Jan 5, 2017 - AT&T DIRECTV Contracts Ratified

CWAers are launching a major campaign to fight back against a corporate cabinet that puts the worst of Wall Street insiders in charge of our government. Over the next several weeks, and for as long as it takes, CWA locals are leafleting worksites at least one day a week about these nominees. CWA members are calling their Senators, telling them to oppose these crony capitalists.

The fight began this week with Trump's pick of Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a member of Congress, he's received hundreds of thousands of dollars from drug and insurance companies. He has a radical plan to destroy Medicare and force seniors to rely on private insurance. Locals are spreading the word throughout CWA worksites, and activists are joining the fight.

Call your Senators now at 888-701-5344. Tell them to block the corporate takeover of our government and the attack on Medicare by opposing the nomination of Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

"These cabinet picks show that the needs and wish list of corporations, the wealthy, and Wall Street will be front and center yet again, unless we fight back," said CWA President Chris Shelton. "The billionaires, whose greed caused the Great Recession in 2007, and who have shipped millions of good jobs overseas, now control the White House and Congress. We're going to do everything we can to stop these nominations."

We know that phone calls to Members of Congress work. In a major victory this week showing the power of mobilization, after being flooded with phone calls to their offices, Republicans in Congress abandoned a back room attempt to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent watchdog office that oversees their actions.

CWAers will continue to mobilize against the corporate cabinet as the other nominees face questioning from Congress. Next week, our focus will be Commerce Secretary pick Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known as the "king of bankruptcy," who devastated communities by buying up companies and shipping jobs overseas.

In addition to Price and Ross, Trump has picked Andrew Puzder – CEO of fast-food conglomerate CKE Restaurants, who opposes minimum wages and overtime pay – as Secretary of Labor; Steve Mnuchin – a former Goldman Sachs banker who tried to foreclose on the home of a 90-year-old woman for a 27-cent payment mistake – to be Secretary of the Treasury; Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council; and Elaine Chao, who made $1.2 million while overseeing Wells Fargo as it faced record fines for creating millions of fraudulent bank accounts, as Secretary of Transportation.

Learn more at http://blockthecorporatecabinet.org.

CWA is taking on the corporate cabinet. Be a part of the fight. Contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the nominations of these Wall Street insiders.

DIRECTV members at the Tulsa, Okla., call center are CWA proud.

DIRECTV Customer Service

CWA members at DIRECTV customer call and commercial retention call centers have ratified first contracts.

The contracts cover 2,000 workers in Huntsville, Ala.; Tulsa, Okla.; Huntington, WVa.; Eden Prairie, Minn.; and Denver.

Click here for specific contract details for each center.

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AT&T West

CWAers from California and Nevada leafleted participants attending the AT&T Developer Summit in Las Vegas. CWA members at AT&T West are mobilizing for a fair contract, and urged Summit attendees not to be "distracted by the flashy technologies you see at this year’s Developer Summit."

AT&T West is pushing to undercut frontline technicians and ship good jobs overseas, and CWAers are fighting back. Read more here.

CWAers spent a day leafleting participants at the AT&T Developer Summit in Las Vegas, one of the biggest tech events of the year.

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E-ZPASS

E-ZPass workers in Staten Island, NY, through member solidarity and action including speaking out at MTA meetings in the community, reached a tentative four-year agreement that beats back concessions, provides for across the board wage increases across all departments, improves the absence plan, and adds union security language.

CWA Local 1102 members made a number of major strides in this agreement, some of them groundbreaking.

Congratulations to the CWAers and bargaining committee who worked so hard for this win, including CWA Local 1102 President Steve Lawton, Staff Reps Ricky Morrison and John Dempsey, and all of Local 1102.

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Momentive

Workers at Momentive in Waterford, NY, have been on strike since November 2. They are standing together for each other, the community, and all working people who want to earn a good living in this country.

"This is bigger than Waterford. This fight is for the whole country. Corporations are just getting greedier and greedier every day," said John Gamache, a Momentive worker for 22 years.

Watch and share this video on Facebook to spread the word.

CWA is standing up to the Wall Street takeover of our government, and every member needs to be a part of the fight. Over the next few weeks, CWA activists will be laser-focused on encouraging co-workers, friends, allies and community activists to contact their Senators to tell them to say “No” to the corporate cabinet.

Joining President Shelton will be Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley (D), a big supporter of working families and a leader in the effort to block the corporate cabinet.

"If anyone can fight this, we can," said Shelton. Join the town hall call TONIGHT – Thursday, January 5 at 7:30 pm, ET. You can listen to the call here.  

CWAers – women and men – are coming to Washington, D.C., on January 21, to join the Women's March on Washington, a mega-rally and march, the day after the presidential inauguration.

CWA is a leading sponsor of the action that encourages women and supporters to stand together for "the protection of our rights, our safety and our vibrant and diverse communities."

So far, CWAers are coming by bus from North Carolina, southern Virginia, New Jersey and New York, and hundreds more are making their way to D.C. Organizers expect that nearly 200,000 participants will attend the peaceful protest.

The rally begins at the intersection of Independence Ave and Third St, SW, near the U.S. Capitol, at 10:00 am. Click here for more information.