AT&T Legacy T Mobilization Report #7

Mobilization elevates as CWA members complete week one working without a contract at AT&T.   

Our members continue to provide the best possible service with the highest level of quality while making sure each worker is following all safety measures.   We are the Network for both Wireline and Wireless and we remain dedicated to helping our customers.

Vice President Ralph Maly held a conference call with Local Officers and Executive Board members where we got to hear first hand about the retrogressive proposals that keep getting passed across the table by the Company.  National Mobilization was discussed and Locals committed to continue movement through Phase 3 of Mobilization.  There will be no call this week, as there is nothing new for bargaining to report.

AT&T remains one of the greediest companies and has proven, with its continued mass layoffs and by sending good middle class jobs offshore to other countries, that they don’t care about workers, our families, our communities or the economic stability of this country.

Our fight is our communities’ fight.  Thousands of CWA Members & Activists completed training with 99% Spring this weekend.  For those of you who were not able to attend one of the sessions in person, it’s not too late.  Participating in training is even easier than ever.  You can sign up for online training at http://training.the99spring.com/training/99spring/?rc=RTD.  You can also join or plan actions on that website.  Our Fight for the American Dream is against the greediest 1%, including AT&T.  Become part of this great movement today.

As we continue MOBILIZATION PHASE 3, we will continue to bring our message forward to the public.  If you haven’t had a chance to read the report, check out: www.cwa-union.org/lowroadreport which outlines many of the low road options AT&T has already taken, including not paying their fair share of taxes.  Locals should prepare to take that message into our communities on tax day April 17^th.

Big actions are planned for April 17.  Check with your Local or go to http://local.americawantstowork.org/all to find an event you can participate in near you.

Did you know that April 17 is also “Equal Pay Day”?  Women still earn ¾ of what men do for the same work.  Equal Pay Day marks how much longer women have to work to earn as much as men (108 Days).  You can help put an end to Unequal Pay for Women now!  Call your legislator today to ask them to co-sponsor & support the Paycheck Fairness Act, a critical piece of legislation that will help close the persistent pay gap in this country.

Here are some of the great actions happening around the Nation:

Locals 1058, 1150 & 1153 combined forces and held a mass practice picket.  There were so many people that the police were called to make sure the picket was peaceful.  Such an impact was made that law enforcement showed up the next day as well, expecting walkers again!  Members participated in the National Health Break.  Over the weekend Officers, Members, and Activists were joined by hundreds in the community at the 99% Spring trainings.
 
Local 1062 has been wearing RED Thursdays and making noise for daily stand-ups.  Members participated in the National Health Break.
 
Local 1152 continues wearing RED Thursday and BLACK Friday, and making noise to let the Company know CWA must be heard and cannot be ignored.  There is about a 90% rate of non-participation in Company feel-good programs, i.e. the soup incentive.  Members stood with pride on Friday with their National
Union Sisters and Brothers.

Local 2204 members held another public demonstration Wednesday with much support from the public and community.    

Local 2252 members brought Randall the Rat to the AT&T building located in Waldorf, MD.  Information on Randall Stevenson’s income, etc. was distributed to the public in addition to the membership.  Inside mobilization continued, including standing and clicking throughout the day.

Local 3207 mobilization continues.  One of our long-time members walks around the AT&T building and marches up & down Washington Road (which is where the Masters took place April 8).  He carries a sign saying, "AT&T Unfair to Workers", and has committed to continue until we have reached a fair contract.  Management has stopped on several occasions to watch.  He receives much public support & people stop by to see how negotiations are going.  Members & non-members are standing twice daily for at least 5 minutes.  Red Thursday participation is high; some members are even wearing red every day.  One member created a red heart made with pipe cleaner and attached it to a tiny clothes pin with a note saying, "Where is the Love", which got management's attention.  Friday members exercised their right to health breaks.

Local 3250 mobilization went well this week; members are anxious.  Throughout several centers, members are chanting (at their work locations), "What do we want?", and another group responds, “A contract."  Members are continuing to make noise (banging on desks, horn blowing, etc.) at their desks every 30 minutes throughout the 8 hour day.  Members have started an overtime boycott, and continue to wear RED Thursdays & BLACK Fridays.  Members not only joined Occupy Atlanta, the AFL-CIO, and community activists in the 99% Spring Training, some were also facilitators!

Local 3902 held a rally last week.  Pictures are being posted in the Legacy T mobilization photo album.

District 4 Locals took the lead in the National Health Break, making sure all of our members remained healthy on the job Friday.  99% Spring training was held in every state across the District with hundreds of CWA members participating.

Local 4217 is ramping it up in E. St. Louis to show the Company that we will walk if necessary.  The informational picket grows every day.  We had an article and a photo in the Belleville News Democrat on Monday about our vigil and our fight.  The prem techs are honking to make sure everyone knows they are here.  They all honked as they left the lot to make sure the boss knew they were on their way out to make more money for at&t.

Hundreds of members from 4217, 6300, & 6350 planned an action at the St. Louis Cardinals opening game at Busch Stadium, but the action had to be cancelled due to weather.  The Locals are in the process of rescheduling!  Members on both sides of the river joined coalition partners, community activists, and Occupy in the 99% Spring Training.

Local 4250 members and retirees continue coordinated actions with IBEW in the greater Chicago Area.  Members are wearing RED and mobilizers have been handing out flyers to keep everyone up to date about what is happening at the bargaining table.  Members joined community groups and other activists at the 99% Spring training.

Local 4252 members are wearing RED.  Some have committed to wearing it every day until we get a fair contract.  Members are wearing RED bracelets.  Information has been distributed on quality and safety on the job.  Managers were surprised when one shift came in all together blowing party horns!  Many members participated in 99% Spring training.

Local 4998 mobilizers are keeping members informed & members are wearing RED weekly.

District 6 Locals remain committed to helping with mobilization at AT&T.  Members and retirees across all 5 states have been joining actions in support of workers in all 4 expired contracts.

Local 6143 members hold a rally at least once per week.  This bilingual relay center is posting National mobilization flyers in both Spanish and English to show how proud they are of the work that they do.

Local 6150 retirees & activists joined the AFL-CIO and Coalition partners in the 99% Spring training in Texas, raising community awareness that AT&T’s tactics aren’t good for our communities.  Members continue to wear RED Thursdays & BLACK Fridays, and participate in actions inside including clicking every odd-numbered hour.  Members participated in the Nationwide health break on Friday.

Local 6201 held a strike watch event on April 7, making strike signs and retiring the contract.  Workers received the “working without a contract” flyer information, and talked one-on-one with members about the other options still available.  Daily silent walk-ins to support our Bargaining team continue, symbolizing that, since the Company has nothing positive to say, we have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to say to them.  Tapping followed by a round of applause from the membership occurs.  Members wear RED and BLACK daily.  Even-hour tapping has turned into banging; we have additional noisemakers including clappers & clickers.  Management keeps close watch.  Members were given an opportunity to talk about AT&T’s greed as the community, Occupy Dallas, Move On, and other coalition partners joined CWA at the 99% Spring training.  The Company has stopped the mandatory Overtime, and is expanding office hours to include Saturdays, which will spread the 95 workers very thin.  Members fear this will send a bad message to customers, since they will have a much longer hold time.  The visit by Senior VP John Palmer was greeted by a demonstration outside (supported by the community and other Unions) & members wearing “Impeach Stephenson” shirts.

Local 6350 distributed additional health care flyers this week.  Members are still making noise every hour, wearing RED Thursdays & BLACK Fridays.  Members are changing their Q presence to “CWA Local 6350 Union Member”.  Safety and Quality are a main focus of the members.  n Friday, members simultaneously took a health break.  Local 6300 joined 6350 in leafleting the public outside an H&R Block Saturday.

Local 6450 members want to know: What happened to the “American” in AT&T?  Dozens of workers were told they would be assigned to new work, as their work was being sent offshore to other countries.  While we continue our Fight for the American Dream, AT&T moves good middle-class jobs overseas, contributing to our nation’s high unemployment status.  Members are dedicated to mobilization and continue to wear red and make NOISE at least once an hour.  Some start off by clapping, which then quickly turns into pounding, shaking pill bottles, and standing up.  The ”working without a contract” flyers were distributed.  A rally was held in Lee’s Summit, MO on 4-11-12 during lunch hours.  City Police and campus security greeted the demonstrators.  City ordinance only allows 10 signs to be held per group, so members wore the signs instead!  Neither AT&T nor the police will stop 6450’s Fight for the American Dream.  95% of members wear RED Thursday & BLACK Friday; those wearing RED receive candy.  Many members attended the 99% Spring training over the weekend bringing AT&T into the spotlight as the greedy 1%.  Members are reaching out to the public to help build coalitions within our communities.  6450 is mobilized and ready to go at any time!  

Local 7050 members across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas continue to boycott branded apparel; and things are getting hairier with the “Ban the Razor” action that started in California in response to the Company’s proposed changes to the appearance guidelines.  Members continue to focus on Safety and Quality while they maintain the network.

Local 7250 members inside have been standing 3 times each day.  Stewards are reminding members to take their micro breaks hourly as recommended in AT&T’s ergonomic training manual that employees are required to read annually.  A demonstration was held in downtown Minneapolis Thursday, with much support from the public.  Members participated in the Nationwide Health & Safety break Friday.  Q presence has been updated to “CWA PROUD” with a red light bulb, as has been done in other Locals across the country.  Members continue to wear RED Thursday and BLACK Friday.  Community activists, Labor partners & CWA joined other organizations at the 99% Spring training.

Local 7750 members are taking their daily walk around the inside of the building together.  Many members and Officers attended the 99% Spring training this weekend.   Red Thursday & Black Friday actions continue to show unity to local management.

District 9 Locals turned the branded apparel boycott into cutting the logos off shirts.  The Locals are collecting them for the next action.  They are also engaging their members in a letter-writing campaign.

Local 9415 members are participating in actions inside the workplace and out in the public.  Members have been writing letters to Randal & other Executives of the Company.  99% Spring training was well attended in California where members were able to get our message out to the public about AT&T and the greediest 1%.

Local 13500 members continued to wear RED Tuesday and Thursday.  They also stand each hour on these days for inside mobilization.  Members participated in the National health break.

Local 13550 President, Mary Lou Schaffer appeared on the WFNRlive on Monday to update the public regarding AT&T bargaining.  Members downloaded the “Talking Tom” APP to repeat to the managers “NO CONTRACT – NO PEACE” on a daily -random basis.  Informational flyers regarding Working Without a Contract were distributed as well as concerted Union activity information.  WTF buttons were ordered for all members and handed out on Thursday with balloons which were popped on Friday at noon.  Members participated in the 99% spring training on Saturday in Pittsburgh.  They are still standing increasingly, making noise at all levels, and wearing “Fighting for the American Dream” T-Shirts, RED on Thursday and BLACK on Friday.

Local 13552 members wear RED Thursdays and BLACK Fridays.  Members stand united in Delaware and Philadelphia, refusing on-call (until we get a contract); as a result, the Company has implemented a 24x7 rotation in all areas.

The Locals would all like to thank our Elected Bargaining Team, T&T Staff, Support, Research Department and Vice President Maly for all of their dedication and commitment, sacrificing time away from their families, long hours and tremendous work they are putting in to help get the fair contract that we all deserve.

Many Locals are holding break/lunchroom chats where members can come in and talk to Officers, Stewards, or Mobilizers about mobilization and bargaining.

The AT&T Shareholder meeting will be held April 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM in Salt Lake City.  Instructions on how to vote your proxy were sent to Locals.   It may be too late to request your proxy on paper in time for the meeting, but you can still vote online.

If you haven’t signed up for text message reports yet, you can get them by texting ATT to 49484.   Bargaining reports and pictures for all 4 contracts can be found at www.cwaatatt.com.

Report all violations of our right to concerted actions to bbates@cwa-union.org and your District or Sector Staff.  You will likely be directed to file charges against the Company for violating our right to participate in concerted activities.

Mobilization reports and pictures should be sent to your District Mobilization Coordinator.  If your Local President and Local Mobilization Coordinator have not been receiving flyers or information, please let us know.

Send pictures and mobilization reports to your mobilization coordinators:
D1 Chris Wise christopherjwise1@gmail.com
D2/13 Mary Lou Schaffer marylouschaffer@msn.com
D3 Glenda Poindexter gotorganize@gmail.com
D4 Dave Skotarczyk davecwa@sbcglobal.net
D6 Sarah Harreus sharreus@sbcglobal.net
D7/D9 Shari Wojtowicz whatawitch@hotmail.com
Staff Rep Jim Cosgrove jcosgrove@cwa-union.org 

Mobilization Coordinators: If you are unsure what to do during Mobilization Phase 3, please contact your District Coordinator above.

If you have any problems or questions, call your District Staff person or the National T&T Office.

Stand Strong.  Stay Mobilized.