In Final Weeks Before Elections, CWA Focuses on Jobs

Congress is back, and CWA is working with House and Senate leaders over the short four-week session to move forward on legislation to support good jobs and help middle class families.

With the Nov. 2 elections just six weeks away, CWA is reminding lawmakers to focus on passing legislation important to members' jobs. That includes:

• Collective bargaining rights for public safety officers. The legislation has bipartisan support, but a committed group of anti-union Republican Senators has prevented the Senate from considering House-passed legislation to extend these rights. CWA's National Coalition of Public Safety Officers represents more than 16,000 officers nationwide.
  
  
• Continued funding for the F-136 Joint Strike Fighter Alternate Engine, built by IUE-CWA members at General Electric. Some 2,000 jobs are at stake.
  
  
• Repeal of the job-killing Reverse Morris Trust tax loophole that has allowed Verizon and other companies to get big tax breaks when they sell assets to smaller companies that often are unable to provide quality service.
  
  
• Reauthorization of an emergency Needy Families Assistance program that has created 240,000 jobs in 37 states. Hundreds of CWA public workers in New Jersey are working everyday to provide this assistance to struggling families.
  
  
• In the House, CWA is working to pass legislation to clarify the FCC's jurisdiction over the Internet and establish key principles to preserve an open Internet while promoting job creation, no blocking, no discrimination and transparency.

A major victory  was secured this week, when the Senate voted to break a months-long Republican-led filibuster and passed a package of tax breaks and loan assistance for small businesses by a 61-38 vote. The measure only got to the Senate floor for a final vote because two Republican senators who are not running for reelection voted yes: George Voinovich (Ohio) and George LeMieux (Fla).