cwa newsletter, thursday, january 23, 2014
TRANSCRIPT
8/13/2019 CWA Newsletter, Thursday, January 23, 2014
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Januar y 23, 2014
Want t o be in next week's CWA Newsletter? Send your stories and photos [email protected] or @CWANews. Follow the latest developments at www.r esistancegrowing.org .
Don't Miss CWA's Town Hall Call TONIGHT
Here's How We Say No to Fast Track and the TPP
10 Days to Stop Fast Track
Bargaining Update
PA Voter ID Law Ruled Unconstitutional
Citizens United Decision Proves To Be Destructive to Our Democracy
U.S. Regulators Should Make Clear that SoftBank-T-Mobile US Deal isNon-Starter
More Media Coverage of the Senate Finance Committee Hearing onFast Track
Oxfam: World's Richest 85 People Are Now Worth As Much AsPoorest 3.5 Billion
Apply Now for a Union Plus Scholarship
Don't Miss CWA's Town Hall Call TONIGHT
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On CWA's 30-minute town hall call tonight, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumkawill join CWA President Larry Cohen on our fight to stop "fast track"authorization for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
This week, we will also hear from CWA activists who, with Sierra Club,Common Cause, and other allies, have been meeting with their members of Congress to tell them NO on fast track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Listen online at www.cwa-union.org/cwalisten.
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Here's How We Say No to Fast Track and the TPP
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This week, CWA activists joined with Sierra Club, Green Peace, Food andWater Watch, Common Cause and other allies in meetings with members of Congress in their home districts and other actions. We rallied in Albany,Newburgh, Buffalo and Hauppauge, NY; Fresno, Calif.; Orlando, Fl.; Chicagoand Jonquil Park, Ill., and more. Learn more about what you can do to helpstop "fast track" at www.cwa-union.org/tpp. Some of the highlights:
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-W) rallied with CWA and Sierra Club activists inMadison, spotlighting the strong opposition to "fast track" authority for theTrans-Pacific Partnership and other trade deals. Pocan was one of 151Democratic members of Congress signing a letter to President Obamaopposing fast track. Read more about the rally at Madison's Channel 3000.
Also, in a speech on the floor of the House last week, Pocan thanked CWAfor our work on behalf of working and middle class families. Watch it here.
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At New York City Hall, activists from the New York City AFL-CIO and State AFL-CIO, CWA, Citizens Trade Campaign New York, Working FamiliesParty, MoveOn.org, Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, Carpenters and
others rallied in the middle of a huge snow storm, to show strong oppositionto "fast track" authority and the TPP. Speakers included CWA District 1 VicePresident Chris Shelton and Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D), Jerrald Nadler (D)and Mike Grimm (R), all of whom oppose "fast track" authority. Check out thisvideo.
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In San Diego, CWAers and allies rallied outside the office of Rep. SusanDavis (D-Calif.) to let her know that we will hold our elected officialsaccountable for a vote that would send our jobs offshore, degrade our environment and threaten our ability to set our own laws.
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In Minnesota, members of CWA's Legislative Political Action Team meet withSen. Amy Klochubar (D-Minn.).
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CWA Local 4108 members braved sub-zero temps and blowing snow to letRep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) know that they are opposed to fast track and theTPP.
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IUE-CWA and CWA Local 4322 members had a meetings at the offices of Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
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At the MLK parade in downtown Orlando, CWA Local 3108 marched withCentral Florida Jobs with Justice, the Student Labor Action Project and Our Walmart. Activists leafleted the crowd with "NO on Fast Track" flyers.
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In Buffalo, CWA Local 1122 joined with Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), Coalitionfor Economic Justice, WNY Area Labor Federation, Citizen Action andseveral other labor and community organizations to call on all congressionalleaders to stop the fast track bill. Read more about the event at WIVB.
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In Albany, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) rallied with IUE-CWA Local 81359, CWALocal 1118, MoveOn.org and more to raise awareness about how the TPPwill hurt working families.
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CWA Local 2276 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Childress and CWA Local 2276Member LPAT Worksite Coordinator Derek Lilly joined Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and local small businesses to rally against the TPP.
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CWA members in Texas carried this banner in an annual Martin Luther KingDay March.
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CWA Local 9003 organized a rally outside office of Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.) to pressure him to take a stand against fast track and the TPP.
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10 Days to Stop Fast Track
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CWA has joined an unprecedented network of advocacy organizations, labor unions, tech companies and environmental groups to launch ten days of coordinated action targeting the controversial "fast track" legislation, which isdesigned to speed the Trans-Pacific Partnership toward ratification without afull Congressional debate. The "10 Days to Stop Fast Track" campaign willrun January 22 to 31.
"Trade agreements are no longer just about tariffs and quotas," said CWA
President Larry Cohen. "They are about the food we eat, the air we breathe,the jobs we hold. We cannot abdicate this process to non-electedrepresentatives. We cannot let foreign policy objectives trump domesticconcerns and in the process unravel our own democracy instead of strengthening others."
We'll be organizing in-person protests, a national "Call Congress" day, in-district meetings and a State of the Union Twitter-storm. Check our recentReddit "Ask Me Anything" chat here.
Participating groups include Reddit, AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, Fight for the
Future, Imgur, BoingBoing, Corporate Accountability International, theMachinists Union IAMAW, Electronic Frontier Foundation, MoveOn,Rainforest Action Network, United Students for Fair Trade, OrganicConsumers Association, Popular Resistance, ThoughtWorks, Sea Shepherd,Citizens Trade Campaign, 350.org, Demand Progress, ProgressiveDemocrats of America, OpenMedia, GMO Action Alliance, Free Press, PublicCitizen's Global Trade Watch, Jobs with Justice, and more than 30 other groups.
Read why these organizations are opposing fast track atwww.StopFastTrack.com.
Bargaining Update
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Cablevision
Cablevision techs are standing strong in their contract fight.
More than 50 Cablevision techs, members of CWA Local 1109, marked Dr.Martin Luther King Day at an event in Harlem, organized by the National
Action Network and Rev. Al Sharpton. Mayor Bill de Blasio; Senators CharlesSchumer and Kirsten Gillibrand; Reps. Charles Rangel, Jose Serrano andJerry Nadler; NYC elected officials and others also attended.
On the way, the techs stopped at a Cablevision garage for a surprise picket.
An NLRB hearing in New York City, now concluded, investigated charges thatCablevision has engaged in "bad-faith bargaining" with zero intent on ever reaching an agreement with Brooklyn technicians, personal threats by CEOJames Dolan to deny Bronx workers job opportunities and training if theyvoted for the union, and raises of $2 to $9 an hour given to all Cablevisionworkers except the unionized Brooklyn techs to discourage other workersfrom joining CWA.
The 22 Brooklyn techs who were illegally fired last Jan. 30 were rehired lastspring, thanks to tremendous community and political mobilization andsupport.
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Frontier West Virginia
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CWA and Frontier Communications have agreed to a contract extensionthrough April 5 while negotiations continue. The current contract expired on
Aug. 2. The contract covers about 1,600 Frontier employees in West Virginia.
PA Voter ID Law Ruled Unconstitutional
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A Pennsylvania judge last Friday struck down the state's controversial 2012law mandating that voters show a photo ID at the polls. The ruling was a bigwin for voting rights advocates.
"We applaud the work of our Democracy Initiative partners, the NAACP andthe Advancement Project, in defending voting rights," said CWA PresidentLarry Cohen. "The Pennsylvania law was clearly intended to make votingharder – if not impossible – for many citizens. Sadly, Republican leaders inPennsylvania have championed the law for holding down voting andimproving the prospects in elections for their candidates. We will continue tosupport voting rights in all states, as critical to a functioning democracy."
The law passed just in time for the 2012 presidential election, but has beentemporarily blocked since last October pending a full trial. Many voters hadfound it difficult to obtain a state-approved ID to cast their ballots, with the
burden falling most heavily on poor, disabled and elderly Pennsylvanians.
Judge Bernard McGinley of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania wrote,"Hundreds of thousands of electors in Pennsylvania lack compliant ID.Enforcement of the voter ID Law as to these electors has the effect of disenfranchising them through no fault of their own. Inescapably, the Voter IDlaw infringes upon qualified electors' right to vote."
He added, "In contrast to the hundreds of thousands who lack compliantphoto ID, only 17,000 photo IDs for voting purposes have been issued." Inaddition, the state "wholly failed to show any evidence of in-person voter
fraud," McGinley wrote.
The plaintiffs in the case included disenfranchised voters, NAACP, thePennsylvania League of Women Voters and Philadelphia's Homeless
Advocacy Project.
"This decision helped end our three-year long fight to protect the rights of voters in Pennsylvania," said Jotaka Eaddy, the NAACP's voting rights
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director. "This court recognizes that unnecessary barriers to the ballot box arecounter to the principle this nation holds most dear – that all citizens shouldhave free and unfettered access to the ballot box."
The Democracy Initiative continues to fight the rise in voter suppression and
disenfranchisement across the country. Learn more athttp://www.democracyforus.org/.
Citizens United Decision Proves To Be Destructive to Our Democracy
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Jan. 21 was the fourth anniversary of the disastrous Citizens United decisionby the U.S. Supreme Court that determined that corporations are peoplewhen it comes to political spending and can force their political views on their workers.
Marking the anniversary, CWA President Larry Cohen said, "Citizens Unitedopened the floodgates to unlimited corporate money in elections, but in alesser known but equally destructive move, it overturned laws prohibitingemployers from forcing their employees to listen to their political views –legalizing the one-sided tactics that have long been a hallmark of anti-unioncampaigns. For decades workplace rights have been attacked. Now our
political rights can be threatened as well."
During the 2012 election cycle, candidates, parties and outside groups spent$7 billion.
Right now, we're waiting for the Supreme Court's decision in another case,McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, which is challenging caps onthe total amount that a wealthy donor can directly give to all PACs,campaigns and parties combined – what's known as "aggregate contributionlimits." If the court strikes down contribution limits, one affluent donor wouldbe able to give more than $3.6 million in direct contributions.
What's the impact of all this money? It's a growing conviction by Americansthat their votes don't count, that our political process is controlled by thebiggest bankroll, and that money, not the public interest, sets policies andpriorities in government. All this big money gives a big voice to the wealthyand corporations, at the expense of the rest of us. It threatens the democraticvoice that is the foundation of our country. Our representatives spend morethan half their time raising money, providing unprecedented access to
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special-interest lobbyist and elites who can afford $5,000-a-plate breakfasts,ski trips, pheasant hunts and luxury golf tournaments.
"That's why we are building a political movement for democracy that makes itclear that money is not speech and the corporations are not people. In our
21st century democracy, the rights of all of us to participate effectively in our democracy must be cherished," Cohen said.
The Democracy Initiative is working to get big money out of politics. Learnmore at http://www.democracyforus.org/.
U.S. Regulators Should Make Clear that SoftBank-T-Mobile US Deal is Non-Starter
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CWA released this statement on news reports that SoftBank, which ownsnearly 80 percent of Sprint, is engaged in direct talks with Deutsche Telekomto buy T-Mobile US:
SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is working hard to find a pathto buy T-Mobile US.
Clearly such a deal raises deep concerns about what is in the bestinterests of U.S. consumers and workers at T-Mobile.
The Department of Justice and the Federal CommunicationsCommission insisted that four national wireless carriers were necessaryfor competition when they opposed AT&T's proposed bid for T-Mobile in2011.
At that time, the Justice Department called T-Mobile an "aggressivecompetitor" that benefits consumers by ensuring that the other threecarriers would be forced to compete on price. Since that time, T-Mobile
has been strengthened by spectrum from AT&T and Verizon, as well asits acquisition of Metro PCS.
It would be irresponsible now for regulators to endorse the bid bySoftBank, a company that brings much less to the table for consumersand workers than the AT&T bid.
SoftBank owns nearly 80 percent of Sprint. Sprint is already junk rated
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Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) turned the conversation at the FastTrack hearing in a completely new direction by asking David Cote if hethought trade agreements should be used to attack consumer andenvironmental laws democratically enacted around the globe. Brownreferenced the so-called "investor-state" provisions that have been
included in U.S. trade agreements that allow corporations to directly suegovernments for cash damages outside of domestic court systems andin friendly trade tribunals if they believe consumer, health, or environmental regulations harm their products.
Brown pointed to a new case in Australia, where U.S. firm Phillip Morrisis suing Australia over a new plain packaging rule for cigarettesdesigned to reduce cigarette smoking among teens and other newusers. Phillip Morris battled the rule in Australian courts and lost, so istaking it to a corporate-friendly trade tribunal. The rulings of thesetribunals are binding, and there is no appeal.
Read the entire Truthout piece here.
And read a transcript of Cohen's full testimony here.
Oxfam: World's Richest 85 People Are Now Worth As Much As Poorest 3.5Billion
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The data used for the graphs was taken from The World Top IncomesDatabase.
A new report by the non-profit organization Oxfam found that the combinedwealth of the world's richest 85 people, or $110 trillion dollars, equals that of
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the poorest half of the world, some 3.5 billion people.
Worldwide, the top 1 percent controls nearly half the world's wealth. In theUnited States, the wealthiest 1 percent have captured 95 percent of alleconomic growth since the financial crisis of 2009, while the bottom 90
percent of people have gotten poorer.
And the wealth gap in the U.S. is greater than almost every other developedcountry, according to the OECD.
Read "Working for the Few," Oxfam's briefing paper here.
Oxfam is a non-profit group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)working in 17 countries that works with communities and partners to fightpoverty and to restore human rights.
Apply Now for a Union Plus Scholarship
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The deadline to apply for a Union Plus scholarship is quickly approaching.There are nine days left for CWA members, retirees or family members tosubmit an application for a Union Plus scholarship. The scholarship awards
range from $500 to $4,000. Union Plus provides $150,000 in scholarshipsannually.
Applications, including essays and a reference letter, must be submitted byFriday, January 31, 2014 at 12 pm EST.
For more information about eligibility and how to apply, or to learn more aboutthe Union Plus Scholarship, click here.
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