News

A new contract for NABET-CWA members at KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore., now includes company-paid training, a real plus for employees and management at a time of financial distress for the station's corporate owner.

Burdensome financial disclosure rules for labor unions that the Bush administration issued on its last day in office have been rescinded by the Department of Labor.

Union members and community supporters opposed to the sale of Verizon's landlines to Frontier Communications took part in a grassroots lobby day on October 14 at the Capitol in Charleston to talk with their state legislators about the impact of the sale on the future of West Virginia. About 75 members from Communications Workers of America (CWA) local unions who work for Verizon or Frontier participated.

The Family and Medical Leave Act was legislated to allow workers to take unpaid leave or to substitute appropriate earned paid leave for up to 12 work weeks in any 12 month period to care for a child, family member with a serious health condition, or the employee's own health condition. As determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act, coverage is based upon working 1,250 hours in a year. However, due to this requirement, this formula does not provide FMLA protection/coverage for flight attendants (because time spent between airline trips (as compared with "flight time") does not count towards their time at work).