August 28, 2014

Want to be in next week's CWA Newsletter? Send your stories and photos to
blog@cwa-union.org or @CWANews. Follow the latest developments at
www.resistancegrowing.org.
President Cohen's Labor Day 2014 Message
Let's Make Labor Day Less About the End of Summer and More
About Restoring Workers' Rights
Cohen: There is No Hope for Economic Justice or Democracy If
We Are Divided
Movement Building Update
Bargaining Update
Who's Taking the Ice Bucket Challenge Next?
Organizing Update
Election Update
Inequality: Rebuilding the Middle Class Requires Reviving Strong
Unions
National Women's Committee Report: It's Time for Paid Family
Leave in the U.S.
New Benefits for CWAers Through Union Plus
President Cohen's Labor Day 2014 Message
Share This Article:
President Cohen's Labor Day message is also posted on Huffington Post.
Working Americans Can't Just Wait for the Next President
We tried waiting and hoping for real change six years ago. Today, income
inequality grows steadily worse while economic opportunity is out of reach for
most. Collective bargaining coverage for working Americans has fallen to the
lowest level in eight years. Productivity grows while wages have not yet
rebounded to the 2008 level.
Earlier this year, and largely unnoticed, the 160 million-member International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) published its report on the global state of
workers' rights. It rated nations a "1" if abuses were uncommon and a "5" if
workers had no rights at all. The U.S. came in at 4, meaning "Systematic
Violations of Workers Rights." We lagged behind 73 other nations. For the
first thirty years following passage of the National Labor Relations Act in
1935, the U.S. would have been rated a "1." None of the more than 100 other
nations in this report has declined as the U.S. has, and many countries like
Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa, and most of Eastern Europe have improved
dramatically.
How bad is a "4"? This is hurricane season and if we think of a category 4
storm, like Superstorm Sandy, we get some idea of the severity of this crisis.
Just 6 percent of private sector U.S. workers have collective bargaining
rights. Including public workers only brings the percentage of U.S. workers
with bargaining rights to 11%. This is down from 35% some fifty years ago.
No other nation has experienced a similar decline.
For all the useful talk about U.S. economic inequality and calls to raise the
minimum wage, 2014 mostly will be another year like the last 50, with
persistent attacks on workers' rights, huge income and wealth gains for the
top 1 % and a declining standard of living for the other 99%.
Yet Labor Day this year will be much like recent years, a little less labor and a
little more like the end of summer. Political attention begins to focus on
November elections, but the food fight for the next presidential election is
warming up.
Six years ago, as the election of a new president loomed, there was much
anticipation about a different economic order, and a focus on adoption of the
Employee Free Choice Act, passed in 2008 by the House of Representatives
with a 60% margin.
As important as a raise in the minimum wage is, that still would leave the
other 95% of U.S. workers with the same troubling economic future that they
face today. Workers would continue to have no hope on workers' rights and
would be subject to a political system based more than ever on wealth thanks
to a string of Supreme Court decisions.
The next presidential election likely will focus much less on workers' rights,
and more on social issues and government spending. What we learned over
the past six years is that the combination of dysfunctional Senate rules, big
money in politics, the attack on voting rights, and barriers to citizenship for 20
million immigrants are real barriers to economic change. Unless we break
through these barriers, it's just more of the same for working Americans.
There is hope if we link workers' rights to the huge democracy movement that
is growing across the U.S. Labor, plus greens, consumers, and democrats
from all parties realize that our nation today is not what democracy looks like.
Can we all focus on the blocks to a 21st century democracy as at least our
number two issue? Fifty large membership organizations now endorsing the
Democracy Initiative say, "Yes we can!" Our collective membership totals
more than 35 million and if we can focus a growing part of our time and
resources on these structural blocks as well as workers' rights, the
environment, poverty, and human rights, we might even dream the American
dream again.
On September 8, the Senate will vote on a constitutional amendment that
would reverse recent Supreme Court decisions and allow Congress to
regulate election spending. It is now clear the amendment will receive
majority support but based on likely total opposition from Republicans, it will
fall short of the two-thirds required by the Constitution to move forward. More
important, the vote will signal that there is serious support for reform, whether
through an eventual Supreme Court reversal or amendment.
For the millions of Americans facing another Labor Day without labor rights, it
is also a time to commit much more deeply to broader reform of our
democracy and think far beyond the next election.
We do know what democracy should look like. Get big money out of politics.
A Senate that debates and votes on the key issues of the day. Universal
voter registration so all citizens can turn out on Election Day. A path to
citizenship for immigrants that at least resembles the path that my family and
others who immigrated 100 or more years ago followed.
This Labor Day I will look forward to a warm summer day, but I'm also
dreaming of the movement we can build.
Let's Make Labor Day Less About the End of Summer and More About
Restoring Workers' Rights
Share This Article:
CWA President Larry Cohen and MSNBC television commentator Ed Schultz
discuss what it will take for workers to regain economic justice.
What's the way forward? Watch here.
Cohen: There is No Hope for Economic Justice or Democracy If We Are
Divided
Share This Article:
CWA President Larry Cohen was one of 200 people arrested for civil
disobedience outside the White House as part of the National Day to Fight for
Families to protest the deportations that are breaking families apart. You can
watch a short video of the rally here.
CWAers joined the action in front of the White House, where some 2,000
activists turned out to call on President Obama to stop the deportations.
In Washington, D.C., CWAers joined more than 2,000 activists from unions,
community groups, farm organizations, religious groups, immigrant advocates
and others in calling on President Obama to take action now to cut the huge
number of people being deported every day more than 1,000 and keep
families intact.
In addition to this unprecedented level of deportations, "thousands of children
fleeing violence in Central America have been deported as well. What
happened to the inscription on our Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired,
your poor," Cohen asked.
"Is this what we have come to? Divided up, as working people, based on
where we came from? Divided up, as in Ferguson, Missouri, based on race?
We have no hope for economic justice or democracy if we are divided,
regardless of why," he said.
The President must take action and send the message that regardless of
race or national origin, this remains the nation of the American dream, he
said.
Across the country, thousands more families, community leaders, people of
faith and others, participated in vigils, town halls and other events to push for
action on immigration reform now.
Last year, the Senate passed a comprehensive bill by a bi-partisan vote. The
House has refused to act, instead calling for increased deportation and
enforcement-only policies that are devastating families.
From left: CWA's own President Larry Cohen, T&T Vice President Bill Bates
and Chief of Staff Ron Collins are arrested in front of the White House, part of
a nationwide Day to Fight for Families and against deportations.
Movement Building Update
Share This Article:
Moral Week of Action in Raleigh, NC
North Carolina activists, with lots of CWA members on hand, rallied and
marched at the state capitol in Raleigh, for a week of protests against the
attacks on civil rights, workers, voting rights, womens rights and more.
CWAers were a big part of the Moral Week of Action in North Carolina, as
activists demonstrated for seven days against the extreme agenda of the
Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature and Gov. Pat McCrory (R).
Focusing on a different issue each day, activists rallied around workers' rights
and economic justice, education, women's rights, equal protection under the
law and other civil and human rights that the GOP is trying to roll back.
On Aug. 22, about 100 CWAers from across North Carolina joined the action,
calling for fair and living wages and an end to the attacks on workers' rights
and their unions.
After every daily rally, supporters are holding voter registration canvasses.
North Carolina has been working overtime to block people's right to vote and
to suppress voter turnout.
The week of action will end on Aug. 28, with people of faith leading the march
to the state Capitol followed by a rally on the Bicentennial Mall. Aug. 28 is the
51st anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which
brought more than a quarter of a million people to Washington, D.C., to stand
up for justice for all.
Bargaining Update
Share This Article:
Community support is growing for SuperShuttle drivers at Denver
International Airport, members of CWA Local 7777. The Denver Workers'
Rights Board issued its report following a public hearing that heard testimony
from drivers about SuperShuttle's abusive treatment and commitments of
support from public leaders.
Learn more about their fight for a fair contract here.
Who's Taking the Ice Bucket Challenge Next?
Share This Article:
CWA President Larry Cohen took the ALS "ice bucket challenge" then called
out CWA vice presidents Chris Shelton, D1, and Ed Mooney, D2-13, to take
the challenge and pass it on.
CWA President Cohen takes the challenge.
In Albuquerque for the D7 District Conference, Cohen was doused with the
huge bucket of ice and cold water by SuperShuttle drivers, members of CWA
Local 7777.
The challenge is raising awareness and research dollars to help find a cure
for ALS also known as "Lou Gehrig's disease" a progressive,
degenerative disease of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. CWA D2
Vice President Pete Catucci died from ALS disease in 2009.
They get soaked by the icy water, but participants also donate to the ALS
Association. As of this week, $89 million has been raised. For more
information, click here.
Organizing Update
Share This Article:
Chanting "vote like your job depends on it," Members of CWA Local 13301,
with CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney, center, talk with workers
at the Philadelphia International Airport. Agentss at US Airways and
American Airlines are voting now on CWA representation.
Election Update
Share This Article:
Steve Sarnoff won his primary race for a State Assembly seat in Pinellas
County, Fla., defeating two other candidates. He will face his Republican
opponent for the House District 67 seat in the November election.
Sarnoff is a city worker in Clearwater and president of CWA Local 3179.
Inequality: Rebuilding the Middle Class Requires Reviving Strong
Unions
Share This Article:
Check out this new report from Campaign for America's Future. It's exactly on
target when it comes to what needs to be done to reverse the growing
inequality in our country.
Here's what Robert Borosage, president of the Institute for America's Future,
says:
"America now suffers the most extreme inequality of the industrial
world, as the broad middle class continues to sink. Why does the U.S.
no longer enjoy widely shared prosperity? The most popular
explanations focus on the changes wrought by globalization and
technology, and the transition to a service economy. The most touted
remedies are greater education and more worker training.
"But, if history is any guide, the most important policy is too often the
least mentioned: workers regaining a voice at work, through organizing
and broad-based collective bargaining. The power to bargain across
entire sectors of the economy enables workers to demand a fair share
of the profits and productivity they help to create. A voice at work limits
executive excesses and curbs wage theft and other fair labor
violations."
National Women's Committee Report: It's Time for Paid Family Leave in
the U.S.
Share This Article:
Did you know that just 11 percent of U.S. workers have access to paid family
leave through their employers? And only 40 percent have access to personal
medical leave?
The Family and Medical Leave Act, passed more than 20 years ago, provides
up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, but it doesn't do enough. That's the focus of
a new report by CWA's National Women's Committee member Esther Pond,
CWA Local 3806.
The next step forward is the FAMILY Act. Introduced last year by Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), this legislation would
establish a self-sustaining, national paid leave insurance plan funded by
employer and employee contributions.
Private and public, full time and part time, and self-employed workers would
be eligible for the benefits.
Some states like New Jersey, California and Rhode Island already have put
in place paid leave insurance programs, but we need a national law to make
sure that all workers can better balance their work and family responsibilities.
Read more about the Family Act in the full report.
And then become a CWA Human Rights activist and help push important
measure like the Family Act forward.
Sign up here.
New Benefits for CWAers Through Union Plus
Share This Article:
Union Plus has worked with Hertz to arrange for two new discounted offers
for car rental brands Dollar and Thrifty. Hertz recently purchased Dollar and
Thrifty.
These new programs have been added to the Union Plus website. Check it
out for more information and to make reservations.
CWA
501 Third Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
www.cwa-union.org
Follow CWA on:
Text CWAACTION to 69866 to Join Our Rapid Response Text List
Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC. All Rights Reserved.