Newsmakers

The Kerry for President campaign has tapped CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling to co-chair the Women for Kerry Committee, comprising professional women who will speak out across the country about the many ways John Kerry's platform would help women.

"It's a great step forward for women to be recognized by the candidate on issues specifically of importance to us," Easterling said, noting equal pay, childcare, family leave, domestic violence and other issues that concern women. "That's really a key difference between Bush and Kerry."

A woman on Kerry's campaign staff called Easterling to ask if
she'd be interested, telling her it would require some travel and speeches. Easterling said that's what she does now, and always makes sure her audience knows how women's and worker's issues have suffered under President Bush. "The woman said, "Yes, we've heard that. We thought you'd make a very good co-chair." Easterling's co-chair is Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. For more information on Kerry's platform, see www.johnkerry.com.

Disgusted with Lucent's anti-worker practices, Local 1365 President Gary Nilsson has gone on a hunger strike in North Andover, Mass., to bring attention to the telecom company's behavior. Nilsson allows himself a vitamin drink and fruit juice but has foregone solid food since July 1. He's lost about 20 pounds and says he's hungry but determined to keep at it. His initial focus was Lucent's refusal to provide an enhanced severance package for 34 maintenance technicians who lost their jobs to outsourcing. Now he's taken on outsourcing as a larger issue, saying the company is sending "hundreds and thousands of our jobs to no-wage, no-benefit, primarily non-union contractors, whether they're local or overseas. It's Lucent's way of breaking the back of the union." Nilsson knows that all too well: His local, once 3,000-strong, has been cut to less than 300 members in four years, mostly due to outsourcing. Some of his members who once earned at least $20 an hour with benefits at Lucent are now doing the same jobs as temps, earning $12 or less an hour with no benefits. "Lucent will try to claim it's the market, but it's profit and greed," he said. "They're eliminating family-wage jobs, and creating a working-poor class in this country." The Massachusetts Jobs with Justice website has a letter you can e-mail to Lucent to support Nilsson's fight. Go to: www.unionvoice.org/campaign/hungeratlucent/step1.tcl.

Gov. Jim McGreevey (D-N.J.) has appointed Jeff Scott, political director and assistant to Local 1034 President Carla Katz, to become his deputy chief of staff. "It's nice to know the McGreevey administration recognizes the potential of our people," said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino. "We anticipate a great relationship in the future." McGreevey said, "Scott's tremendous experience and expertise will assist in guiding my administration as we continue to fight for the principles important to New Jersey, including environmental protection and job creation." During the 23 years Scott worked for Local 1043, it grew from 4,000 to 15,000 members. Scott is also a co-founder of the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "Whether we're protecting our drinking water and fighting for cleaner air or establishing worker training programs and creating jobs, the skills and experience I've gained during my work with CWA will assist in moving the governor's agenda forward," Scott said. McGreevey was elected governor in 2001 with strong CWA support.

Joyce Sheperd, a 31-year member of Local 3204, has been elected to the Atlanta, Ga., City Council with the help of CWA members and retirees. Members of CWA's Metro Atlanta Retired Members Club worked phone banks on her behalf out of the local's union hall, coordinated by Local 3204 steward and political chair Yolanda Williams, a graduate of CWA's Minority Leadership Institute. "People said she couldn't win without a runoff," said local RMC President James Starrs. In the special election held to fill a vacant seat, "she beat two people with 76 percent of the vote." Sheperd, who grew up in Atlanta, went to work for Southern Bell as a clerk in the early 1970s, then became a service technician, and later a PBX installer. She moved to AT&T, now Avaya, after the 1984 divestiture. She took a leave of absence to work on her campaign and retired July 31 after the election. Sheperd said she is determined to make Atlanta's communities cleaner, safer and better through grassroots leadership and community empowerment.