Bargaining Update

AT&T West

Workers at AT&T West are standing together against management demands for cuts in health care, retirement security and disability pay, as well as its refusal to fairly address working conditions and job issues for customer service representatives. CWA members in California and Nevada have been working without a contract since April 9.

CWAers demonstrate outside ATT-DirecTV Corporate HQ in El Segundo, where AT&T executives were meeting.

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CWA Local 9413 premises technicians picket in Reno, Nev.

Digital First Media

Last Friday, news workers kicked off the first "News Matters Day" as part of a nationwide campaign defending quality journalism from Wall Street attacks.

The campaign focused on one of the biggest newspaper chains, Digital First Media (DFM), where the #NewsMatters hashtag appeared on leaflets, T-shirts, and desk tents of workers represented by The NewsGuild-CWA.

Alden Global Capital, a shadowy Wall Street hedge fund, has taken control of DFM, stripping assets, firing staff, and cutting news coverage. Most recently, Alden announced large newsroom reductions at the Denver Post and in the San Francisco Bay Area after paying $49.8 million for the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

DFM workers who remain are fighting back – even at the risk that their own jobs might be on the line next.

NewsGuild President Bernie Lunzer said the #NewsMatters campaign was more than a contract fight. "The time-honored values of journalism, our tradition of public service and ability to do our jobs to the best of our ability – all that is threatened when financial speculators take over newspapers," Lunzer said.

Thirteen union-represented DFM workplaces are standing together in solidarity.

Read more at dfmworkers.org.

Pacific Media Workers Guild members at The San Francisco Chronicle show that #NewsMatters.

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Guild members at the Denver Post wear #NewsMatters shirts in support of fair contract negotiations.

Verizon

The strike by 39,000 CWA and IBEW members at Verizon has hit the one-month mark, and activists and allies are expanding our mobilization and actions to get Verizon to bargain a fair contract. Picket lines are strong and striking workers are determined to last one day longer than greedy Verizon.

Keep up with all the latest at www.facebook.com/standuptoverizon and www.standuptoverizon.com.

CWA members, locals and allies nationwide, including the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice, are "adopting" Verizon Wireless stores in every CWA district and picketing them, to push Verizon to get serious about bargaining.

There's a lot every CWA member can do.

• Contribute to the solidarity fund to help strikers and their families meet special and extremely difficult financial needs.
• Sign this petition, so that CEO Lowell McAdam knows we're solid and united.
• Take the pledge not to cross the picket line by buying any Verizon products.
• Be a regular on a Verizon Wireless picket line or organize a protest in your area.