January 6, 2006
Cohen: IBM
Pension Freeze 'Outrageous'
The announcement by IBM Corp. that it is
freezing the pensions of some 120,000
employees is outrageous, even by the "Gilded
Age" standard of today's corporate
executives, CWA President Larry Cohen
declared in a statement Jan. 6.
"Just over the past few weeks, we've seen
some of the richest corporations eliminating
pension benefits wherever they can, just
because they can," he noted. "Verizon
recently froze pensions for tens of
thousands of management and unrepresented
workers. IBM's action sends an equally
chilling signal," he said.
"In the United States, increasingly,
workers are required to bear the costs and
the risks for their retirement and health
security. And they're also forced to pay the
costs for the bad business decisions that
push companies to bankruptcy," Cohen said,
citing United Airlines and Delphi, as well
as lawbreakers such as Enron and WorldCom.
"This downhill sled ride for U.S. workers
will continue until this country joins the
mainstream of global democracies and ends
the attack on workplace democracy and
workers' rights," he said. "When IBM makes
this kind of announcement in Europe, and now
much of South America and Asia, it must
negotiate with employees. Contrast that to
the United States, where IBM employees have
no bargaining rights and therefore no voice.
CWA encourages our thousands of members at
the Alliance@IBM to speak out to elected
officials at every level of government."
2,400
Cingular Workers Join CWA in Dec./Jan.
It's a happy new year for 2,400 Cingular
workers in the continental United States and
Hawaii who gained CWA recognition in
December and early January.
On Jan. 4, the American Arbitration
Association certified that a majority of the
1,288 customer service representatives at
the company's Orlando call center chose CWA
representation. Three locals rose to the
challenge of explaining to numerous young
workers — many of them students who will
only work there until they complete their
education — the importance of union
representation.
Assisting the workers, from Local 3108,
were organizers Renee Wigfall and Keith
Harmon, members Horrace Dave Skinner, Deana
Pruitt, Louis Smith, Steve Wisniewski and
Debbie Matheny, President Pamela Lawson and
Executive Vice President Sherri Keller.
Kendrick Benoit, from Local 3406 and Josh
Denmark, a 75/25 organizer from Local 3106,
provided critical support as workers got the
final cards signed on the last of 60 days
allowed under the Cingular neutrality
agreement. Denmark is paid by the local with
assistance from the national union, a
practice that has boosted CWA's organizing
power at the local level.
Other new Cingular workers and locals
that assisted them include:
- 400 retail sales, 67 locations in
Pennsylvania (Local 13000).
- 182 retail sales, 27 locations in
the state of Washington (Locals 7803,
7818 and 7901.)
- 158 retail sales, customer care, BMG
and IT, 21 retail sales locations and a
call center in Hawaii (Locals 9505 and
9415).
- 151 retail sales, 21 locations in
Colorado (Locals 7717 and 7777).
- 89 retail sales, 27 locations in
West Virginia (Locals 2001 and 2003).
- 51 retail sales, 11 locations in
Iowa (Locals 7101, 7102, 7103, 7108 and
7110).
- 43 retail sales, 14 locations in
Arkansas (Locals 6502, 6507 and 6508).
- 36 network technicians in Illinois
(Local 4202).
These latest organizing gains raise to
15,952 the number of former AT&T Wireless
workers at Cingular who have gained CWA
representation. Overall, nearly 38,000
workers at Cingular belong to CWA. Another
6,000 former AT&T Wireless workers remain
eligible.
Investment Group Drops Comcast over
Labor Record
The Calvert Group, a major investment
management firm that handles over $10
billion in assets for 400,000 investors, has
dropped Comcast from all of its portfolios,
citing the cable giant's "workplace
practices and labor relations."
The decision by Calvert's Social Index
Committee was based on a recommendation by
the firm's Social Research Department, which
looks at the 1,000 largest U.S. companies
and conducts a "social audit" on their
practices in the areas of "environment,
workplace issues, product safety, community
relations, military weapons contracting,
international operations and human rights,
and respecting the rights of indigenous
peoples."
As many CWA members know firsthand,
Comcast workers face systematic
union-busting tactics when they attempt to
organize and bargain contracts. Comcast was
the focus of Human Rights Day activities
last Dec. 10 in various locations including
Pittsburgh, where several hundred CWA
members have been fighting decertification
campaigns for years as they struggle for a
first contract.
IN BRIEF:
-
Bargaining
between CWA and Verizon Information
Services resumed today for 300 CWA
members who have been on strike for
ten weeks.
While the unfair labor
practice strike continues, members
of Locals 1105, 1118, and 1122 — all
in New York — are standing strong
and supporting each other, and
relying on the solidarity of CWA
members throughout the district,
reported CWA Representative Pat
Telesco.
In Buffalo and other locations,
members have organized a "dump the
book" campaign, encouraging union
members to turn in their Verizon
telephone directories at local
Verizon offices because the
directories now are produced by
scabs. Customers also are getting on
board, alerting VIS that it needs to
settle the strike or risk losing
their advertising, Telesco said.
The unfair labor practice charges
are going forward, and CWA attorneys
have taken numerous depositions and
submitted position statements to the
National Labor Relations Board.
- AFA-CWA flight attendants at
the now-defunct Independent Air have
filed papers in U.S. bankruptcy court
objecting to the airline's request to
pay $3.2 million in bonuses to a group
of handpicked executives.
MEC President Kenneth Kindred called the
bonuses "ludicrous" and said it makes no
sense "that this bankrupt company has an
extra several million dollars lying
around to divvy up among a select group
while the rest of the workforce is
suddenly out of a job."
Last week, the airline sent letters to
the flight attendants stating that Jan.
5 would be their last day of employment.
The bonuses would be awarded to
executives chosen to remain with the
company for up to six months while
finalizing the shutdown.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports
that Independence Air CEO Kerry Skeen
may have avoided losing $3 million in
deferred compensation by renegotiating
his own contract last March. Before
then, he had only an unsecured claim to
the compensation and could have lost it
when the company declared bankruptcy in
November.
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