Tough Bargaining Continues

Contract Extended Day-to-Day at CenturyLink, CWAers Keep Up the Heat

CWA members at CenturyLink are standing strong for a fair contract. Above, Local 7800 members and allies are determined to "fight for what's right." Below, members of Local 7777 at the Zuni Street call center know "it takes all of us."

The 13,000 CWA represented workers in 13 District 7 states are keeping up their fight for a fair contract at CenturyLink. The contract was set to expire at midnight on October 6, but workers are continuing to stay on the job, with a temporary contract extension.

The CWA bargaining team says there has been little movement on the big issues facing workers. Bringing back jobs that have been sent overseas, contracting out and health care are among the big issues.

CenturyLink is the nation's third largest telecommunications company. It made profits of $2 billion last year and is on track to be even more successful in 2012. CenturyLink workers have made many sacrifices to keep their company going over the years, especially during the Qwest years. Now, the workers who have made the company a success are standing strong to keep good jobs in the U.S. and for a fair contract.

Show your solidarity and support for CWA CenturyLink workers by liking their Facebook page.

The negotiations cover workers in these D7 states: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.

AT&T Mobility Members Approve Health Care Agreement

CWAers at AT&T Mobility have ratified a four-year agreement covering health care benefits. The agreement covers about 42,000 AT&T Mobility members. Highlights include lower premiums and a Health Care Reimbursement Account for the first time of $500 in 2013 and 2014.

New York Times Staff Walks Out In Protest

About 400 members of The Newspaper Guild of New York, CWA, walk out over management demands to slash their contract.

A day after a walkout by some 400 New York Times staff in NY and the DC bureau, members of TNG-CWA 31003, New York Times management agreed to a TNG-CWA proposal for mediation rather than going forward with a threatened "final offer" and possible impasse.

In New York, union members left their desks and walked out of the newsroom on Oct. 8 for a 15-minute protest. In Washington, 23 guild members staged their own similar walk out. Protesters wore white stickers that said "Believe Us."

"At every bargaining session for the last year and a half, negotiators for The Times have offered us the same poisoned chalice: perpetually shrinking compensation," said a guild memo to members Monday morning. "Today we begin a series of actions to make sure that the company hears and understands our position. We have more than earned fair wages and benefits. We will accept nothing less. That message has not yet gotten through, despite huge concessions by our representatives. It is time to raise our voices."

Management has proposed outrageous cuts to wages and benefits. Proposals have called for at least a $15,000 annual cut, in real dollars, to each staffer's compensation package.

More than 600 TNG-CWA members have signed an open letter to publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., executive editor Jill Abramson and incoming CEO Mark Thompson, imploring them not to let the newspaper be "steered any closer to this abyss" where staffers are "regularly being hired away because they can no longer afford to work here."

CWA Frontier Members Ratify New Contracts

Members of CWA Locals 2276 and 2001 ratified new agreements with Frontier Communications. These separate contracts cover about 140 workers; another contract covering about 1,600 CWA members at Frontier expires August 2013.

The contracts provide for wage increases of 9.5 percent over the four-year contract term.