achieves union employees' major goals of promoting union jobs and expanding bargaining rights, providing good health care for both active and retired workers, and increasing wages and pensions for 65,000 workers from Virginia to Maine, the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reported.

In a breakthrough agreement, Verizon will extend union recognition to 600 former MCI technicians at Verizon Business who have been seeking representation for nearly two years.  These workers, who perform the same jobs as the union workforce, have received strong support from CWA and IBEW members in a campaign to "tear down the wall" between union and non-union sectors at Verizon.  The agreement also includes new opportunities for union workers to provide customer support and service at Verizon Business.

The settlement also eliminates subcontracting of work in a number of job areas, converts many temporary jobs to permanent and brings additional jobs associated with Verizon's cutting edge FiOS technology into the union bargaining units. Overall, the settlement should create 2,500 new union jobs.

Verizon and the unions have agreed to meet regularly during the course of the new agreement to review technological and business developments affecting employment, which will allow the company to stay current with business opportunities while also insuring that the unions are able to continue to represent employees as the business environment changes.

The issue of health costs and benefits was a major focus of the talks, as it has been in contract negotiations in virtually every industry.  The settlement preserves fully-paid health care premiums for all active and retired employees.  Future hires will have a defined contribution formula for retirement health care with the amount of Verizon's contributions subject to negotiation in each subsequent contract.

In addition, Verizon agreed to work with the unions in a joint effort to achieve meaningful health care reform. The company will provide funding of $2 million per year to the project.

The settlement calls for wage increases totaling 10.87 percent compounded over the three-year contract term.  COLA (cost of living adjustment) language remains in the contract.

Pension bands also will be increased by 10.87 percent compounded over the term of the agreement.   

The settlement also provides for a streamlined grievance dispute resolution system which will speed up a process that has been taking as long as three years to complete.

"This is a breakthrough agreement in many ways," said CWA President Larry Cohen.  "It creates new union jobs including major growth areas like FiOS, it takes a big step forward on health care and it brings hundreds of Verizon Business employees the union rights they deserve.  We applaud management for agreeing to keep the best health coverage in America and for their commitment to work with us for real health care reform.  This settlement provides a framework for growth at Verizon and a good standard of living with careers for our members."

"This agreement is a tribute to the solidarity and activism of IBEW and CWA members working at Verizon," said IBEW President Ed Hill.  "Our members mobilized strong and negotiated hard for a good contract that will benefit workers and their families now and in the future.  We congratulate union and company negotiators for finding solid common ground upon which we can build a better Verizon.  With this agreement we have met our goals to protect the retirees who helped build this company and have negotiated important provisions that will ensure future jobs for union members."

CWA represents 50,000 workers at Verizon and IBEW represents another 15,000 in the northeast.

More Details below (viewable in adobe acrobat):

Verizon Communications Summary

Highlights of VCSI Settlement

"Verizon Connected Solutions"

Members of the Communications Workers of America at Verizon Connected Solutions Incorporated have ratified a new three-year agreement, approving the contract with a 60 percent "yes" vote. The agreement achieves workers’ key goals, including a clear pathway for the VCSI members to transfer to the CORE Company. It provides for a compounded wage increase of 11.68 percent over the contract term. Retro-active pay compensation back to August 3, 2008 will be reflected in the October 31, 2008 pay check.

Highlights of the agreement:

1. Significant wage increase
2. Establishes several pathways for VCS members to move to core company
3. Preferential hiring status
4. Establishes safety committee
5. Improved arbitration language
6. Improved forced overtime language
7. Improved sickness absence policy
8. Inclusion in ACFC/TABEC (family care programs)
9. Greater flexibility for employees to take personal and vacation days in half-day increments

CWA is very interested in your opinion—which Presidential Candidate do you favor and whether or not you feel CWA should endorse a candidate before the primary season begins.

We have launched a union-wide e-poll, found on our political website, www.cwavotes.org so that you may voice your opinion. The website also includes lots of information about the candidates, including their responses to the questions CWA specifically asked them about jobs and trade, health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.

We encourage you to step up and do your part—as this campaign is a very important part of our political grassroots program which we hope will make a real difference for CWA families.

Verizon is spending big bucks on souped-up broadband and wireless services, while at the same time struggling with basic home phone line repairs. Behind this trend is a shift of money away from shrinking landline businesses with the "lion’s share" of that money going into the newer networks.

Several states have imposed or recommended huge fines against Verizon for forcing customers to wait for repairs. In Virginia, the State Corporation Commission proposed a state-record $17.5 million in fines for their failure to fix an estimated 170,000 phone outages within the required 24 to 48 hours in the first five months of 2006. And in Maryland, Verizon missed more than 20% of its service appointments in five of the first six months of this year.

"PSC Order #82584"

On April 6, 2009, the Public Service Commission of Maryland issued an order stating that the proposed settlement by Verizon does not serve the public interest and that the Commission could not find that the proposed settlement would ensure the quality, availability and reliability of telecommunications services throughout the State as required by statute.

You can learn more about this terrific benefit on www.unionplus.org/healthsavings. You can even test the program with a 30-day trial enrollment period.