Oct 22, 2020 - How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts, McConnell Is Blocking Relief for Millions, and other news.

In the wake of reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is delaying consideration of a comprehensive COVID relief package until after the election, CWA members and other workers in North Carolina held a widely-covered virtual press conference to highlight how delaying much needed assistance has affected them and their communities. The workers are calling on Senator Thom Tillis to stop putting McConnell's priorities ahead of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who face unemployment, foreclosure, and other serious economic consequences due to the COVID-19 crisis.

President of CWA Local 3641 Zattier Marvin, an airline passenger service agent who has worked for American Airlines for 22 years, urged the Senate to provide relief for workers now.

"I want our Senators to imagine what would happen if they suddenly could not pay for food and shelter for themselves and their families," said President of CWA Local 3641 Zattier Marvin, an airline passenger service agent who has worked for American Airlines for 22 years. "What if their children couldn't go to the doctor because their health insurance disappeared? What if someone told them they could have a job but they'd have to move 2,000 miles away and uproot their whole family in order to keep it? That's what we are facing."

"Since March, we've seen illness, lockdowns, and kids going to school at their kitchen tables. But many of us have survived because of the support provided in the CARES Act," said Keedren Gantt, President of CWA Local 3640, a reservations agent at American Airlines. "When so many of us were on leave, Congress provided an expansion of unemployment insurance that allowed us to pay the rent, buy food, and keep the lights on in our homes, so we were okay. But that expansion of unemployment ran out weeks ago. New furloughs have begun and people have no idea where to turn to just survive the next weeks and months."

"As each day passes, the dire situation worsens for millions as bills for rent, car, mortgage, and other payments add up and these Republicans like McConnell and Tillis do nothing to help. Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Senate have completely abandoned millions of families," said CWA's Senior Director for Government Affairs and Policy Shane Larson.

Read more here.

With only days left until Election Day and early voting underway in many states, hundreds of CWAers across the country are phonebanking together to flip the Senate and to elect Joe Biden!

Join the fight now, don't miss out on a chance to connect with your fellow CWAers and do everything we can to ensure that working people finally have something to celebrate in November!

Don't worry if you're a first time phonebanker – we connect over Zoom at the start of the shift to provide training and support.

Sign up today! – CWA.org/GOTV2020.

CWAers across the country are phonebanking together to flip the Senate and to elect Joe Biden!

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in early voting. Many people are voting at home and returning ballots by dropping them off at a secure ballot box or putting them in the mail.

These ballots can take longer to process and will continue to arrive at election offices for several days after November 3. In many states, ballots are valid as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received within a specified time period. Regulations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, for example, specify that ballots delivered up to three days after the election must be counted. In Iowa, ballots that are postmarked before Election Day are valid as long as they are received by noon on the Monday following the election.

This means that the outcome of the election may not be clear on Election Night. It's important to take as much time as necessary to have an accurate, complete vote count. But Donald Trump has been raising unfounded concerns about election fraud, and he may prematurely declare victory before all the votes are counted or try to stop all legitimate ballots from being counted.

That's unacceptable. The Protect the Results coalition, of which CWA is a member, is preparing to protect our democracy by ensuring that every vote is counted. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit cwa.org/protecttheresults.

Blue State

Seventy-five employees at creative agency Blue State won voluntary union recognition this week after a neutral third party verified that a majority of the workers had signed union authorization cards. The group, which includes campaign strategists, analysts, designers, account managers, finance specialists, office managers, and developers, is part of CODE-CWA and will be represented by CWA Local 1101.

"We believe that in any workplace, people come first," said Kendra Ijeoma, a member of the union organizing committee. "That's why we're so excited to form our Blue State Union and join CODE-CWA. This isn't just about us – we stand in solidarity with workers around the world who deserve a seat at the table!"

"I welcome our newest tech workers into our CWA family," said CWA Local 1101 President Keith Purce. "We look forward to working with Blue State to negotiate a first of its kind union agreement. It is wonderful to see more and more tech workers gaining power by joining CODE-CWA."

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Liberty Communications

A group of 54 Liberty Communications technicians in San Juan, P.R., won union representation in an NLRB election held last week, thanks to a strong organizing push from worker organizing committee members. CWA Local 3010 President Aramis Dominguez assisted with the efforts.

A proposed decision by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer would deny T-Mobile's request to get out of the speed testing and job conditions the CPUC set when it approved the T-Mobile/Sprint merger in April, including a requirement to hire 1,000 new workers.

CWA filed comments with the CPUC rebutting T-Mobile's claim that the CPUC does not have jurisdiction to review wireless transactions and to impose job conditions, including the requirement that T-Mobile must have a net increase of 1,000 jobs three years post-merger. In 2018, CWA estimated that the merger was likely to eliminate 30,000 U.S. jobs, with authorized retailers and prepaid stores being hit the hardest.