News

A landmark university study of CWA technicians at Verizon in California offers proof of what many telecom techs know all too well: They are working long hours, facing heat stress, electrical hazards, physical strain and other conditions that are affecting their health.

In the past year, the Obama administration has worked to restore the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's mission to protect workers on the job. It's a real contrast to the previous eight years, when the Bush administration did everything possible to deregulate OSHA, slash funds and hand out jobs to business and management friends.

On that dreadful September day eight years ago, Jack Noonan was among the thousands of people running from lower Manhattan through a fog of ash as the sky rained rubble.

For CWA, workplace safety and health protection is a top priority. Making up CWA's Occupational Safety and Health program are safety and health coordinators from every district and more than 75 percent of locals have safety and health committees. Across CWA, there are more than 2,500 workplace safety and health activists who work together to advance health and safety efforts for every CWA sector.

Thanks to CWA efforts in Districts 4, 6 and 9, a potentially serious problem affecting back-up batteries for AT&T's U-Verse system has been fixed. This action alleviated a real job hazard before any injuries were caused to workers or consumers.