New Overtime Rules
In spite of the fits being thrown by U.S. Department of Labor
Assistant Secretary Victoria Lipnic in public comments and a January 13, 2004
letter to the editor, last week’s Associated Press report that revealed
that the U.S. Department of Labor is coaching employers how to get around
the new overtime rules was right on the money.
The truth, in fact, is far more damning to the Department than the
AP story reported. Since last summer, the DOL has boasted repeatedly that its
plan will help 1.3 million low-wage workers who aren’t eligible for
overtime now because of supervisory duties. This claim was used to blunt the
fact that the same plan will give employers the right to strip overtime pay
from literally millions of other workers, forcing them to work longer hours for
no additional money.
Not only do the regulations provide what have been called
“tips” or “options” for those who employ the purported 1.3
million low-wage workers, they go so far as to provide a mathematical formula
for what amounts to cheating these workers out of a raise. On page 15576 of the
Federal Register in which the regulations are published, the DOL uses a
$400-a-week salary to illustrate how to re-calculate a worker’s base pay -
- lowering it from $10 an hour to $8.42 an hour – so that overtime hours
won’t cost the employer anything. The regulations even say that employers
would be expected to choose the most “cost-effective” option.
Now that the media and the public have caught on, agency officials
insist they’re not suggesting any such thing to employers. Ms. Lipnic
claims in her letter to the Post that “What (the story) refers to as
"tips" for employers are actually legally required elements of the economic
impact analysis that must be performed for every significant rule issued by a
Cabinet-level department.” The regulations make the Department’s
agenda clear. Sadly, a once-proud agency that was created to look out for
workers in a corporate-dominated world is now little more than a second U.S.
Department of Commerce.
Convention Impressions
by Rick Beaver
At the end of August, I was given the opportunity to attend the
National CWA Convention in Anaheim,”Kaaleefornia”. My preconception
of a convention, like many of yours, was too many hours of sitting, listening
to boring speeches and not enough hours of evening revelry and fun! Or too much
of each! Maybe I got lucky. Maybe I went to the one convention in a hundred
years that was interesting, informative and involving.
This was the first time I had ever been to a convention. I was
impressed by the diversity of professions under the CWA umbrella. Everyone from
flight attendants to school teachers to communications workers, they all had
the one common reason for being part of the CWA. That is to protect the workers
they represent, as much as possible, from the stupid regressive decisions their
employers make. To try and keep things fair, but most of all these delegates at
the convention are the buffer for the employees and the people that the
management has to look over their shoulder for when trying to get away with
something.
As much information, insights, and news as we received during the
actual convention (one day 8am to 9:30pm with only 1 ½ hour lunch), I
also got before and after actual convention hours, just as much information.
Before 8am, standing around with coffee cups talking to Bill from SBC, or going
to lunch with a group from Verizon, or partaking of the brew in the evening at
a hosted event and talking to people from Michigan. There was not one
conversation the whole time that did not involve anything other than things in
our work environments.
If I can put this in to words, I will try….. The most
impressionable thing that I came away with was that all the hundreds of people
at this convention were basically volunteers. Those from the larger locals are
full time union representatives and have to deal with union business 8 hours a
day 5 days a week. Those of us from smaller locals work our jobs 8 hours a day
and on top of that we help members deal with issues. Believe it or not, we help
management deal with some issues. Your local officers, executive board members,
and stewards, have all decided to take on their positions to try to make this a
better place to work and try to protect all of us.
After spending 3 days with officers of locals from all over the
country I can tell you, without a doubt, that our local is one of the best
represented, connected and respected in Qwest. I was proud to be there on your
behalf.
Thank you,
Save your money,
Rick Beaver E-Board Puyallup
Garage
2004 Quad State Meeting
On Sept 23rd & 24th, 2004 Randy Grams and myself attended the
District 7 Quad State Meeting in Cannon Beach Oregon. This is a meeting of the
union leadership from Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Idaho.
The meeting on Thursday the 23rd started with remarks from Vice
President of District 7, John Thompson. We then heard a great presentation from
the District 7 Legal Counsel Richard Rosenblatt, on Off Duty Employee
Misconduct.
In the afternoon local reports were given on organizing efforts
and cope activities. This was followed by the Union Plus Mortgage Programs.
There was a group dinner that evening hosted by District 7. on Friday,
September 24th, the morning was spent on union development and leadership for
the future, presented by Kevin Boyle, CWA Local 7906.
The afternoon was bargaining unit meetings with Annie Hill
updating the Qwest Locals on Qwest business and other District 7 leaders spoke
to the Locals representing ADT, Verizon, AT&T, Dex etc on their bargaining
units.
A lot of very good information was given at this meeting. It was
also a great opportunity to meet with the other locals and talk about the
issues that are common to us all.
Mike Nord
Executive Board
Variable Workforce Agreement meeting
Avaya – Variable Workforce Agreement and Executive
Level Grievance status.
CWA, IBEW, and Avaya met yesterday to discuss the possibility of
extending the current Variable Workforce Agreement, which is due to expire
December 1, 2004. Avaya presented their views on the state of the business. The
Unions (CWA and IBEW) presented the Company with our views on where we believe
the Company should be focusing to get more business, which would enhance their
revenue as well as job security for our members. Both the Unions and the
Company agreed to continue the discussions and try to reach an agreement that
would include options beneficial to all. We expect a response from Avaya within
the next couple of weeks. As negotiations progress, the Web will be updated.
As with any negotiations they can go either way. If we cannot
convince Avaya of the appropriate course of action, all Locals and their
members need to be ready to take action that will ensure Avaya knows we are the
ones that can make the Company successful, or not!
In Unity,
Gerald W. Souder
CWA Representative
Good and Welfare
September: Judy Cissell 35 yrs., Larry Nelson 35 yrs., Jim
Trujillo 25 yrs.
October: David Poston 25 yrs., Merrine Pasquale 25 yrs.,
Gart Geisler 5 yrs., and Calvin Singleton 5 yrs.
New Members: Brian Smith (Antenna Crew)
Executive Board Member Retires; Board Vacancy
Effective September 14, 2004, Suzie Schenck has tendered her
resignation from the Executive Board. Following her recent retirement, she
feels it would be best if someone who is an active member of the Unionfill her
position. She has enjoyed her time on the board and will miss us all. If you
have an interest, we are looking to fill her seat on the boards. Please notify
the local of your interest ASAP.
Qwest Open Enrollment Coming
Qwest employees should be watching for open enrollment packets
coming in October. You must enroll during this period or you will not
receive Health Care Benefits until the next sign up a year from now!
Coming changes; C0-pays will go up (January 1) as agreed upon
during the last round of bargaining, this is nothing we didn’t know about
already. Prescription drugs and mail in drugs will be moved to United Health
Care. The formulary and non formulary drug lists will be different than that of
Medco. Generic, formulary, and non formulary drugs will be termed Tier1
(generic), Tier 2 (formulary), and Tier 3 (non formulary). United Healthcare
will provide web site access to your personal accounts as before. United has
hired Medco to fill the mail in prescriptions (90 day supply, 2 co pays for the
price of 3). Cooperating pharmacies will also be different, and more widely
available.
Please, READ your packets and SAVE the information.
There will be a number of new things to choose. You must sign up your
dependents during this time. If you are recently divorced, you must drop
dependents at this time if applicable. REMEMBER; you have 45 days after
a major life event to make changes to your coverage (i.e. newborn, death in
family, dependent who is full time student till age 23 etc.)
Randy Grams
Secretary/Treasurer |