|
December 11, 2009
Volume 09
N
NO 51
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Local Office—920 11th Street S.E.
(Walking Distance from Potomac Ave. Metro Stop)
LOCAL OFFICE CLOSED DURING HOLIDAY
The Local office will be closed for business from
Friday, December 25th through Sunday, January 3rd.
The office will open for business as usual on Monday, January 4,
2010.
The Local Officers will be checking its email and
office answering machine during this period, and will respond to any
pressing issue.
18TH ANNUAL "BOWLING FOR GOLD"
"Union Bowling Tournament"
To benefit the Community Services Agency,
Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Crofton Bowling Center, Crofton, Maryland
$125.00 for team of 5 (five)
Call Kathleen McKirchy at 202 974-8821 or email
kmckirch@dclabor.org
For a Registration Form
CWA/NETT
"10th Anniversary Commemoration"
For a limited time, in commemoration of CWA/NETT’s
10th Anniversary, CWA will pay certification exam fees
for CCENT, CCNA Discovery or any class that is part of a
certification taken through CWA/NETT.
Those who become certified in any of the CWA/NETT programs will
become eligible for a drawing to win one of ten Dell notebook
computers.
For additional information, you can call CWA/NETT Academy at 877
676-4553 or visit the website at
www.cwanett.org/2010
 AT&T
Mobility
"Policy on Communicable Diseases"
AT&T reserves the right to exclude a person with a communicable
disease from workplace, facilities, programs and functions based on
a medical determination. Such restriction is necessary for the
safety of both the person who may have the communicable disease and
others within the workplace.
However, management would not take disciplinary action against an
employee for an absence directed by a supervisor, or directed by a
public health agency and/or treating physician based on a positive
diagnosis of H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu) so long as the employee or
his/her health care provider or the public health agency provides
written validation of the positive diagnosis, and the employee
returns to work promptly upon recovery from the illness.
WE NEED HEALTH CARE REFORM—NOT A TAX ON BENEFITS!
This new tax is supposedly aimed at high-priced "Cadillac" health
care plans -- but it would also hit many union families like yours.
That could lead employers to cut back on benefits to avoid the tax
-- or just pass the tax along to us.
That's an outcome we just can't afford.
It’s a good bet that in the past few days your Senators have
heard from lobbyists supporting this tax. Now make sure they
hear from you.
Take just a minute to call 1-888-580-0792 and urge them to oppose
this new tax on working families and support amendments that would
roll back or eliminate the tax.
CWA is fighting to eliminate this tax on benefits—but to be
successful, we need the support of CWA members across the country.
CWA TAKES ON VERIZON OVER FMLA ABUSES
 CWA
has filed a lawsuit charging Verizon Communications with denying
workers the rights and protections of the Family and Medical Leave
Act. The class action lawsuit covers Verizon workers in Districts 1,
2 and 13.
CWA and individual workers have laid out extensive complaints
against Verizon. "Verizon has created a number of arbitrary
administrative procedures that it requires workers to follow if they
want to be certified for FMLA, but these procedures are not a part
of the FMLA law. They shouldn’t be used to deny workers their
rightful FMLA benefits, but that’s exactly what Verizon is doing,"
said CWA General Counsel Mary O’Melveny.
FMLA provides workers at companies with 50 or more employees with
up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for the birth or adoption of
a child; care of a spouse, parent or a child under 18 for a serious
health condition; care of a child over 18 with mental or physical
disabilities, and an employee’s own illness.
Verizon’s policies are a real Catch-22:
- If a worker followed verbal instructions from the company’s
absence reporting center, and those instructions were wrong,
though the worker didn’t know it, the claim is denied.
- If a worker couldn’t file the full report on time, because her
doctor was on vacation or unavailable, the claim is denied. If
another physician in the same office completed the report, but
didn’t spell out the relationship between the two medical
providers, the claim is denied.
- If information was missing from the claim, for example, the
doctor’s office didn’t complete an item, the claim is denied.
- If a supervisor makes an error in reporting a workers’ claim,
it’s denied.
At Verizon, as far as FMLA is concerned, once a claim is denied
twice, a worker loses her FMLA rights.
Join the Demonstration
Against Unfair Layoffs
At Verizon
Saturday, December 19, 2009 11 A.M.
Verizon’s Headquarters
1 East Pratt St. in Baltimore
- Verizon is one of the most profitable companies in the World.
It made over $4 billion the first 9 months of 2009.
- Verizon’s cut backs will hurts customers – even a longer time
waiting to get your phone fixed.
- Verizon is contracting out thousands of good jobs to low-wage
overseas workers.
Call your local union for more details about
transportation to the rally.
Communications Workers of America
Local 2336
(202) 291-1500 |
