Maryland CWAers Win Victories in Legislative Session

Members of seven CWA locals lobby state legislators in Annapolis.

The 2012 Maryland state legislative session closed this week, and CWA members made some real gains for workers and consumers.

CWAers successfully blocked Verizon's attempt to eliminate Public Service Commission overview of a potential sale of Verizon assets. A strong showing of more than 40 CWA members and retirees from seven locals, plus testimony by Paula Vinciguerra, Local 2106, helped ensure that SB 813 didn't make it out of the Senate Finance Committee.

With CWA support, the Offshoring Disclosure bill was passed by both the state House and Senate. It requires state contractors to disclose any plans to offshore jobs covered by those contracts and to justify why those jobs would be moved. "In the next session, we'll come back to try and put a stop to this practice altogether," said Jimmy Tarlau, assistant to the president for D2-13.

CWA members and the labor community also fought back and won against another Verizon assault on union members. The Privileged Communications Involving Labor Organizations, SB 797, was passed. It prohibits a labor organization from being compelled to disclose communication or information between a grievant and a union representative unless a criminal proceeding is involved. Verizon tried to block this bill and spent a lot of time fabricating stories about what CWA might know about actions during last year's strike.

The Maryland legislative-political action team did terrific work and is gearing up to take on more campaigns, Tarlau said.