President's CornerSince the last newsletter, we are now through a couple months of the Qwest Occupational Employee Expectation Plan. CTEP, QJD, and CQUE are in place. Management has not conducted training in an equal manner; therefore we have been able to have some results thrown out. The agreement was for management to continue to conduct training for their employees. I would like to thank Dennis Garrett, Carol Miller, Bill Spina, Jake Williams, Gregg Sherwood, and Mike Nord for their involvement in representing members on these issues. I am sure it is far from over. Continue to carefully watch your daily assignments and keep book on everything you do. Qwest continues to downsize through attrition. Job vacancy requests are not being filled as often as we would like. Our main bargaining unit is continuing to dwindle. More retirements are expected after January 1st. It is obvious then that our dues monies, our income, are also dwindling. During the September E-Board meeting, serious discussion took place regarding the treasury of the local and the looming budget for 2006-2007. Recommendations to once again amend the bylaws and rules of the local have been recommended; however by a split non-unanimous vote of the Board. Please read the article pertaining to this matter. It will require 2 readings at membership meetings and explanation and discussion before being brought to a vote. |
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I urge everyone to participate in the coming election in November. Remember the candidates voted in will impact wages, benefits, health care, insurance and many other issues in general for working families. If you are not registered to vote, I encourage you to do so. You have a voice! The Safety Rodeo has just concluded. Congratulations to our City Safety Committee for another stellar production, despite the light drizzle that took place during the 2 day event Following action during the last CWA Convention, many Locals, and Local 7804 will try to organize a retiree chapter. This is important in that nearly 1 million retirees could be utilized to send the message to employers to do the right thing regarding pensions, health care, and other benefits. For the first time, retirees outnumber active employees at Qwest. District 7 has also created a Retired Members Health Care Advocates Committee. Phyllis Dionne from the Olympia Local 7810 is a member of that committee and has pledged to help retirees from our local as well. This is something we can all grow on. Thanks to Ann Smith - Pathways Coordinator for our local. We will put on our first Pathways sponsored class beginning Oct. 9th. That is the Central Office Technician Class which is an essential skills class. The next one scheduled is the Convergence Technologies and VOIP class to be put on in November. Tentatively, it will be done at the Royal Coachmen Motel in Fife (old Castle Fife Motel). This is more centrally located and has appropriate parking available. Continue to contact Ann for information or help on how to apply. Thanks for all that you do! In solidarity, Randy Grams President. Report on WSLC ConventionIn August, Kevin Lathrop and I had the pleasure and honor to represent CWA at the Washington State Labor Council Convention. Kevin represented CWA Local 7804 as the Local's Political Chair and I represented CWA Washington/Northern Idaho State as Council as one of its Lobbyists. The convention was held in Wenatchee, Washington from Monday August 21st to Thursday August 24th. The convention is held annually and all Labor Unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO have the opportunity to send delegates. The mornings of the convention were spent conducting union business with the entire delegate body in attendance; during the afternoon sessions the delegates had the opportunity to attend several different workshops. On Monday I attended a workshop on Workers' Compensation: Learn How the System Works. The workshop was put on by a group called Project Help. Project Help is a cooperative effort between the Washington State Labor Council, Washington State Business Community, and the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. The main focus for Project Help is to help workers in the state deal with the sometimes very complicated and tedious system that is in place when a worker is in need of placing an L&I claim. The workshop was very informative, and while there is no possible way for me to be an expert on the workers Compensation system in the 90 minutes that the workshop was allowed, anyone with questions just give me a call and can get them in touch with this group. Another very interesting workshop that I attended was called Organizing and Wal-Mart. The primary discussion was about Wal-Mart being one of the world's largest corporations and a global leader in the race to the bottom for wages, benefits and workers rights. Despite their size and influence, a powerful movement is building across America to change Wal-Mart and its destructive business practices. The main point that was expressed is that Labor Unions and the Labor Movement are not anti Wal-Mart, we just want Wal-Mart to conduct their business responsibly and ethically. To date, Wal-Mart has received over 1 billion dollars in federal, state, and local subsidies to build their stores in communities all across America. The subsidies are usually in the form of a tax breaks or improvements to the toads around the new store. But when the Local Grocer Store that has been in business for years, in the same community, applies or tries to receive the same benefits that the new Wal-Mart was granted, that local store is usually turned down. In some cases the Local Grocery was open and paying taxes into that community for over 40 years. Wal-Mart is granted these tax breaks with a time limit attached. The time could be for 5 or 10 years, at that time the tax breaks would expire. In the 5 or 10 years the local ma and pop grocery stores are basically run out of business, due to the fact that they con not compete. At the end of the agreement that Wal-Mart has with the local government, and Wal-Mart is expected to start pay8ing their fair share in taxes to that city or community, Wal-Mart then builds a new store outside the city or county lines. Sometimes that new Wal-Mart is as close as 1 mile to the city line. If you would like to read more about this, go to wakeupwalmart.com. On Wednesday night the delegates had the privilege to hear the convention keynote speaker, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell. Senator Cantwell spoke about the fight that working families face in America today, and the changes that are needed to allow working families to prosper and continue to live the American Dream. Senator Cantwell pledged to create affordable opportunities and help working families achieve that dream. It appears to me, that all Labor Unions share just about the same challenges. Wages and the right to bargain seem to be right at the top, for everyone in the Labor Movement. Hearing from our sisters and brothers from all walks of life, and work groups, I thing that Health Care is the most critical and important challenge that we share. It seems that every time a new contract is bargained, the biggest and most pressing issue is the cost of Health Care, and who will pay. It is time to take this problem to our elected leaders and demand that something is done about the never ending rise in Health Care costs and that every American has Health Care. Over half of the bankruptcies in the United States are caused because a person has no Health Insurance, and medical attention is needed. It is time that we as a group elect leaders that are willing to tackle this critical issue. Whether you agree or not with who is calling the shots, we HAVE TO agree with those that are taking the shots. It is time for the middle class and all working families to stop taking ALL the shots. I would like to thank the CWA Washington/Northern Idaho State Council for the opportunity to attend the 2006 Convention. In Solidarity, Jake Williams. Bylaw - Rule Change ProposalsThe following are proposed changes put forth to the membership by the Executive Board, on a split non unanimous vote at the September Executive Board Meeting. These by-law rule amendments follow the method as prescribed in Article XVIII of the Local Bylaws and Rules. Rule 3 now reads; Shop Stewards shall be paid an expense
stipend of $15.00 for attending the monthly Shop Stewards meeting. Payment to
be made after the end of the month the meeting was held. Rule 4 now reads: Executive board members, excluding Local
Officers shall be paid an expense stipend of $25.00 for attending the combined
stewards and executive board meetings on the second Tuesday of each month.
Payments shall be made after the end of the month the meetings were held. Rule 8a now reads; $40.00 per diem for Convention, $40.00
per diem for out of town overnight meetings plus lodging and commercial
transportation if used. When private automobile is used, an amount equal to
commercial transportation will be allowed. Rule 8c now reads: Personal car mileage expense shall
follow the allowable IRS limit when doing union business within the state of
Washington and into Portland Oregon. Rule 5 now reads: Local Officers shall be paid monthly
salaries as follow: President $450.00, Vice President $350.00,
Secretary-Treasurer $350.00. Rule 6 now reads: Any pension eligible members of Local
7804 having been a member of CWA in good standing for ten consecutive years
immediately preceding his or her date of retirement, shall receive the amount
of $200.00. These by-law rule changes may be amended by either of the following methods:
Union Plus Scholarship ProgramSince 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded more than $2 million to students of working families who want to begin or continue their secondary education. Over 1,300 families have benefited from our commitment to higher education. The Union Plus Scholarship Program is offered through the Union Plus Education Foundation. http://www.unionplus.org/benefits/education/scholarships/up.cfm Speed MattersMost people think that the United States-the country that invented the Internet-is a global leader in high speed internet. We're not. We are #16 and falling behind countries that range from Sweden to South Korea. We are falling behind because our country doesn't have a policy that will lead to investment in the technology to bring the benefits of this telecommunications revolution to every citizen. That's why CWA is launching "Speed Matters" -one of the most important public issue campaigns in our history. This effort has the potential to boost the economy, bring high speed Internet to rural and urban America and create thousands of quality union jobs. To reach a dynamic website which will be a clearinghouse for information on the potential for change and the challenges we face, You can get in touch with the team running this project at speedmatters@cwa-union.org. Service Anniversaries and RetirementsSeptember: Bill Liggett, Qwest Central Office Technician, 30 years, Gary Glass Qwest Network Technician, 10 years. October: James Flood, Qwest Network Technician, 30 years. Retirements: None to report Congratulations to all and best of luck! |
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