PRESIDENT'S REPORT

PAUL CASTANEDA

July 30, 2010

I just returned from the 72^nd CWA Convention and Legislative-Political Conference, it was held in Washington DC again this year.  We heard from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.  One of the topics he spoke about was High-Speed Broadband for America and Net Neutrality, which was one of our issues we spoke with our elected representative while we were on Capitol Hill.  We also heard from Congressman Luis Gutierrez from IL, Congressman Sander Levin from MI who is the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.  Speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi delivered the opening address of the Legislative-Political Conference on Wednesday.  If you would like to see the any of the speeches you can go to the CWA website at http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/eyes_on_the_prize_highlights_from_remarks_by_cwa_president_larry_cohen 

The delegates of the convention approved a Constitutional amendment to move to a Bi-annual Convention starting in 2011.  This amendment also included moving election of cycle of National officers to a 4 year term starting in 2011 as well.  There will be an annual Presidents meeting where appeals will be handled in conjunction with the yearly Political Conference.  The Women’s Activities Committee was renamed to the Women’s Committee; the Committee on Equity was also renamed to the CWA National Committee on Civil Rights and Equity.  The Communications & Technologies Vice President and the Telecommunications Vice President were deleted.  The two offices were combined to form the Telecom & Technology Vice President.  Also approved was granting the Canadian Director with a vote on the Executive Board.  There were two amendments which were defeated.  The first was a proposal to create a Telecommunications Sector and Telecommunications Sector Vice President who would oversee the coordination of bargaining which affects multiple districts.  Also voted down was a proposal to allow former retired member council presidents to speak on the convention floor.   

There were also 12 resolutions presented;  CWA Supports “One Nation” Movement, Building Sustainable Communities, Ready for the Future – Combining Districts 2 & 13, Renewing Support for Constituency Groups, Renegotiate South Korea Trade Agreements, Senate Procedural Changes Needed to End Legislative Gridlock, Support T-Mobile Workers, Support Iraqi Labor Rights, Support the Troops Bring Them Home, Public Employee Pension Protections: Stop the Race to the Bottom, Tear Down the Wall at Verizon, and American Red Cross: Labor Disputes and Blood Safety Problems.   

If you would like to look at any of the proposals or resolutions, please contact the hall and arrangements can be made. 

There were 10 different appeals heard on the convention floor as well, along with  a couple of grievance appeals, appeals of trial panels, and election appeals. 

During the District 7 Meeting, I presented a resolution on SB1070 and moved to replace the motion made at the District 7 Meeting held in Phoenix on May 5.  The original motion was for District 7 to not hold any multi state meetings in Arizona until SB1070 was either ruled unconstitutional or repealed.  The resolution is attached to this Presidents report.  There was a lot of passionate debate on the resolution and the motion to replace, but I’m happy to say that it passed. 

There was a meeting on the Qwest/CenturyTel merger.  As I’ve told anyone who had asked prior to this meeting, I will continue to caution everyone to remain cautiously optimistic about how things will be once the merger is completed.  There were several members who are currently CenturyTel employees here and we heard about a number of conflicts and difficulties they have experienced with CenturyTel.  We heard an update from Mary Taylor D7 VP, Jimmy Gurganus Telecommunications VP, and Ralph Maly Communications & Technologies VP.  They all agreed the negotiations with representatives from CenturyTel have been cordial, but they haven’t resulted in any progress on our three concerns; Jobs and Quality Service, Investment, Workers’ Rights.  It has been made very clear that CenturyTel has no interest in extending the language we currently have in our Qwest contract on neutrality to the CenturyTel areas.  When the two companies are combined, there will be about 22,000 represented occupational employees (19,000 Qwest) and 27,000 non represented occupational employees (all of which are CenturyTel).  We are working on a plan to place more pressure on CenturyTel in a number of different ways over the next few months as the merger continues.    

On Wednesday and Thursday, we had meetings with Representatives Grijalva, Giffords, Pastor and Mitchell.  We also met with staff of Representatives Shadegg and Flake.  Some of the issues we discussed were High-Speed Broadband for America and Net Neutrality, Jobs HR4812 and S3500, The Local Jobs for America Act which would help protect 300,000 education jobs and create 5,500 law enforcement officers and retain, rehire, and hire firefights as well as fund 50,000 additional private sectors on the job training positions. We also talked about Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Safety Officials, and finally to End Senate Gridlock and Filibuster.  

I also would like to invite you to our 8^th Annual Convention on September 11^th.  We will once again be holding it at the IBEW Local 640 hall.  If you would like to attend as a guest, please contact the hall so we may add you to the list. 

In Unity

Paul Castañeda

President

SB 1070 Resolution

May 20, 2010

We just completed hosting the CWA District 7 Meeting here in Phoenix.  It was the first time we have hosted the D7 Meeting in Phoenix.  It took a lot of planning and a lot of work, but was well worth it.  I want to thank the member of the planning committee Valeri Dossett Local 7019 EVP, Scott Ramsey Organizer Local 7055, Norean Blankenship AFA Council 66, Cecilia Valdez Secretary/Treasurer Local 7026 for all their hard work.  I would also like to thank Peggy Dewey, Cid Stifel, Ken Yeater, Pat Murray, Robert Ortiz, Saundra Cole and Erin McLoughlin for volunteering and all of their help during the meeting.   I received a number of compliments from delegates from all across District 7 on how well ran the meeting was and how they all enjoyed the after hours activities.  

During the opening session on Sunday, Arizona State Representative David Lujan and Phoenix Vice-Mayor Michael Nowakowski welcomed the delegates and spoke about SB 1070.  We heard from Mary Taylor District 7 Vice President, Ralph Maly Communications & Technologies Vice President and Annie Hill CWA Executive Vice President.  On Sunday night, Ron Hoyos and his band performed during the Welcome to Arizona reception.  On Monday, we had a COPE breakfast and heard from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.  During lunch we bussed all the delegates to the State Capital to support CWA State Workers on their Lobby Day.  That night, the delegates enjoyed a dinner at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  Monday and Tuesday were filled with some workshops and general business.   

On Wednesday, morning we held the Qwest Bargaining Meeting where we got an update on the Qwest/CenturyTel merger.  We heard from a couple of Presidents and CWA D7 Staff who currently represent members at CenturyTel.  To sum up what they expressed, all was positive and they have good relationship working with CenturyTel.  We are taking a cautiously optimistic approach to the merger and will continue to focus on the employment security and rights of our members and continued critical investment in high speed broadband.  CWA will work with management, and with the FCC and state regulators, to make sure that this merger offers specific commitments to meet these goals. 

On Saturday, the Local held our 10^th Annual Day of Sunshine Golf Tournament to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.  This year’s tournament took place at the Kokopelli Golf Course in Gilbert.  There were 29 golfers who participated in this year’s event.  I would like to congratulate the Qwest sponsored team for once again winning the tournament.  Thanks to our sponsors Qwest Communications, UFCW Local 99, American Income Life, Principal Financial Group – Pat Murray, CWA Local 7050 President David Blackburn, CWA Local 7026, Lucca Insurance Services – Robert Lucca, Pink Ink Print Shop, CWA Local 7019 Secretary/Treasurer Sue Head for the monetary donations.  Southwest Airlines, Kokopelli Golf Club, Qwest, Portofino’s Beach Bar and Grill, Souper Salad and Congressman Ed Pastor for their donation of raffle prizes.    

In between the District 7 Meeting and the Golf Tournament, I attended CWA Electoral Training in Baltimore, Maryland.  I don’t think I can stress enough how important the upcoming elections are going to be to us in this state.  We have a number of important races this year, but none more so than for Governor.  All you have to do is look at the state legislature and you can clearly see where the lack of leadership in that position has hurt our state.  This year CWA will be leading a very aggressive political program to get people in office that support working families.  As President Larry Cohen relayed to us in Baltimore, “The CWA Triangle remains more important and more effective than ever.  We must offset the decline in our bargaining power from union job losses by building our political power and creating even more unity around our four key issues: jobs, health care, retirement security, and most important, bargaining and organizing rights.”  I hear from members all the time that we only support Democrats; we support people who support working families and support our issues.  You can look to the Senate race in Arkansas where CWA members have lead the charge to defeat two term democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln, who turned on working families and sided with the Chamber of Commerce in opposing bargaining rights and blocking any meaningful compromise for the Employee Free Choice Act.  We are sending the message not just to Lincoln, but to all elected officials that we don’t support one party but we stand for working families and for communities.  As we start our political program this year, we will be looking for volunteers to go and do door knocks to talk to other union members, do worksite visits to handout flyers and talk to other union members.  If you are interested in getting involved please contact me at the hall. 

In unity, 

Paul Castañeda

President 

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April 22, 2010

As a follow up to my earlier email, we just completed our CWA District 7 conference call.  CWA District 7,VP Mary Taylor and the bargaining agent President Larry Cohen also joined the call.  CenturyLink shareholders will own 50.5% and Qwest shareholders will own 49.5% of the new company.  At this time, there is no word on what the company will be called.  CWA currently represents approximately 3,300 occupational employees at CenturyLink and approximately 20,000 occupational employees at Qwest.  A number of the states in the Qwest 14 state region have regulatory Commissions and Boards that will have to approve the deal before it is completed.   We expect the process to take between 12-18 months.   

During bargaining in 2008, we were able to maintain the successorship language in our contract with Qwest.  This means all the provision of the contract stay in place.   

CWA has three main areas of focus in this deal; Employment Security, Rights and Investment.  CWA has a Strategic Industry Fund, which if needed, we can use to be proactive  to train and mobilize our membership if and when it’s needed to make sure our members are protected in this deal.  We will be receiving a power point presentation with additional information in the next couple of days.  As soon as we have it, we will put a link up on our website for it.   

As additional information comes out we will pass it on.  If you have any questions please contact me here at the hall. 

Thanks,

Paul Castañeda

President

April 22, 2010

As reported by a number of news services this morning, Qwest has agreed to be acquired by CenturyLink.  Early this morning I was able to verify an agreement had been reached.  Qwest has issued a press release which you can read by going to the following link http://news.qwest.com/centurylinkqwestmerger . 

We have received several calls this morning from the membership.  At this time, I don’t have the answers to all your questions.  CWA District 7 has put a call together for Local President’s this afternoon to discuss the implications for our membership.   

As I have more details, we will post on our website at http://www.cwa7019.org as well as sending it out through our E-blast email system. 

Thanks,

Paul Castañeda

President

April 9, 2010 

We are less then a month away from the start of the 2010 District 7 Meeting here in Phoenix.  The District meeting will run from May 2^nd thru the 5^th.  The CWA Arizona State Council is the host committee and is made up of CWA Locals 7000, 7019, 7026, 7032, 7050, 7090, 27056 and 27066.  The planning committee has been working very hard in planning a number of events for the delegates from across the District.  We are looking for volunteers who would like to help in making the District meeting a success.  If you are interested, please contact me at the hall to sign up or for more information. 

On April 23, we will be holding a CWA Day at 20 E. Thomas in the multi-purpose room. All of your officers will be on site.  If you are interested in joining any of our Local’s committee, all committee chairs will be available to meet with you and provide information on what the committee does.  There will be shirts for sale, snacks and free give-ways.  For any new COPE contribution and COPE contribution increase, your name will be placed in a drawing for a gift basket. 

On May 15, we will be holding our 10^th Annual Day of Sunshine Golf Tournament to benefit Pediatric AIDS.  This year’s tournament will be held at Kokopelli Golf Club in Gilbert, AZ.  If you are interested in participating, contact the hall for a registration form or visit cwa7019.org to download one.  If your not a golfer and would like to help or just come out and have lunch with the golfers after the tournament and participate in the raffles, please contact the hall. 

Recently, there have been a number of calls with regards to the company having you take FML time for a personal illness absence which last less than eight days.  In many cases, the employee stated they either did not understand they were applying for FML and/or if they did so, their personal paid entitlement time (vacation and/or personal days) would be substituted for Wage Replacement (illness absence) pay under Article 12.  If you have a personal illness which requires less than eight days off and return the FML paperwork and the FML is approved, your ill time will be recoded and the time paid out of your time off entitlements. If they have no entitlement time, their absence will be coded as FML non-paid (FMLN).  If you have any questions, contact a steward or officer. 

In Unity,

Paul Castañeda

February 4, 2010

I hope all of you had a Happy New Years; once again time is just flying by.  We still have a Surplus going on in the Arizona Network Organization at Qwest. Your officers have been working very diligently at finding spots for the people effected.  We have been able to get a number of people moved from the outstate area’s into the Phoenix Metro Area.  There been a number of people chosen to participate in the Expanded Voluntary Separation Payment Program and retire allowing one of the surplused employees to stay in their place.  We also have 15 people in the Sales Support Organization who are leaving as part of the Voluntary Separation Payment Program.  I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors, I would like to invite you to join the local Retirees Chapter and stay involved in your union! 

Planning is currently under way for this year’s District 7 Meeting, as I’ve stated in my previous report this years meeting will be taking place here in Phoenix at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Phoenix.  It will start on May 2nd run through the morning of May 5th.  There is a planning committee which consists of member of the various CWA Locals in the State of Arizona.  They are working on planning a number of events to take place for our out of town guest.  We will be looking for volunteers to help in carrying out some of those activities as well as being on hand during the meetings to assist as needed.  If you would like to volunteer please contact Executive Vice President Valeri Dossett here at the hall.  As we get closer to the meeting, I will provide information on how you can attend as a guest to the meeting if you would like. 

On January 11, the Presidents of CWA Locals 7000, 7019, 7026, 7032, 7050, 7090 AZCOPS Local 7077, AFA-CWA 27066 agreed and signed the bylaws to re-form the CWA Arizona State Council.  The purpose of the State council is to unite the locals and members of the Communications Workers of America within the State of Arizona for the purpose of collective effort to move forward to full implementation of the Bierne Triangle.  We will coordinate both Legislative and Political activities of the CWA Locals within the State by making recommendations and endorsement of candidates.  Work to improve the conditions and welfare of CWA Members, their families and the communities in which they live through community/social, political and legislative action.  We will work to advance the interest of CWA members by advocating the enactment of laws beneficial to them and the defeat or repeal of laws detrimental to them, and do all things which may be necessary or proper to secure for CWA members the enjoyment of their natural rights - through community and political actions. 

We are still looking for committee chairs for Equity, Legislative & Cope, and Education.  If you are interested in becoming a Chair of one of the committees or are interested in joining a committee please contact me at the hall.  This is a good way to get involved in YOUR local that doesn’t take a lot of time, but helps build our strength as a UNION.  

Finally, Steve Hammill Area Vice President of Unit 5 has submitted his resignation effective once a new Area Vice President has been elected.  I would like to thank Steve for his hard work over the last year on the Executive Board.  Members of unit 5 were sent letters to your last known address on file here at the hall about the upcoming Unit 5 Nomination Meeting, you can also view the letter under the Unit 5 Report.  If you are in Unit 5 and did not receive the letter, please contact the hall to update your mailing address. 

In Unity, 

Paul Castañeda

President

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November 13, 2009

Late Thursday evening, our Brother & Sisters at UFCW Local 99 were able to reach a tentative agreement with both Fry’s & Safeway.  I don’t have any details at this time on what the agreement looks like, but was told it was a fair contract that both sides are happy with.  They will be holding a ratification vote over the next few weeks.  There were a number of media reports about how the members of UFCW Local 99 didn’t want to go out on strike.  On Wednesday night, CWA Staff Rep Joe Gosiger and I attended a UFCW Local 99 meeting, despite what you’ve heard on the news let me assure you  their members were overwhelming ready to strike!  Their previous contract had expired in October of 2008 and they had been operating under a series of extensions over the last year while continuing to negotiate.   

Last Saturday, the House of Representatives in a historic vote passed the Health Care Reform bill.  All five Democratic Representatives from Arizona voted YES!  I have talked to each of their offices in the last week and they heard loud and clear from our members they wanted the bill passed.  They also heard from the opposition they weren’t in favor of it.  The next challenge will be to get a Health Care Reform bill thru the Senate.  The Senators from Arizona are both Republicans just as we repeatedly called our Democratic Representatives were on the fence or against the bill to start with, we need to call our Senators just like the opposition to Health Care Reform.  If you haven’t called today please do so, and every day until Health Care Reform is passed, because they are hearing from the opposition on a daily basis. 

At last years convention a budget was passed which was at a $110,860 deficit.  After reviewing all the expenses from last year, we were able to come in under budget by $98,942.  For the year we were $21,000 under for Executive officers salary, Unit Lost Wages were $14,172 under, National convention was $5,599 under, Local convention was $2,682 under just to highlight a few.  Coming in under budget was not small task and took a lot of hard work from the Executive Board.    

Finally, I would like to announce that next years District 7 Meeting will be held here in Phoenix at the Wyndham Hotel.  The District meeting will run from Sunday, May 2 thru Wednesday, May 5.  We will be looking for volunteers to join the host committee.   

In Unity,

Paul Castañeda

October 15, 2009

I would like to thank the members who came by the open house last weekend; the Executive Board was on hand to BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs.  If you weren’t able to stop by I would encourage you to stop by on a day off or after work to see YOUR new home.  We have been able to get all of our awards and plaques out on display to show what WE have accomplished over the years.  A majority of the pictures and displays  show our history over the years have also been put up around the hall, unfortunately we just don’t have space to put it all on display. 

On October 1^st the new fiscal year for the Local started, I am going over all of last years expenses to see how we did compared to what was budgeted, as that is completed I will send that information out.  The Area Vice Presidents did an outstanding job in managing their unit budgets.  For the year they were able to come under budget by $14,172.67, that is a huge accomplishment and I commend the AVP’s for the effort and awareness of their budgets.  At this years convention, the budget that was passed did have some cuts to Executive officer salaries, the Executive Vice President and Vice President were both reduced to 34 hours per week and the Secretary/Treasurer was reduced to 32 hours per week.  They have the option of returning to work one day a week if they are able to or working on a CWA Strategic Industry Fund (SIF) project that is paid for by the International.   

Over the last year we have focused on the timeliness of grievances.  AVP’s are handling all terminations and warning of dismissals, Area Reps are handling written warning and Stewards are handling contractual issues at the first step of the grievance process.  We also instituted a new process for the appeals which got us in line with the CWA Constitution.  Since January, 235 grievances have been filed, 126 have been closed and 28 have been appealed to 2^nd step, and 81% of the grievances closed or appealed have been done within 90 days of being filed. 

We are currently looking for committee chairs for Equity, Legislative & Cope, Organizing, and Education.  If you are interested in becoming a Chair of one of the committees or join a committee please contact me.  This is a good way to get involved in YOUR local that doesn’t take a lot of time, but helps build our strength as a UNION. 

There are two major issues which need our support and our action.  The first is Health Care Reform which includes requiring employers to cover their employees, covering pre-Medicare retirees, a choice of private or public plan and no taxes on the health care benefits.  If something doesn’t change on a national level, we will continue to take a beating at the bargaining table on the cost of health care and have to shoulder more of the cost ourselves.  The second is the Employee Free Choice Act.  Now is our time to make a change in the laws when it comes to the ability to organize new workgroups.  The key components of the Act would allow workers to unionize if a majority of employees sign membership cards, mediation if a first contract is not reached, and it requires stronger penalties for employers who engage in unfair labor practices.  Please call your senator and representative and let them know we want them to support both the Employee Free Choice Act and Health Care Reform.   

In Unity, 

Paul Castañeda

President CWA Local 7019

August 5, 2009

We are finishing up the final touches on OUR new home!  The tile has been laid, the walls have been painted and everything is being cleaned, all that is left is for us to move in.  On Tuesday August 11, we will be moving out of our “temporary” office into OUR new home.  It has been a long time coming and will be well worth the wait, we were able to purchase the new building and pay for the improvements with the proceeds of the sale of the old hall and didn’t have to finance any of the purchase price. We will be planning an open house in the near future, please look for an announcement in the coming month. 

We are also a little over three weeks away from our 7^th Annual Local Convention.  CWA Secretary/Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, Assistant to District 7 Vice President Mary Taylor, Administrative Director to District 7 Vice President Kevin Mulligan, Staff Rep Joe Gosiger, Arizona AFL-CIO Executive Director/Secretary-Treasure Rebekah Friend, and District 15 State Representative Krysten Sinema will be our Guest Speakers.  If you would like to attend as a guest and have not done so as of yet, you can call the hall at 602-331-7019 to sign up as a guest.  This year’s convention is being held at the IBEW Local 640 Union Hall, 5808 N. 7^th Street on Saturday August 29^th.   

We recently had meetings with Qwest Arizona State President Jim Campbell and his staff about the upcoming United Way Campaign.  This Years Qwest/CWA United Way Campaign will run from the beginning of September thru the end of October.  Over the next couple of weeks we will be visiting yards across the Valley to promote this years United Way Campaign.

July 1, 2009

Executive Vice President Valeri Dossett and I just returned from Washington D.C. we attended the 71^st Annual CWA National Convention.  This years convention was combined with the Legislative-Political Conference, the Convention ran from June 22^nd thru June 24^th.  During the Convention we heard speeches from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa, and Vice President Joe Biden.  The common theme was the time is now; we are at a crossroads for the labor movement.  We need to take advantage of the momentum that we have and push our elected politician to pass the Employee Free Choice Act now.     

Hundreds of CWA members invaded Capital Hill and meet with their respective elective politicians.  Along with other delegates from Local 7026 in Tucson we were able to meet with Staff for Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick, Ed Pastor, Harry Mitchell, John Shadegg and Senator John McCain’s office.  We were also able to meet with Representative Raul Grijvala.  We were able to discuss the need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and Real Healthcare Reform that includes CWA 4 major points (coverage for all, all employers pay, a public option, and no taxation of healthcare benefits).  The Guest speaker during the Legislative/Political reception was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.  On Thursday there were thousands of CWA members that were part of the 10,000 union members and activists that came together to tell Congress that it's time for real health care reform.   

For some good news Quinton Jones had been involved in two very minor motor vehicle accidents a year ago and was terminated from Qwest.  Unfortunately Qwest was not willing to come to an agreement on settling the case so we were forced to take both his cases to ADR.  I’m happy to report just over a month ago we took his 3 day suspension and warning of dismissal to ADR and were successful in getting all 3 days paid back along with the WOD reduced to a written warning.  On Friday June 19^th we took his termination to ADR and again able to win.  The Arbitrator ruled on the side of Quinton and awarded him his job back with all but 30 days paid back.  Staff Rep Joe Gosiger will be working out the details as to when Quinton returns to work.  We look forward to welcoming Quinton on his first day back to work.         

One question that I get asked the most is, when are we going to get a new building?   Although it has been a very long and difficult process finding a building that’s the right size and the right price.  The committee was able to find two buildings that did fit our needs and price.  The Executive Board decided between the two buildings and in the process of entering into an agreement to purchase a building at 1615 N. 36^th ST. The building is 4,768 sq ft we have agreed to purchase price of $449,000.  Over the next 20 days we will have various inspections of the building done.  If the inspections comeback good we will be closing 5 days later.  We could be moving into our new home the beginning of August.   

In unity, 

President Paul Castañeda 

April 3, 2009 

Vice President Dave Wood, Executive Vice President Valeri Dossett, and myself just returned from attending the District 7 meeting in Denver.  We heard from CWA Secretary/Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, Nick Unger from the AFL-CIO Health Care, Stewart Acuff who is the Assistant to the AFL-CIO President, and Jim Hightower who is a syndicated columnist, populist activist and author.  Although there was a lot of talk about the success we had in electing President Barack Obama, the point that was stressed time and time again was that we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels’ we must continue to engage our membership and continue the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act and Health Care for All.   

There is a lot of misconception as to what the Employee Free Choice Act is and is not, the Act does three main things.

• Strengthens penalties for companies that illegally coerce or intimidate employees in an effort to prevent them from forming a union. 
• Brings neutral third party to settle a contract when a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months
• Establishes majority sign-up, meaning that a majority of the employees sign union authorization cards, validated by the Nation Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a company must recognize the union.

You may have seen or heard the adds “protecting our secret ballot” the Employee Free Choice Act does not get rid of the election process, it allows the employee’s to choose if they want to have an election or card check instead of employer.  More then a year after voting for union representation, workers are unable to negotiate initial collective bargaining agreements 32% of the time.  Employers illegally fire employees for union activity in at least 25% of all organizing efforts. The NLRA’s current penalties against illegal firings of union supporters are so minimal that employers treat them as a minor cost of doing business.    

In the coming weeks you will be asked to write letters to your Representatives in Congress asking them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.  I have heard time and time again that the Employee Free Choice Act doesn’t affect us because we already have a union.  What about your family and friends shouldn’t they be able to have a Union?  Union Pay and benefits are 33% higher then non-union workers, 81% have defined pension plans compared to 48% of non-union workers, 52% of union families have medical coverage compared to 18% of non-union families, With union representation they would have a voice at work.  

In unity, 

President Paul Castaneda

January 30, 2009 

As I’m writing this, AT&T Mobility bargaining is ongoing and their current contract is set to expire at midnight on February 7.  Our local represents approximately 150 employees around the city and in Northern Arizona.  For most of these members, this is their first round of contract negotiations.  I’m asking all of our members to support our brothers and sisters during their bargaining and support any mobilization activities.  You can see the latest bargaining reports by going to the following website http://www.cwa-union.org/att/mobility. 

Valeri Dossett (Executive Vice President), Sue Head (Secretary/ Treasurer) and myself attended new officer training in Albuquerque, NM at the beginning of the month.  We all came back with ideas to help improve our local going forward.  At our last Executive Board meeting I asked each of your Area Vice Presidents to come to our next meeting with goals for their units as well as for the Local, so we can work as a group to set goals for the Local in the coming months.   

On January 20 the Maricopa Area Labor Federation’s hosted a breakfast and viewing party of President Obama’s inauguration.  There were about 25 members of our local in attendance.  As a new administration settles in the White House, we need to continue to put pressure on our elected officials to support the Employee Free Choice Act.  The Employee Free Choice Act does three things to level the playing field for employees and employers:

• Strengthens penalties for companies that illegally coerce or intimidate employees in an effort to prevent them from forming a union;
• Brings in a neutral third party to settle a contract when a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months;
• Establishes majority sign-up, meaning that if a majority of the employees sign union authorization cards, validated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a company must recognize the union

To learn more about the employee Free Choice Act you can visit the following website http://www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/pages/efca_resources

Last but not least, the search for a new building is continuing.  We have a committee looking for a new home for our Local.   We are currently working with two different real estate agents and have looked at about 12 different properties in the last month.  We have had a couple of possibilities.  The committee and the Executive Board are committed to getting a building that is in the best interest of the membership.

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