News

As this issue went to press, thousands of CWA and IBEW members were descending upon Verizon's New York City headquarters to stage a "We Won't Back Down" rally tonight, June 28, to protest the company's anti-worker and anti-customer policies. Some 2,000 workers were expected at the rally, with many bussing in from New England and Mid-Atlantic States.

CWA members and retirees, community supporters, elected officials and activists concerned about the possible closing of the Alcatel Lucent facility in North Andover, Mass., rallied at the local community college on June 24 to show their determination to keep the plant open.

IUE-CWA members this week voted to ratify their new four-year contract with General Electric with 79 percent approving the agreement, which boosts wages by 16 percent and provides significant pension increases for the 10,000 workers.

The UAW last week agreed to a tentative labor pact with Delphi covering about 17,000 members. Meanwhile, IUE-CWA leadership remains in Troy, Mich., where Delphi is headquartered, and continues to bargain on behalf of the remaining 1,500 workers it represents at Delphi.

Wal-Mart's "falling prices" are far more costly to the American economy than its shoppers know – or perhaps want to know: Its deals with manufacturers in China cost 200,000 American jobs between 2001 and 2006.