Volume 72, Issue #2 | Summer 2012

Deutsche Telekom (DT) and T-Mobile workers in Germany, members of ver.di, won a 6.5 percent pay increase over two years, with talks continuing for workers at DT?s T-Systems unit.

AT&T contract negotiations have gone into overtime, but so has mobilization by CWA members and allies. As the CWA News went to press June 18, separate negotiations are continuing covering CWA members in District 4, AT&T Midwest; District 9, AT&T West; Telecommunications and Technologies, AT&T Legacy, and District 1, AT&T East.

Two months ago, CWA Local 6355 President Bradley Harmon was one of the tens of thousands of Americans who gathered in houses of worship, college dorms, living rooms and union halls to learn about the a new movement called the 99 Percent Spring. At the day-long training, he studied the roots of the nation?s economic crisis. He learned how to design a non-violent, direct action.

This spring, there were incredible demonstrations against corporate greed at shareholder meetings and corporate offices from coast to coast. Fresh out of 99 Percent Spring training, workers, veterans, families facing foreclosure, retirees who lost their pensions, students and immigrants stood up to the CEOs and top executives of major American corporations in a series of coordinated actions across the country. Activists are holding the 1 percent responsible not only for the nation?s shaky economy, but for our broken democracy, which allows corporations to call all the shots. Here are some highlights:

Hundreds of international trade ministers and corporate lobbyists continue to meet to hammer out an international trade pact that could restrict Internet freedom, encourage U.S. companies to ship even more jobs overseas, reduce access to life-saving medicines, weaken environmental law and kill ?Buy American? policies.

Jobs With Justice ? United Auto Workers ? National Peoples Action ? National Domestic Workers Alliance ? MoveOn.org ? New Organizing Institute ? Movement Strategy Center ? The Other 98% ? Service Employees International Union ? AFL-CIO ? Rebuild the Dream ? Color of Change ? UNITE-HERE ?