cwa newsletter, october 9, 2014

8/11/2019 CWA Newsletter, October 9, 2014

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Octobe r 9, 2014

Want t o be in next week's CW A Newsletter? Send your stories and photos t oblog@ cwa-union.org or @CWANews . Follow the latest dev elopments at www.r esistancegrowing.org .

You Won't Believe Wha t Verizon Has Done Now

Help Get Out the Vote Why Doesn't the Supreme Court Want North Carolina Citizens to

Vote? David Perdue: 'I spent most of my career' outsourcing GOP Senate Candidate: Equal Pay Laws Are 'Campaign Gimmicks' Truth Prev ails in Iowa Campaign Finance Reform Comes to South Dakota Elections Are About Choices: Stop Bad Trade Deals Like the TPP Amazon Workers Take Security Check Woes to Supreme Court Movement Building Update Next CWA Telephone Town Hall Call on Oct. 16

You Won't Believe What Verizon Has Done Now

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You might remember the video hit job that Verizon tried to do on CWAmembers, to stop Verizon Wireless workers from getting CWArepresentation.

The video, "This is the CWA," showed what Verizon thinks of the thousandsof CWA members who are making this company successful, every day. Andthat tactic hasn't succeeded. In May, Verizon Wireless workers at six stores inBrooklyn voted for CWA representation, despite an intense campaign of management intimidation and captive audience meetings.

We know how Verizon sees us. This is who verizon is: Watch .
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Help Get Out the Vote

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With less than 30 days until Election Day, Nov. 4, CWA and union activistsare joining labor walks, staffing phone banks, rallying for pro-worker candidates and doing everything possible to help get out the vote for thesevery important elections.

Left: Local 1120 member Alf Bjorkman, joined by son Dayton, make calls to union members on behalf of Cecelia Tkaczyk, candidate for the New York State Senate.Right: A CWA Local 6222 member makes calls on behalf of Texas Democratic candidate for governor Wendy Davis and candidate for lieutenant governor Leticia Van De Putte.

Below: In Wisconsin, 27 CWA and IUE-CWA activists from Locals 4603, 4611 and 84811 join the latest round of labor walks and phone banking. It was the largest turnout from any union.

From Arizona to Michigan to Virginia, CWAers have been working hard tospread the word about the importance of electing candidates who supportworking families. In Texas, CWAers are standing behind Democraticgubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and Democrat Leticia Van de Putte,who is running for Lt. Governor. The lieutenant governor in Texas isparticularly important because the office holder sets the agenda for the State
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Senate.

Wisconsin CWAers and labor activists are working hard to support MaryBurke who is challenging incumbent Republican Scott Walker. Walker andthe Republican-controlled legislature attacked public worker bargaining rights

and other workers' rights.

Want to join an event in your area? Make sure you have the latest on labor walks in your state and join other CWAers in these last weeks before ElectionDay.

Members of Local 6137 sign up co-workers for CWA's Political Action Fund.

How? Make sure you're connected with the CWA Movement Builder app.Download the app and receive information directly on your phone. Getdownload information here .

Once you download the app, make sure you set up your Profile. This enablesyou to check in at events, send photos from actions and more.

Why Doesn't the Supreme Court Want NorthCarolina Citizens to Vote?

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Yesterday, in the dead of night, the Supreme Court overruled the 4th CircuitCourt of Appeals decision that restored at least some voting protections toNorth Carolina citizens.
http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=k0M5vop7t6Id8DIM2ftBtc6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=k0M5vop7t6Id8DIM2ftBtc6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Bcr1Di2GL3EIuIvpPrJGDs6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=HqjNNQMkxLL%2FU5Q7upWbsM6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=8LX3INR5GIRKhQDd6j76ms6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=k0M5vop7t6Id8DIM2ftBtc6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=k0M5vop7t6Id8DIM2ftBtc6K07vFwxPY


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The appeals court had reinstated same-day voter registration during the earlyvoting period and said that ballots cast outside a voter's precinct must becounted. The Supreme Court's decision allows North Carolina's new votingrestrictions to stay in effect for the Nov. 4 elections.

The NAACP, League of Women Voters and other groups challenged theextreme voting laws adopted by the state legislature last year, pointing outthat the changes were intended to restrict voting among people of color, theelderly and students. An exasperated 4th Circuit Court of Appeals judgeasked during oral arguments: "Why does the state of North Carolina not wantpeople to vote?"

The question now seems to be: "Why doesn't the Supreme Court want NorthCarolinians to vote?"

David Perdue: 'I spent most of my career'outsourcing

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In his Senate race against Michelle Nunn in Georgia, Republican DavidPerdue has been promoting himself statewide as a tireless and lifelong "job
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creator."

He forgot to mention that those jobs were created in Taiwan, Korea, China,Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong not in the U.S.

When asked in a 2005 deposition, "Can you describe your experience withoutsourcing," Perdue replied, "Yeah, I spent most of my career doing that."Then he said, "I dealt with companies from Japan westward, all the way toKenya and Lesotho in Africa, Dubai, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Thailand,Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, all points west of Japan. Defend it?I'm proud of it." Now he can't run away from his record fast enough.

Perdue was much sought after by businesses looking to ship jobs offshore.He was a partner at Kurt Salmon Associates, a management consultingcompany that specialized in offshoring for apparel companies.

His work for Reebok brought him to the attention of the failed North Carolinatextile manufacturer Pillowtex Corp. There, Perdue oversaw the demise of that company and the loss of 7,600 American jobs.

Michelle Nunn said Perdue's record has caused a lot of pain for Americanworkers.

"He would be the only senator that from his own words has built a career around outsourcing American jobs," Nunn said during a senate debate withPerdue this week. "That's not the experience we need in Washington...Davidin his deposition talked about 16 countries...but not once did he talk about

creating jobs in the United States."

Perdue also isn't talking about the millions of dollars he made helpingcompanies offshore U.S. jobs the millions that he is using to run for the U.S.Senate.

Volunteer to get out the vote this elections season.

GOP Senate Candidate: Equal Pay Laws Are'Campaign Gimmicks'

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North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, the GOP nominee running
http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Mri1i35FPMKN4Bv0KF6H34Kk%2BdcHbPxghttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=LAP29ZaHvCMIdfSp6rEghM6K07vFwxPYhttp://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=kYGpoS8jWCsIcBvP5rSOrc6K07vFwxPY


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against Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, is making sorry excuses for hisopposition to equal pay laws.

This week, in his second debate against Hagan, Tillis struggled to explainwhy he blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act in North Carolina's state

legislature.

He said, "Let's enforce the laws that are on the books versus some of thecampaign gimmicks that are going to put more regulations and make it moredifficult."

That's the language candidates use when they don't want to addressmeasures like equal pay, wage and hour laws, workers' rights and other issues. In April, Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would havehelped restore pay fairness for women; Kay Hagan was a co-sponsor of theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and a strong supporter of the Paycheck Fairness

Act.

Hagan responded: "Speaker Tillis, I think you need to read reports. Women inNorth Carolina earn 82 cents on the dollar. I didn't raise my two daughters tothink that they were worth 82 cents on the dollar."

CWA activists are talking to co-workers and working to get out the vote. Butwe need more volunteers. Contact your local.

Truth Prevails in Iowa

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Republican Joni Ernst has been struggling to keep a new Democratic ad off the air , arguing that it's "demonstrably false." The only problem? It'scompletely accurate.

An Iowa television station has decided to continue running the DemocraticSenatorial Campaign Committee ad , "Gone." It holds Ernst, a GOP statesenator who is running for U.S. Senate, accountable for supporting taxbreaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas. Today, more than20,000 Iowa jobs have been lost to outsourcing.

"Joni Ernst even signed a pledge to protect their special tax breaks," the
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ignored by the two major political parties and major donors.

Read more here .

Elections Are About Choices: Stop Bad TradeDeals Like the TPP

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U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is doing a hard sell on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but ordinary Americans aren't buying.

A survey by the Pew Research Center spotlights Americans' skepticism aboutfree trade. Just 17 percent of Americans believe more trade leads to higher wages and just 20 percent think trade creates jobs. The majority of Americans know that trade is destroying U.S. jobs.

"We are not interested in better symbolism around labor, environmental andconsumer standards while corporate interests are on the fast track," saidCWA President Larry Cohen.

TPP is the latest in a string of trade deals that would allow corporations tochallenge the laws and regulations that our elected representatives have
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enacted. How? Foreign investors simply have to show that future profits maybe affected by a country's environmental standards, or public health laws or even a "Buy American" program. Then, the corporations can bypass acountry's courts and directly sue national governments in international UN or World Bank tribunals. Three private attorneys sit on the tribunal and get to

determine whether the country must compensate a corporation for losses inprofits. These attorneys are not accountable to the citizens of any country.There is no outside appeal. This process makes a mockery of our democracy.

More than $430 million in compensation has already been paid out tocorporations in cases brought by provisions in trade deals. Another $38 billionis pending in 19 more claims, all related to public health, the environment andother non-trade issues.

When we vote on Nov. 4, we need to make sure that we're voting for

Representatives and Senators who stand with working families and againstbad deals like the TPP.

Amazon Workers Take Security Check Woes toSupreme Court

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Every day, at the end of their shifts, Amazon warehouse workers line up for an airport-style security check that screens them for stolen goods. It can takeas long as 25 minutes. And they don't get paid a single cent for the wait.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court grappled with whether or not workersshould be compensated for this mandatory activity.

SCOTUS Blog reported :

When the warehouse workers' lawyer, Reno attorney Mark R.Thierman, took the lectern, he made an effort to simplify the issues. TheCourt should start, he said, with the question "Is this work?" If theanswer to that is yes, then ask: "Is it for the employer's benefit?" If theanswer to that is yes, that's as far as the Court needs to go: the task isdeserving of extra pay. It would never be necessary to answer whether the added task was closely enough tied to the worker's "primary
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activity," he said.

Thierman's argument seemed to grow stronger the longer it went, andhe made what might be a telling point in noting that, in this case, theworkers actually had punched out for the day before the screening

began.

Amazon warehouse workers in Germany, with the support of the 2-million member union ver.di, protest for bargaining rights.

"Employers," he said, "make people do all kinds of things that don'tmake sense," and that should be a part of the legal understandingabout paying for what one demands. "If an employer tells you to stay atwork until 8 o'clock at night, you stay," he said, but you are entitled topay for the added time, even if you aren't doing a thing.

The court will now begin deliberating on a decision. If the workers win,"Amazon and various staffing agencies it uses could be required to pay asmany as 400,000 workers back wages amounting to $100 million or more,"according to Bloomberg news reports.

In February, CWAers and other activists rallied outside Amazon's worldwideheadquarters in Seattle to show their solidarity with German Amazon workerswho have been carrying out rolling strikes since May 2013 to push Amazon tonegotiate with ver.di.

Movement Building Update

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CWA Local 13000 members are standing strong with the American Postal
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Workers Union's boycott of Staples office products.

The APWU is fighting to stop a shady agreement between the U.S. PostOffice and Staples that jeopardizes local post offices and thousands of goodunion jobs. The deal has set up postal counters inside 82 of the office supply

stores staffed with Staples employees. Staples and the USPS now plan toexpand the program to Staples' 1,500 locations nationwide.

It's time to say, "The U.S. mail is not for sale!"

Sign the online petition here .

In Philadelphia, CWA Local 13000 President Jim Gardler and CWA members join postal workers and other supporters in protesting USPS contracting out and Staples stores.
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Next CWA Telephone Town Hall Call on Oct. 16

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Sign up now for the next CWA town hall call, on Thursday, Oct. 16, starting at7:30 pm ET. The call will last half an hour.

With less than a month until the Nov. 4 elections, we'll hear from JimHightower, a national radio commentator who supports turning Texas blueand a Texas CWA activist who will report on what Texas union members aredoing to make that happen.

We'll also hear from Steve Abbott, president of the CWA Iowa State Council,who will report on the Iowa Senate race and the campaign for the seat heldby retiring Senator Tom Harkin, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor andPensions Committee. And we'll hear from CWA President Larry Cohen.

Register at http://cwa-union.org/cwacall and pick up the phone when you getthe call.
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cwa newsletter, october 9, 2014

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