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February 24. 2006
Comcast Throws Tantrum over Cardcheck Order
City Council members in Oakland, Calif.,
aren't backing down from a fight with cable bully Comcast, which is
refusing to sign a new franchise agreement with the city because of the
council's passage of an ordinance to require cardcheck organizing for
cable workers.
With five "yes" votes, the eight-member council passed the
CWA-backed measure Feb. 21, two weeks after a preliminary vote of
support. Between the votes, Comcast threatened to bail out of the new
13-year franchise agreement if the council didn't change its mind.
As part of the deal, Comcast pledged to spend more than $17 million
on a network linking government and schools to expand educational and
public access. But the council stood firm. "We have to do what we
think is right," Councilwoman Jean Quan told the Oakland Tribune
before this week's vote.
About 20 members of CWA Local 9415, which represents more than 200
Comcast technicians in the Bay Area, turned out for the Tuesday night
meeting carrying signs that said "Comcast Doesn't Care."
CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler said Comcast's extreme
anti-union tactics nationwide, from firing union supporters to refusing
to bargain contracts, are "par for the course" for the cable
giant. "But the actions this weekend of Comcast in Oakland
mark a new low in its war on workers," he said, referring to the
company's Feb. 17 letter threatening the council.
Local 9415 President Valerie Reyna said the company's behavior
doesn't surprise her, noting the recent firing of a long-time employee,
Will Goodo, after he testified before the City Council in December
about Comcast's anti-worker tactics. CWA has filed an unfair labor
practice charge against Comcast over the firing.
"There appear to be no bounds to what this company, this bully,
will do — even taking away money it promised to wire our schools — in
an effort to prevent workers from forming unions," she said.
Bixler called Comcast's behavior "blackmail" and said it
shows "why we so desperately need competition in the delivery of
video services in this state. So long as Comcast is an absolute
monopoly they will continue with scare tactics, abusing their
customers, their workers and local governments alike."
Comcast will continue to operate in Oakland
without a franchise and media reports speculate the fight will wind up
in the courts, while workers continue to fight to organize.
IUE-CWA Begins Strike Vote,
Prepares for Delphi Rally
IUE-CWA members at Delphi Corp began taking a strike vote on Feb.
23, two days prior to a massive rally planned for Saturday in Warren,
Ohio. There, union leaders will
give voice to workers' growing anger at the lack of movement by Delphi
to moderate wage and benefit cutbacks demanded earlier by the bankrupt
company.
CWA President Larry Cohen, IUE-CWA President Jim Clark and IUE-CWA
Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard will address the rally.
IUE-CWA retirees, UAW locals and USW locals are also expected to
turn out for the rally, organized by IUE-CWA Local 84717.
IUE-CWA represents about one-fourth of Delphi's
33,000 hourly employees. The strike vote began with Local 84755 members
at the company's Kettering, Ohio,
plant, and will continue in coming weeks at seven other plants that
employ IUE-CWA members.
Locals are continuing mobilization activities at all plants as the
union awaits an improved offer for a modified contract based on a commitment
of assistance to bankrupt Delphi by General
Motors Corp.
Every Thursday, said IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman
Henry Reichard, "There has been a tremendous show of solidarity.
Our plants are a sea of red. Our members are wearing red t-shirts that
say 'Our Jobs/Our Dignity.'"
On Dec. 19, Delphi withdrew a proposal to cut
wages to $12.50 an hour, freeze the pension plan and eliminate retiree
health care. And on Feb. 17, for the third time, the company pushed
back the date on which it will petition the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to
nullify its current union contracts if an agreement is not reached,
this time to March 31.
"IUE-CWA applauds Delphi's
decision," Reichard stated. "With all the stakeholders now
fully engaged, it gives us the opportunity to work through these very
complex and very difficult issues."
Any improvement to Delphi's last offer, he
said, will require help from General Motors," Reichard said.
"They accept that. They want to keep Delphi
a viable company."
He said help from GM could come in the form of wage subsidies, price
supports and accelerated attrition, or early retirement, plans. GM
assumed responsibility to guarantee Delphi
pensions when it spun off the parts manufacturer in 1999.
CWA Among Unions Launching
Nurses' ICC
CWA and seven other unions representing 200,000 registered nurses
are asking the AFL-CIO Executive Council to approve a new Industrial
Organizing Committee (ICC) for nurses — "RNs Working
Together" — when the council holds its mid-winter meeting next
week in San Diego.
At a press briefing Feb. 23, spokespeople for the unions said the
group will share information and work together on joint organizing,
bargaining and public policy strategies for the nursing profession. RNs
Working Together also will focus on patient care issues and problems
with the nation's broken health care system, they told reporters.
RNs Working Together expects to be the first ICC to be officially
chartered as part of the AFL-CIO's program, announced last summer, to
promote common strategies and practices for unions within a given
industry. Among other ICCs now being developed, CWA also is involved in
forming committees for arts, entertainment and media, and for the
public employee sector.
Each union has designated a member to a core leadership committee
for RNs Working Together. CWA's representative, District 1 staffer and
RN Debora Hayes, told reporters, "We're looking ahead to
coordinating bargaining and organizing campaigns, starting with some
very effective models already in place. We'll build upon these
relationships to improve working conditions for our members and the
quality of patient care nationwide."
The unions in addition to CWA include the United American Nurses,
AFSCME, American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Government
Employees, Steelworkers, Auto Workers, and Office and Professional
Employees.
IN BRIEF:
- Add the
International Longshoremen Association to the loud chorus of
outrage over the Bush administration's agreement to allow a United
Arab Emirates-owned company to take over management of six
American Ports, from New
York to New
Orleans.
"We fully support those who have raised objections to this
proposed venture," union President John Bowers said of the
deal with Dubai Ports World. "We join with and encourage
their call for open inquiries before it can go forward."
Bowers said ILA members are especially concerned because they
"are literally on the front lines of the most vulnerable and
strategic gates for movement of 90 percent or more of this
nation's import and export cargoes."
- Two
weeks ago, 32 employees at the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory in Colorado
were fired because $5 million in federal money to fund their
research - the same research President Bush boasted of in his
State of the Union speech - had been pulled.
Like magic, their jobs were restored this week just in time
for Bush's visit to the lab. Energy Department officials said it
was accomplished by shifting "unused funding" from other
accounts.
As the Daily Show's Jon Stewart put it, "Wow, President Bush
should visit Ford." Not to mention all the American call
centers whose jobs have been shipped overseas.
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