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Briefly...
CWA, US Airways to Fight Airport Rage
US Airways management has agreed to join CWA in a two-part campaign to remind the flying public and airport security officials of the tough federal penalties for assaulting or abusing passenger service employees.
CWA and airline management will jointly meet with airport authorities to make sure that information is displayed prominently, so that travelers know a violation of the federal law can bring substantial fines and imprisonment of as long as 10 years.
The campaign also calls for joint meetings with federal law enforcement authorities, to press for federal, rather than local prosecution, in cases of physical injury to agents.
This agreement stems from a recent attack on a gate agent in Charlotte, N.C., who suffered two broken ribs and other injuries after being assaulted by a passenger. A new scientific survey conducted for CWA by Lauer Research Associates found that 49 percent of agents experienced or witnessed an incident of airport rage within the past six months.
Bahr Urges Senators to Revisit Broken Telecom Act
CWA President Morton Bahr has written to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to take steps to stop companies from abusing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to send American jobs offshore.
The act was designed to encourage competition in the telecom industry and was widely hailed as legislation that would create thousands of new jobs. But Bahr said the reality is that jobs created by "UNE-P" competition are going to other countries where workers are paid far less than Americans.
"We do not believe that members of Congress or the FCC were interested in creating jobs in other countries," Bahr said in the letter. "Yet that is what is happening."
He said AT&T, "using the tools Congress and the FCC have given them - sharp discounts in local telephone service from the regional Bells - has announced it was shipping the work gained from UNE-P competition to Mexico and Canada."
UNE-P is short for "unbundled network element platform" and amounts to requiring local phone companies to lease their lines to competing carriers at deeply discounted rates - sometimes below cost. Such profitable giants as AT&T, Sprint and WorldCom are taking full advantage.
ABC Sports Cameraman Dies From Fall
Richard Umansky, a member of NABET-CWA Local 51016, died from a head injury he sustained while on the job for ABC Sports in Madison, Wis.
Umansky, 48, was a cameraman at ABC Sports for 20 years, covering events primarily in south Florida, but recently expanding his work to cover national football, baseball, basketball and other events for various television networks.
Umansky fell from an eight-foot-high platform onto a cement ramp and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, but never regained consciousness.
Jim Joyce, sector vice president of NABET-CWA, recalled Umansky as a strong union supporter who took on the job of educating new members, especially daily hires, about the value NABET-CWA brings to their profession.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation on the lack of a safety harness in this incident and company policy. Joyce pointed out that in addition to the lack of safety harnesses or restraining belts, the union was very concerned about the construction of railings and floorings on all platforms.
US Airways management has agreed to join CWA in a two-part campaign to remind the flying public and airport security officials of the tough federal penalties for assaulting or abusing passenger service employees.
CWA and airline management will jointly meet with airport authorities to make sure that information is displayed prominently, so that travelers know a violation of the federal law can bring substantial fines and imprisonment of as long as 10 years.
The campaign also calls for joint meetings with federal law enforcement authorities, to press for federal, rather than local prosecution, in cases of physical injury to agents.
This agreement stems from a recent attack on a gate agent in Charlotte, N.C., who suffered two broken ribs and other injuries after being assaulted by a passenger. A new scientific survey conducted for CWA by Lauer Research Associates found that 49 percent of agents experienced or witnessed an incident of airport rage within the past six months.
Bahr Urges Senators to Revisit Broken Telecom Act
CWA President Morton Bahr has written to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to take steps to stop companies from abusing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to send American jobs offshore.
The act was designed to encourage competition in the telecom industry and was widely hailed as legislation that would create thousands of new jobs. But Bahr said the reality is that jobs created by "UNE-P" competition are going to other countries where workers are paid far less than Americans.
"We do not believe that members of Congress or the FCC were interested in creating jobs in other countries," Bahr said in the letter. "Yet that is what is happening."
He said AT&T, "using the tools Congress and the FCC have given them - sharp discounts in local telephone service from the regional Bells - has announced it was shipping the work gained from UNE-P competition to Mexico and Canada."
UNE-P is short for "unbundled network element platform" and amounts to requiring local phone companies to lease their lines to competing carriers at deeply discounted rates - sometimes below cost. Such profitable giants as AT&T, Sprint and WorldCom are taking full advantage.
ABC Sports Cameraman Dies From Fall
Richard Umansky, a member of NABET-CWA Local 51016, died from a head injury he sustained while on the job for ABC Sports in Madison, Wis.
Umansky, 48, was a cameraman at ABC Sports for 20 years, covering events primarily in south Florida, but recently expanding his work to cover national football, baseball, basketball and other events for various television networks.
Umansky fell from an eight-foot-high platform onto a cement ramp and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, but never regained consciousness.
Jim Joyce, sector vice president of NABET-CWA, recalled Umansky as a strong union supporter who took on the job of educating new members, especially daily hires, about the value NABET-CWA brings to their profession.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation on the lack of a safety harness in this incident and company policy. Joyce pointed out that in addition to the lack of safety harnesses or restraining belts, the union was very concerned about the construction of railings and floorings on all platforms.