Mobilization Report

CWA Locals gained support for a fair contract this week:

As Legislators are home from Washington, DC for the Holiday week, many CWA Locals have been busy meeting with Senators and Congress people regarding our struggle for a fair contract, and affordable healthcare for active and retired workers.  Letters to Randall Stephenson have been written by City, County, State and Federal elected officials from around the country.

C&T Locals gathered signatures in support of the "Tell Stankey it stinks" petition, for the last, best & final offer District 6 (southwest) received.  The D6 bargaining team will be delivering them in the future.  Thanks again for your support.  If you haven't sent them yet, please make sure to fax them to Sylvia Ramos in the D6 office right away.

NLRB charges continue to be filed.  If you experience changes in working conditions (i.e. change in office policies; Company refusing to pay for sick time per the contract) or any other Unfair Labor Practice, make sure to get specifics to bbates@cwa-union.org.  He is working with CWA Legal to keep track of the ULPs committed during bargaining.

Our organizing drives at Apple, AT&T Authorized Agents, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Wal-Mart continue.  We want ALL of the workers that sell our products and services to have the same rights and working conditions that CWA negotiates for us on the job.

Coming soon: Disruption Day.  Ask a Local Officer how to participate.

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Other Actions from around the country:

2252 rallied at Arlington, VA on May 28.  They are continuing to visit stores, and building their retiree list to get support from them.  They are contacting legislators and have members engaged in letter campaigns.

3250 reports that both Alpharetta and Atlanta are now CLICKING inside, and members continue to wear RED or UNION daily and BLACK on Fridays.  Grievance meetings are being held for Company violations concerning mobilization activities.  Last week members at Alpharetta went into the "courtyard" and stood and clicked during a 15 minute solidarity break.  They continue to contact Legislators to ask for support for bargaining.  So far Georgia State Senator Kasim Reed has agreed to do whatever is necessary.  They are contacting all "labor-friendly" legislators.  They also have commitments from the following Georgia State Senators to write:  Ronald Ramsey, Stephen Henson, and Gloria Butler.

4050/4090 CWA members in Detroit, upset about the current contract negotiations, rallied in front of the AT&T Building Wednesday morning.  They went into work at 8:02 a,m, chanting, "The Company is late with a meaningful contract offer; we are late for work today".  Members were given purple and red balloons that were imprinted with CWA SOLIDARITY.

6377, 6350 & 6300 leaders attended meetings with Legislators' offices.  They conveyed CWA's concerns over AT&T's unreasonable demands on healthcare cuts for actives and retirees and the unwarranted attacks on employment security.  The Locals collected signatures and sent the Stankey petition back to the District Office.

6450 delivered 90,000 signatures to upper management demanding a fair contract.  They handbilled on Wednesday and Friday to their call centers, using "Randall 'The Rat' Stephenson" and "The last is not the best" flyers.  Also, members continued to stand for five minutes daily at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to support our bargaining team.

7250 held an informational picket Thursday in downtown Minneapolis, drawing support of the public, labor leaders, and other unions.  Members continue inside actions with hourly stand-ups and clicking, wearing red Monday-Thursday & black on Fridays.

7750 is staying "protected" another week by taking "silence" buddy break walks.  They take breaks in twos or more with their brothers and sisters, thereby getting out the message, "No Contract, No Peace", without actually saying it.  They still don't want their health to be unprotected, so the ergonomic stretch breaks continue once an hour every hour.  They held an informational picket on Wednesday the 27th with their retirees, District 7, and the Colorado/Wyoming State Council.  A lot of CWA brothers and sisters in Colorado came out to show their support.

13550 & 13500 were focused this week on getting support from legislators regarding letters to Stephenson.  13550 members continue to stand and click every hour, wearing red on Thursdays and black on Fridays.  Their thoughts remain with one of our strongest mobilizers who had a brain aneurysm this past weekend.  The office has been focused on her recovery, but remains active.  This is more obvious evidence of how important healthcare is for our members. 

Stay Strong, Stay Mobilized!