President's CornerAt the time of this writing, the clock is stopped in negotiations between CWA and AVAYA. Bargaining has gone for the last month, but the employer hasn't given any tangible offers at the table. Please check the website for new or future updates. Qwest has changed their culture during the last several months. They are hell bent on making a profit this year; consequently demands on employees have increased. Micro management of everything is evident. Use of global positioning systems on tech's trucks, matching of time records, work logs, T&M invoices, late out of the garage and early return reports are the norm. It is not just in the I&M world, but now branching out to Construction, and soon to be in the Central Office environment as well. If you aren't keeping a personal log of your daily activities, roadblocks, reasons for your whereabouts or productivity, you are making a large mistake. This is not the first caution made through this media. Should you be called in to a meeting and asked questions surrounding your whereabouts, your time reporting, your GPS records, you are in an investigatory interview. Know your rights. You have the right to demand union representation, or the meeting has to be stopped until you get it, or postponed. QJD, CTEP, and technician expectations are being enforced by management. Most of them have not been trained on the system yet but are winging it. Our local has had 2 terminations and several suspensions since January. Each of these involved claims by management the employee violated company policies. Please be where you are supposed to be doing what you are supposed to be doing. It is extremely difficult to successfully represent someone if they have repeatedly violated rules of the road. In solidarity, Randy Grams President. |
Stories in this issue: |
Next Membership Meeting June 27th 6:00 pmLocal 7804 will hold our next membership meeting at 6:00 pm Tuesday June 27th. This is your chance to participate in the decision making and listen to recommendations made by the officers and executive board, on the business of the local. Making things better for ourselves at the workplace is what we all strive for. This cannot be achieved by a handful of people. This is achieved by sticking together as a unit, demonstrating solidarity within your crew in front of management every day. Supervisors are not our friends. Given the choice of keeping their job or enforcing discipline, they will discipline every time. I would also like to remind you about COPE. CWA is involved in politics whether you like it or not. Periodically we do campaigns to ask for donations to COPE. We ask $1.00 per week per member. That is a couple cans of soda, or a nice latte. We can all help out here, we benefit in the end. R.G. CEO'S Compensation WebsiteWe have entered the season of corporate annual meetings and their annual disclosure of executive pay. Take a look at a new area on CWA's website focusing on executive compensation: www.cwa-union.org/exec-compensation. The site also includes information about some of our major sate and public university employers. You will be as shocked as I am at the level of greed in corporate America. At the same time that CEO's are racking up millions - sometimes tens of millions - in cash, stock, and perks, they're demanding ever-larger sacrifices from workers and attacking our health care, our pensions, and our job security. Chief executives of the 500 biggest U.S. companies averaged$10.9 million in compensation for 2005. They also look forward to luxurious retirements with pensions of 2, 3, even 5 million dollars a year. America is tragically off course. The vast gulf between the super rich and ordinary families is widening. U.S. CEOs make 475 times what ordinary workers make. We can and we must help steer a course away from corporate greed and toward good jobs, universal health care and retirement security. Together we can help restore this vision to America. Larry Cohen, CWA President. Newsletter Moving to Electronic Issue Only - Via the Website and E-Mail NotificationDwindling membership and rising costs to do business has given us reason to plan to go to an all electronic issue of the publication. Currently our website has a link to sign up to receive notification of the newest version of the newsletter. It is easy to sign up for. On the homepage of our website; www.cwalocal7804.org, click on the link for PDF version of the newsletter. It will take you to a sign in box. Simply fill in the box with your name and your e-mail address. You will be automatically notified when the newest version is available. All you have to do is click on the link and it will download for your perusal. It will come in Adobe Acrobat form so you will need to have that as well. Also at your disposal are all the archived newsletters ever posted on our website. For your information, there is a location at the bottom left portion of the main website homepage, where you can sign up to receive e-mail from the local. This was a very valuable tool during bargaining last summer with Qwest. This is a useful and expeditious tool. If you have internet access, I encourage each of you to plug in and sign up to receive both the newsletter updates and the broadcast e-mail system. We will consider mailing courtesy editions for those who request, however, we will eventually be abandoning mass mailings. This system is quick, convenient, and part of the electronic age. Association of Flight Attendants AFA-CWAThe Association of Flight Attendants are CWA Members.Leave All Blades Behind Takes Step Towards LawWashington, DC, March 17 2006 - The Congressional Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection and Cyber security yesterday accepted Rep. Edward Markey's (D-MA) Leave All Blades Behind amendment, bringing it one step closer to reaching the House floor. The amendment was attached to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reform bill that will now go before the Committee on Homeland Security for approval. Make your voice heard! Sign the petition to TSA Administrator Hawley and let him know that you will not stand for taking a backwards step in our aviation security system. Join us in demanding that we maintain the Prohibited Items List and keep all dangerous items that can wreak havoc in the hands of a terrorist or even a disruptive passenger off our nation's airlines. Go to LeaveAllBladesBehind.com About CWA COPE/Committee on Political EducationCWA-COPE is the political action committee for the working men and women of CWA, their families and retirees. CWA-COPE informs and mobilizes union families to encourage their participation in the political process. Through their political action committee, CWA men and women express their voice in politics and policy issues that affect their lives. Funded by the voluntary contributions of CWA members, their family members and retirees, CWA-COPE provides financial contributions to worker-friendly candidates. CWA can only use voluntary dollars to contribute to an endorsed candidate for federal office. No union dues money of any kind can be given to a political candidate for federal office or national political party. CWA-COPE also provides information to union families about the candidates and their positions on the issues affecting their lives. Decent health care, overtime pay, safe working conditions, family-friendly workplaces, retirement security, freedom to organize are among the concerns influenced by the political process. CWA-COPE endorses candidates regardless of political party who supports working families. Working families can never match the contributions of Corporate America or the wealthy. Together we can combine our financial and voluntary resources to make a real difference in hundreds of key elections at the federal, state and local level. CWA-COPE offers workers the power to gain the attention of lawmakers to their agenda. In a representative democracy, many voices speaking together are louder than a single voice talking alone. Just as union representation gives workers a voice on the job to improve their lives, CWA-COPE is the workers voice in politics to improve their communities and nation. CWA-COPE makes politics work for working families. To contribute your share to COPE, we ask each member to donate $1.00 per week or $2.00 per pay period. See any officer or Executive Board member or steward to make your contribution. There is a simple form to fill out which will allow your donation through payroll deductions. General Disability Information/Guidelines for QwestEmployees must comply with the following to be eligible for disability.
Factors that do not require continued Absence.
Service Anniversaries and RetirementsMay Don Kornegay 35, Keith Beigh 35, Barbara Hawkinson 35, Larry Root 25, Ricky Harris 10, Harold Reed 5, Craig Stone 5. June; Robert Harris 35, Frank Brock 25, Beverly Wilson 25, David Overbo 15. Retirements: Larry Jobst Central Office Tech 38 yrs. Richard Godwin, Customer Data Tech and former President of Local 7804, 38 years. Keith Beigh, Customer Data Tech 35 years. Congratulations to All! |
|
Back to the newsletter archives.