Midwest Bargaining Resolution

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 15:31:10 -0600

As CWA prepares to enter negotiations with AT&T/Midwest Region over the contract that expires on April 7, 2012, we must make sure AT&T addresses our members’ key issues. Will AT&T work with CWA and its members as it develops strategies to meet a changing competitive and technological environment or will it take the low road of layoffs and outsourcing?
The communications industry has grown rapidly over the last decade and continues to grow in many areas. The wireless, broadband and video segments of the industry continue to expand significantly.
AT&T is the most successful company in the industry, in large part, because it has chosen a strategy which depends upon products and technologies which can best be brought together in bundled offerings, relying on union members to carry out the plan. A quality workforce needs quality benefits, pension, wages and employment security.
A critical issue in this coming round of bargaining will be to address issues which include regular full-time employment in the United States, elimination of difficult working conditions including; discriminatory management expectations, unrealistic work rules and unfair discipline by managers. We need to improve our employment security language and work toward eliminating appendices (F) and (G) and move all employees into the main body of the CORE Agreement. We need to protect employment by expanding opportunities to work in those areas which continue to grow and new business ventures that AT&T may enter, while protecting the benefits, pensions and wages we have achieved over many years.
Health Care, Pension and Benefit Improvements
Member bargaining surveys reflect continued frustration when attempting to utilize the benefits that the union has negotiated in good faith. This can best be addressed by clear contract language that protects our right to utilize the benefits that we have negotiated. Our intent is that benefits, once bargained, will be available, without question, to our members.
In addition, increased health care costs have led many employers, including AT&T, to shift more and more cost to their employees. A company the size of AT&T can leverage its size to obtain the best health care arrangements available, balancing benefits and access with cost. The financial benefits of such arrangements should be shared with our members, not added to the profits of AT&T.
We also need to improve the quality of benefit delivery through additional union oversight and authority over health plans, building on the mechanisms that are already in place, including arbitration.
Pensions are a critical concern in this round of bargaining, as many of our members are nearing the age of retirement eligibility. We need significant pension improvements to insure that all of our members, regardless of their job title. can retire with dignity. The lump sum pension option is selected by the vast majority of our members when they retire. Therefore, we must continue to assure that our members can choose this option. We must be sure the savings plans offered to our members incorporate effective options and protections which will ensure that savings are there when members retire. We must continue to guarantee retirees will have the health benefits they have earned without additional cost.
Employment Security Means Access to the Jobs of the Future
Access to high quality job opportunities in the new communications industry, including broadband, wireless and video, is the key to maintaining our members’ employment. This is critical to maintain our power to negotiate wages, benefits and pensions in the future.
We must also eliminate obstacles that exist when exercising our rights under the employment security provisions in the contract. We need access to the jobs of the future and improved voluntary transfer rights to all entities within AT&T with seniority, benefit and pension protection. The transfer systems must be strengthened to assure it provides opportunities to every employee.
To insure employment security, we must eliminate subcontracting, outsourcing and temporary hires as replacements for regular full-time employment opportunities.
Improved Standard of Living
AT&T is the largest and most profitable company in the communications industry. In 2010, AT&T recorded profits of $19.86 billion on revenues of $124 billion. For the twelve months ending September 30, 2011, profits of $11.71 billion on revenues of $126 billion.
As the dominant force in the industry, AT&T is unsurpassed in market value and revenue. AT&T’s profitability and standing in the industry is a result of our hard work and productivity. We deserve our fair share in the form of a significant base wage increase for all CWA members commensurate with company profits and executive compensation.
Justice on the Job
AT&T/Midwest has approval in all five states to offer video services to the region’s customers. This should provide additional regular full-time job opportunities and allow the company to effectively compete with the cable industry. The critical link between AT&T’s strategy and its success is the workforce of CWA members.  The elimination of mandatory overtime is critical to reduce stress on our members and their families. Elimination of such overtime would also create additional job opportunities.
The misuse of performance management plans in all departments is a serious problem. Mandatory overtime, inflexible schedules, pressure to sell, monitoring, GPS, harsh attendance and adherence policies continue to plague our members. When attempting to resolve on the job problems through the grievance procedure, we are frustrated by delays and managers lacking the authority to resolve problems or settle grievances.
Click Here To Add Your Name to Support the Resolution.

Robert D. Johnson Memorial Scholarship

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:51:01 -0600

Irma Wisconsin

Sun, 8 Jan 2012 09:26:39 -0600

Picket Against Petty Harassment in Walker's Wisconsin

Those of us who can make it should join the picket line on
Monday at 12 Noon, January 9
at Lincoln Hills School, W4380 Copper Lake Road,
Irma, Wisconsin.

Irma is about 170 miles due north of Madison, and about 200 miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. It's an easy ride from Madison in particular: straight north on what used to be US 51, currently called I-39. Irma is just south of Tomahawk and just north of Merrill.

Generally, or so I've heard, once the thief has your money, they leave you alone and run off. Because supposedly, it's all about the money. No real need to kick someone in the teeth as well...or so you might think.
But here in Scott Walker's Wisconsin, where state employee unions were assaulted and destroyed at the stroke of pen, supposedly just to save taxpayer's dollars, metaphorically kicking a union man in the head once you've already picked his pocket is not only fun, it's necessary for the survival of the regime. Please read on for the latest example of the petty, small-minded harassment that Scotty's bully boys are inflicting on public servants.
Ron McAllister, an employee at Lincoln Hills School in Irma, Wisconsin, was sent home from work yesterday for inappropriate dress. Lincoln Hills School is a juvenile detention facility that's part of the state Department of Corrections. Obviously, troubled youths cannot be subjected to inappropriate or provocative material, including objectionable clothing.
So by now you're probably wondering what appalling sartorial decision Mr. McAllister made that caused the outcry and uproar at his place of employment.
He wore an AFSCME shirt.
Of course, the kids at the facility wouldn't have cared. Union shirts are seldom linked to prison riots. The problem wasn't the kids. The problem was a group of people even more dangerous, more given to irrational hysteria, and frankly, more prone to sociopathy. I'm speaking, of course, of Scott Walker's thin-skinned, dictatorial political appointees 170 miles to the south in Madison.
You see, Ron McAllister isn't merely an employee at Lincoln Hills. He's the president of Local 6 of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, AFL-CIO. So to weasly little tyrants and their fascist boss in Madison, he represents an existential threat to....ummm....something that must be really important yet really fragile if it can all be annihilated by a shirt.
Here's a letter sent by Martin Beil, Executive Director of WSEU-Council 24, describing the situation from the union's perspective:
Late this morning (01/05) Ron McAllister, president of Local 6(Lincoln Hills School) and Council Executive Board member was escorted out of the institution because he refused to take off his AFSCME shirt. The superintendant ordered that he go home w/o pay. All of this occurred after the Administration of LHS ordered that the Union Bulletin Boards be removed and management went through his office taking AFSCME signs and copies of the local agreement. Juvenile Corrections has no dress or uniform code except that shirts can not have drug, alcohol or sexual messages. It would appear that DOC wants to try and intimidate employees who don’t cave to their anti worker/anti union antics. Well I believe they picked the wrong person and the wrong place. All of us need to stand up and outwardly send a message that we aren’t going to put up with this kind of treatment. On Monday, January 9th there will be an picket line set up at the entrance to Lincoln Hills School, W4380 Copper Lake Road, Irma, Wisconsin, at twelve o clock ,noon. We would encourage all of you and others to join us Monday at Lincoln Hills and stand behind Brother McAllister. Some of you may want to send a message of concern to the Superintendant there. His name is Paul Westerhaus and his e-mail is paul.westerhaus@wisconsin.gov . It’s interesting that all of these managers want to become little Scott Walkers. I guess that’s what merit pay is all about. That is unacceptable and we need to stand up.

But wait, there's more! When the union local pushed back, when phone calls were made asking for justification of the sudden panic about the killer shirt, Paul Westerhaus, superintendent at Lincoln Hills, apparently decided to tell the truth as to who was behind the new policy. He threw his superior under the bus. Well done, Mr. Westerhaus, and thanks for confirming what everyone already pretty much knew.

Here's part of an email from another union officer, intended as a follow-up to the above-quoted initial email from Martin Beil:

    Mr. Westerhaus just called and confirmed that any employee who reports to work in an AFSCME shirt will be ordered to remove the shirt; if they refuse they may be subjected to discipline. When asked if a dress code existed prohibiting the shirts, the answer was no. This was the instruction he received from DOC Central Office.
    Who is DOC Central Office receiving instruction from? OSER, the Office of State Employment Relations. And who directs OSER? DOA, the Department of Administration. And who is the Secretary of DOA? Mike Huebsch a Republican Party politician and former legislator.
    He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1995 through 2011. From 2007-2009, he served as Speaker of the Assembly. Huebsch resigned from the Assembly after Governor-elect Scott Walker appointed Huebsch Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

I'm not sure whether to feel pleased that everything we were sure we knew about Walker has been shown to be true, or whether I should feel nauseated that everything we were sure we knew about Walker has been proven true. I guess my feelings tend toward the latter.

So there it is. Any more questions as to why something that truly threatens the Walker regime, the petition drive, is greeted with such rabid and wild-eyed fury by the wingnuts? Seriously, if they go this bat-sh!t crazy about one guy wearing one shirt at one state facility, it's suddenly opens a door into the bottomless pit of madness that governs everything about them, doesn't it?

Just to expand on an important point in the letter from union executive director Martin Beil. We have an opportunity to push back against this latest bit almost North Korean-like paranoia by the Dear Weasel.

Those of us who can make it should join the picket line on
Monday at 12 Noon, January 9
at Lincoln Hills School, W4380 Copper Lake Road,
Irma, Wisconsin.

Irma is about 170 miles due north of Madison, and about 200 miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. It's an easy ride from Madison in particular: straight north on what used to be US 51, currently called I-39. Irma is just south of Tomahawk and just north of Merrill.

Sticking to the Union

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:12:14 -0600

Today’s Feel-Good Blog Post! Let’s help this video go viral.
Tue Jan 03, 2012 at 04:57 AM PSTPulaski WI Marching Band 'Sticking to
the Union' in Rose Bowl Parade (
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051043/-Pulaski-WI-Marching-Band-Sticking-to-the-Union-in-Rose-Bowl-Parade
)
by AnnieJo ( http://www.dailykos.com/user/AnnieJo )Follow (
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051043/-Pulaski-WI-Marching-Band-Sticking-to-the-Union-in-Rose-Bowl-Parade#?friend_id=111341&is_stream=1
) |
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051043/-Pulaski-WI-Marching-Band-Sticking-to-the-Union-in-Rose-Bowl-Parade

The Pulaski High Marching Band, of Pulaski Wisconsin, made an awesome
statement in yesterday's Rose Bowl Parade.
It was quite an honor for the Red Raiders from this small town (pop.
approx. 3000) northwest of Green Bay to be marching in 80-degree weather
in Pasadena, while their proud community looked on from windy 18-degree
Wisconsin.
The TV coverage started as they marched along playing "On Wisconsin,"
looking properly Badger-like in their red uniforms.
And then they got to the grandstand, at about 1:15 in the YouTube ...
listen to what happened.
There once was a union maid, She never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks
And the deputy sheriffs who made the raid
She went to the union hall, When a meeting it was called
And when the company boys came round
She always stood her ground
Listen to the announcers -- they have no idea what's going on, what the
tune is, what statement is being made here. "They just stopped in the
middle, this band, and they're gettin' down!" says the announcer. Oh
yes, they're gettin' down -- to Union Maid, written by Woody Guthrie!
Oh, you can't scare me,
I'm sticking to the union
I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union
Oh, you can't scare me,
I'm sticking to the union
I'm sticking to the union
till the day I die
The cheers as they finish the song are great. I bet there were more
than a few people in the crowd who realized what had just happened.
"The crowd likes them!" declares the announcer, blissfully unaware.
I hope it was the musicians themselves who selected this song, who
planned this action. It would be reminiscent of the students from East
High in Madison who determinedly marched out of school down East
Washington last February to swell the protests at the Capitol.
My favorite verse of the song is one that was added in the 1980s, and
is included in the Solidarity Singalong songbook (
http://www.wnpj.org/sites/default/files/pdf/WNPJ-labor-songbook_24songs.pdf
).
You women who want to be free
Just take a tip from me
Break out of that mold we've all been sold
You got a fighting history
The fight for women's rights
With workers must unite
Like Mother Jones, bestir them bones
To the front of every fight!
The struggle continues here in Wisconsin. Two more weeks to get those
recall signatures -- rumor has it that we're over the top with the
Walker sigs (
http://www.rivernewsonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=47&ArticleID=49999
), but we're not stopping now! Onward to a million!Originally posted to
AnnieJo ( http://www.dailykos.com/blog/AnnieJo/ ) on Tue Jan 03, 2012 at
04:57 AM PST.

Recall Info

Mon, 2 Jan 2012 21:45:59 -0600

Madison Data Entry Volunteers Needed
We are in need of volunteers with data entry of recall petitions. Data entry is occurring at AFSCME, located at 8033 Excelsior Drive, Madison, WI 53717. If you have members that are available to volunteer their time doing data entry, please have them contact Ben Young at byoung@wiafscme.org or they can sign up to volunteer using this link - http://bit.ly/tkO3q7

Petition Download
If you are doing email communications with your membership, please make sure that you include the following link: http://grassroots.wisdems.org/page/s/petitions-afl-cio where they can go to download and print off petitions to circulate.

Union Hall Petition Pick-up/Drop-Off Locations
The following is a list of union offices where petitions can be picked up/dropped off. If your union is doing this, please let me know and I can include it on this list:

Milwaukee Area Labor Council
633 S. Hawley Road
Milwaukee, WI 53214

AFT Wisconsin
6602 Normandy Lane
Madison, WI 53719

UAW 95
1795 Lafayette Street
Janesville WI

United Steelworkers
1620 Shore Drive
Beloit, WI 53511

Racine Labor center
2100 Layard Avenue, Racine

Southern Lakes United Educators
616 Droster Avenue
Burlington, WI 53105

Eau Claire Labor Temple
2233 Birch Street
Eau Claire, WI 54703

Madison Labor Temple 1602 S. Park St Madison, WI

Ironworkers District Council Office
403 E. Lake Street
Horicon, WI 53032

Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals
9620 W. Greenfield Avenue
West Allis, WI 53214

Painters Training Center
1571 Ivory Drive
Sun Prairie, WI

Machinists Union Hall
1307 Market Street
La Crosse, WI 54601

Teamsters Local 344
10020 West Greenfield
West Allis, WI

WSEU Office
1701 Main Street - Lower Level
Union Grove, WI 53182
HOURS: Monday 12:00 to 5:00pm
Saturday 6:00 am to 12:00pm

Green Bay Labor Temple: Closed Saturday Dec 24, Sunday Dec 25, Saturday Dec 31, and Sunday Jan 1
1570 Elizabeth St., Green Bay
Mon-Fri, 7am to 7pm
Contact Tony Vanderbloemen at ggblcouncil@sbcglobal.net to help staff the location

Teamsters Local 662 Union Hall
1546 Main St, Green Bay
Mon-Fri, 8am to 4:30pm

Boilermakers Hall/ M/M Labor Temple,
71 W. Hosmer Street, Marinette
Mon/Tues/Wed/Fri 12pm-5pm
Thursday 12pm-7pm
Saturday 9am-12pm

USW District 2 Office: Closed Dec 23 and returning Jan 3
1244A Midway Rd., Menasha
Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm
Contact Mike Pyne at 920.216.4348 to help staff the location

Neenah/Menasha Labor Temple: Closed Friday thru Monday Dec 23-26 and Saturday thru Monday Dec 31-Jan 2
157 Green Bay Rd., Neenah
Time: Tues-Sat, 12pm to 7pm
Contact Nancy Beis at nancybz@att.net to help staff the location

Sheboygan Buildings & Trades Hall Closed Saturday Dec 24, Sunday Dec 25, Saturday Dec 31, and Sunday Jan 1
1104 Wisconsin Ave., Sheboygan
Mon-Fri from 10am to 6pm
Sat from 10am to 2pm
Contact Barb Felde at bfel@att.net to help staff the location

Emil Mazey Hall (UAW 833)
5425 Superior Ave., Sheboygan
Mon-Fri, 6 AM to 5 PM
Call (920) 458-2173 or email daveboucher@charter.net to help staff the location

IUPAT District Council 7
S68 W22665 National Avenue
Big Bend
From 8-4:30 mon-fri.

Steve Kwaterski
AFL-CIO
O: 414-771-0700 x17
C: 414-975-8650

http://aflcio.org
http://wisaflcio.org
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com

GATT RATE INFO

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:35:54 -0600

Grievance Form.docx

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:26:42 -0600