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April 4, 2008
Volume 08
ï NO 14
STEWARD AND MOBILIZER MEETING
"Mark Your Calendars"
 There
will be a very important meeting of the Stewards and Mobilizers of
Local 2336 that will be held on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, beginning
promptly at 6:00 p.m. here at the Local office on 5321 1st
Place NE, Washington, D.C.¹
This meeting is open to stewards from all units of the Local, and
also to any members interested in becoming a steward or mobilizer of
the Local.
It is extremely important that any one who plans to attend this
meeting, RSVP by contacting the Local office on 202 291-1500
no later than 12 noon, Friday, April 11, 2008. This notification is
so important because depending on the response of participation, we
may have to change the location of this meeting. We also plan to
serve refreshments.¹
IDEARC MEDIA
"Major Grassroots Mobilization mounted by CWA"
CWA is mounting a major grassroots mobilization
and corporate campaign against the directory advertising firm, which
was spun off from Verizon in 2006 but remains the official publisher
of Verizon directories.¹
About 700 CWA and IBEW members in New England and Upstate New
York have been working without a contract since June when the
company declared a bargaining impasse and imposed steep concessions
in all benefit programs as well as job security and sales commission
plans.¹
Other CWA contracts with Idearc expire this summer and at various
points through 2009. Altogether CWA represents 1,700 Idearc workers
in 17 locals in Districts 1, 2 and 13 in the Northeast and
Mid-Atlantic. Their jobs include sales, customer service, graphic
design and clerical support.¹
A campaign website has been set up at
www.cwa-union.org/idearc
and representatives of Idearc locals throughout the system have been
meeting to plan rallies and activities, with support from Jobs with
Justice, and are planning to have a major presence at the Idearc’s
shareholder’s meeting on May 1 in Dallas.¹
Idearc is compounding poor management decisions that have tanked
the company’s stock by 87 percent in less than a year by creating
labor turmoil and poor employee morale. While Idearc’s stock value
declined by 1 percent in 2007, share value of its major competitor
AT&T Advertising and Publishing grew by 16 percent.¹
Meanwhile, a top management shuffle is underway. Former CEO Kathy
Harliss was forced by the board to step down in February, and her
replacement was on the job only 10 days before resigning for
unspecified health reasons. An interim CEO currently is in place.¹
SHARE GROUP INCORPORATED
"Common Interest Forum"
A Common Interest Forum (CIF) session was held by
the Union and Share Management on Thursday, March 28, 2008. The
Union and Management has agreed to meet at least once quarterly
throughout the year. However, both parties have also agreed that
more of these sessions would be scheduled, if necessary.¹
In this session, there was lengthy discussion regarding
discipline associated with miscoding of calls and listening to
answering machines. Due to the high incidence of disciplinary action
related to these two issues, it was thought that a solution could
possibly be found in this forum.
However, Share has implemented new guidelines for progressive
discipline regarding miscoding of calls and listening to answering
machines, and plans to continue their use. Extenuating circumstances
regarding miscoding of calls or listening to answering was not given
consideration before evoking discipline. It was thus not a
possibility for the forum to make any type of recommendation that
was in the best interest of both parties.¹
RETIRED MEMBERS CLUB
"Retiree Chapter 2336"
All retired members not registered should contact
Chapter Executive Vice President Betty Brooks on 301 262-3037 or
email
bbrookscwarmcpres@yahoo.com as soon as possible.¹
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