On April 7, USWest and CWA District #7 opened a short bargaining session in an attempt to extend the current agreement. Unfortuanely an agreement was not forthcoming, mostly due to the company’s failure to offer a substantial increase in the pension bands. Strangely, this was the primary reason that early bargaining was requested by the company. I am pleased that our bargaining team went and listened to the company but also that they were true to their own goals and did not continue to talk with the company after it became apparent that the company was not truly interested in retaining its most experienced employees, their stated goal.
On Saturday, April 15, Nancy McGinnis, Dave Shott and myself attended the W.S.L.C. Cope endorsing convention at the Machinists Union hall in Tukwila. As always the day was filled with discussion and debate. The endorsements will be available to all at the regualr meeting on May 23.
The Washington State Legislative session this year was a long and difficult exercise. I feel fortunate for the hard work that the council legislative chair, Jay Boyle, and his three aides, Jerri Wood, Gail Love, and Fred Tricarico, put in during the session. They were able to get more done in a short time than we have ever accomplished before. As always, a large part of this was done on their own time and without much in the way of appreciation from those of us who reap the benefits. If you have the opportunity, please give these people a personal thanks for all that they have done and for the groundwork they have laid for the future.
Lastly, to all new local 7804 members: I want to personally invite you to the general membership meeting on May 23rd. Come and find out what it is that your Union does and who it is that is making a difference in the operation of this local. We want your participation and input.
In Unionism,
Clay Bowlby
Our Local has experienced some turnover during the past several months. Also, it is obvious we are gaining new members as well. To share with you, we have lost 18 members to retirement in the last 3 months, and gained 44 new members. To date, we have 10 known non-members, and a handful have taken management jobs. We have 3 known retirees working as incidentals or occasionals, and several incidental members (850 hours per year). As close as I can estimate this local now has close to 320 members in good standing from USW, and another dozen or so between AT&T, and Lucent.
To our new members, Welcome! Best advice, show up every day on time, do your job to the best of your ability, be patient, soak up as much as you can from the veterans, and enroll in the 401K savings plan as soon as you can and leave it alone! There are numerous benefits available to you as Union members. Remember, management doesn’t just give you these benefits for showing up, they were earned at the bargaining table, and through support and solidarity of the union brotherhood.
“Yeah Buts”
Yeah..but why should I care if the employer contracts out work to non-union firms? Because the work being contracted out used to be/or is our bargaining unit work! We have to ask ourselves, what work will be contracted out next.
Yeah..but they would never contract out my work--it’s too important. We have seen employers contract out all kinds or work, including technical and customer contact work. No work is safe from management’s short sighted motivation to pay workers less and keep more profits. That’s why we have to fight to bring back the jobs that have been contracted out and prevent more work from walking out our doors.
Yeah..but I’m going to retire in a couple of years. The contracting issue doesn’t affect me. As more work gets contracted, union jobs are fewer and we are weaker at the bargaining table. Obviously, the union is in the better and stronger position to negotiate if it has most of the jobs. Our strength at the bargaining table affects the kind of contract we are able to negotiate, including pensions, retiree health care etc..
Yeah..well why don’t you just organize the contractors in to the Union? The Union has and continues to try to organize the employees who work for these contractors But it is difficult. The turnover in these jobs is very high. Often this work is temporary or intermittent, and as a result it is very difficult to organize the workers into a Union.
I have recently returned to the Trafton A garage as my reporting place. I am astonished by all the new faces! A few comments, WORK STARTS AT 8:00! I don’t care that you have to park in the boneyard at the B garage. You don’t log on, dispatch, or review your load before 8 am. We do not work off the clock. Your productivity will properly reflect your performance when your start time is correct. You are only cheating yourselves and screwing the rest of us by starting on your own time! The company has more sheet metal than parking slots, this is obvious. Don’t help them out for their shortcomings! It is their responsibility to provide secure, assigned parking for their vehicles. It is not our responsibility to pick our trucks up early before start time, or to stock your vehicle from the supply room, or review your load, or log on prior to the prescribed start time. If you are guilty, I challenge you to stop and join the rest of us who have been doing it right for years.
In Unity...Randy Grams, Secretary/Treasurer
For the first time since 1997, the Washington State Labor Council has completely redesigned its website at WWW.WSLC.ORG and now offers more information about union than ever.
Each morning a local labor news story is posted at the WSLC Reports Today page, along with links to union news of interest in that day’s state and nationa newspapers.
“We are committed to making our website the best source of union news and information in the state,” said Rick Bender, WSLC President. “It is intended for rank-and-file members and union staffers who want to stay informed, and for any workers interested in learning more about unions.”
Information has been added about why and how people join unions, links to other labor website, and forms requesting WSLC services.
For links to the above website as well as many others in addition to up-to-date news regarding the local, visit our website at: cwalocal7804.org.
As CWA’s presence in the unregulated cabling and wiring business has expanded, IBEW (inside wire) Locals are increasingly challenging the right of a CWA signatory contractor and/or their employee’s (our members) access to work on certain construction projects. The stated reasoning for this is that CWA is not a member of the Unions that comprise the building trades council and that telecommunications work (cabling and wiring systems) falls within their jurisdiction and should only be peformed by members of the appropriate “Inside Wire” IBEW Local Union. In an attempt to resolve this loggerhead, CWA has applied for membership in both the national and local building trades councils, but our applications have been consistenlty blocked due to objections raised by the IBEW.
This dispute has simmered for years, but has intensified over the past 2 years due largely to the explosive growth in telecommunications and the shrinking sphere of that work that falls within established regulatory oversight by the state utility commissions and/or FCC. Our position is simple: either allow CWA to join the building trades or classify telecommunications as non-building trades work. At the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting the week of February 14th, CWA’s formal complaing was refrred to President Seeney to binding arbitration. A decision has yet to be made.
CWA will advocate the enactment of the Independent Contractor Clarification Act HR 1525. This would prevent employers from mis-classifying workers as independent contractors and would grant workers treated as independent contactors the same protections as those classified as employees.
We will urge the enactment of the House-passed version of this measure which provides a comprehensive set of remedies to protect participants in health care plans and would allow them to sue their health plan for denial of necessary medical care.
Currently about one-third of Medicare’s 40 million beneficiaries have no drug coverage at all. CWA supports extending the lifeline of affordable prescription drugs.
Though it is still a few months off, it is never too early to volunteer to help with the Union Picnic. If you can lend a hand this year let a steward or officer know.
The date for the picnic is July 9. All help is greatly appreicated. Thank You.
New Members: Bill Brady; Kenneth Driggers: Andrew Requa; Eric Bartlett; Charles Short; David Johnson; Wendi Patterson; John Appelt; Jeffrey Carter; Tracy McDonald; Tyrone Brown; Nancy Knuckey; Justin Grams; Keith Picker; Joseph Alonso; Jeff Bragg; Matt Dillon; Debora McPhatter. To you all: WELCOME!
Anniveraries for May and June: Mary Swanson, 33; Jack Langston, Jr, 33; James Ensey, 32; Larry Schneider, 32; James Sholseth, 32; John Reed, 32; Lester Christiansen, 32; Jackie Mattoni, 31; Kathy Hoyt, 31; John Kirkland, 30; Robert Arenburg, 30; Don Kornegay, 29; Judith Crew, 29; Keith Beigh, 29; Barbara Hawkinson, 29; Robert Harris, 29; Bruce Larson, 29; Bruce Summers, 27; Gary Disch, 27; Randy Grams, 27; Joy Bateman, 26; Alan Ferguson, 26; Philip Beyers, 25; Lynne Clevenger, 25; Linda Moreno, 24; Floyd Nance, 24; Kenneth Thomason, 23; Garry Curtiss, 23; Clay Bowlby, 23; Alan Nash, 23; James Lea, 23; Keith McClements, 22; James Reynolds, 22; Larry Gillen, 22; Leamay Heib, 22; Eddie Stratton, 22; Timothy Pettitt, 22; Terry Cupp, 21; Denise Groseclose, 21; John Mazetier, 21; James Fukuyama, 21; David Carrier, 21; Gary Hunt, 21; Keith McCart, 21; Stephen Lampman, 29; Robert Loefler, 20; Ronald Jones, 20; Dennis Libadia, 19; Frank Brock, 19; Jay Peers, 17; Kim Coffinger, 9; Fred Spaulding, 9; David Overbo, 9; Richard Hyatt, 8; Michael Pierce, 6; Rick Dimitriou, 5; Frank Heard, 5. (Under five years, anniversaries are not noted.)
March and April saw many retire from our local. We’ll miss them all. Best Wishes to: Bill Berry; Wilber Bell; Karin Skeim-Roe; Rich Kowalchuk; Ron Griffin ; Dale Willis; John Hitchins; Rod Puryear; Dick Toth; Skip Vansickle, John Barbour, Dennis Refvik; Larry Paulsen; Mike Wharton; Kathy Fox; Don Rich, Larry Ganwich, and Chuck Jones.
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