Aug 24, 2017 - CWAers Tell President Trump Bring Back Our Jobs

Mesa Airlines

Mesa Airlines Flight Attendants, represented by AFA-CWA, announced a tentative agreement with Mesa Airlines management. The four year agreement would cover over 1,100 Flight Attendants and includes economic and quality of life gains. The deal was reached with the assistance of the National Mediation Board.

"Mesa Flight Attendants stood together in our efforts to be recognized for the work we do every day as aviation's first responders," said Heather Stevenson, AFA President at Mesa Airlines. "The company ultimately heard our concerns and worked with us to resolve these difficult negotiations. This agreement will finally make a difference for Mesa Flight Attendants and their families. AFA Mesa Leaders stand behind the Tentative Agreement and approved submitting it to AFA members for ratification."

The tentative agreement addresses concerns about Mesa Flight Attendant wages in comparison to other regional carriers and includes significant work rule improvements and other economic improvements. Flight Attendants will vote on the tentative agreement in September.

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Point Park University

Faculty union negotiators reached a tentative agreement with Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pa., for a first-ever union contract covering about 140 full-time faculty members. A ratification vote is scheduled for Aug. 25. Faculty had voted overwhelmingly for the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA, Local 38061, back in June 2004, and faced years of university challenges and appeals through the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Bargaining began in 2015. 

Read more here.

CWAers have joined forces with other unions, activists, community groups, and Good Jobs Nation for a Midwest Pickup Tour to mobilize working families in Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The tour focuses on how the offshoring of good jobs harms working people and communities, and calls out elected officials, including President Trump, for breaking their promises to bring good jobs back to the U.S.

Speakers at every stop are calling on Congress to enact the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, H.R. 1300 and S. 515, which requires that U.S. callers be told the location of the call center to which they are speaking and offers callers the opportunity to be connected to a U.S.-based center if preferred, and makes U.S. companies that off-shore call center jobs from the U.S. ineligible for certain federal grants and taxpayer-funded loans.

CWA President Chris Shelton said, "We need action, not empty words from politicians, to keep good jobs in our communities. Offshoring has led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of good jobs and is pushing down the wages of U.S. working families. Good U.S. call center and technology jobs are being moved overseas while call centers in the Philippines, India, and many other countries are rapidly expanding to service the U.S. market. U.S. workers shouldn’t have to compete with overseas operations that pay a dollar an hour and force employees to work 12-hour days."

At the August 21 kickoff event in Indianapolis, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was joined by Danielle Collier-Brewer, vice president, CWA Local 4900; Sharon Smith-Vaughn, executive vice president, Local 4998; CWA District 4 Representative Jane Phillips, and speakers from the Steelworkers and other unions. State Senator David Niezgodski, sponsor of call center legislation in Indiana, also joined. U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) is a key Senate sponsor.

Watch video of the CWA speakers in Indianapolis here.

In Bloomington, CWA Local 4818 President Justin Hawkins, Smith-Vaughn, Phillips, and others led a rally outside an empty GE plant. Joining the rally was Liz Watson, Democratic candidate for Indiana’s Ninth District in the U.S. House, a strong supporter of the call center legislation.

"We all know that the rules are rigged against working families. That's why some of the biggest and richest U.S. corporations can get away with sending good jobs offshore," Hawkins said.

Read more about the Bloomington rally here.

Under the Good Jobs Nation banner, workers and activists also are calling out President Trump for refusing to sign a single executive order to stop offshoring by federal contractors who receive more than $1.3 trillion in taxpayer dollars every year, despite his campaign promises to bring jobs back.

Read more about the tour here.

Next stop: Racine, Wis., and Kalamazoo, Mich. Click here for more information.

Top row: In Bloomington, Ind., congressional candidate Liz Watson joins the Pickup Tour. Next to her (right) is CWA D4 Rep. Jane Phillips, Local 4998 EVP Sharon Smith-Vaughn, and GJN Director Joseph Geevarghese. Right, Local President 4818 Justin Hawkins, speaking, to his left is Chuck Jones, past president, Steelworkers Local 1999.
Center row: Local 4998 EVP Sharon Smith-Vaughn and CWA Local 4900 VP Danielle Collier-Brewer (right) at the Indianapolis rally. Right, CWA D4 Rep. Jane Phillips with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Bottom: CWAers and union activists call on President Trump to keep his promises about bringing back good jobs to the U.S.

In a comprehensive new report, How Today’s Unions Help Working People, the Economic Policy Institute details how collective bargaining plays an essential role in today's labor market by raising working people's wages and strengthening their rights at work, as well as giving working people a voice in our democracy.

The report provides updated statistics on who today’s unions represent and where they are strongest. The authors point out that labor unions are more diverse than ever before: Union members include dental hygienists, graduate students, and digital journalists, as well as manufacturing workers and public-sector employees. About two-thirds of union workers age 18 to 64 are women or people of color. 14.5 percent of black workers age 18 to 64 are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, compared with 12.5 percent of white workers and 10.1 percent of Hispanic workers.

Collective bargaining is an important force in reducing inequality and ensuring that low- and middle-wage workers are given a fair return on their work. As productivity has risen over the last several decades, wages have remained flat for the majority of working people, while skyrocketing for those at the top. Union decline can explain one-third of the rise in wage inequality among men and one-fifth of the rise in wage inequality among women from 1973 to 2007. Among men, the erosion of collective bargaining has been the largest single factor driving a wedge between the middle class and the top 1 percent.

Read the full report here.

Congratulations to the 2017-2018 IUE-CWA scholarship winners:

Paul Jennings Scholarship for $3,000
Michaela Tobey, father is Michael Toby, Local 311. Attending New York Beauty & Barber Academy.

Sal Ingrassia Scholarship for $2,500
Ciera Hightower, mother is Rosa Sears, Local 761. Attending Spalding University.

Bruce Van Ess Scholarship for $2,500
Amber Brown, mother is Teri Laws, Local 801 FW. Attending St. Anthony College of Nursing.     

David J. Fitzmaurice Scholarship for $2,000
Casey Vollmer, father is Aaron Vollmer, Local 612. Attending Gannon University.

Robert L. Livingston Scholarship for $1,500
Clare Surette, father is Paul Surette, Local 214. Attending  UMass at Amherst.
Madison Summers, father is Steve Summers, Local 761. Attending Indiana University Southeast.

George Hutchens Scholarship for $1,500
Emily Little, mother is Rita Little, Local 755. Attending the University of Cambridge, Wolfson College.

Willie Rudd Scholarship for $1,000
Cory Giunta, father is Jeffrey Giunta, Local 22485. Attending University of Buffalo.

James B. Carey Scholarship for $1,000
Emma Rader, grandfather is Robert Lee Lewis, Local 717. Attending Kent State University.
Haille Pitcock, mother is Linda Pitcock, Local 775. Attending Sinclair Community College.
Brian Tran, father is Long Tran, Local 475. Attending Rutgers University.
Autumn Quinn, father is David Quinn, Local 901. Attending IPFW.
Brynn Moore, father is Eli Coury, Local 1004. Attending  Cowley County Community College.
Christopher Hernandez, father is Adolpho Hernandez, Local 262 FW. Attending  U.C. Regents.
Gage Campbell, father is Bruce Campbell, Local 102 FW. Attending  Adelphi University.
Katelyn Klonowski, father is David Klonowski, Local 1004. Attending Cowley College.
Lindsay Noland, father is Shawn Noland, Local 1004. Attending Cowley College.

Please join CWA/NETT Academy for a free 45-minute webinar that examines the world of CompTIA Project+ Certification.

Organizational skills are needed in almost every field including inside and outside IT professionals, call centers, and customer service jobs.

Project+ validates the ability to initiate, coordinate, and support a project or task. And it’s not just for IT technicians. Project+ is designed for any individual who wants to learn and validate task-based work skills.

“This class is pretty awesome! The instructor knows the content very well and leads the group at a good pace allowing time to answer questions. That's great! And I also like that you can chat online with the other members in the class,” says Jesus R. of CWA Local 6215.

Join the webinar September 6, 2017, at 7:00pm EST.

It's free but you have to pre-register by clicking here.