Feb 21, 2019 - Did You Get a Pay Raise From the Corporate Tax Cut?

University of California

University of California's bargaining team presented what they are calling a "Last, Best, and Final Offer" for Research (RX) and Technical (TX) members of UPTE-CWA. The offer still contains unnecessary and unacceptable cuts including eliminating pay step increases for experience and longevity, no daily overtime or protections for full-time work, putting pension benefits in jeopardy by pushing new hires to choose a risky 401(k), and more.;

"UPTE-CWA members are the backbone of world-class education, health care, and research at UC campuses and medical centers," said Elisa Cleveland, a Staff Research Associate at UC San Francisco, and a member of UPTE-CWA's Bargaining Team. "UC executives' bad faith-bargaining over nearly two years has undermined the institution they are responsible for. UPTE-CWA is standing with students, patients, and our communities who expect and deserve more."

"It would have been one thing for UC executives to start with this offer in 2017," said Erich Wise, a Senior Lab Mechanician at UC Irvine, and a member of the UPTE-CWA Bargaining Team. "Putting it on the table now, after we've already fallen so far behind the rising cost of living adds insult to injury. They have seen our power striking in solidarity with AFSCME. They hope they have worn us down but let me tell you: they haven't seen anything yet."

UC can now impose their terms on Research and Technical members, and UPTE-CWA can call an economic strike to pressure UC to offer a fair contract.

The UPTE-CWA UC bargaining team preparing to meet with UC for post-Fact Finding Research (RX) and Technical (TX) negotiations.

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Park City Mountain Resort 

Members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association/CWA Local 7781 have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new agreement covering all ski patrollers and mountain safety personnel at Park City Mountain resort through November of 2020. Included in the agreement are base wage increases and a compensation scale for specialty skills such as avalanche control, dog handlers, chair lift evacuation coordinators, EMTs, and paramedics.

"We were motivated by a desire to retain a highly skilled, professional, and tenured Ski Patrol workforce," said Julia Edwards, a member of the bargaining committee. "We're working diligently to ensure that Patrollers can earn a livable wage, and remain here serving our guests and the Park City community for their entire career."

Hartford Courant

Workers at the Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously run U.S. newspaper, have won voluntary recognition for their union from ownership company Tribune Publishing. Workers organized in response to decisions coming from out-of-town corporate managers who have little regard for their local communities, and deepening cuts to their resources and standards.

The approximately 60 reporters, editors, and photographers will make up two bargaining units – a 52-person unit at the Hartford Courant unit and a 7-person unit at Courant Community, with an agreement to bargain jointly with the two units. The units will be represented by the Providence Newspaper Guild/CWA Local 34071.

Workers at the Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously run U.S. newspaper, have won voluntary recognition for their union.

In order to get the Republican corporate tax cut bill passed, many big businesses made big promises to workers that their wages would go up. Instead, more than a year after the tax cut went into effect, those wage increases are nowhere to be found.

A piece published last week by NBC News and the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity shines a spotlight on how companies have failed to raise wages for their employees, and have instead funneled their massive profits from the tax bill into stock buybacks that only benefit executives and large shareholders. The piece features IUE-CWA member Lerouise Rupert at Emerson Electric and CWA member Marvin Thompson at AT&T Midwest.

The piece notes that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced that employees would receive $1,000 bonuses – about 1 percent of the estimated $20.4 billion tax windfall the company recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017, but that "while handing out the bonuses, AT&T was in the middle of laying off thousands of workers." 

"Employees who have been there and built the company are being pushed out in the chase of the almighty dollar," said Marvin Thompson, who has worked for AT&T for 18 years in its Dayton, Ohio, center.

United Campus Workers of Georgia-CWA Local 3265 held their inaugural CWA higher education lobby day at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday. With support from CWA District 3 legislative activists and the Georgia CWA Political Council, members from seven different Georgia campuses met with their state Senators and Representatives to gain additional sponsors on legislation to guarantee a fair pay raise for all Georgia higher education workers in 2019. Members also lobbied to improve working conditions of non-tenure track "adjunct" faculty and to improve overall higher education funding.

CWA Local 3265 has grown from the founding group of 50 UGA employees in November of 2017 to 350 CWA members at campuses across the state!

United Campus Workers of Georgia-CWA Local 3265 held their inaugural CWA higher education lobby day at the Georgia State Capitol to build support for a fair pay raise and better working conditions.